Creating a BYOM DB instance for RDS for SQL Server - Amazon Relational Database Service
PrerequisitesVerifyingConsiderations
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Creating a BYOM DB instance for RDS for SQL Server

You can create BYOM instances through the Amazon RDS console or the AWS CLI.

Console: From the Create database page, you can create a BYOM instance the same way you would create a License Included (LI) instance. The console creates the BYOM engine version behind the scenes on your behalf. Note that building the engine version from your provided installation media adds approximately 20 minutes to the overall instance creation time.

To avoid this additional wait, you can pre-create the BYOM engine version from the Custom engine versions page. Once the engine version is created, launching instances against it follows the same timeline as LI instances.

CLI: Through the AWS CLI, you first call create-custom-db-engine-version to create the BYOM engine version, then call create-db-instance to launch your database. This two-step process also applies when you modify existing BYOM instances to a new minor version: create the target BYOM engine version first, wait for it to reach Available status, and then call modify-db-instance to upgrade.

Prerequisites

Before you create a BYOM DB instance, verify the following:

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon RDS console.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Databases, then choose Create database.

  3. For Choose a database creation method, choose Full configuration.

  4. For Engine options, choose Microsoft SQL Server.

  5. For Templates, choose Production or Dev/Test based on your use case.

  6. For Database management type, choose Amazon RDS.

  7. For Edition, choose SQL Server Standard Edition or SQL Server Enterprise Edition.

  8. For License model, choose BYOM (Bring Your Own Media).

  9. For Major engine version, choose the SQL Server version that matches your installation media (for example, 2022).

  10. For Minor engine version, choose the target minor version (for example, 16.00.4175.1.v1).

  11. For DB instance identifier, enter a unique name for your DB instance.

  12. Configure the remaining settings (DB instance class, storage, connectivity, authentication, backups, and maintenance) as you would for a License Included instance.

  13. Choose Create database.

Amazon RDS creates the BYOM engine version automatically and launches your instance.

Use the create-db-instance command with --license-model bring-your-own-media:

aws rds create-db-instance \
    --engine sqlserver-ee \
    --engine-version 16.00.4175.1.v1 \
    --license-model bring-your-own-media \
    --db-instance-identifier my-byom-instance \
    --db-instance-class db.m7i.xlarge \
    --master-username admin \
    --master-user-password <password> \
    --allocated-storage 200 \
    --db-subnet-group-name my-subnet-group \
    --vpc-security-group-ids sg-0123456789abcdef0

Verifying your BYOM DB instance

After you create the instance, verify that it uses the BYOM license model:

aws rds describe-db-instances \
    --db-instance-identifier my-byom-instance

In the response, confirm the following values:

  • "LicenseModel": "bring-your-own-media" — The instance uses your own SQL Server license.

  • "Engine": "sqlserver-ee" — The correct engine edition.

  • "EngineVersion": "16.00.4175.1.v1" — The target engine version.

Considerations

  • If you have existing automation that creates DB instances without specifying --license-model, those workflows fail after you create a BYOM engine version for that engine version. Update your automation to include the --license-model parameter before you activate a BYOM engine version.