Day 31: Configuring a Private RDS Instance for Application Development

Source: Dev.to

Lab Information

The Nautilus Development Team is working on a new application feature that requires a reliable and scalable database solution. To facilitate development and testing, they need a new private RDS instance. This instance will store critical application data and must be provisioned using the AWS free tier to minimize costs during the initial development phase. The team has chosen MySQL as the database engine due to its compatibility with their existing systems. The DevOps team is tasked with setting up this RDS instance, ensuring it is correctly configured and available for use by the development team.

Task

Provision a Private RDS Instance: Create a new private RDS instance named nautilus-rds using a sandbox template; it must be a db.t3.micro type instance.

Engine Configuration: Use the MySQL engine with version 8.4.x.

Enable Storage Autoscaling: Enable storage autoscaling and set the threshold value to 50 GB. Keep the rest of the configurations as default.

Instance Availability: Ensure the instance is in the *available* state before submitting this task.

Step‑by‑Step Solution (AWS Console)

Step 1: Open RDS Console

• Navigate to AWS Console → RDS.
• Click Create database.

Step 2: Choose Database Creation Method

• Select Full configuration (do not choose Easy create).

Step 3: Engine Configuration

• Engine type: MySQL
• Engine version: MySQL 8.4.x (choose the latest 8.4 option available)

✔ Satisfies the engine requirement.

Step 4: Templates

• Select Sandbox (dev/test).

Step 5: DB Instance Settings

• DB instance identifier: nautilus-rds
• Credentials:
  • Username: keep default (e.g., admin)
  • Password: auto‑generate or set manually.

Step 6: Instance Configuration

• DB instance class: db.t3.micro

✔ Free‑tier eligible and required by the lab.

Step 7: Storage Configuration

• Keep the default storage type.
• Enable storage autoscaling
• Maximum storage threshold: 50 GB (mandatory).

Step 8: Connectivity (PRIVATE is critical)

• VPC: Default or existing (keep default).
• Public access: No (must be private).
• Subnet group: Default.
• Security group: Default (or existing).

✔ Ensures the RDS instance is private.

Step 9: Additional Configuration

• Leave all other settings as default.
• No changes to backups or monitoring unless already enabled by the template.

Step 10: Create Database

• Click Create database.

Wait for Availability (very important)

1. Go to RDS → Databases.
2. Select nautilus-rds.
3. Wait until Status = Available (typically 5–10 minutes).

🚫 Do not submit while status is Creating, Modifying, or Backing‑up.

Resources & Next Steps

• Full Code Repository: KodeKloud Learning Labs
• More Deep Dives: Whispering Cloud Insights – technical articles
• Discussion: DEV Community – share thoughts and questions

Credits

• All labs are from: KodeKloud
• Thanks for providing these valuable resources.