aws New capabilities to optimize costs and improve scalability on Amazon RDS for SQL Server and Oracle | AWS News Blog (opens in new tab)
Amazon Web Services has introduced several key updates to Amazon RDS for SQL Server and Oracle designed to reduce operational overhead and licensing expenses. By integrating SQL Server Developer Edition and high-performance M7i/R7i instances with customizable CPU options, organizations can now scale their development and production environments more efficiently. These enhancements allow teams to mirror production features in testing environments and right-size resource allocation without the financial burden of traditional enterprise licensing. ### SQL Server Developer Edition for Non-Production Workloads * Amazon RDS now supports SQL Server Developer Edition, providing the full feature set of the Enterprise Edition at no licensing cost for development and testing environments. * The update allows for consistency across the database lifecycle, as developers can utilize RDS features such as automated backups, software updates, and encryption while testing Enterprise-level functionalities. * To deploy, users upload SQL Server binary files to Amazon S3; existing data can be migrated from Standard or Enterprise editions using native backup and restore operations. ### Performance and Licensing Optimization via M7i/R7i Instances * RDS for SQL Server now supports M7i and R7i instance types, which offer up to 55% lower costs compared to previous generation instances. * The billing structure for these instances provides improved transparency by separating Amazon RDS DB instance costs from software licensing fees. * The "Optimize CPU" capability allows users to customize the number of vCPUs on license-included instances, enabling them to reduce licensing costs while maintaining the high memory and storage performance of larger instance classes. ### Expanded Storage and Scalability for RDS * The updates include expanded storage capabilities for both Amazon RDS for Oracle and RDS for SQL Server to accommodate growing data requirements. * These enhancements are designed to support a wide range of workloads, providing flexibility for diverse compute and storage needs across development, testing, and production tiers. These updates represent a significant shift toward providing more granular control over database expenditures and performance. For organizations running heavy SQL Server or Oracle workloads, leveraging the Developer Edition for non-production tasks and migrating to M7i/R7i instances with optimized CPU settings can drastically reduce total cost of ownership while maintaining high scalability.