Buying an RDS for MySQL Instance and Connecting to It Using MySQL-Front

Operation Process

Step 1: Buy an RDS for MySQL Instance

1. Log in to the management console.
2. Click in the upper left corner and select a region and a project.
3. Click in the upper left corner of the page and choose Database > Relational Database Service.
4. On the Instances page, click Buy DB Instance.
5. On the Buy DB Instance page, set instance information and click Buy Now.
   • Basic information

     Table 1 Basic information

     Parameter	Description
     Region	Region where your resources are located. NOTE: Products in different regions cannot communicate with each other through a private network. After a DB instance is created, the region cannot be changed. Therefore, exercise caution when selecting a region.
     DB Instance Name	The instance name must start with a letter and consist of 4 to 64 characters. Only letters (case-sensitive), digits, hyphens (-), periods (.), and underscores (_) are allowed.
     DB Engine	Select MySQL.
     DB Engine Version	Supported DB engine versions may vary by region. For the actual options, see them on the console. When creating an RDS for MySQL instance, select a proper DB engine version tailored to your workloads. You are advised to select the latest available version because it is more stable, reliable, and secure.
     DB Instance Type	Primary/Standby: uses an HA architecture with a primary DB instance and a synchronous standby DB instance. It is suitable for production databases of large- and medium-sized enterprises in Internet, Internet of Things (IoT), retail e-commerce sales, logistics, gaming, and other sectors. When a primary instance is being created, a standby instance is provisioned along with it to provide data redundancy. The standby instance is invisible to you after being created. Single: uses a standalone architecture, which is less expensive than primary/standby DB instances. It is recommended for development and testing of microsites, and small and medium enterprises, or for learning about RDS.
     Storage Type	Determines the instance read/write speed. A higher maximum throughput enables faster I/O operations. SSD is a type of cloud storage with elastic scalability. By storing data on SSDs, RDS enables separation of compute and storage. The maximum throughput is 350 MB/s. Extreme SSD: uses 25GE network and RDMA technologies to provide you with up to 1,000 MB/s throughput per disk and sub-millisecond latency.
     AZ	An AZ is a physical region where resources use independent power supplies and networks. AZs are physically isolated but interconnected through an internal network. You can select different AZs for your primary and standby instances for cross-AZ disaster recovery. To achieve high reliability, RDS will automatically deploy your primary and standby instances in different physical servers even if you deploy them in the same AZ.
     Time Zone	Select a time zone based on the region your instance will be hosted in.

   • Specifications and storage

     Table 2 Specifications and storage

     Parameter	Description
     Instance Class	Refers to the vCPU and memory of a DB instance. Different instance classes support different numbers of database connections and maximum IOPS. After a DB instance is created, you can change its instance class. For details, see Changing a DB Instance Class.
     Storage Space	Contains the system overhead required for inodes, reserved blocks, and database operation. After a DB instance is created, you can scale up its storage space. For details, see Scaling Up Storage Space. If the storage type is cloud SSD or extreme SSD, you can enable storage autoscaling. If the available storage drops to a specified threshold, autoscaling is triggered. Enable Storage Autoscaling: If you select this option, storage autoscaling is enabled. Trigger If Available Storage Drops To: If the available storage drops to a specified threshold or 10 GB, autoscaling is triggered. Autoscaling Limit: The default value range is from 40 to 4,000, in GB. The limit must be no less than the storage of the DB instance.
     Disk Encryption	If you keep this option deselected, disk encryption is disabled. If you select this option, disk encryption is enabled. Enabling disk encryption improves security but affects system performance. If you select this option, the Key Name parameter appears. Select an existing key or create a new one as the tenant key. After disk encryption is enabled, the following restrictions apply: If you enable disk encryption during instance creation, the disk encryption status and the key cannot be changed later. Disk encryption does not encrypt backup data stored in Object Storage Service (OBS) buckets. Keep the key secure. Once the key is disabled, deleted, or frozen, your instance will be inaccessible and its data may not be restored.

   • Network and database configurations

     Table 3 Network

     Parameter	Description
     VPC	A virtual network in which your RDS instances are located. A VPC can isolate networks for different workloads. You can select an existing VPC or create a VPC. If no VPC is available, RDS allocates a VPC to you by default. NOTICE: After a DB instance is created, the VPC cannot be changed.
     Subnet	Improves network security by providing dedicated network resources that are logically isolated from other networks. Subnets are only valid within a specific AZ. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is enabled by default for subnets where you plan to create RDS instances and cannot be disabled. IPv4 address: A floating IPv4 address is automatically assigned when you create a DB instance. You can also enter an unused floating IPv4 address in the subnet CIDR block. After the DB instance is created, you can change the floating IP address.
     Security Group	Enhances security by controlling access to RDS from other services. Ensure that the security group you select allows the client to access the DB instance. When creating a DB instance, you can select multiple security groups. For better network performance, select no more than five security groups. If you select more than one security group, the access rules of all the selected security groups apply on the instance. For details about how to manage security groups, see Changing a Security Group. If no security group is available or has been created, RDS allocates a security group to you by default.

     Table 4 Database configuration

     Parameter	Description
     Administrator	The default login name for the database is root.
     Administrator Password	The password must contain 8 to 32 characters and at least four types of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, digits, and special characters (~!). @ # $ % ^ * - _ = + ? , ( ) & . | Enter a strong password and periodically change it for security reasons. If the password you provide is considered weak by the system, you will be prompted to provide a stronger password. Keep this password secure. The system cannot retrieve it. After a DB instance is created, you can reset this password. For details, see Resetting the Administrator Password.
     Confirm Password	Must be the same as Administrator Password.
     Parameter Template	Contains engine configuration values that can be applied to one or more DB instances of the same DB engine. If you intend to create a primary/standby DB pair, they use the same parameter template. NOTICE: If you choose a custom parameter template when creating a DB instance, the following specification-related parameters in the custom template will not be applied. The system will use their default values instead. back_log innodb_io_capacity_max max_connections innodb_io_capacity innodb_buffer_pool_size innodb_buffer_pool_instances After an instance is created, you can adjust its parameters as needed. For details, see Modifying Parameters of an RDS for MySQL Instance.
     Table Name	Specifies whether table names are case sensitive. The case sensitivity of table names for created RDS for MySQL 8.0 instances cannot be changed.
     Enterprise Project	If your account has been associated with an enterprise project, select the target project from the Enterprise Project drop-down list. After the instance is purchased, you can click the instance name and change its enterprise project on the Summary page.

   • Tags

     Table 5 Tags

     Parameter	Description
     Tag	Tags an RDS instance. This parameter is optional. Adding tags to RDS instances helps you better identify and manage the instances. Up to 20 tags can be added for each DB instance. After a DB instance is created, you can view its tag details on the Tags page. For details, see RDS for MySQL Tags.

   • Batch creation

     Table 6 Batch creation

     Parameter

     Description

     Quantity

     RDS supports batch instance creation. If you choose to create primary/standby instances and set Quantity to 1, the system will create a primary instance and a standby instance. If you create multiple DB instances at a time, their names will include a four-digit suffix. For example, if you specify instance here, the names will be instance-0001, instance-0002, and so on. If existing instances' suffixes have already reached up to 0010, the new instance names will start from instance-0011.

   • Read Replicas

     Table 7 Read replica

     Parameter	Description
     Read Replica	You can determine whether to create read replicas when creating a DB instance. Skip is selected by default. If you select Create, read replicas are named with "read" and two digits appended to the primary instance name by default. For example, if the primary instance name is instance-0001, the first read replica will be named instance-0001-read-01. The network and storage configurations of read replicas are the same as those of the primary instance.
     Storage Type	Determines the instance read/write speed. A higher maximum throughput enables faster I/O operations. Cloud SSD Stores data in cloud disks for decoupled storage and compute. The maximum throughput is 350 MB/s. For RDS for MySQL instances, this storage type is normally displayed as Cloud SSD, but for existing instances in certain regions it is displayed as Ultra-high I/O. Extreme SSD Uses 25GE network and RDMA technologies to provide you with up to 1,000 MB/s throughput per disk and sub-millisecond latency.
     Read Replica AZ	By default, read replicas are deployed in an AZ different from that of the primary instance.
     Instance Class	You can select an instance class different from that of the primary instance for a read replica. To prevent a creation failure, long delay, and high load of a read replica, it is recommended that the specifications of the read replica be at least equal to those of the primary instance.
     Read Replica Quantity	You can create a maximum of five read replicas for each RDS instance. After a DB instance is created, the system automatically triggers the creation of read replicas. If you choose to create a primary/standby instance and set Read Replica Quantity to 1, a pair of primary/standby instances and a read replica will be created.

   

   The performance of your RDS instance depends on its configurations. The hardware configuration items you can choose include the instance class, storage type, and storage space.

6. Confirm the specifications.
   • If you need to modify your settings, click Previous.
   • If you do not need to modify your settings, click Submit.

7. To view and manage your RDS instance, go to the Instances page.
   • When your DB instance is being created, the status is Creating. The status changes to Available after the instance is created. To view the detailed progress and result, go to the Task Center page.
   • The automated backup policy is enabled by default. You can change it after the DB instance is created. The system automatically creates a full backup once an instance is created.
   • The default database port is 3306. You can change it after a DB instance is created.

     For details, see Changing a Database Port.

Step 2: Create an ECS

1. Log in to the management console and check whether there is an ECS available.
   • If there is a Linux ECS, go to 2.
   • If there is no Linux ECS, create an ECS and select Linux (for example, CentOS 7.4 64bit) as its OS.

     To install a MySQL client on the ECS, bind an EIP to the ECS and ensure that the ECS is in the same region, VPC, and security group as the RDS for MySQL instance for seamless communication.

     For details about how to purchase a Linux ECS, see "Purchasing an ECS" in Elastic Cloud Server User Guide.

   • If there is only a Windows ECS, use MySQL-Front to connect to the DB instance. For details, see Buying an RDS for MySQL Instance and Connecting to It Using MySQL-Front.
2. Check whether the ECS and RDS for MySQL instance are in the same region and VPC.
   • If they are in different regions, create another ECS. The ECS and DB instance in different regions cannot communicate with each other. To reduce network latency, deploy your DB instance in the region nearest to your workloads.
   • If they are in different VPCs, change the VPC settings of the ECS. For details, see "Changing a VPC" in Elastic Cloud Server User Guide.

Step 3: Test Connectivity and Install MySQL-Front

1. Log in to the ECS. For details, see "Logging In to a Windows ECS Using VNC" in Elastic Cloud Server User Guide.
2. On the Instances page of the RDS console, click the DB instance name to go to the Basic Information page.
3. Choose Connectivity & Security from the navigation pane. In the Connection Information area, obtain the floating IP address and database port of the DB instance.
4. Open the cmd window on the ECS and check whether the floating IP address and database port of the DB instance can be connected.

   curl -kv Floating_IP_address:Port

   Example:

   curl -kv 192.168.6.144:3306

   • If yes, network connectivity is normal.
   • If no, check security group rules.
     • Check the outbound rules of the ECS security group. By default, all outgoing network traffic is allowed.

       If not, add an outbound rule for the floating IP address and port of the DB instance.

     • Check the inbound rules of the RDS security group. Add the private IP address and port of the ECS to the inbound rules. For details, see Configuring Security Group Rules.
5. Open a browser, and download and install the MySQL-Front tool on the ECS (version 5.4 is used as an example).

Step 4: Connect to the DB Instance Using MySQL-Front

1. Start MySQL-Front.
2. In the displayed dialog box, click New.
   Figure 1 Connection management
   
3. Enter the information of the DB instance to be connected and click Ok.
   Figure 2 Adding an account
   

   Table 8 Parameter description

   Parameter	Description
   Name	Name of the database connection task. If you do not specify this parameter, it will be the same as that configured for Host by default.
   Host	Floating IP address obtained in 3.
   Port	Database port obtained in 3. The default value is 3306.
   User	Username used to access the RDS for MySQL instance. The default user is root.
   Password	Password of the user used to access the DB instance.

4. In the displayed window, select the connection that you have created in 3 and click Open. If the connection information is correct, the DB instance will be connected.
   Figure 3 Opening a session