Connecting to a DB Instance from a Windows ECS

Step 1: Buy an ECS

1. Log in to the management console and check whether there is an ECS available.
   • If there is a Windows ECS, go to 3.
   • If no Windows ECS is available, go to 2.
   Figure 1 ECS
   
2. Buy an ECS and select Windows as its OS.

   To download SQL Server Management Studio to the ECS, bind an EIP to the ECS. The ECS must be in the same region, VPC, and security group as the RDS for SQL Server DB instance for mutual communications.

   For details about how to purchase a Windows ECS, see "Purchasing an ECS" in Elastic Cloud Server Getting Started.

3. On the ECS Information page, view the region and VPC of the ECS.
   Figure 2 ECS information
   

4. On the Basic Information page of the RDS for SQL Server instance, view the region and VPC of the DB instance.
   Figure 3 DB instance information
   
5. Check whether the ECS and RDS for SQL Server instance are in the same region and VPC.
   • If yes, go to Step 2: Test Connectivity and Install SQL Server Management Studio.
   • If they are not in the same region, purchase another ECS or DB instance. 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 the ECS and DB instance are in different VPCs, change the VPC of the ECS to that of the DB instance. For details, see Changing a VPC.

Step 2: Test Connectivity and Install SQL Server Management Studio

1. Log in to the ECS. For details, see Login Using VNC in the Elastic Cloud Server User Guide.
2. On the Instances page, click the DB instance name.
3. In the Connection Information area, obtain the floating IP address and database port of the DB instance.
   Figure 4 Connection information
   
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.

   telnet 192.168.2.182 1433

   • If yes, network connectivity is normal.
   • If no, check the security group rules.
     • If in the security group of the ECS, there is no outbound rule with Destination set to 0.0.0.0/0 and Protocol & Port set to All, add an outbound rule for the floating IP address and port of the DB instance.
       Figure 5 ECS security group
       
     • If in the security group of the DB instance, there is no inbound rule with Source set to 0.0.0.0/0 and Protocol & Port set to All, add an inbound rule for the private IP address and port of the ECS. For details, see Configuring Security Group Rules.
       Figure 6 DB instance security group
       
5. Open a browser on the ECS, visit the Microsoft website, and download the installation package, for example, SQL Server Management Studio 18.0.
6. Double-click the installation package and complete the installation as instructed.

Step 3: Connect to the DB Instance Using SQL Server Management Studio

1. On the Instances page, click the DB instance name.
2. Click next to the SSL field to download Certificate Download.zip, and extract the root certificate ca.pem and bundle ca-bundle.pem from the package.
   Figure 7 Downloading a certificate
   
   

   • Replace the old certificate before it expires to improve system security.
   • Replacing a certificate requires you to contact customer service to apply for permissions. After being granted the permissions, you can click Replace Certificate next to the SSL field in the DB Information area and then click OK in the displayed dialog box.
   • After you bind an EIP to a DB instance, you must reboot the instance for the SSL connection to take effect.
3. Upload the root certificate ca.pem to the ECS. For details, see How Can I Import the Root Certificate to a Windows or Linux OS?
4. Start SQL Server Management Studio.
5. Choose Connect > Database Engine. In the displayed dialog box, enter login information.
   Figure 8 Connecting to the server
   

   Table 1 Parameter description

   Parameter	Description
   Server name	Floating IP address and database port obtained in 3.
   Authentication	Authentication mode. Select SQL Server Authentication.
   Login	Name of the account used to access the DB instance. The default value is rdsuser.
   Password	Password of the account.

6. Click Options. On the Connection Properties page, enter related parameters and select Encrypt connection to enable SSL encryption. (By default, Encrypt connection is not selected. You need to select it manually.)
   Figure 9 Connection properties
   
7. Click Connect to connect to the DB instance.

Follow-up Operations

After logging in to the DB instance, you can create or migrate databases.

• Managing RDS for SQL Server Databases Using DAS
• Migration Solution Overview