• What exactly is a RDS or Relational Database Service
• 11 Reasons to use a Relational Database Service.
• Practical uses of Relational Database Services.
• Typical charges for a RDS.
• Typical quotas for a RDS.
• Differences between RDS and other types of database solutions.

In order to understand what a Relational Database Service (RDS) is, let’s just take a step back and review the definition of a Relational Database and then we will work our way up to the RDS. Relational Database is just a database that is used to organize data in different ways. The database is the parent container for holding all the data. This database, in turn, consists of multiple content holders called “tables“. These tables contain the actual data in multiple rows, distributed across multiple columns.

If you would like to know more about the basics of a Relational Database along with an example please visit this article on what is Relational Database. To get a fair idea about RDBMS, you may refer to this article Relational Database Management System: An Introduction.

What exactly is a Relational Database Service?

So now that we know that a Relational Database is a database consisting of multiple relationships, Relational Database Service (RDS), is a web service offered to utilize the Relational Database online, on the cloud. In other words, RDS is a web service that is reliable, scalable, and easy to manage out-of-the-box in the cloud.

Typically, RDS provides a professional database management platform that allows you to very easily and efficiently set, operate and scale a relational database as needed. The RDS comes with a console of its own using which, you can perform pretty much all of the required responsibilities with very less intervention and even without programming.

Ways to access the RDS

There are couple of ways in which the RDS can be accessed. They are:

• Via Management Console
• Via API

Accessing RDS via Management Console

Typically, once we order a RDS, we need to login to the RDS management console via the Web interface or the Web UI and access it from there. Using this console, we will be able to administer the RDS DB instances.

Accessing RDS via API

For integrating RDS into third-party systems, we can use the Application Programming Interface or the API to access the RDS.

How and where RDS are located

There are couple of places where the RDS that we purchase, are located. They are:

• Regions
• Availability Zones (AZs)

Regions

The geographic area in which the resources used by our RDS are located, is called a “Region”. It is possible for the RDS services in the same region to communicate with one another over the intranet. For the RDS services that fall in the internet category, communication among them is not possible.

For the reason mentioned above, it is also possible to provision RDS to certain specific regions. A good reason to do this is to meet the specific local laws of that region and other demands.

Availability Zones (AZs)

The Regions mentioned above contain Availability Zones. There could be many Availability Zones within a single Region and this is where the networks and power that a RDS typically uses, are physically isolated. The beauty of AZs is the fact that they provide low-latency network connections that are unaffected by faults that may occur in other AZs. These AZs are also cost-effective and hence, the benefits are passed on to us, the customers.

For the reasons mentioned above, we should always provision RDS in separate AZs so that our applications are protected against the local faults that occur in a specific location, if any faults were to occur.

All of this aims to streamline the business processes and this in turn, decreases the repetitive and routine tasks required for operation and management, thereby increasing our productivity. All this time saved, could be utilized in making other decisions vital for the business.

11 Reasons to use a Relational Database Service

1. Immediate use after the initial setup:

Using RDS cuts the time manifold, as it will be easy to access the capabilities of a production ready Relational Database in minutes, as opposed to previous setup that could extend from hours to days. There is no requirement for running a server and for deploying a dedicated database instance. For someone who opts for RBS, they could get the project files ready and deploy those files over the cloud in just a matter of minutes.

2. Effortless administration

As Relational Database Service is a cloud-based solution for working with databases, it is fast, secure, reliable, stable, scalable, cost effective, and easy to administer. RBS shines in the fact that there is no need for customer assistance in the installation and deployment of data basis. It is automatically performed by the RDS in matter of just few minutes as opposed to hours that are consumed by a typical Relational Database system setup.

3. Stability

RDS runs on the cloud platform. Hence the infrastructure used, will be highly reliable. The reliability of the RDS stems from the fact that when a primary RDS instance is provisioned, RDS automatically duplicates the data to a passive stand by DB instance. Because of this, in case the primary DB instance fails because of any reason or becomes unavailable, the RDS will automatically switch the service to the standby replica in a matter of seconds and serves the data from this replica, thereby providing cushion against any unexpected downtimes.

4. Reliability

RDS also offers tools that are immensely useful for the administration of databases such as disaster recovery tools, recovery, monitoring, and other tools that are necessary for operation and maintenance of the databases.

5. Backups

There are two types of backups offered by RDS. They are:

• Automated backups
• Manual backups

Automated backups

Automatic backups ensure that the data is backed up at regular intervals thus preventing data loss. In order to do this, we can set the backup start time and retention period when creating a DB instance. This will signal the RDS to create a full backup of the DB instance accordingly.

Manual backups

Manual backups ensure that the data is backed up on demand. In order to do this, we have to manually initiate the full backup of the DB instance. Once the manual backup is generated, it is available to us, till we delete it manually.

All of this adds up in favor of Relational Database Service over the cloud.

6. Security

By using RDS, it is easy to control and monitor access to the database. In addition to this, we can run the DB instances in Virtual Private Cloud, also known as VPC. By using the encrypted VPN, we can isolate the database instances and then we can connect to these instances from the existing IT infrastructure. RDS also supports the use of Secure Socket Layer, also known as SSL, to secure the data transmission. This improves our overall security even more and offers more peace of mind.

7. Scalability

RDS is very interesting in the fact that it is scalable in couple of directions. These directions are:

• Horizontal scale
• Vertical scale

Horizontal scale

If we use my SQL and PostgreSQL database engines, then we can create one or more read replicas of the primary DB instance. This is done to offload the read traffic from the primary instance, thereby increasing the speed of the web application. The maximum number of instances that can be deployed at a certain time is 5.

Vertical scale

The storage capacity can be increased by modifying the allocated storage. The computing capacity can be increased or decreased by modifying the DB instance class.

Note: SQL server does not support the read replica and scaling up the storage capacity.

8. Ease of Administration

It is very easy to setup a Relational Database over the cloud. In addition to this, it is very easy and efficient to operate and scale the RDS as per our requirements. It is very easy to perform operation and management activities such as monitoring database health, makeup and recovery, migration connecting to the database instance. It is also very easy to view different operational metrics such as CPU usage, memory usage, input output activity, database connections, storage capacity utilization and more.

9. Cost efficient

RDS is highly cost efficient and very light on the pocket as we just have to pay for the resources that we actually use. This is in high contrast to the other database services that demand a fixed price, regardless of whether the resources used or not. This leads to high saving and more profits for any individual or organization who prefer to accept the RDS for any database needs over the cloud.

10. Reduces cost of operation and maintenance

RDS reduces the cost of operation and maintenance of databases and the complexity involved in doing so, which in other words means profit for us, as a customer. In this way we get to focus more on the application and business requirements rather than spending time and additional resources on Relational Database administration and management.

11. Wide areas of implementation

Relational Database Services can be used in many areas covering a broad spectrum, such as websites, portals, testing environments, enterprise application system, Internet of Things, Mobile applications and many others. We will cover the main areas below.

Practical uses of Relational Database Services

RDS can be used virtually anywhere. Some of the areas are as follows:

1. Websites

E-commerce portals, gaming portals, social platforms, enterprise portals, e-government portals, internet industry are some of the communities that could leverage the raw power of the RDS as it provides secure, high performance, easy to use, efficient and low-cost database services over the cloud.

2. Development and testing environment

Any company or developer that follows a good development strategy, always has at least a couple of instances for development purposes and testing of software. Typically, the first instance is a development instance wherein the development takes place. The second instance is a test instance which is used only for testing the code deployed from the dev environment. This helps in using the stable, reliable and on-demand specification RDS in performing a joint test. This removes the need to build the databases manually, and in turn saves much time and money. This also helps in focusing on the application development and cuts down the software launch time.

3. Enterprise application system

Software that are provided as a service or SaaS and Enterprise office applications can be migrated to the RDS. This reduces the maintenance work load and the IT construction cost as RDS manages the service data. It also helps to access the database services without any specialized knowledge in actual physical database design, thereby increasing the productivity of the employees.

4. Internet of things (IoT)

As RDS provides database storage read and write capabilities for the service in the cloud, this minimizes the need to connect, monitor and manage the terminal things manually.

5. Mobile applications

RDS makes it possible for us to add and configure mobile application software on devices such as mobile phones and tablets. It also performs customer identity authentication as well as push and distribution and data storage activities.

Charges for RDS

The RBS charges are minimal due to the fact that, the actual charges are made only on the resources consumed. This means that the payment is made based on the storage used, the backup resources consumed and the computation power utilized in the process of using the RDS. This also depends upon the service provider that you plan to go with, so take your time to review the market standards at the time you wish to purchase RDS and take a call based on that.

Quota for RDS

When an RDS account is opted for, each account has its own limitations (as per the region), on the number of resources that can be created. Once the limit for a resource is hit, then additional calls for utilizing the resource will fail with an exception.

There are different resources or parameters with their own limits in RDS. Some of them are instances, cores, memory, disk, disk capacity. This could vary from provider to provider. So, it is best to check for these parameters before you make a select your next RDS provider.

Differences between RDS and other types of Database solutions

Conclusion

In this article we have seen an introduction to Relational Database Service (RDS). Now we know what RDS is, the different reasons for opting to RDS and what it can do for us. We also reviewed the different features and specifications of a typical RDS. Hopefully this gives you enough information to think about opting for a Relational Database Service for your next project.

Basics of Relational Database

As we know by now, a Relational Database is just another place to store data. This data could be of different forms and could relate to different information. For example, in corporate sense, these this data could represent employee information, employee salary information and any other information that the company needs to see, review and take decisions upon. This database can also hold an Inventory of products for an online store and also the orders made for each of the products. This database can also contain customer information when someone tries to purchase the products.

Structure of Relational Database

Relational Database comprises of multiple content holders called “tables“. Each table contains a series of horizontal rows and vertical columns. The columns describe the data that needs to be stored in this table whereas, the rows denote the data that is being entered and stored dynamically. This entire row is called as a record. This row is supposed to contain unique data instance for a corresponding column. Each row in a table has a unique key that can be used to link to rows in other tables.

Rules for design of Relational Databases

• Each table must have a unique name.
• Each table consists of multiple rows.
• Each row in a table should be unique.
• Every table must have a key to uniquely identify the rows.
• Each column in a table must have a unique attribute name, also referred to as the “column name”.

Example of Relational Database

Let’s consider an online store. This store contains inventory. There could be multiple products in the inventory and these products could be of different shapes, sizes, colours, etc. It would be hard and cumbersome to keep a manual track of this data.

To ease up this process of tracking and dealing with all the data, a Relational Database could be used and a new table called “inventory” could be created and details such as the product sizes, colours, etc. could be stored in this. When a customer tries to purchase one (or more) of the products in the inventory, they could look through the specifications of the items provided by means of the User Interface and make a decision. And finally, when the customer purchases any of the items, this information could be stored in another table called “orders”. These orders are now connected with the inventory table. This connection is called as a relationship, as It helped to connect the products with the purchases and this helps in taking sensible business decisions.

Relationships in Relational Database

As we have seen in the example above, multiple tables can be linked to each other and these “relationships” are used to link tables together. These relationships can also be called as “table associations”. Relationships are made using “Keys”.

What is a Key?

In a Relational Database, a key is an identifier that is used to uniquely identify a record. A key can comprise of a single field (column) or multiple fields (columns) grouped together. The keys are essential part in a database as they help in creating associations between tables, building relationships and to maintain consistency in data.

There are multiple types of keys available. They are:

• Primary key
• Composite key
• Foreign key

What is a Primary Key?

A primary key is a field whose value is used to identify any record in a table in a unique way. Usually there is only one field that serves the purpose of the primary key.  There are also cases when this key may contain multiple attributes or multiple fields. For example, in an “orders” table, “orderID” would be the primary key for that table. This means that only this field is used to identify any record in this table.

What is a Composite Key?

There are times when a primary key comprises of multiple fields grouped together. This means that only when these two fields or multiple fields are grouped together they can be used to uniquely identify a record.

What is a Foreign Key?

A foreign key is simply a field whose value is the same as the primary key of another table and this table will contain a different field as a primary key.

For example, let us consider that we have two tables namely “customers” table and “orders“ table. A customer’s table will contain a primary key called “customerID“. The orders table will contain a primary key called “ordersID“. At the same time the orders table will also contain another column or field that goes typically by the name “customerID“ and it will point to the “customerID“ (which is the primary key) in the customers table. So, in the “orders“ table, the “customerID“ column is called as the Foreign key.

So here are some points to remember:

• Primary keys are always unique.
• Foreign keys may contain duplicate values.
• Relationship between different tables is created using keys.

Different types of Relationships/Cardinality in a Relational Database

There are multiple relationships that a Relational Database can use to connect to the data that is present in other tables. These relationships, also referred to as “Cardinality”, are:

• One to One: In this relationship, one table record relates or points to another record in another table.
• One to Many: In this relationship, one table points multiple records in another table.
• Many to One relationship: In this relationship, more than one table record points to another table record.
• Many to Many: In this relationship, more than one table record points to one record in another table.

When to use Relational Database and their benefits

There are multiple scenarios when we can use Relational Databases. Here are few examples:

• When you want to make sure that your data is not compromised.
• When you want to make sure that the data is not repeated that is reduced data redundancy.
• When you are working with large amounts of data.
• To secure the data from others.
• To back up the information that you possess.
• To replicate a new instance of the backup that you already have.
• When you need scalability with data that is being able to add new data without having the need to modify the existing records.

Conclusion

In this article we have covered the basics of a Relational Database and we have seen how it could be useful for your business or any other area that deals with data. Here are some key takeaway points:

• The Relational Database is a very widely used type of database management system.
• The database consists of data holders usually referred to as tables.
• A database can contain a single table or multiple tables.
• These multiple tables could be linked together in some meaningful ways.
• Different types of keys exist to uniquely identify the rows in a table. These keys are called primary key, composite key and foreign keys.
• Primary keys and foreign keys are used to create relationships.
• There could be multiple relationships between different tables. These relationships are: One to One, One to Many, Many to One and One to One.
• All these keys and relationships help in understanding and connecting the data in a better fashion.

Relational Database Management System

The most widely used type of DBMS is the relational database management system.  It has a tabular structure, arranged in rows and columns, connecting similar forms of data together for more accurate and consistent transactional data. Relational database management system makes database maintenance and querying easier and faster due to the fact that it reduces the repetition of data stored in multiple tables.

Structured Query Language is used for the manipulation of data stored in this form.  A database server monitoring tool can then be used to monitor all the information in the SQL server. Various database monitoring tools exist, picking the right one will depend on the kind of event you want to monitor.

How Database affects Businesses Customer Relationship

If your business is expanding, spreadsheets might no longer be able to help you with all your database needs. You will need to identify the relevant database software applications that can foster business organization and growth.

For example, there is a customer database management system to help businesses track their customers’ feedback and keep in tune with customers’ needs. The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software gathers all customer information into a single database so that every aspect of the business can easily access and make use of it. Over the years, this has helped organizations interact with their customers better, seeing that customer focus is a necessity for every business that plans to be around for a long time.

CRM is capable of automating business functions that are repetitive and for distributing emails and alerts automatically to customers. Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, and Salesforce remain the major vendors of the CRM software. Apart from on-premises CRM software that is on the company’s server, cloud-based system is also available for members of the organization to access it from wherever they are. However ample data security in form of cybersecurity has to be applied to ensure that these important data remains safe and exclusive to only the organization.

Advantages of using a Relational Database Management System

Relational database management system might be the easiest form of database management to access, especially in business. This is due to the fact that data is stored based on a relational model, so it is easily understood. Also, multiple users can access and work on the stored data at the same time, very useful for large organizations.

SQL that is supported by RDMS is simple and very easy to learn, this is also a major plus as querying your data doesn’t have to be so tedious. Relational database management systems might not be the fastest in terms of performance speed when compared to its counterparts like an object-oriented database, network database etc. but, it has its benefits and unique ways of optimizing the organizational database.

Conclusion

Keeping a standard relevant database is essential for businesses to be able to monitor and track the happenings in their organization. To know how much inventory is available in the warehouse, a retail business would need an inventory tracking database. Databases can also be used to monitor employee information and keep track of their performances and benefits. Again, keeping a database can help with analysing and predicting data to forecast market trends. Quite frankly, the importance of relational database management system in an organization is numerous and cuts across all aspects of the business.