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When you need a relational database, think RDS
September 19, 2023

When you need a relational database, think RDS

Tung Vu | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)

My team built a new app from scratch, & when we need to select a relational database, AWS RDS came naturally. The majority of the company's infrastructure are on AWS already. Needless to say, we setup a new RDS cluster from scratch, discover new requirements to our need, then upscale / upgrade the cluster multiple times already. Not having to get our hands dirty with all the configuration & operation specifics of MySQL is just pure bliss.
  • Fully managed relational database, complete with comprehensive IAM
  • Ability to choose between PostgreSQL & MySQL flavors
  • Resizing & upgrade are handled completely by AWS
  • The whole snapshot backup & restore feature could be more informative to let users know clearly that restoring a snapshot means creating a whole new cluster
  • As usual, AWS documentations need time to get used to
  • Pricing & scaling could be more transparent
  • Reduced risk as the whole security aspect is handled by AWS
  • Higher engineer productivity as the team doesn't have to spend time managing the database
  • Marginally increased cost of infrastructure

Do you think Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) again?

Yes

AWS Secrets Manager, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Jenkins
If you need a relational database without the know-how or the proclivity to setup, configure, & operate it, then a managed database service is your best choice. Not just the DB itself, but using managed service also gives you the comprehensive IAM, auto scaling, managed upgrade, basically all the bells & whistles that you are paying for when using a managed cloud service.

Of course, using managed service is more expensive than doing everything yourself. Using RDS costs more than setting up PostgreSQL/MySQL on a cloud VM yourself, which in turn costs more than using your own on-premise VM. If you are not using cloud service for other things and/or just need a simple database without any HA/SLA then naturally you should not start using AWS just for RDS.