Amazon RDS for SQL Server FAQs

Q: What is Amazon RDS for SQL Server?
Amazon RDS for SQL Server is a Relational Database Service (RDS) that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale SQL Server deployments in the cloud. It’s a fully Managed durable database built for Enterprise workloads at scale and frees you up to focus on application development.

Q: How do I connect to Amazon RDS for SQL Server database instance?
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a Microsoft SQL Server database Instance (we call this an instance), connect to the database, and delete the database instance. We will do this using Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) and everything done in this tutorial is free tier eligible.

See more guides on the resources tab.

Q: What database versions does Amazon RDS for SQL Server support?
Amazon RDS for SQL Server currently supports Microsoft SQL Server 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019. Information about the supported minor versions is available in the Amazon RDS User Guide.

Q: What SQL Server Editions does Amazon RDS for SQL Server support?
Amazon RDS for SQL Server Supports Enterprise, Standard, Web, and Express Editions.

Q: What instances types does Amazon RDS for SQL Server offer?
Please visit Amazon RDS for SQL Server Pricing for complete DB instance and regional availability information.

Q: How do I try Amazon RDS for SQL Server?
Get started with Amazon RDS for SQL Server.

Q: Does Amazon RDS for SQL Server have an SLA?
Yes. For more information, please see Amazon RDS Service Level Agreement.

Q: How much does Amazon RDS for SQL Server cost?
Please visit Amazon RDS for SQL Server Pricing for complete DB instance and regional availability information.

Q: How am I charged for Amazon RDS SQL Server?
Instance pricing is calculated from the time the instance is created to the time the instance is deleted. Instances are billed in one second increments, with a 10 minute minimum charge following a billable status change such as creating, modifying, or deleting an instance.

As an example, if you create an r5.large instance at 1:00:00 PM, modify the instance to an r5.xlarge at 1:30:00 PM and delete the instance at 1:50:00 PM, you will be charged for 1,800 seconds (30 minutes) at r5.large pricing and 1,200 seconds (20 minutes) at r5.xlarge prices. If you create an r5.large instance at 3:00:00 PM and delete it at 3:06:00PM, the 10 minute minimum applies, and you will be charged for 600 seconds (10 minutes) at r5.large pricing.

Q: Do I need to pay for licenses separately?
No. The Amazon RDS for SQL Server Price includes the software license, underlying hardware resources, and Amazon RDS management capabilities.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum storage limits of an Amazon RDS for SQL Server DB Instance?
The storage size of an database instance can be set anywhere between 10GiB to 16TiB. You can automatically grow your database storage with no downtime by leveraging the Auto-Scale Storage Feature.

Q: How often can I scale Storage on Amazon RDS for SQL Server?
You can increase the storage size as often as you want but you will need to wait 6 hours from the previous scale..

Q: How do I scale the compute resources associated with my Amazon RDS for SQL Server DB Instance?
You can scale the compute resources allocated to your instance in the AWS Management Console by selecting the desired instance and clicking the “modify” button. Memory and CPU resources are modified by changing your instance class.

When you modify your instance class, your requested changes will be applied during your specified maintenance window. Alternatively, you can use the "Apply Immediately" flag to apply your scaling requests immediately. Both of these options will have an availability impact for a few minutes as the scaling operation is performed. Bear in mind that any other pending system changes will also be applied.

Q: How do I enable backups for my RDS for SQL Server Instance?
By default, Amazon RDS enables automated backups of your DB Instance with a 7 day retention period. Free backup storage is limited to the size of your provisioned database and only applies to active DB Instances. For example, if you have 100 GB of provisioned database storage over the month, we will provide 100 GB-months of backup storage at no additional charge.

If you would like to modify your backup retention period, you can do so using the console or the CreateDBInstance API (when creating a new DB Instance) or the the ModifyDBInstance API (for existing instances). You can use these APIs to change the RetentionPeriod parameter to any number from 0 (which will disable automated backups) to the desired number of days. The value can't be set to 0 if the DB instance is a source to Read Replicas. For more information on automated backups, please refer to the Amazon RDS User Guide.

Q: Can I take snapshots and keep them around as long as I want?
Yes. You can also back up your DB instance manually, by manually creating a DB snapshot. For more information about creating a DB snapshot, see Creating a DB snapshot.

Q: What happens to my automated backups if I delete my DB instance?
When you delete a DB instance, you can create a final DB snapshot upon deletion; if you do, you can use this DB snapshot to restore the deleted DB instance at a later date. Amazon RDS retains this final user-created DB snapshot along with all other manually created DB snapshots after the DB instance is deleted. Refer to the pricing page for details of backup storage costs.

Q: Can I share my snapshots across different regions?
Yes. With Amazon RDS, you can copy automated or manual DB snapshots. After you copy a snapshot, the copy is a manual snapshot.

You can copy a snapshot within the same AWS Region, you can copy a snapshot across AWS Regions, and you can copy shared snapshots.

Q: What is Multi-AZ on Amazon RDS for SQL Server?
Amazon RDS supports Multi-AZ deployments for Microsoft SQL Server by using either SQL Server Database Mirroring (DBM) or Always On Availability Groups (AGs). Multi-AZ deployments provide increased availability, data durability, and fault tolerance for DB instances. In the event of planned database maintenance or unplanned service disruption, Amazon RDS automatically fails over to the up-to-date secondary DB instance.

Learn more here.

Q: Does Amazon RDS for SQL Server Read Replicas?
Yes. You can create up to five read replicas from one source DB instance.

Q: Can I have cross-region replicas with Amazon RDS for SQL Server?
No. As an alternative, you can use Change Data Capture and the AWS Database Migration Service to replicate on-going replication.

Q: Q: What happens during an failover?
The primary and standby instances use the same endpoint, whose physical network address transitions to the secondary replica as part of the failover process. You don't have to reconfigure your application when a failover occurs.