Amazon RDS Reviews

Whatever is to be stored, for example, any database requirements, you can use RDS, unless you need to scale it to quite a large size, RDS could be a good solution. You can still go beyond RDS, however, basically for small to medium-sized database requirements, you can always reliably use RDS as a database solution.

The first thing I like about RDS is the on-prem implementation. The time to install or set up a database environment is very fast.

The resilience, multi-zone resilience, and availability are great. We don't need to extensively create any replication services or anything that we have to worry about as DBAs. Everything is given. It's just a matter of punching in the parameters and in the background, it all that is configured. 

The initial setup is straightforward. 

It's scalable.

The solution is reliable and stable. 

If you are a very tech-savvy guy who is a DBA, there are certain limitations due to how it's been implemented. You cannot do a lot of platform-level changes if that's how it's been set up, however, it's not required actually. Those limitations have not stopped anything, not stopped us from doing anything. That said, someone more technical may not like the limitations. Platform-level changes are not allowed. 

The solution is a bit expensive. 

I've been dealing with the solution for the last eight months. 

I haven't experienced any stability and can therefore say it's reliable and the performance is good. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

I've found the solution to be scalable. 

I have worked with only three clients at the moment with RDS.

Technical support has been very good. 

The implementation process is straightforward. The instructions are very clear. Even a person with basic knowledge would be able to spin up an RDS without an issue. It's not very complicated. The parameters are simple. You can read and understand everything very easily and know what questions to ask and what parameters to consider.

One staff member is more than enough for deployment and maintenance. 

You don't need a separate staff for the RDS management. A regular person who manages the rest of the Amazon services can easily monitor it. It has a very good service called CloudWatch, Amazon CloudWatch. Through CloudWatch, everything could be monitored very, very well. All these services are auto-scale. Alerts can be automated as well. I've done this for clients. We have it configured in a way where it's very easy to maintain and manage. We don't need to continuously monitor or anything. We have set thresholds and that CloudWatch service actually helps us to do the monitoring part automatically.

Across most of the database services, it had been a little expensive. It's not only Amazon. If you look at other cloud solution providers, they have to reconsider bringing the prices down. Some clients might not be able to reap their ROI the way that the pricing has been structured for RDS services. It was quite expensive.

I'm an implementer.

I'd recommend the solution. It would be perfect for whoever starts a small or medium business. This is the go-to database they should consider.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

I use Amazon RDS for my access control system, which manages permissions for users to enter places like universities, workspaces, and club team areas. Amazon RDS stores user data and keeps access permissions current, ensuring the system is reliable and responsive for user security and convenience.

The most valuable features of Amazon RDS are its scalability, reliability, and intelligence.

The only thing that needs improvement would be the pricing of the solution. Otherwise, it works very well as it is.

I have been using Amazon RDS for three years.

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. I haven't had any issues with it so far.

Scalability is one of Amazon RDS's strongest points. I would rate it a nine out of ten.

In 2019, we had a paid subscription for AWS technical support, not specifically for Amazon RDS. We reached out to them when we were conducting stress testing on our system and noticed a significant performance drop, but we couldn't identify the cause. AWS support was helpful. They opened a ticket, communicated with us, and worked with us to pinpoint the problem. Eventually, they helped us resolve the issue, which was valuable for our project.

I have previously used another DBaaS solution apart from AWS, which was Google Cloud Platform (GCP). In GCP, we used a PostgreSQL database. One standout feature of GCP that I appreciated was its robust monitoring tools, which were helpful for analyzing performance and identifying issues. While I can't speak in depth about AWS's monitoring capabilities, based on my experience, GCP's tools were quite beneficial in this regard.

Setting up Amazon RDS is quite simple. First, you create an instance by specifying details like its name, storage preferences, and security settings. You can also choose to set up backups. After clicking "create," your RDS instance is ready within minutes. You receive connection parameters, which you use in your application to connect to the database. From there, you can start creating tables and storing data. It's a straightforward process that doesn't require much technical complexity. The deployment of Amazon RDS instance was very quick configuration took only a few minutes. It is an easy and cost-effective process, with a setup fee of around $31. Getting the connection parameters and establishing the connection to the database was seamless and efficient. Overall, it was a smooth and positive experience. 
Amazon RDS requires some maintenance, but it is not complicated. You might need to update the database configuration from time to time, which can be done by modifying your RDS instance. You can also schedule regular backups and updates provided by AWS. These changes can be controlled by you, so it is an organized process that ensures your database stays in good shape without much hassle. We have approximately 10,000 users of the solution at our company.

Amazon RDS is quite expensive.

My advice for those starting with AWS products is to closely monitor your usage and expenses. With on-demand and pay-as-you-go services, it is easy to keep using resources without realizing the costs adding up. So, keep a close eye on your bills to control expenses, as pricing might seem small but can accumulate quickly. This is important for cost management in general, and it applies to AWS services too. Overall, I would rate Amazon RDS a nine out of ten.

I work with Amazon RDS for our credit card business operations.

Amazon RDS fulfills PCI requirements, which is a valuable feature for us.

Amazon cannot guarantee the stability of some extensions, and there is a need for different extensions to meet PCI requirements.

I have been working with Amazon RDS for five years.

I would rate the stability of Amazon RDS as the best on a scale from one to ten.

The scalability is the best, and I have no issues with the ability to scale.

I rely on reading documentation to manage the database. The documentation is quite good.

Positive

I have used both Amazon RDS and Oracle, and I prefer Amazon. I prefer Amazon over Oracle as Amazon offers better features for our needs.

The initial setup process is simple.

I rate the price for Amazon as eight on a scale from one to ten. It's a reasonably high price for us.

Overall, I would rate Amazon RDS an eight out of ten. I would recommend Amazon RDS to other users.

We use it for data warehousing and transforming data.

One of the most valuable features is that it is serverless, so we don't have to worry about scaling.

We don't have control over tweaking the database parameters, so we switched to Aurora.

In the next release, it would be great to have access to core parameters to improve or tweak the performance.

I have been using it for five years. 

I would give it a nine because it's a reliable and cost-effective solution.

Amazon RDS is primarily for web applications.

The solution is good for on-premise deployments.

The solution could improve by adding a sandbox environment and more security.

I have been using Amazon RDS for approximately one year.

I rate the stability of Amazon RDS a five out of ten.

I plan to increase the usage of this solution.

I rate the scalability of Amazon RDS a five out of ten.

I rate the stability of Amazon RDS a nine out of ten.

Positive

The setup of Amazon RDS was complex.

I have received a return on investment using the solution.

The price of Amazon RDS is reasonable.

I rate Amazon RDS a ten out of ten.

We have cloud infra and development teams and my job with this solution is to move them to a cloud architecture, so I create a migration plan for Database from on-premises to AWS Cloud , co-ordinate with teams to host the planned RDS solutions and provide support for post cloud hosting challenges for better customer experience. 

Few minutes to launch RDS, DR, HA and monitoring configurations which reduced the administrative task and by the approach of pay for what we use reduced the cost. Performance is good when both Web application and DB are in same cloud. Need to be have In depth understanding of cost, else we are in position to pay more, which makes us to think our own DB is better when cost is very huge amount.  

The most valuable feature is that it is a fully managed database, where they handle most of the administrative tasks and leaves the users more time to concentrate on business.

The fact that it is fully managed has some disadvantages, as well. I have worked on SQL Server, Oracle, and other RDBMS systems for more than 20 years. In many of these cases, I have been an administrator and required administrative privileges to perform many of the tasks that I did. As I now work on a fully managed and maintained database, it is taking me longer to figure out how to perform these same operations that I was used to doing on-premises. Essentially, having a great deal of experience as an RDBMS administrator has made it harder for me to move forward when working on a database that is fully managed. It would be helpful if they made it easier to migrate from an existing on-premises solution to the cloud-based service.

Technical support could use some improvement.

I have been using Amazon RDS for five years.

The stability of this solution is good. We did have a couple of problems last year when the database was absconded, but luckily we had snapshots available. They take six backups daily and we were able to easily restore. We did not suffer any data loss.

I make use of this solution on a daily basis, especially over the past few years. We are migrating and I do work on the on-premises data centers, which is our core area. But, from a cost perspective, we are working towards hosting our business entirely in AWS.

The scalability of Amazon RDS is very good.

We have between 5,000 and 6,000 users.

We have contacted technical support over several issues and use cases. We build a use case and they suggest solutions. I do like them, but each use case is different and I have seen a lot of room for them to improve over time.

We initially deployed Amazon RDS on-premises, although we are now migrating to cloud-based deployment. Spinning up a task is very easy and there is no maintenance. There are no administrative tasks involved for us because it is entirely taken care of. This includes monitoring and backup, as well.

The length of time for deployment depends on the size of the database. If they say it is one gigabyte then it will take a few minutes.

We have technical people who are certified and handle the deployment in-house.

Good amount of cost reduction in cloud but we need to have well defined monitoring rules to save cost even after hosted in cloud. You can scale-up and scale-down with minimal duration compare to on-prem DB Servers. Which add more cost benefits. 

We can BYOL (Bring Your Own License), if you already purchased for Microsoft SQL Server or for Oracle and use that during RDS launch. 

If you need to reduce licensing cost in database , we can migrate to 3 open source databases in AWS RDS : MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB.

Amazon Aurora RDS , which is compatible to MySQL Engine and PostgreSQL Engine can be used to get most benefit of RDS managed service with performance and cost since it is AWS native RDS.

We have reached the stage where all of our critical applications are hosted on-premises, and the rest is hosted with a public cloud provider. We found that at one stage, it was more advantageous to store some of our core data in our own data centers and have the rest managed.

My advice for people who are implementing this solution is to keep in mind that they need to redefine their product. It is not just a copy of an on-premises solution. Rather, it is designed with cloud architecture in mind. We use the term Cloud Adaptiveness. This means that before moving, they need to make sure that the architect of that application, the business owner, and the database administrator all realize that they are going to be migrating to the cloud. They will need to make some modifications before it happens. Otherwise, if they try to do it post-migration, it will be more difficult.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

This product is used primarily for storing data. The process is you have to reserve RDS space and then you can install any database scheme you want, for example, MariaDB, SQL or Aurora. We typically use Aurora DB. 

The solution has proven to be quite stable so far.

The product is very, very easy to use.

The only thing that I can say is, you have to be really careful about the Cloud provision plannings - meaning that you should calculate the cost carefully due to the fact that the bill is increased sharply if you increase the limit. You have to provision what you need per month.

The solution charges for technical support, which is something they should change, at least for those organizations on tier one.

We've only been using this solution for six months. It's been less than a year. We haven't been using it for too long just yet.

We've found this solution to be very stable. It's reliable. We don't really deal with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. So far, it's been very good.

The solution is fully scalable. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so with ease.

Everyone in our organization uses the product. It's pretty widespread. The idea is you save your data on Cloud and make it available to everybody, add it to your website.

We plan to continue to use this service, at least over the next year or so.

Technical support is not ideal. It's one of Amazon's pain points.

Amazon offers a free service tier, a so-called free tier for start-ups. We are a start-up. By the time that you sign up with Amazon, you're connected to the free tier, however, for some reason, you don't have access to the support.

You can only get access from the sales support. That means if you want to buy something or renew your subscription or upgrade, all these services are easily available. Yet, if you would like to get some technical support, you have to pay for it. You have to pay for an additional subscription. It's really too bad.

Everybody using cloud computing needs technical support at some point, so this jeopardizes the original promise of the free tier. If you have to pay for any given question to the technical department, it is not free anymore. That's really a drawback in terms of Amazon's service. 

There are alternatives to RDS, and therefore you can use another type of cloud computing if you like. However, I haven't used any.

While, with all services of Amazon, there is a starter option that is given for free, this starter offer is not enough for the development or the deployment of products. Each time you pass these limits, you have to pay and it's completely unpredictable.

The pricing can get very expensive. You pay a standard price, which is low, for a fixed reservation. However, if you exceed your limit, instantly, then the bill is increased tremendously. That's a drawback for the system. You have to provision very carefully and to make sure that you do not exceed the limit.

That said, after careful provisioning, it is a very cheap option. If you are successful at cloud provisioning, you won't need to pay much.

You do have to pay extra for technical support, even if you are on the free service tier.

Despite the issues around pricing and technical support, RDS is a good choice for organizations due to the fact that it's very easy to use. I'd recommend it to others due to this ease of use and general stability.

Overall, I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten. If they had a free technical support tier I might rate it higher.

RDS provides deployment agility and an on-demand database-as-a-service for MySQL, Oracle, and SQL servers.

With RDS, everything is turnkey and always available. For example, due to the inherent multi-availability zone feature of AWS, there is no downtime at all and you can count on AWS RDS to always be available.

For many of the Pythian customers, one salient benefit, among other benefits, is the option of spinning up a new instance whenever it is needed. Now it can be done with a few clicks, without much ado.

RDS doesn't have shell access. This could be beneficial, especially for Oracle databases.

One benefit of having shell access with RDS is that DBAs or developers could keep their own existing scripts. Especially in the case of non-enterprise versions, there is always a need to dig into performance issues and their troubleshooting. So shell access could be very handy in that case and in some other cases.

I have been using AWS RDS for the last two years.

We have not really had stability issues.

The technical support is good and prompt.

For many clients of Pythian, it’s an amalgamation of on-premises and cloud. Pythian enables its customers to reap the benefits of both worlds.

With the expertise and experience of Pythian, the initial setup was a breeze.

Read the fine print carefully and always engage experts to carry out migration.

We did not evaluate any alternatives.

Having your database on RDS doesn't mean that you don't need a DBA anymore. Mission critical and important databases must be handled by a DBA, even if the database resides on the cloud, like RDS.