Determining whether you are using the EC2-VPC or EC2-Classic platform - Amazon Relational Database Service
EC2-VPC platform in the consoleEC2-Classic platform in the console
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Determining whether you are using the EC2-VPC or EC2-Classic platform

Your AWS account and the AWS Region you choose determines which of the two RDS platforms your DB instance is created on: EC2-VPC or EC2-Classic. The type of platform determines if you have a default VPC, and which type of security group you use to provide access to your DB instance.

The legacy EC2-Classic platform is the original platform used by Amazon RDS. If you are on this platform and want to use a VPC, you must create the VPC using the Amazon VPC console or Amazon VPC API. Accounts that only support the EC2-VPC platform have a default VPC where all DB instances are created, and you must use either an EC2 or VPC security group to provide access to the DB instance.

Important

If you are a new Amazon RDS customer, if you have never created a DB instance before, or if you are creating a DB instance in an AWS Region you have not used before, in almost all cases you are on the EC2-VPC platform and have a default VPC.

You can tell which platform your AWS account in a given AWS Region is using by looking at the dashboard on the RDS console or EC2 console. If you are a new Amazon RDS customer, if you have never created a DB instance before, or if you are creating a DB instance in an AWS Region you have not used before, you might be redirected to the first-run console page and not see the home page following.

EC2-VPC platform in the console

If Supported platforms indicates VPC, as shown following in the RDS console, your AWS account in the current AWS Region uses the EC2-VPC platform, and uses a default VPC.

EC2-VPC platform

Similarly, if Supported platforms indicates VPC, as shown following in the EC2 console, your AWS account in the current AWS Region uses the EC2-VPC platform, and uses a default VPC.

EC2-VPC platform

In both the RDS and EC2 console, the name of the default VPC is shown below the supported platform. To provide access to a DB instance created on the EC2-VPC platform, you must create a VPC security group. For information about creating a VPC security group, see Tutorial: Create an Amazon VPC for use with a DB instance.

EC2-Classic platform in the console

In both the RDS and EC2 console, if Supported platforms indicates EC2,VPC, your AWS account in the current AWS Region uses the EC2-Classic platform, and you do not have a default VPC. To provide access to a DB instance created on the EC2-Classic platform, you must create a DB security group. For information about creating a DB security group, see Creating a DB security group.

Note

  • You can create a VPC on the EC2-Classic platform, but one is not created for you by default as it is on accounts that support the EC2-VPC platform.

  • If you want to move an existing DB instance into a VPC, you can use the AWS Management Console to do it easily. For more information. see Moving a DB instance not in a VPC into a VPC.