Comparison Between RDS and On-Premises Databases

Table 1 lists the advantages of RDS over on-premises databases.

**Table 1** Comparison
Item	Cloud Database RDS	On-Premises Database
Service availability	For details, see Elastic Cloud Server User Guide.	Requires device procurement, primary/standby relationship setup, and RAID setup.
Data reliability	For details, see Elastic Volume Service User Guide.	Requires device procurement, primary/standby relationship setup, and RAID setup.
Database backup	Supports automated backups, manual backups, and custom backup retention periods.	Requires device procurement, setup, and maintenance.
Hardware and software investment	Supports on-demand pricing and scaling without requiring hardware and software investment.	Requires large investment in database servers.
System hosting	Not required.	Requires two servers for primary/standby DB instances.
Maintenance cost	Not required.	Requires large labor investment and professional database administrator (DBA) for maintenance.
Deployment and scaling	Supports elastic scaling, fast upgrade, and on-demand enabling.	Requires procurement, deployment, and coordination of hardware that matches original devices.