Are you looking to excel in AWS cloud solutions and find a related job? Take your time studying the critical concepts associated with it, including the Relational Database Service (RDS).
To master the cloud platform, you’ll need to have a strong grip on AWS RDS. To help you out, we’ve compiled some AWS RDS Interview Questions and Answers. We truly hope that they help you pursue the career of your choice:
AWS RDS Interview Questions and Answers
1. What is AWS RDS?
Launched by Amazon in 2009, the AWS Relational Database Service (RDS) is a cross-platform database service designed to conveniently build a cloud-based relational database.
Apart from this, it offers a solution to manage the patching of the database software, allowing for point-in-time recovery, carrying out database backups, and other administrative processes.
In other words, it’s an AWS proprietary tool that makes the creation, usage, and scaling of relational databases easy in applications.
2. What are the Features of AWS RDS?
Here are the most prominent features of AWS RDS include:
- Since AWS RDS precludes the need to install and maintain database software or infrastructure provisioning, it makes the administering of the project from the start to deployment remarkably easy.
- AWS RDS’s extraordinary scalability means it only takes an API call or a few mouse clicks to increase the storage and compute resource.
- As a dependable infrastructure, it will replicate the data to a standby instance in another availability zone synchronously.
- For just 1/10th the cost, it offers on par performance with the commercial database.
- Since it enables you to run database instances in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud, the solution is highly secure.
- It supports the deployment of Multi-availability zone.
- It’s incredibly low rates and the on-demand pricing option make Amazon RDS highly cost-effective.
3. Can I Have Multiple Databases on RDS?
The database limits vary between different applications. Let’s take a look at the limits for each individual application:
- Oracle: On a single instance, you can have 1 database, but you may have unlimited schemas on a single database.
- MySQL: The software imposes no limit on the number of databases you can have. This is MySQL’s standard for the instances for RDS MySQL database instances.
- PostgreSQL: The software imposes no limits on the number of databases allowed.
- SQL Server: For each instance, you can have no more than 30 databases.
- Amazon Aurora: The software imposes no limit.
- MariaDB: The software imposes no limit.
4. What Is Meant by an RDS Instance?
An RDS instance refers to the basic building block of an RDS. AWS RDS offers a range of instance types that are optimized for different use cases of the relational database. These include varying combinations of networking capacity, CPU, storage, and memory, providing you with the flexibility to opt for the right resource mix for your database.
Using AWS RDS, you can develop a relational database instance in the cloud. By maintaining the database software, performing backups, and handling failover, AWS RDS manages the database instance on your behalf. In the case of read-heavy applications, RDS instances serve as reading Replicas or copies of the source master database to handle read requests.
To a single source DB instance, you can append not more than five Read Replicas. On the Instances page, you can also find the list of current RDS Instances in specific AWS regions. To see the details for instance, simply click on an existing RDS instance.
The fields of an RDS instance include:
- Name: the unique identifier/name for the RDS instance in question.
- Engine: The Oracle engine or MySQL version of the RDS instance.
- RDS Subnet Group: It’s the group of Subnets of RDS in the context of VPC.
- Availability Zone: The zone in which you want to create and launch an RDS instance.
- Multi-AZ: An indication of the fact that an RDS Instance is supposed to be used in the configuration of multiple availability zone.
- Instance class: The concept that selecting another a different type of instance will terminate the current instance and launch a new RDS instance.
- Status: An RDS instance has different status, including creating, deleting, modifying, rebooting, and available. You can only access an instance when the status of the instance is “available”.
- Source Instance: When it’s a Read Replica, an instance will list down the name of the source DB instance.
- Storage: As the name suggests, it’s the storage size for the instance, represented in GBs allocated to store data.
5. How Can You Get Started with Amazon RDS?
You need an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account to sign up for AWS RDS. If you don’t have it, create one. As part of the AWS Free Tier, RDS allows new customers to start using a cloud-based managed database service free of cost. Next, you’ll need to do the following three steps:
- Create an IAM user
- Understand your RDS requirements
- Create a security group to provide access to the DB instance in your VPC
As long as you know the RDS requirements, you can go ahead with default settings for VPC security groups and IAM. For detailed guidelines on signing up, creating IAM users, understanding RDS requirements, and creating a VPC security group, follow this link: Setting up for Amazon RDS.
6. How Can I Create an RDS Instance?
Using either the AWS Command Line Interface, AWS Management Console, or Amazon RDS APIs, you can easily create RDS instances. When using the AWS Management Console, you can launch an instance by going to the Instances tab, clicking on “RDS”, and then selecting “Launch DB Instance”.
This option will let you define the parameters for your RDS instance, such as the version and engine, primary user credentials, license model, storage amount and type, and instance type.
On top of that, you can also make changes to your RDS instance’s scheduled maintenance window, retention policy, and preferred backup window.
Alternatively, you may create your instance using the create-db-instance command or CreateDBInstance API.
7. Is There a Limit on the Number of RDS Instances I Can Run?
The standard limit for the number of Amazon RDS DB instances you can have is 40. Out of these, SQL Server or Oracle instances can be no more than 10, and that too with the model labeled “License Included”. If you don’t want any such restriction, you’ll need to go for the “BYOL” model, in which all 40 can for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Amazon Aurora, and MariaDB.
Using the request form, you can request additional RDS instances if your application requires more.
8. How Can You Import Data into an AWS RDS Instance?
There are numerous ways to do that. Here are some of the solutions for different applications:
- MySQL: mysqlimport or mysqldump utilities
- Oracle: SQL Loader, Data Pump, or import/export
- SQL Server: Import/Export wizard, Bulk Copy Program (BCP), or full backup files (.bak files)
- PostgreSQL: pg_dump
9. What is an AWS RDS Maintenance window?
The maintenance window in the context of AWS RDS represents your opportunity to configure when software patching, instance modifications, and database engine version upgrades occur, when required or requested. When maintenance is due in a specific week, you can identify the maintenance window to initiate the process.
When maintenance events occur, AWS RDS will be required to take your instances offline. Examples of such events include software patching, compute operations and upgrades for the database engine version. Automatic scheduling for required software patching is done only for durability- and security-related patches. This type of patching rarely occurs and when it does, it takes only a fraction of your maintenance window.
When creating an RDS instance, if you don’t define your preferred maintenance window, a default value of 30 minutes will be assigned. To modify the maintenance window, you can do that by choosing to modify your RDS instance in the modify-db-instance command, ModifyDBInstance API, or AWS Management console.
To further reduce the effect of a maintenance event, you can consider the Multi-AZ deployment to run your DB instance.
10. How Amazon Charges You for Using AWS RDS?
There aren’t any setup or minimum fees for AWS RDS. You’re only charged for what you use. The following aspects will determine your RDS bill:
- RDS Instance Hours: Depends on the class of the DB instance consumed. Instance hours consumed partially are also billed as full hours.
- Data Transfer: Internet data moving in and out of your DB instance.
- Storage: Storage capacity per DB per month provisioned to your RDS instance. Your bill should be pro-rated if you scale your provisioned capacity with the month.
- Backup Storage: Storage associated with any database snapshots initiated by a customer and your automated database backups.
- I/O requests per month: Your total storage I/O requests.
Provisioned IOPS: It’s the rate of provisioned IOPS, no matter how much IOPS is consumed per month.
aWS RDS interview questions for experienced
AWS RDS scenario based interview questions
You may also like to explore below interview questions on AWS.
- AWS EC2 Interview Questions And Answers
- AWS VPC Interview Questions And Answers
- AWS IAM Interview Questions And Answers
Conclusion
These were the most commonly asked AWS RDS interview questions and answers during AWS-related job interviews.
While AWS knowledge is no less than an ocean, obtaining a deep understanding of the aforementioned questions and answers should put you in a much better position to ace your interview.
I am an Amazon Web Services Professional, having more than 11 years of experience in AWS and other technologies. Extensively working in various AWS tools like S3, Lambda, API, Kinesis, Load Balancers, EKS, ECS, and many more. Working as a Solution Architect and Technology Lead for Architecting and implementing the same for different clients. He provides expert solutions around the world and especially in countries like the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Check out the complete profile on About us.
