/rds

name: rds
description: AWS RDS relational database service for managed databases. Use when provisioning databases, configuring backups, managing replicas, troubleshooting connectivity, or optimizing performance.
last_updated: "2026-01-07"
doc_source: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/

AWS RDS

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) provides managed relational databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server, and Aurora. RDS handles provisioning, patching, backups, and failover.

Table of Contents

• [Core Concepts](#core-concepts)
• [Common Patterns](#common-patterns)
• [CLI Reference](#cli-reference)
• [Best Practices](#best-practices)
• [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
• [References](#references)

Core Concepts

DB Instance Classes

| Category | Example | Use Case | |----------|---------|----------| | Standard | db.m6g.large | General purpose | | Memory Optimized | db.r6g.large | High memory workloads | | Burstable | db.t3.medium | Variable workloads, dev/test |

Storage Types

| Type | IOPS | Use Case | |------|------|----------| | gp3 | 3,000-16,000 | Most workloads | | io1/io2 | Up to 256,000 | High-performance OLTP | | magnetic | N/A | Legacy, avoid |

Multi-AZ Deployments

• **Multi-AZ Instance**: Synchronous standby in different AZ
• **Multi-AZ Cluster**: One writer, two reader instances (Aurora-like)

Read Replicas

Asynchronous copies for read scaling. Can be cross-region.

Common Patterns

Create a PostgreSQL Instance

**AWS CLI:**

# Create DB subnet group
aws rds create-db-subnet-group \
  --db-subnet-group-name my-db-subnet-group \
  --db-subnet-group-description "Private subnets for RDS" \
  --subnet-ids subnet-12345678 subnet-87654321

# Create security group (allow PostgreSQL from app)
aws ec2 create-security-group \
  --group-name rds-postgres-sg \
  --description "RDS PostgreSQL access" \
  --vpc-id vpc-12345678

aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
  --group-id sg-rds12345 \
  --protocol tcp \
  --port 5432 \
  --source-group sg-app12345

# Create RDS instance
aws rds create-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier my-postgres \
  --db-instance-class db.t3.medium \
  --engine postgres \
  --engine-version 16.1 \
  --master-username admin \
  --master-user-password 'SecurePassword123!' \
  --allocated-storage 100 \
  --storage-type gp3 \
  --db-subnet-group-name my-db-subnet-group \
  --vpc-security-group-ids sg-rds12345 \
  --multi-az \
  --backup-retention-period 7 \
  --storage-encrypted \
  --no-publicly-accessible

**boto3:**

import boto3

rds = boto3.client('rds')

response = rds.create_db_instance(
    DBInstanceIdentifier='my-postgres',
    DBInstanceClass='db.t3.medium',
    Engine='postgres',
    EngineVersion='16.1',
    MasterUsername='admin',
    MasterUserPassword='SecurePassword123!',
    AllocatedStorage=100,
    StorageType='gp3',
    DBSubnetGroupName='my-db-subnet-group',
    VpcSecurityGroupIds=['sg-rds12345'],
    MultiAZ=True,
    BackupRetentionPeriod=7,
    StorageEncrypted=True,
    PubliclyAccessible=False
)

Create Read Replica

aws rds create-db-instance-read-replica \
  --db-instance-identifier my-postgres-replica \
  --source-db-instance-identifier my-postgres \
  --db-instance-class db.t3.medium \
  --availability-zone us-east-1b

Take a Snapshot

aws rds create-db-snapshot \
  --db-snapshot-identifier my-postgres-snapshot-2024-01-15 \
  --db-instance-identifier my-postgres

Restore from Snapshot

aws rds restore-db-instance-from-db-snapshot \
  --db-instance-identifier my-postgres-restored \
  --db-snapshot-identifier my-postgres-snapshot-2024-01-15 \
  --db-instance-class db.t3.medium \
  --db-subnet-group-name my-db-subnet-group \
  --vpc-security-group-ids sg-rds12345

Point-in-Time Recovery

aws rds restore-db-instance-to-point-in-time \
  --source-db-instance-identifier my-postgres \
  --target-db-instance-identifier my-postgres-pitr \
  --restore-time 2024-01-15T10:30:00Z \
  --db-instance-class db.t3.medium

Modify Instance

# Change instance class (with downtime)
aws rds modify-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier my-postgres \
  --db-instance-class db.m6g.large \
  --apply-immediately

# Scale storage (no downtime)
aws rds modify-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier my-postgres \
  --allocated-storage 200 \
  --apply-immediately

Connect with IAM Authentication

import boto3
import psycopg2

rds = boto3.client('rds')

# Generate auth token
token = rds.generate_db_auth_token(
    DBHostname='my-postgres.abc123.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com',
    Port=5432,
    DBUsername='iam_user',
    Region='us-east-1'
)

# Connect
conn = psycopg2.connect(
    host='my-postgres.abc123.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com',
    port=5432,
    database='mydb',
    user='iam_user',
    password=token,
    sslmode='require'
)

CLI Reference

Instance Management

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | `aws rds create-db-instance` | Create instance | | `aws rds describe-db-instances` | List instances | | `aws rds modify-db-instance` | Modify settings | | `aws rds delete-db-instance` | Delete instance | | `aws rds reboot-db-instance` | Reboot instance | | `aws rds start-db-instance` | Start stopped instance | | `aws rds stop-db-instance` | Stop instance |

Backups

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | `aws rds create-db-snapshot` | Manual snapshot | | `aws rds describe-db-snapshots` | List snapshots | | `aws rds restore-db-instance-from-db-snapshot` | Restore from snapshot | | `aws rds restore-db-instance-to-point-in-time` | Point-in-time restore | | `aws rds copy-db-snapshot` | Copy snapshot |

Replicas

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | `aws rds create-db-instance-read-replica` | Create read replica | | `aws rds promote-read-replica` | Promote to standalone |

Best Practi