Amazon Relational Database Service - Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Amazon Relational Database Service

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a web service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It provides cost-efficient and resizable capacity while managing time-consuming database administration tasks, freeing you up to focus on your applications and business.

Region Availability

Amazon Relational Database Service is available in the following regions in China:

  • Beijing Region

  • Ningxia Region

Feature Availability and Implementation Differences

The Amazon Web Services in China implementation of Amazon RDS is unique in the following ways:

  • Cross-region features, such as DB snapshot copying across regions and read replication across multiple regions, are currently not supported between the Beijing Region and other non-China Regions.

  • Backup and maintenance windows:

    • If you don't specify a preferred backup window when you create the DB instance, Amazon RDS assigns a default 30-minute backup window which is selected at random from between 06:00 and 14:00 UTC.

    • If you don't specify a preferred maintenance window when you create the DB instance, Amazon RDS assigns a default 30-minute maintenance window on a randomly selected day of the week from between 06:00 and 14:00 UTC.

  • For current information on DB Instance classes, see Amazon RDS Pricing.

  • You can have up to 20 manual snapshots for your account in the Beijing and Ningxia Regions.

  • Since the Ningxia Region uses a unique certificate authority (CA), update your DB instances for the Ningxia Region to use the Region-specific certificate identified by rds-ca-rsa2048-g1 in DescribeCertificates calls as soon as possible. The remaining instructions described in the Rotating your SSL/TLS certificate topic are the same, except for the certificate identifier.

Guides and References

Amazon Web Services in China user guides are available in HTML and PDF, in both Chinese and English. API references are available in HTML and PDF. Some API references may be available only in English. Currently, not all API references are available in the Beijing and Ningxia Regions. Links to some API references will take you to the global Amazon Web Services site. Note that some features and functionality described in the guides and references may not be available in the current Amazon Web Services in China release.

General Information About Amazon Web Services in China

The following information applies to all Amazon Web Services that are available in the China Regions.

Amazon Web Services Accounts in the China Regions

To use services in the Beijing and Ningxia Regions, you need an account and credentials specific to each of those Regions.

  • Accounts and credentials for other Amazon Regions will not work for services operating in the Beijing and Ningxia Regions.

  • Accounts and credentials for the Beijing and Ningxia Regions will not work for other Amazon Regions.

  • For more information, see Signup, Accounts, and Credentials.

Domain for Amazon Web Services in China

The domain for Amazon Web Services in China is www.amazonaws.cn.

Endpoints & Amazon Resource Names (ARNs)

For information about endpoints and ARNs in Amazon Web Services in China, see Endpoints and ARNs for Amazon Web Services in China.

Availability Zones for the China Regions

  • In the Beijing Region, there are three Availability Zones.

  • In the Ningxia Region, there are three Availability Zones.

General Information for Amazon Web Services in China

The following applies to all Amazon Web Services that are available in the China Regions. For detailed information about specific Amazon Web Services, see the service-specific topic in this guide.

  • Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM)

    • You can grant or deny a service access to resources using the Principal policy element.

    • Service principal values vary by Region.

  • EC2-Classic Platform

    • The EC2-Classic platform is not supported.

  • Free Usage Tier

    • The free usage tier is supported in the Ningxia Region.

    • The free usage tier is not supported in the Beijing Region.

Amazon Web Services Console

The console for Amazon Web Services in China is unique to China. The screenshots in the Amazon Web Services guides might differ from what you see on your console. For information about differences in service functionality, see the topics for each service in this guide.

Code Examples

The Amazon Web Services documentation might include endpoints and ARNs in code examples that are not specific to the Beijing and Ningxia Regions. When using examples, verify you are using the endpoints and ARNs for your Region.