Hi everyone,
As you probably saw from the title (:P) , I was very keen to know about Databases , since we all know the importance of Data. Hence , we should find a way to securely store and retrieve when needed. And so here comes RDS- a service provided by AWS that enables you to not just store data , but to manage the way that its stored.
The ‘What’
RDS stands for Relational Database Service. Its provided by AWS to store data into Databases, within an EC2 instance that will be managed by AWS.
The ‘Why’
Lets go through the usual routine — The existing system before RDS. Traditionally , we had a system where we would have to install the packages for DB server engine , say Mysql, MariaDB etc. So , now that we have installed it , we need to install other dependencies as well, like any firewalls and other configs.
And not just that, whenever a new patch is released , we need to apply the patches as well. And this is a trouble that will have to be handled every once in a while.
So, now comes AWS RDS , a managed service, where AWS takes care of the infrastructure . We just have to configure the other things, like the connectivity, DB engine , security aspects of the data etc.
RDS Service advantages over traditional systems
- Schedule backup of Data
- Resiliency of Data- multiple instances being deployed at multiple Availability Zone to be protected from Disaster Zones.
- Storage Autoscaling — Scaling the instance storage size based on requirement.
The ‘How’
Go to AWS RDS where we configure the following parameters:
- Engine — Aurora, Postgresql etc.
- Templates- To manage infra, there are some standard templated created by AWS . It can be an instance based on Environment
- Availability & Durability- to configure multiple AZ
- Settings for basic Authentication of DB
- Instance configuration for the EC2 instance
- Storage configurations for Storage Type, Storage Autoscaling etc.
- Connectivity — Manage security aspects on who can access the DB Instance from the Internet. We configure VPC, Subnets, Security Groups etc.
- Optional Monitoring of instances
- Backup of Database- We can schedule Backups based on the number of days by adding a value to Backup retention period. Say we give 2 , it takes backup every 2 days. However backups can happen only if it is in available state. It will be stored in S3.
Creating and restoring DB Snapshots
Even though there are automated backups that are available, there might be instances when you want to take a DB snapshot and restore it to that particular point of time, could be due to inconsistent data .
RDS Snapshot creates a storage volume snapshot of your DB instance.
To create an RDS DB snapshot → Go to AWS RDS and choose the DB → Select Actions → Take Snapshot → Provide a name → Done
To restore a DB from Snapshot → Go to AWS RDS → Snapshots → Select snapshot → Actions → Restore Snapshots → Select name of the DB instance to be restored along with other storage configs → Done
And that’s all the basics you need to know to get started on AWS RDS.
Happy learning! :)
