Amazon RDS is a managed service that simplifies tasks related to setting up, operating, and scaling a relational database in the cloud. It provides six database engines:
- Amazon Aurora
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- MariaDB
- Oracle Database
- SQL Server
Key features of Amazon RDS are:
- Automated backups: Amazon RDS automatically backs up your databases to support point-in-time recovery.
- Monitoring and metrics: Amazon RDS provides Amazon CloudWatch metrics for your database instances at no additional cost.
- Automatic software patching: Amazon RDS regularly updates the underlying software that powers your database instances.
- Hardware scaling: You can increase or decrease the computational and storage capacity of your instances.
Amazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora is a part of Amazon RDS. It is a MySQL and PostgreSQL compatible relational database built for the cloud, combining the performance and availability of high-end commercial databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open source databases.
Key features of Amazon Aurora are:
- High throughput: Amazon Aurora provides up to five times the throughput of standard MySQL and thrice of standard PostgreSQL.
- Scalability: Amazon Aurora can scale out to up to 15 read replicas to increase read traffic.
- Availability and Durability: Aurora replicates each chunk of your database volume six times across three Availability Zones.
- Security: Aurora includes several security features such as network isolation using Amazon VPC, encryption at rest using keys you create and control through AWS Key Management Service (KMS).
| Amazon RDS | Amazon Aurora | |
|---|---|---|
| Automated backups | Yes | Yes |
| Monitoring and metrics | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic software patching | Yes | Yes |
| Hardware scaling | Yes | Yes |
| High throughput | Standard for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle Database, SQL Server, MariaDB | Up to 5x for MySQL and 3x for PostgreSQL |
| Scalability | Yes | Up to 15 read replicas |
| Replication across Availability Zones | Standard for Amazon RDS | 6 copies for each chunk of DB |
| Encryption at rest | Yes | Yes |
One key point to remember for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam is that while Amazon RDS is a broader service that offers multiple database engines, Amazon Aurora is a part of RDS designed specifically for cloud performance. Its compatibility with MySQL and PostgreSQL and its advanced features make it an efficient choice for cloud database management.
Whether you choose Amazon RDS with a specific database engine or Amazon Aurora would depend on the specific requirements of your application, the database engine you’re comfortable with, and the need for scalability and high throughput. AWS offers both these services to ensure you have flexible, robust, and scalable options for managing your relational databases in the cloud.
Practice Test
Amazon RDS is a relational database service provided by AWS.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Amazon RDS stands for Relational Database Service and it’s a distributed relational database service provided by Amazon Web Services. It is a web service running “in the cloud” designed to simplify the setup, operation, and scaling of a relational database for use in applications.
Amazon RDS only supports MySQL databases.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Amazon RDS supports multiple types of databases, including Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, and the Amazon Aurora serverless database.
Amazon RDS automatically replicates the data for high availability and failover support.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Amazon RDS has automatic replication feature. It helps in improving availability and failover support for DB instances. This allows the automated backups to run and DB instances to reboot after failover.
Amazon Aurora is not part of Amazon RDS.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Amazon Aurora is a part of Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). It is a MySQL and PostgreSQL compatible relational database built for the cloud.
Which of the following is not a feature of Amazon RDS?
- Automatic backups
- Multi-availability zone (AZ) deployment
- Built-in automated patching
- None of the above
Answer: None of the above
Explanation: All of the listed options are features of Amazon RDS. It provides automatic backups, multi-AZ deployment for failover support, and built-in automated patching.
Aurora can scale up to ________ per database instance.
- 64 Terabytes
- 128 Terabytes
- 256 Terabytes
- 512 Terabytes
Answer: 64 Terabytes.
Explanation: Amazon Aurora can scale up to 64 Terabytes per database instance.
Data in Amazon RDS is encrypted at rest by default.
- True
- False
Answer: False.
Explanation: Encryption at rest needs to be enabled for Amazon RDS. It’s not enabled by default.
Aurora is only compatible with MySQL.
- True
- False
Answer: False.
Explanation: Aurora is compatible with both MySQL and PostgreSQL.
What is the maximum retainable backup period of Amazon RDS?
- 15 days
- 30 days
- 35 days
- 45 days
Answer: 35 days.
Explanation: Amazon RDS can retain backups of a DB instance for a user-specified retention period, which by default is one day and can be set as long as 35 days.
You can run your databases in Amazon RDS without a license.
- True
- False
Answer: True.
Explanation: Amazon RDS offers License included service model, you do not need separately purchased licenses.
You cannot use AWS Management Console to manage Amazon RDS.
- True
- False
Answer: False.
Explanation: Amazon RDS instances and resources can be managed via AWS Management Console, AWS RDS Command Line Interface or RDS API.
In Amazon Aurora, data is automatically distributed across multiple Availability Zones.
- True
- False
Answer: True.
Explanation: Amazon Aurora automatically divides your database volume into 10GB segments spread across many disks. Each 10GB chunk of your database volume is replicated six times, across three Availability Zones.
Amazon Aurora does not allow you to add replicas.
- True
- False
Answer: False.
Explanation: You can create up to 15 Aurora replicas for an Amazon Aurora DB cluster and distribute both the read and write traffic across all instances to increase performance.
Amazon RDS does not provide automated backups.
- True
- False
Answer: False.
Explanation: Amazon RDS provides automated backups of your DB instances during the backup window of your DB instance. You can set the backup window when you create or modify a DB instance.
Amazon Aurora is based on which database engines?
- Postgres and MySQL
- MySQL and Oracle
- Oracle and SQL Server
- MariaDB and MySQL
Answer: Postgres and MySQL.
Explanation: Amazon Aurora is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud.
Interview Questions
What is Amazon RDS?
Amazon RDS stands for “Amazon Relational Database Service”, it’s a distributed relational database service by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is a web service running “in the cloud” designed to simplify the setup, operation, and scaling of a relational database for use in applications.
What are some of the popular database engines supported by Amazon RDS?
Amazon RDS supports several database engines including Amazon Aurora, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQL Server.
What is Amazon Aurora?
Amazon Aurora is a relational database service developed and offered by Amazon Web Services. It is a MySQL and PostgreSQL compatible relational database built for the cloud, that combines the performance and availability of traditional enterprise databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open source databases.
How does Amazon RDS ensure data durability and reliability?
Amazon RDS ensures data durability and reliability by automatically replicating data across multiple Availability Zones in a Region. This replication helps protect your critical database from data loss due to single-instance hardware failure.
How does Amazon Aurora differ from Amazon RDS?
Amazon Aurora is part of Amazon RDS. It is a database engine option that provides enhanced performance, scalability, and reliability. Amazon Aurora features a distributed, fault-tolerant, self-healing storage system that auto-scales up to 64TB per database instance.
Can you manually backup an Amazon RDS instance?
Yes, in addition to the automatic backups performed by Amazon RDS, you also have the ability to initiate manual backups of your DB Instance, known as DB Snapshots.
What are read replicas in context of Amazon RDS?
Read replicas in Amazon RDS are used to offload read traffic from the primary database instance. It allows to create one or more replicated instances of a DB instance with the same data as the primary DB instance.
Can you scale Amazon Aurora instances?
Yes, Amazon Aurora automatically scales to meet the demands of your application, with its storage growing in increments of 10GB up to a maximum of 64TB.
What is Multi-AZ deployment in Amazon RDS?
The Multi-AZ deployments for Amazon RDS provides high availability and failover support for DB instances. When you provision a Multi-AZ DB Instance, Amazon RDS automatically creates a primary DB instance, and synchronously replicates the data to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone.
How many read replicas can be created in Amazon RDS?
Amazon RDS allows you to create up to five read replicas of a DB instance, each located in its own Availability Zone in the same or different Region from the primary DB instance.
Can Amazon Aurora replicate across regions?
Yes, Amazon Aurora allows setting up cross-region replicas. This capability helps to reduce latency for read traffic during a regional outage, and you can promote the replica to a standalone DB instance.
In Amazon RDS, what features enable disaster recovery?
Amazon RDS provides features such as automated backups, DB snapshots, and multi-AZ replication to enable disaster recovery strategies.
Can you encrypt your Amazon RDS instances?
Yes, Amazon RDS supports the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure data on the network connecting your application and DB Instance.
What is failover in relation to Amazon RDS?
Failover is the automatic process of rerouting database read/write operations to a standby replica if the primary database fails or becomes unhealthy. Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployments improve database availability by providing automatic failover support.
How does Amazon RDS manage patching of the DB instance operating system?
Amazon RDS takes care of patching the operating system by keeping it up-to-date with the latest patches. You still have the option to control if and when to apply the updates to your DB instances.
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