Posted On: Jul 10, 2023

Amazon RDS for SQL Server now allows customers to directly join their RDS for SQL Server DB instances to the domains of self-managed Microsoft Active Directory (AD). Self-managed AD can be on-premises or in the cloud. Currently, customers can only use NTLM as the authentication protocol for self-managed AD.

Previously, in order to use Windows Authentication and connect to a self-managed AD for their RDS for SQL Server instances, customers are required to deploy AWS Managed Microsoft AD and establish trust between AWS managed domain and self-managed domain. Now, customers can use their existing self-managed AD directly to authenticate and authorize users without additional complexity and costs. Customers can domain-join their RDS for SQL Server instance by either creating a new instance or modifying an existing instance. Under “enable Microsoft Windows authentication” on AWS Console, the customer can select “Self-managed Microsoft Directory Domain”. You can use self-managed AD free of charge. 

Self-managed Active Directory with Amazon RDS for SQL Server is now generally available in Asia Pacific (Mumbai), Asia Pacific (Osaka), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Canada (Central), China (Beijing), China (Ningxia), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (Ireland), Europe (London), Europe (Paris), Europe (Stockholm), South America (Sao Paulo), US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (N. California), US West (Oregon), AWS GovCloud (US-West), and AWS GovCloud (US-East) Regions. 

To learn more and get started with a self-managed Active Directory, visit the getting started guides for Amazon RDS for SQL Server.