Running Databases on EC2

When to do it:

• You have to run a database or database version that AWS don't support.

• You have access to the operating system of the database.

• You have to configure some advanced database settings which aren't available with managed databases.

• You need a specific OS and Database combination.

Disadvantages:

• You have to manage EC2 and the Database host, which is just increased admin overhead.

• You have to backup manually.

• EC2 is only in one Availability Zone, so it is not very highly available.

• You are missing out on features from pre-existing AWS database services.

• There is no seamless scaling.