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

Creating a BYOM DB instance for RDS for SQL Server

Create a BYOM DB instance by using the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, AWS Tools for PowerShell, or the Amazon RDS API. The AWS CLI and AWS Tools for PowerShell come preinstalled in AWS CloudShell.

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. After the engine version is created, launching instances against it follows the same timeline as LI instances.

AWS CLI and AWS Tools for PowerShell – When you use the AWS CLI or AWS Tools for PowerShell, you first create the BYOM engine version (the CreateCustomDBEngineVersion operation), and then create your DB instance (the CreateDBInstance operation). The same two steps apply when you upgrade a BYOM DB instance to a new minor version. First, create the target BYOM engine version and wait for it to reach available status. Then, modify the DB instance (the ModifyDBInstance operation).

Prerequisites

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

Creating your BYOM DB instance

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon RDS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/rds/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Databases. Choose Create database, and then choose Full configuration.

  3. On the Create database page, do the following:

    1. For Engine type, choose Microsoft SQL Server.

    2. For Database management type, choose Amazon RDS.

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

    4. Under Templates, confirm the template selection. When you choose an edition, the template options change. For Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition, the options are Production and Dev/Test.

    5. For License Model, choose BYOM (Bring Your Own Media).

    6. For Major engine version, choose the major version that matches your installation media, for example SQL Server 2025.

    7. For Minor engine version, choose the minor version, for example 17.00.5005.3.v1.

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

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

  4. 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 17.00.5005.3.v1 \
    --license-model bring-your-own-media \
    --db-instance-identifier my-byom-instance \
    --db-instance-class db.m8a.xlarge \
    --master-username admin \
    --manage-master-user-password \
    --allocated-storage 200 \
    --db-subnet-group-name my-subnet-group \
    --vpc-security-group-ids sg-0123456789abcdef0 \
    --region us-west-2

This example uses --manage-master-user-password to store the master user password in AWS Secrets Manager. For more information, see Password management with Amazon RDS and AWS Secrets Manager.

To set your own password instead, replace --manage-master-user-password with the following:

--master-user-password password

Use the New-RDSDBInstance cmdlet with -LicenseModel bring-your-own-media.

New-RDSDBInstance `
    -Engine sqlserver-ee `
    -EngineVersion 17.00.5005.3.v1 `
    -LicenseModel bring-your-own-media `
    -DBInstanceIdentifier my-byom-instance `
    -DBInstanceClass db.m8a.xlarge `
    -MasterUsername admin `
    -ManageMasterUserPassword $true `
    -AllocatedStorage 200 `
    -DBSubnetGroupName my-subnet-group `
    -VpcSecurityGroupId sg-0123456789abcdef0 `
    -Region us-west-2

This example uses -ManageMasterUserPassword $true to store the master user password in AWS Secrets Manager. For more information, see Password management with Amazon RDS and AWS Secrets Manager.

To set your own password instead, replace -ManageMasterUserPassword $true with the following:

-MasterUserPassword password

Verifying your BYOM DB instance

After you create the instance, verify that it uses the BYOM license model. Confirm the following values:

  • LicenseModel is bring-your-own-media – The instance uses your own SQL Server license.

  • Engine is sqlserver-ee – The correct engine edition.

  • EngineVersion is 17.00.5005.3.v1 – The target engine version.

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon RDS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/rds/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Databases, and then choose the name of your DB instance.

  3. Choose the Configuration tab.

Confirm that License model shows Bring Your Own Media and Engine version shows the target engine version. The Engine field at the top of the page shows the edition.

Use the describe-db-instances command.

aws rds describe-db-instances \
    --db-instance-identifier my-byom-instance \
    --region us-west-2

The output looks like the following.

...
            "Engine": "sqlserver-ee",
            ...
            "EngineVersion": "17.00.5005.3.v1",
            ...
            "LicenseModel": "bring-your-own-media",
...

Use the Get-RDSDBInstance cmdlet.

Get-RDSDBInstance `
    -DBInstanceIdentifier my-byom-instance `
    -Region us-west-2

The output looks like the following.

...
Engine                                    : sqlserver-ee
...
EngineVersion                             : 17.00.5005.3.v1
...
LicenseModel                              : bring-your-own-media
...

Considerations

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