Amazon RDS Custom for SQL Server now supports Custom Engine Version to improve resiliency of customizations

Posted On: Dec 29, 2022

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) Custom for SQL Server now supports creating database instances from a Custom Engine Version (CEV). Customers can use CEV to build a golden image from an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) with the required Windows operating system (OS) and database customizations, such as custom drivers or third-party software. They can then create RDS Custom for SQL Server instances based on this golden image. Using a CEV allows customers to maintain their preferred baseline configuration of the OS and database. In addition, customers can deploy fleets of RDS Custom for SQL Server database instances with the same configuration. User-initiated recovery actions such as snapshot restores and point-in-time recovery benefit from restoring customizations, which can lead to faster recovery times.

RDS Custom for SQL Server enables database administrators to access and customize the database environment and operating system. It allows hosting SQL Server workloads for legacy and packaged applications that require specialized customizations to the underlying database and OS, such as access to sysadmin, xp_cmdshell or installing third-party agents and applications such as Microsoft Sharepoint and Dynamics. Previously, the OS customizations implemented on RDS Custom for SQL Server could not be persisted in certain cases, such as disaster recovery scenarios, which required users to redo the customizations. With CEV, OS customizations are persisted across the database instances without the operational overhead of redoing these changes.

Get started with RDS Custom for SQL Server using CEV by reading the user guide in AWS documentation. Amazon RDS Custom for SQL Server is generally available in the following regions: US East (Ohio, N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo), Canada (Central), Europe (Frankfurt, Ireland, London, Stockholm), and South America (São Paulo).