AWS RDS Setup Skill

Deploy production-ready managed databases with high availability.

Quick Reference

Attribute	Value
AWS Service	RDS, Aurora
Complexity	Medium
Est. Time	15-45 min
Prerequisites	VPC, Subnet Group, Security Group

Parameters

Required

Parameter	Type	Description	Validation
engine	string	Database engine	mysql, postgres, aurora-mysql, etc.
instance_class	string	Instance type	db.* family
db_name	string	Database name	Alphanumeric
master_username	string	Admin username	^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]{0,15}$
master_password	string	Admin password	Min 8 chars, complexity

Optional

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
multi_az	bool	false	Multi-AZ deployment
storage_type	string	gp3	gp2, gp3, io1, io2
allocated_storage	int	20	Storage in GB
backup_retention	int	7	Backup retention days
encryption	bool	true	Storage encryption

Execution Flow

1. Create DB subnet group
2. Configure parameter group
3. Create RDS instance
4. Wait for available status
5. Create read replicas (if specified)
6. Configure backups
7. Set up monitoring

Implementation

Create RDS Instance

# Create DB subnet group
aws rds create-db-subnet-group \
  --db-subnet-group-name prod-db-subnets \
  --db-subnet-group-description "Production DB subnets" \
  --subnet-ids subnet-111 subnet-222 subnet-333

# Create RDS instance
aws rds create-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier prod-mysql \
  --db-instance-class db.r6g.large \
  --engine mysql \
  --engine-version 8.0 \
  --master-username admin \
  --master-user-password "$DB_PASSWORD" \
  --allocated-storage 100 \
  --storage-type gp3 \
  --storage-encrypted \
  --kms-key-id alias/rds-key \
  --multi-az \
  --db-subnet-group-name prod-db-subnets \
  --vpc-security-group-ids sg-12345 \
  --backup-retention-period 7 \
  --preferred-backup-window "03:00-04:00" \
  --preferred-maintenance-window "sun:04:00-sun:05:00" \
  --enable-performance-insights \
  --performance-insights-retention-period 7 \
  --enable-cloudwatch-logs-exports '["error","slowquery"]' \
  --deletion-protection \
  --tags Key=Environment,Value=Production

Create Read Replica

aws rds create-db-instance-read-replica \
  --db-instance-identifier prod-mysql-replica \
  --source-db-instance-identifier prod-mysql \
  --db-instance-class db.r6g.large \
  --availability-zone us-east-1b

Parameter Groups

MySQL Optimization

{
  "max_connections": "LEAST({DBInstanceClassMemory/9531392},5000)",
  "innodb_buffer_pool_size": "{DBInstanceClassMemory*3/4}",
  "slow_query_log": "1",
  "long_query_time": "2"
}

PostgreSQL Optimization

{
  "shared_buffers": "{DBInstanceClassMemory/32768}",
  "effective_cache_size": "{DBInstanceClassMemory*3/4}",
  "log_min_duration_statement": "1000"
}

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Symptom	Cause	Solution
Connection refused	SG or network	Check SG rules, VPC routing
Too many connections	Limit reached	Increase max_connections, use pooling
Slow queries	Missing indexes	Enable Performance Insights
Storage full	Growth exceeded	Enable autoscaling

Debug Checklist

• Security group allows port 3306/5432?
• DB in correct VPC/subnet?
• Instance status "available"?
• Using correct endpoint (writer vs reader)?
• SSL/TLS configured correctly?
• Parameter group applied?

Connection String Format

# MySQL
mysql -h endpoint.rds.amazonaws.com -u admin -p dbname

# PostgreSQL
psql "host=endpoint.rds.amazonaws.com dbname=mydb user=admin sslmode=require"

# With IAM Auth
aws rds generate-db-auth-token --hostname endpoint --port 3306 --username iam_user

High Availability

Configuration	RTO	RPO	Cost
Single-AZ	Hours	Up to 5 min	$
Multi-AZ	1-2 min	0	$$
Aurora Multi-AZ	Seconds	0	$$$
Aurora Global	Seconds	Seconds	$$$$

Test Template

def test_rds_connection():
    # Arrange
    endpoint = "prod-mysql.xxx.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com"

    # Act
    connection = pymysql.connect(
        host=endpoint,
        user='admin',
        password=get_secret('db-password'),
        database='mydb',
        ssl={'ssl': True}
    )

    # Assert
    cursor = connection.cursor()
    cursor.execute("SELECT 1")
    result = cursor.fetchone()
    assert result[0] == 1

    # Cleanup
    connection.close()

Assets

• assets/rds-config.yaml - RDS configuration templates

References

• RDS User Guide
• RDS Best Practices