Right-Sizing Amazon RDS for SQL Server – PASS Data Summit 2024

Right-Sizing Amazon RDS for SQL Server – PASS Data Summit 2024 | Presented by Datavail

In today’s cloud-first world, optimizing your database infrastructure is critical for performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency. In this expert-led session, Santosh Bhosale, Senior SQL Server DBA at Datavail, walks you through the essential strategies for right-sizing Amazon RDS for SQL Server.

Whether you're running production workloads, test environments, or mission-critical applications, understanding how to choose the right instance type, monitor performance, and adjust resources is key to maximizing ROI and minimizing waste.

🔗 View the full presentation here: https://www.datavail.com/resources/right-sizing-amazon-rds-for-sql-server/

🔍 Key Highlights
Introduction to Amazon RDS: Learn what Amazon RDS is and why right-sizing matters for SQL Server workloads.
Instance Types Explained: Understand the differences between General Purpose, Memory Optimized, Compute Optimized, and Storage Optimized instances.
Workload Metrics: Discover how to assess CPU, memory, disk I/O, latency, and replication lag to determine optimal sizing.
Monitoring Tools: Explore AWS CloudWatch, Trusted Advisor, and Performance Insights for real-time performance tracking and recommendations.
Right-Sizing Process: Step-by-step guide to gathering data, analyzing trends, and making informed adjustments.
Cost Considerations: Compare On-Demand, Reserved, and Spot Instances, and learn how right-sizing can reduce unnecessary spend.
Best Practices: Learn how to automate scaling, monitor workloads continuously, and align instance types with application needs.
🎯 Why Watch This Session?
This presentation is ideal for:

Cloud architects and DBAs managing SQL Server on AWS
IT leaders seeking cost optimization
DevOps teams looking to improve performance and scalability
Anyone preparing for cloud migrations or infrastructure audits

1. Right-Sizing Amazon RDS for SQL Server Santosh Bhosale He/him Senior Database Administrator – SQL Server Services Datavail

2. Santosh Senior SQL Server DBA / santosh-bhosale [email protected] Datavail.com Datavail he/him Bhosale Experienced senior database administrator and IT leader with a demonstrated history of effectively managing all facets of large-scale SQL databases. This includes installation, performance tuning and optimization, upgrades, updates, capacity planning, and security management. My expertise encompasses T-SQL, PowerShell, and Security Management.

3. About Datavail Databases Windows Workloads Open-Source Workloads Oracle Workloads 100+ Cloud SAs and Engineers 16+ Years Database Services 700+ Customers 10+ Years Cloud Experience 200,000+ Databases Managed 150+ Cloud Migrations Expertise Experience Outcome Data Integration & Analytics Partnerships

4. Introduction to Amazon RDS What is Amazon RDS? Managed relational database service provided by AWS. Supports multiple database engines: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, MariaDB. Importance of Right-Sizing Ensures optimal performance. Reduces costs by avoiding over-provisioning.

5. Understanding Instance Types Instance Classes General Purpose (e.g., db.t3, db.m5): Balanced compute and memory. Memory Optimized (e.g., db.r5): High memory for performance. Burstable Performance Instances: Cost-effective for variable workloads. Storage Optimized Choosing the Right Class Align with application needs (CPU, memory, IOPS).

6. Understanding Your Database Workload (Key Metrics for Right-sizing) CPU Utilization Memory Utilization Disk I/O and Latency Database Connections Latency Replication Lag (for replicas)

7. Tools for Monitoring and Assessment AWS CloudWatch Set up alarms for key metrics (CPU, memory, disk I/O). AWS Trusted Advisor Provides insights and recommendations for optimization. Performance Insights Helps analyze database load and identifies bottlenecks.

8. Right-Sizing Process Gather Historical Data Analyze metrics over a suitable period (e.g., weeks/months). Evaluate Performance Trends Identify peaks and troughs in usage. Determine Workload Requirements Understand the nature of your application workload. Make Adjustments Scale up or down based on analysis.

9. Cost Considerations Instance Pricing Models On-Demand vs. Reserved Instances vs. Spot Instances. Cost of Over-Provisioning Highlight potential savings from right-sizing. Use Case Scenarios Example: A test environment vs. production workload.

10. Best Practices for Right-Sizing Amazon RDS for SQL Server Regular Monitoring Continuously track performance metrics. Adjust Based on Workload Changes Reassess after major application updates or seasonal changes. Automate Scaling Use RDS Auto Scaling where applicable.

11. Summary of Key Points Right-sizing RDS is essential for achieving a balance between cost and performance. Selecting the right instance class is very important to ensure the RDS instance can handle your application’s demands. Utilize monitoring tools and metrics for regular assessment. Right-sizing your Amazon RDS instances is a continuous process.

12. Stop by Datavail Booth #304 for fun swag and to continue the Amazon RDS discussion. Santosh Bhosale / santosh-bhosale [email protected] Datavail.com