This topic describes how to create an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance in the ApsaraDB RDS console. You can also create an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance by calling an API operation.

Note You receive a discount on your first purchase of an RDS instance. For more information, visit the ApsaraDB RDS promotion page.

Prerequisites

You have an Alibaba Cloud account. For more information, see Sign up with Alibaba Cloud.

Procedure

  1. Go to the ApsaraDB RDS buy page.
  2. Select a billing method.
    • Subscription: A subscription instance is an instance that you can subscribe to for a specified period of time and pay for up front. If you plan to use the RDS instance for a long period of time, we recommend that you select the Subscription billing method. In this case, you also need to specify the Duration parameter in the lower section of the page. The subscription billing method is more cost-effective than the pay-as-you-go billing method. You can receive larger discounts for longer commitments.
    • Pay-As-You-Go: A pay-as-you-go instance is charged per hour based on your actual resource usage. If you plan to use the RDS instance for a short period of time, we recommend that you select the Pay-As-You-Go billing method. If you no longer need the RDS instance, you can release the instance to reduce costs.
    Note
    • You can create a pay-as-you-go RDS instance. Then, after you confirm that the created RDS instance meets your business requirements, you can change the billing method of the RDS instance to subscription.
    • If you want to manage the host on which the RDS instance is deployed, you must select Dedicated Cluster (Subscription) to create a host. Then, you can create the RDS instance on the host.
  3. Configure the following parameters.
    Parameter Description
    Region The region where the RDS instance resides.
    • The RDS instance must reside in the same region as the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance that you want to connect. For example, the RDS instance and the ECS instance can both reside in the China (Hangzhou) region. If the RDS instance and the ECS instance reside in different regions, they cannot communicate over an internal network and therefore they cannot deliver optimal performance.
    • If you want to connect to the RDS instance from an on-premises server or computer, we recommend that you select a region that is in close proximity to the on-premises server or computer.
    Database Engine The database engine and engine version that the RDS instance is running. Select PostgreSQL. The supported PostgreSQL versions are 9.4, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
    Note The available database engines and versions vary based on the region that you select.
    Edition
    • Basic: In the RDS Basic Edition, the database system consists of only a primary RDS instance. The RDS Basic Edition is cost-effective and is suitable for learning and testing.
    • High-availability: This is the recommended edition. In this edition, the database system consists of a primary RDS instance and a secondary RDS instance. These instances work in the high availability architecture. The RDS High-availability Edition is suitable for production environments.
    Note
    Storage Type
    • Local SSD: A local SSD resides on the same host as the database engine. You can store data on local SSDs to reduce I/O latency. Local SSDs are supported only for RDS instances that run PostgreSQL 9.4 or PostgreSQL 10.
    • ESSD: Enhanced SSDs (ESSDs) come in three performance levels (PLs).
      • ESSD PL1: An ESSD of PL1 is a regular ESSD.
      • ESSD PL2: An ESSD of PL2 delivers IOPS and throughput that are approximately twice higher than the IOPS and throughput delivered by an ESSD of PL1.
      • ESSD PL3: An ESSD of PL3 delivers IOPS that is up to 20 times higher than the IOPS delivered by an ESSD of PL1. An ESSD of PL3 also delivers throughput that is up to 11 times higher than the throughput delivered by an ESSD of PL1. ESSDs of PL3 are suitable for business scenarios in which highly concurrent requests must be processed with high I/O performance and at low read and write latencies.
    • Standard SSD: A standard SSD is an elastic block storage device that is designed based on the distributed storage architecture. You can store data on standard SSDs to separate computing from storage.
    Note
    Zone

    A zone is an independent physical location within a region. For example, the China (Hangzhou) region contains Zone H, Zone I, and Zone J.

    • Multi-zone Deployment: This is the recommended deployment method. The primary RDS instance and the secondary RDS instance reside in different zones to provide zone-disaster recovery.
    • Single-zone Deployment: The primary RDS instance and the secondary RDS instance reside in the same zone.
    Note If you select the RDS Basic Edition, you can select only the Single-zone Deployment method.
    Instance Type The instance type of the RDS instance. Before you select an instance type, you must select an instance family.
    • General-purpose (Entry-level): specifies the general-purpose instance family. A general-purpose instance exclusively occupies the allocated memory and I/O resources. However, it shares CPU and storage resources with the other general-purpose instances that are deployed on the same physical host.
    • Dedicated (Enterprise-level): A dedicated instance exclusively occupies the allocated CPU, memory, storage, and I/O resources. The top configuration of the dedicated instance family is the dedicated host instance family. A dedicated host instance exclusively occupies all the CPU, memory, storage, and I/O resources on the server where the instance is deployed.
    Note For more information, see Primary ApsaraDB RDS instance types.
    Capacity The storage capacity that is used to store data files, system files, binary log files, and transaction files in the RDS instance. The storage capacity increases in increments of 5 GB.
    Note If you select the local SSD storage type, the storage capacity of the RDS instance may vary based on the instance type. If you select the standard SSD or ESSD storage type, the storage capacity of the RDS instance does not vary based on the instance type. For more information, see Primary ApsaraDB RDS instance types.
  4. In the lower-right corner of the page, click Next: Instance Configuration.
  5. Specify the network type.
    Note If your application is deployed on an ECS instance, the ECS instance and the RDS instance must both reside in the classic network or reside in the same virtual private cloud (VPC). Otherwise, the ECS instance and the RDS instance cannot communicate over an internal network.
    • Classic Network: the traditional type of network.
    • VPC: the recommended type of network. A VPC is an isolated virtual network that provides higher security and higher performance than the classic network.

      If you select the VPC network type, you must also select a VPC and a vSwitch. If no VPCs or vSwitches are created within your Alibaba Cloud account, you can select the default VPC and vSwitch.

  6. Configure custom parameters. If you do not have special business requirements, you can retain the default values of these parameters.
    Parameter Description
    Time Zone The time zone of the RDS instance.
    Note
    • You can configure the time zone when you purchase a primary RDS instance. You cannot configure the time zone when you create a read-only instance. Read-only instances inherit the time zone of their primary instance.
    • You can configure this parameter only when the RDS instance is equipped with standard SSDs or ESSDs.
    • The time zone is not in UTC. For more information about time zones, see Common time zones.
    • If you do not configure this parameter, the system assigns the default time zone of the region where the instance resides. For more information about time zones, see Default time zones.
    Resource Group The resource group to which the RDS instance belongs. You can retain the default resource group or select a custom resource group based on your business requirements.
  7. In the lower-right corner of the page, click Next: Confirm Order.
  8. Confirm the configuration of the RDS instance in the Parameters section, specify the Purchase Plan and Duration parameters, read and select Terms of Service, and then click Pay Now. You need to specify the Duration parameter only when you select the subscription billing method for the RDS instance.
    Note If you select the subscription billing method for the RDS instance, we recommend that you select Auto-Renew Enabled. This prevents interruptions to your workloads even if you forget to review the RDS instance.
  9. View the RDS instance.
    Open the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region where the RDS instance resides. Then, find the RDS instance based on the Creation Time.

What to do next

Create a database and an account on an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance

FAQ

References