Building a Database Server with RDS

Task 1: Create a Security Group for the RDS DB Instance

First, I needed to create a security group to allow my web server to access the RDS DB instance. This security group would be used when launching the database instance.

1. I opened the AWS Management Console, selected the Services menu, and then selected VPC under Networking & Content Delivery.
2. In the left navigation pane, I clicked Security Groups.
3. I clicked Create security group and configured it with the following settings:
   • Security group name: DB Security Group
   • Description: Permit access from Web Security Group
   • VPC: Lab VPC

Next, I added a rule to the security group to permit inbound database requests:

1. In the Inbound rules section, I clicked Add rule and configured:
   • Type: MySQL/Aurora (3306)
   • Source: I typed sg in the search field and then selected Web Security Group

This configured the Database security group to permit inbound traffic on port 3306 from any EC2 instance associated with the Web Security Group.

Finally, I scrolled to the bottom of the screen and clicked Create security group. This security group would be used when launching the Amazon RDS database.

Task 2: Create a DB Subnet Group

For this task, I created a DB subnet group to tell RDS which subnets could be used for the database. Each DB subnet group requires subnets in at least two Availability Zones.

1. In the AWS Management Console, I selected the Services menu, and then selected RDS under Database.
2. In the left navigation pane, I clicked Subnet groups.
3. I clicked Create DB Subnet Group and configured:
   • Name: DB Subnet Group
   • Description: DB Subnet Group
   • VPC ID: Lab VPC
4. In the Add subnets section for Availability zones, I clicked the dropdown, then:
   • Selected the first Availability zone
   • Selected the second Availability zone
5. For Subnets, I clicked the dropdown, then:
   • For the first Availability zone, selected 10.0.1.0/24
   • For the second Availability zone, selected 10.0.3.0/24
6. Finally, I clicked Create

This added Private Subnet 1 (10.0.1.0/24) and Private Subnet 2 (10.0.3.0/24) to my DB subnet group, which I would use when creating the database in the next task.

Task 3: Create an Amazon RDS DB Instance

In this task, I configured and launched a Multi-AZ Amazon RDS for MySQL database instance.

Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployments provide enhanced availability and durability for Database (DB) instances, making them a natural fit for production database workloads. When you provision a Multi-AZ DB instance, Amazon RDS automatically creates a primary DB instance and synchronously replicates the data to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone (AZ).

1. In the left navigation pane, I clicked Databases.
2. I clicked Create database.
3. I chose Create database, then chose Standard create.
4. Under the Engine options section:
   • For Engine type, I chose MySQL.
   • For Engine version, I chose the latest version.
5. For Templates, I chose Free Tier.
6. For Availability and durability, I chose Single-AZ DB Instance.
7. Under Settings, I configured:
   • DB instance identifier: lab-db
   • Master username: main
   • Master password: lab-password
   • Confirm password: lab-password
8. Under Instance configuration, I configured:
   • Selected Burstable classes (includes t classes)
   • Selected db.t4g.micro
9. Under Storage, I selected General Purpose (SSD) under Storage type.
10. Under Connectivity, I configured:
    • Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): Lab VPC
    • Under VPC security group, I selected Choose existing
    • Under Existing VPC security groups, I used X to Remove default and selected DB Security Group to highlight it in blue
11. Under Monitoring, I expanded Additional configuration and unchecked Enable Enhanced monitoring.
12. I scrolled down to the Additional configuration section, expanded this option, and configured:
    • Initial database name: lab
13. Under Backup, I unchecked Enable automated backups.
14. Finally, I scrolled to the bottom of the screen and clicked Create database.

Turning off backups is not normally recommended, but it made the database deploy faster for this lab.

After launching the database, I clicked the lab-db link itself and waited approximately 4 minutes for the database to be available. The deployment process was deploying a database in two different Availability zones.

Once the Status changed to Modifying or Available, I scrolled down to the Connectivity & Security section and copied the Endpoint field, which looked similar to: lab-db.cggq8lhnxvnv.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com.

Task 4: Interact with Your Database

For the final task, I opened a web application running on my web server and configured it to use the database.

1. I copied the WebServer IP address from the AWS Details.
2. I opened a new web browser tab, pasted the WebServer IP address, and pressed Enter.
3. The web application displayed information about the EC2 instance.
4. At the top of the web application page, I clicked the RDS link.
5. I configured the application to connect to my database with the following settings:
   • Endpoint: The endpoint I copied earlier
   • Database: lab
   • Username: main
   • Password: lab-password
6. I clicked Submit

A message appeared explaining that the application was running a command to copy information to the database. After a few seconds, the application displayed an Address Book.

To connect to the database manually, I could use the following MySQL command:

I tested the Address Book application by adding, editing, and removing contacts. The data was being persisted to the database and automatically replicating to the second Availability Zone.

Some common SQL commands I used for testing: