Setting up a basic LAMP on AWS? I encourage you to consider RDS.
March 14, 2017
Setting up a basic LAMP on AWS? I encourage you to consider RDS.
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Amazon Relational Database Service
I support a lot of clients that have AWS, and a large amount of them rely upon the free-tier of services. I think the free tier is an awesome offer by AWS, but the services included, especially EC-2, are fairly under-powered, and are really designed for educational use. The average WordPress user trying to gt free hosting by using the free tier of EC2 is going to run into huge problems very fast. These sites bog down quite a bit very quickly after going live, especially on AWS, since unlike BlueMix and Softlayer, an EC2 processor is not even an entire physical core (based on my readings and test). I am an AWS consulting partner, and I get these exact types of clients reaching out to me a lot. They see people running nice sites on the free tier, but they just can't get it to work. RDS is the biggest secret weapon, and the first one I use each time. When you deploy a LAMP on EC2, forget the M. RDS is a specialized AWS database system, but to keep it simple, it is a ready-to-go, point-and-click MySQL server. Yes, you can run your web database on RDS, and offload resources, freeing up some of that 512 MB of ram, and single partial core processor to focus on serving websites and PHP requests. Honestly, RDS should be an essential service for every LAMP deployment you do on AWS. It not only removes the load from a low-powered server, but offers incredibly simple administration, has automatic back-up and restoration services, offers additional availability, and is a great way of being CMS ready for migrating your site to AWS CloudFront.
- Replaces local MySQL service running on the EC-2 server, reducing server load.
- Offers easy administration of your database services, and fast DB deployment times.
- Offers ready-to-go backup/restoration, high-availability services, load balancing and many other services that don't come with standard MySQL server.
- Can be scaled just as easily, and independently of the EC-2 instance.
- RDS is usually equal in price to the addition EC-2 cost if you ran MySQL locally on EC-2, while offering more services.
- Migration, import/export, and support for third-party MySql services is not good.
- RDS is very limited in size, and options, but is perfect for standard MySQL uses, such as replacing MySql in a web server.
- It can rapidly become expensive, sondon't useit if you are expecting a lot of growth.
- Decreases costs if used and planned accordingly.
- Increases website speed, reliability, and reduces downtime.
- Negates the need to hire and pay a dedicated DBA, as any admin can quickly administer a database using RDS.
I try not to compare services, as I know that every project has specific requirements, and every service is slightly different. However, if you have chosen AWS, and you are setting up a LAMP, and have no plans for rapid growth, then RDS is a must. If you have not chosen a provider, look over all of them, since if you go RDS, you have to go AWS for everything.