ApsaraDB RDS:Use features of ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server

References: Best practices for hot and cold data separation

Feature description: Data that is infrequently accessed is archived to Object Storage Service (OSS) buckets to reduce costs. Data that is frequently accessed is stored on the cloud disks of RDS instances to improve the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of data management. The feature is suitable for business scenarios in which a large amount of data is involved, cost-sensitive workloads need to be processed, or tiered data access is required.

Related features: data archiving. For more information, see Use the data archiving feature.

Feature description: This feature provides faster restoration and can be used to back up a larger amount of data than the physical backup feature. Snapshot backups do not consume CPU or memory resources of your RDS instance. Snapshot backups consume fewer I/O resources than physical backups. When you create a snapshot backup, the performance of your RDS instance is not significantly affected.

Related features: snapshot backup. For more information, see Use the snapshot backup feature.

References: Best practices for TDE

Feature description: TDE prevents attackers from bypassing the database to read sensitive information from storage. This effectively improves the security of sensitive data in your database. You can also use the backup files generated after the TDE feature is enabled to restore the data of the RDS instance to an on-premises device.

Related features: TDE. For more information, see Configure TDE.

Feature description: If your RDS instance that runs RDS Cluster Edition needs to process a small number of write requests but a large number of read requests, the primary RDS instance may be overwhelmed by the read requests, and your workloads may be interrupted. In this case, you can create one or more read-only RDS instances to offload read requests from the primary RDS instance. Read-only RDS instances help increase the read capability of your database system and the throughput of your application. If the primary RDS instance meets specific requirements, the read-only RDS instances that are attached to the primary RDS instance can be initialized in a quick manner. This allows you to create a read-only RDS instances within minutes and does not affect the I/O performance of the primary RDS instance. For more information, see Appendix: Introduction to fast initialization of read-only RDS instances.

After read-only RDS instances are created, you can enable the read-only routing endpoint and add the endpoint of the primary RDS instance and the read-only routing endpoint to your application. This way, write requests are forwarded to the primary RDS instance and read requests are forwarded to the read-only routing endpoint. Then, the read-only routing endpoint forwards the read requests to the read-only RDS instances based on the read weights of the read-only RDS instances.

Related features: RDS Cluster Edition, creation of read-only RDS instance, and read/write splitting. For more information, see RDS Cluster Edition, Create a read-only ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance, and Enable read/write splitting by enabling the read-only routing endpoint.

Feature description: This feature allows you to modify the parameters of your RDS instance in the ApsaraDB RDS console or by calling API operations. You can also view the parameter modification history. This improves the O&M efficiency and user experience of the RDS instance.

Related features: instance parameter management in the ApsaraDB RDS console. For more information, see Modify instance parameters in the ApsaraDB RDS console.

References: Configure scheduled tasks to adjust the number of RCUs for a serverless RDS instance

Feature description: In most cases, the RDS Capacity Unit (RCU) scaling for a serverless RDS instance requires several seconds to complete. In some cases, the RCU scaling may require 3 to 5 minutes to complete due to inter-host scale-ups. If you have strict requirements on stability within a specific period of time, you can configure scheduled tasks to adjust the number of RCUs for the serverless RDS instance.

Related features: serverless instances. For more information, see Overview.

References: Use a webshell to log on to the host on which an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance resides and use SSRS on the host

Feature introduction: You can create a host account for your RDS instance and use the host account to log on to the host on which the RDS instance resides. After you log on to the host, you can use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) to manage the SQL Server databases.

Related features: host account creation. For more information, see Create and use a host account for logons.