RDS Flashcards
What are the 2 types of RDS backups? What is the big difference between them?
- Automated Backups
- Database Snapshots
- Big difference is whether they are taken automatically vs. manually
What do RDS Automated Backups allow you to do?
Automated backups allow you to recover your database to any point in time within a retention period
How long is the retention period for Automated Backups?
can be between 1 and 35 days
What do RDS automated backups store?
- A full daily snapshot AND
- transaction logs throughout the day
How do RDS Automated Backups do a recovery?
choose the most recently daily backup, and apply the transaction logs relevant to that day
How specific can the timing of an RDS Automated Backup recovery be?
You can do a point in time recovery, down to a second, within the retention period
Are RDS Automated Backups enabled by default?
Yes
Where are RDS Automated Backups stored?
in S3.
What is the pricing model for RDS Automated Backup storage?
Backups are stored in S3, and you get free storage space equal to the size of the DB
Why might enabling RDS Automated Backups result in a elevated latencies over a brief period of time?
During the backup window, storage I/O may be suspended while your data is being backed up, so you may get elevated latency.
After you delete the original RDS instance, are RDS automated backups deleted as well?
Yes
After you delete the original RDS instance, are DB snapshots deleted as well?
No
After restoring an RDS Automated Backup, is the restored version of the DB on the same DNS as the old DB?
No
After restoring an RDS Manual Snapshot, is the restored version of the DB on the same DNS as the old DB?
No
For what DB engines is RDS Encryption at Rest supported?
(All of them)
- MySQL
- Oracle
- SQLServer
- PostgreSQL
- MariaDB
- Aurora
What does RDS Encryption at Rest use for encryption?
KMS
Once your RDS instance is encrypted using RDS Encryption at Rest, are automated backups automatically encrypted as well?
Yes
Once your RDS instance is encrypted using RDS Encryption at Rest, are read replicas automatically encrypted as well?
Yes
Once your RDS instance is encrypted using RDS Encryption at Rest, are DB snapshots automatically encrypted as well?
Yes
Does RDS Multi-AZ boost performance?
NO (that’s Read Replicas)
What does RDS Multi-AZ do?
- automatic, synchronous replication of your DB in another AZ
- Automatic failover in case the primary instance goes down
With what RDS DB engines does Multi-AZ work?
(All except Aurora)
- SQLServer
- Oracle
- MySQLServer
- PostgreSQL
- MariaDB
Assuming Multi-AZ is turned on, what is a way that you can force a failover for your RDS instance?
Reboot your RDS instance
What type of replication is involved with RDS Read Replicas?
Asynchronous replication
What is the primary difference between a primary instance and its read replica?
The read replica is read-only
With what RDS DB engines are Read Replicas compatible?
(all except SQLServer)
- MySQLServer
- PostgreSQL
- MariaDB
- Oracle
- Aurora
Do you need to have automatic backups turned on in order to use read replicas?
Yes
Can you have RDS Read Replicas of RDS Read Replicas?
Yes, but watch out for replication latency issues
Does an RDS instance and its read replica share a DNS endpoint?
No, each read replica has its own DNS endpoint
Can you have Multi-AZ RDS Read Replicas?
Yes
Can you have RDS Read Replicas of RDS DBs that are sources for Multi-AZ?
Yes
Can you turn a read replica into a “normal” database?
Yes, but this breaks replication
Can you have an RDS Read Replica in a region that is different from the primary instance, assuming you are using Multi-AZ?
Yes
Can you have an RDS Read Replica of an RDS instance which is not using multi-AZ?
Yes
What are the two best ways to improve RDS performance?
- Read Replicas
- Elasticache
In RDS, can you create a Read Replica in another region?
Depends on the underlying database format
(All except SQLServer are supported)
