Simplify Database Management with Amazon RDS

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is one of the most popular services on AWS. Why? Because Amazon RDS abstracts away so much of what makes managing databases cumbersome for modern organizations. We’re generating more information from more sources faster than ever, which means legacy database solutions are struggling to keep up. With Amazon RDS, teams can continue using database engines they are familiar with while offloading database management to a trusted cloud service provider.

Amazon RDS is especially valuable in the age of big data and AI/ML, in which being able to extract value from data quickly is crucial. The solution integrates seamlessly with the broader AWS data ecosystem. What’s more, organizations that want to improve database performance further can upgrade from Amazon RDS to Amazon Aurora easily. Put simply, Amazon RDS is a fantastic option for companies that need a step up from legacy commercial database offerings.

In this post, we explore four advantages of using Amazon RDS:

Simplified database management
Better database performance and scalability
Superior data security and compliance
Increased database cost-effectiveness

Simplified Database Management

One of Amazon RDS’ best features is how easy it is to set up, operate, and scale relational databases. Teams can set up new Amazon RDS databases in a few minutes and clicks. There’s no need to provision infrastructure or keep up with software maintenance.

AWS takes care of all provisioning, backups, and patching behind the scenes. Overall, with Amazon RDS, database managers can offload undifferentiated work and spend more time pulling insights out of data.

Better Database Performance and Scalability

Amazon RDS also gives organizations the option to choose what level of performance they need for their specific workloads. The solution comes with different storage types – general purpose storage and provisioned IOPS storage – the latter of which can reach up to 256k IOPS per database instance. AWS can also quickly scale Amazon RDS databases horizontally with read replicas or by enabling RDS Proxy, and users can scale vertically if needed with minimal downtime.

Additionally, users can opt for multi-AZ deployments to ensure high availability and spin-up read replicas that reduce the burden on read-write database instances. This traffic can go instead to read-only database instances that maintain, and even improve, overall throughput. With Amazon ElastiCache, companies can also layer on a high-performing caching layer that preserves database performance.

Superior Data Security and Compliance

Amazon RDS, like many AWS services, integrates with AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to enable encryption at rest. Combined with automated backups and database snapshots, information is highly secure and recoverable. Teams can also implement encryption in transit with SSL or TLS.

Furthermore, AWS gives users the ability to isolate Amazon RDS databases in private subnets, customize security groups, and control how traffic flows throughout a VPC with network ACLs. In other words, AWS provides many ways to safeguard Amazon RDS instances from the public internet, as well as from within the cloud environments.

For those with strict compliance or governance requirements, implementing services like AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), AWS Artifact, and AWS Network Firewall are also paramount. Fortunately, these tools are all designed to work together effectively with minimal complication.

Increased Database Cost-effectiveness

Finally, with Amazon RDS, it’s possible to achieve better performance at a lower overall cost compared to legacy commercial database offerings. Amazon RDS operates on a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means teams only incur expenses for resources consumed. Given that Amazon RDS is a cloud-native solution, there are no constraints tied to physical hardware or software licenses. And, with Amazon RDS Reserved Instances you can save up to 69% over on-demand rates when used in steady state.

In addition, AWS gives users so many ways to know what’s happening across their cloud environments. Teams can tag their Amazon RDS resources, study utilization with Amazon CloudWatch, and continually right-size deployments. In AWS, it’s also possible to create custom scaling policies that keep resources in line with actual demand. Whenever the needs of the business change, making adjustments is always possible, allowing teams to finetune their RDS deployments continuously over time.

Streamline Database Management with ClearScale

As an AWS Premier Tier Services partner, ClearScale is skilled in AWS database services and knows how to configure and optimize Amazon RDS for long-term success. Our team has earned 12 AWS competencies, including the Data & Analytics competency, and over 100 AWS technical certifications.

Our cloud architects and engineers also understand how to implement Amazon RDS within a broader data management ecosystem that fulfills the unique requirements of the business.

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