10 Using a relational database service: RDS

 

This chapter covers

  • Launching and initializing relational databases with RDS
  • Creating and restoring database snapshots
  • Setting up a highly available database
  • Monitoring database metrics
  • Tweaking database performance

WordPress is a content management system that powers substantial parts of the internet. Like many other applications, WordPress uses a relational database to store articles, comments, users, and many other data. It is fair to say that relational databases are the de facto standard for storing and querying structured data, and many applications are built on top of a relational database system such as MySQL. Typically, relational databases focus on data consistency and guarantee ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability) database transactions. A typical task is storing and querying structured data, such as the accounts and transactions in an accounting application. If you want to use a relational database on AWS, you have two options:

  • Use the managed relational database service Amazon RDS, which is offered by AWS.
  • Operate a relational database yourself on top of virtual machines.

10.1 Starting a MySQL database

10.1.1 Launching a WordPress platform with an RDS database

10.1.2 Exploring an RDS database instance with a MySQL engine

10.1.3 Pricing for Amazon RDS

10.2 Importing data into a database

10.3 Backing up and restoring your database

10.3.1 Configuring automated snapshots

10.3.2 Creating snapshots manually

10.3.3 Restoring a database

10.3.4 Copying a database to another region

10.3.5 Calculating the cost of snapshots

10.4 Controlling access to a database