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).

Create with express configuration

You can create and connect to an Aurora PostgreSQL serverless database in seconds using express configuration which provides a streamlined database creation experience with preconfigured defaults to help you get started easily and quickly.

In two clicks, you can have an Aurora cluster with a serverless instance ready to use in seconds. You can also use the Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) or Amazon SDKs with the parameter --express-configuration to create both a cluster and an instance within the cluster with single API call which makes it ready for running queries in seconds. You have the flexibility to modify most of the settings during, and most other settings after the database creation. For more information about these settings, see Express configuration settings. Once created, you have access to most of the features and benefits of Aurora such as the ability to add readers for high availability and scalability, and automatic failover capabilities. Some options, such as specifying a customer managed encryption key, selecting specific engine versions, or associating the clusters with an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), are only available when using the Create with full configuration option. This creation experience for Aurora PostgreSQL is also available with the Amazon Free Tier.

Prerequisites

Before you can create an Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster with express configuration, you must at minimum have the following permissions:

Supported Regions

You can create an Aurora PostgreSQL serverless cluster with express configuration in all Amazon Web Services Regions except the Amazon China, Amazon GovCloud (US), Middle East (UAE), and Middle East (Bahrain) Regions.

Internet access gateway

Aurora also provides an internet access gateway enabled by default to connect securely with the clusters created through express configuration. This feature is currently supported only for express configuration clusters. It supports the PostgreSQL wire protocol and enables you to connect through the internet from a wide range of tools and development platforms that may be running outside of you Amazon infrastructure - no VPN or Amazon Direct Connect required. The gateway is distributed across multiple Availability Zones, offering the same level of high availability as your Aurora cluster. It is a managed component of Aurora, so there are no software updates or patches that need to be applied by you.

The internet access gateway is integrated with Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM), allowing you to enforce identity-based permissions for authorized access and safeguard your data with ephemeral token-based access. When using the gateway, the required setup for the database administrator user, including granting the rds_iam role, is automatically managed for you.

Creating a DB cluster with express configuration

You can create an Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster with express configuration using the Amazon Web Services Management Console, the Amazon CLI, or the RDS API.

Console

To create with express configuration using the console:

CLI

You can use the Amazon CLI to create an Aurora PostgreSQL clusters with express configuration.

For Linux or MacOS.

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

For Windows:

aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-express-cluster ^
    --engine aurora-postgresql ^
    --with-express-configuration

The express configuration parameter takes care of creating a database cluster, an Aurora serverless instance, setting up the internet access gateway, and IAM authentication for the admin database user (default = postgres).

API

You can use the relevant Amazon SDK and call the CreateDBCluster operation to create a DB cluster and database instance with the express configuration.

Express configuration settings

The following table describes the settings for express configuration and indicates whether they can be modified after creation.

Connecting to clusters with express configuration

Clusters created with express configuration are automatically set up with an internet access gateway, which provides public access to your database with IAM authentication. Ensure that the IAM identity you use to connect to the database has permissions to rds-db:connect to generate the authentication token needed to access the database. To learn more, see IAM database authentication.

The following guide demonstrates how to use the various options in the "Connectivity & Security" tab in the Amazon Web Services Management Console to connect to your database.

The RDS Console surfaces relevant information such as code snippets, endpoint details, and other connection details to help you connect to the database. It also offers a utility to generate a token and direct access through Amazon CloudShell. Both the generate token utility and CloudShell connect using the master username you set up at the time of database creation.

Using the Connectivity & security tab

After your database is created, navigate to the Connectivity & security tab to access connection options. The Connect to database section provides three methods for connecting:

Code snippets

Use when connecting through SDK, APIs, or third-party tools. The console provides ready-to-use code snippets for your selected programming language. The snippets also dynamically reflect the authentication configuration for your database.

The following steps show connecting to your database cluster using the psql command line utility code snippet.

Prerequisites

Connecting with psql

CloudShell

The console provides an automated way to connect to your cluster using Amazon CloudShell. The following guide shows the steps to connect using psql and CloudShell.

Prerequisites

None

Using CloudShell and PSQL

Use for quick access to Amazon CLI that launches directly from the Amazon Web Services Management Console. CloudShell provides a browser-based shell environment with pre-authenticated Amazon CLI access.

Endpoints with Get token utility

If you are using tools that only support using username and password credentials, you can use the Get token utility to connect. In this case, you use the token generated by the utility in the password field. The token is generated for the master username that you setup at the time of creating the database. The token is valid for 15 minutes at a time. If the tool you are using terminates the connection, you would need to generate the token again.

The following steps show, how to use the Get token utility to connect to your database cluster using pgAdmin.

Prerequisites

Connecting to pgAdmin

The connection panel displays: internet access gateway status (Enabled), IAM Authentication status (Enabled), and IAM authentication token option. Select your programming language from the dropdown and follow the connection steps to paste the code and run the commands.

Restoring a cluster created through express configuration

The restore process for express configuration clusters follows the same workflow as standard clusters. You can restore from a manual snapshot using the restore-db-cluster-from-snapshot operation or restore to a specific point in time using the restore-db-cluster-to-point-in-time operation. You can restore a cluster with express configuration to either a cluster with full configuration or a cluster with express configuration. If you want to restore to a cluster with express configuration, both restore operations require two additional parameters—VPCNetworkingEnabled must be set to false and InternetAccessGatewayEnabled must be set to true. If you're restoring a regular cluster that used master username and password authentication to an express configuration cluster, you'll need to modify the restored DB cluster to update MasterUserAuthenticationType to iam-db-auth.

Limitations

The following limitations apply to clusters created with express configuration and the internet access gateway that is enabled by default.