Amazon RDS for SQL Server
SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. Amazon RDS for SQL Server makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale SQL Server deployments in the cloud. With Amazon RDS, you can deploy multiple editions of SQL Server (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019), including Express, Web, Standard, and Enterprise, in minutes with cost-efficient and re-sizable compute capacity. Amazon RDS frees you up to focus on application development by managing time-consuming database administration tasks, including provisioning, backups, software patching, monitoring, and hardware scaling.
Amazon RDS for SQL Server supports the “License Included” licensing model. You do not need separately purchased Microsoft SQL Server licenses. "License Included" pricing is inclusive of software, underlying hardware resources, and Amazon RDS management capabilities.
You can take advantage of hourly pricing with no upfront fees or long-term commitments. In addition, you also have the option to purchase Reserved DB Instances under one or three year reservation terms. With Reserved DB Instances, you can make low, one-time, upfront payment for each DB Instance and then pay a significantly discounted hourly usage rate, achieving up to 65% net cost savings.
Amazon RDS for SQL Server DB Instances can be provisioned with either standard storage or Provisioned IOPS storage. Amazon RDS Provisioned IOPS is a storage option designed to deliver fast, predictable, and consistent I/O performance and is optimized for I/O-intensive, transactional (OLTP) database workloads.
Benefits
Fully managed
Amazon RDS for SQL Server is fully managed by Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). You no longer need to worry about database management tasks, such as hardware provisioning, software patching, setup, configuration, or backups.
Single click high availability
With a single click, you can enable the Multi-AZ option, replicating data synchronously across different availability zones. In case the primary node crashes, your database will automatically failover to the secondary and we will automatically re-build the secondary.
Auto-scaled storage
By opting into Auto-Scale storage, instances will automatically increase the storage size with zero downtime. With RDS Storage Auto Scaling, you simply set your desired maximum storage limit, and Auto Scaling takes care of the rest.
Automated backups
Amazon RDS creates and saves automated backups of your SQL Server instance. Amazon RDS creates a storage volume snapshot of your instance, backing up the entire instance and not just individual databases. Amazon RDS for SQL Server creates automated backups of your DB instance during the backup window of your DB instance.
Upgrade and modernize
Amazon RDS for SQL Server offers Enterprise, Standard Edition, Web, and Express Editions for SQL Server Versions 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019.
Ease of migration
We support a number of ways to migrate to Amazon RDS for SQL Server, including Single and Multi-file native restores, Microsoft SQL Server Database Publishing Wizard, Import/Export, AWS Database Migration Service, and SQL Server Replication.
Customers

3M Health Care
“We have less need for manual maintenance. We can store a larger quantity of data for a longer time, can add nodes to the cluster when needed and we can do it in minutes!”
Dhanraj Shriyan, Enterprise Data Architect - 3M Health Care

Kaplan
“Amazon RDS allows our DBA team to focus less on the day-to-day maintenance and use their time to work on enhancements. Our goal is to move completely to RDS for all databases for ease of management and resizing capabilities. We have a level of control and standardization that we could not achieve within our on-premises data centers.”
Chad Marino, Executive Director of Tech Services - Kaplan

Mathnasium
“We chose AWS because it had high availability with multiple availability zones and nightly snapshots. It’s self-patching, maintenance is nil, and its security features mean we’re not worried about on-site data theft. By using AWS WAF and AWS shield technologies, we ensure our security infrastructure is scale-able and easy to maintain. AWS’s 24-hour support and access to AWS engineers has also been phenomenal.”
Jason Condello, VP of Technology - Mathnasium
Blog posts & articles
Capture and tune resource utilization metrics for Amazon RDS for SQL Server
December 12, 2022
Validate database objects after migrating from SAP ASE to Amazon RDS for SQL Server or Microsoft SQL Server
December 8, 2022
Migrate SSIS packages from Amazon S3 to Amazon RDS for SQL Server using the AWS CLI and PowerShell scripts
December 5, 2022

Get started with Amazon RDS for SQL Server in the AWS Console.