Posted On: Mar 23, 2016
Amazon RDS for SQL server now supports authentication using the Windows Authentication method. You can now enable your applications to authenticate against Amazon RDS for SQL Server using credentials stored in the AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (Enterprise Edition). Keeping all of your credentials in the same directory will save you time and effort because you will no longer have to find and update each copy of the credentials in separate repositories. This may also improve your overall security profile. Windows Authentication support is now available for new instances as well as existing instances.
To use the Windows Authentication method with your Amazon RDS for SQL Server database instance, please sign up for the AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (Enterprise Edition). You can enable Windows Authentication while creating a new database instance in the AWS Management Console by selecting an Active Directory record in the Advanced Settings section of the Create DB Instance Wizard in the Amazon RDS console. If the Active Directory record does not yet exist, create a new directory record by clicking on the Create a New Directory link. You can modify an existing database instance to use the Windows Authentication method through similar options under the Windows Authentication section in the Modify DB Instance Wizard.
Windows Authentication support is now available in the US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), EU (Ireland), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), and Asia Pacific (Singapore) AWS Regions, with more regions to follow. There are no additional charges for using Windows Authentication with Amazon RDS for SQL Server, however, the usage of the AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory will be billed at regular AWS Directory Service rates.
Learn more by visiting the Windows Authentication for Amazon RDS for SQL Server documentation pages.