I will be uploading a web application to amazon ec2 instance in the next couple of weeks.
I am using : windows server 2008 r2 64 bit as an amazon instance along with a 30 GB EBS.
The only confusion i have is database (MySQL) related.
As i am the only developer of this application and there is no DB admin or team to help me host it, how should i tackle the backup and disaster recovery issue?
I noticed that EBS enables me to take snapshots. However i read about amazon's RDS system which does automatic backups, replication, recovery etc...
I would like to have your recommendations for which mechanism should i use (EBS manual snapshot or the RDS system) based on the following facts:
- As i mentioned i am the only person that will be responsible of hosting, securing and managing the application.
- I am not experienced with db admin related stuff (replication, disaster recovery etc...)
- I would like to minimize all db maintenance required tasks and focus more on software engineering, code developing and enhancing.
Is it enough to use EBS snapshot based on these facts? should i better use RDS? or there are other more pragmatic methods out there?
thanks for any help!
RDS looks like the better choice for you, since it's fully managed by Amazon and you don't have to worry about becoming a DBA in order to deploy your application.
That said, you should still keep your own database backups (e.g. with mysqldump). While it's exceedingly rare, Amazon has lost customer data in the past. You may never be that 0.007% (or whatever the actual number was), but you also want to have some sort of plan in place in case you are.