Announcing Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL serverless database creation in seconds | Amazon Web Services

Amazon’s new Aurora PostgreSQL express configuration lets developers create a serverless database in seconds with two console clicks or a single CLI/API call. It uses preconfigured defaults, IAM authentication, and an internet access gateway to simplify secure connections without requiring a VPC, VPN, or Direct Connect. The feature is designed to accelerate prototyping and application development while preserving Aurora capabilities such as read replicas and automated failover.

Express Configuration for Aurora PostgreSQL

• Creates an Aurora PostgreSQL serverless cluster and instance within seconds.
• Uses preconfigured defaults to reduce setup complexity.
• Allows customization of:
  • Cluster identifier
  • Serverless capacity range during creation
  • Read replicas and parameter groups after creation
• Express-configured clusters do not require an Amazon VPC.
• An internet access gateway is enabled by default for secure connections from development tools worldwide.
• The gateway is distributed across multiple Availability Zones for high availability.
• IAM authentication is configured for the administrator, enabling passwordless database authentication.

Creating a Database

• In the Aurora and RDS console:
  • Open the Dashboard.
  • Choose Create with the rocket icon.
  • Review or adjust the express configuration.
  • Choose Create database.
• The AWS CLI and SDKs support the --with-express-configuration parameter.
• A single create-db-cluster call creates both the cluster and its instance:

aws rds create-db-cluster \
  --db-cluster-identifier channy-express-db \
  --engine aurora-postgresql \
  --with-express-configuration

• The database becomes ready when its status changes to Available.

Connecting to the Database

The Connectivity & security tab provides several connection methods:

• Code snippets
  • Generates connection examples for .NET, Go, JDBC, Node.js, PHP, PostgreSQL, Python, and TypeScript.
  • Python examples use boto3 to generate an IAM authentication token and psycopg2 to connect over SSL.
• AWS CloudShell
  • Launches a shell with a preconfigured psql connection command.
  • Developers can immediately run SQL commands at the PostgreSQL prompt.
• Endpoints
  • Supports tools such as pgAdmin that use username-and-password fields.
  • The password is an IAM authentication token valid for 15 minutes.
  • A new token must be generated if the connection ends or the token expires.

Application Development Integrations

• Aurora is now included among eligible AWS Free Tier database services.
• AWS’s enhanced Free Tier offers up to $200 in credits:
  • $100 upon signup
  • Up to another $100 through usage of services such as RDS, Lambda, and Bedrock
• Integrations with Vercel and v0 allow developers to create or connect to AWS databases quickly.
• v0 can use natural-language prompts to generate full-stack applications backed by Aurora PostgreSQL, Aurora DSQL, or DynamoDB.
• Existing Aurora databases created with express configuration can also be connected to Vercel.

The express configuration is best suited for quickly starting development, experimentation, and prototypes. Developers can begin with minimal networking and authentication setup, then add capacity, replicas, and other Aurora features as their application grows.