Up until April 2012, the only way to run SQL server on cloud was “SQL Azure”. But recently AWS announced SQL Server on Cloud. Good news? Probably. it’s always good to have more than one option. So for those who are new to world of AWS, here are few tips before you get hands-on:
1) The way RDS works is that you spin up “db instances”. So here you specify the machine size that would “power” your database. And remember that the type of instance you choose would directly affect your bill.
2) Spend some time understanding the billing structure. Since AWS gives you lot of options – their billing structure is not simple. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that lot of options in AWS is bad. it’s just that the billing is not simple and it’s not one-dimensional (there are various dimensions that shapes your billing structure). And why should you invest time? because in the “pay – as – you – go ” model it would directly affect your Bill.
3) understand costs like: cost to back-up database PLUS data-transfer cost.
4) Understand the difference between “Bring your OWN license” and “license included” (Express, Standard and web only. Currently enterprise edition not included here) model in RDS SQL Server
5) and unlike SQL Azure, RDS SQL Server charges on a “per hour” basis.
Note the date of this post: 15th may 2012. Things change very fast, so readers-from-the-future please refer to official documents.
BTW, here are the few blog posts from the web-o-sphere:
1. Expanding the Cloud for Windows Developers
2. First Look – SQL Server on Amazon Web Services RDS
3. Official resource: AWS RDS SQL Server
That’s about it for this post.
Republished from Paras Doshi's Blog [61 clicks].
Read the original version here [5 clicks].