Connecting to a DB Instance from a Windows Server

Step 1: Test Connectivity and Install SQL Server Management Studio

1. On the Instances page of the RDS console, click the DB instance name to go to the Overview page.
2. Obtain the EIP and database port of the DB instance.
   Figure 1 Connection information
   

   If no EIP has been bound to the DB instance, see Binding and Unbinding an EIP.

3. Open the cmd window on your local server and check whether the EIP and database port of the DB instance can be connected.

   telnet EIP 1433

   • If yes, network connectivity is normal.
   • If no, check the security group rules.
     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 EIP and port of the DB instance. For details, see Configuring Security Group Rules.

     Figure 2 DB instance security group
     
4. Open a browser on the local server, visit the Microsoft website, and download the installation package, for example, SQL Server Management Studio 18.0.
5. Double-click the installation package and complete the installation as instructed.

Step 2: Connect to the DB Instance Using SQL Server Management Studio

1. On the Instances page of the RDS console, click the DB instance name to go to the Overview page.
2. Click Download under SSL to download Certificate Download.zip, and extract the root certificate ca.pem and bundle ca-bundle.pem from the package.
   Figure 3 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 under SSL 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 4 Connecting to the server
   

   Table 1 Parameter description

   Parameter	Description
   Server name	EIP and database port obtained in 2.
   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 5 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