AWS RDS Spring Boot Integration

Overview

Configure AWS RDS databases (Aurora, MySQL, PostgreSQL) with Spring Boot applications. Provides patterns for datasource configuration, HikariCP connection pooling, SSL connections, environment-specific configurations, and AWS Secrets Manager integration.

When to Use

Use when configuring HikariCP connection pools for RDS workloads, implementing read/write split with Aurora replicas, setting up IAM database authentication, enabling SSL/TLS connections, managing database migrations with Flyway, or troubleshooting RDS connectivity issues.

Instructions

Follow these steps to configure AWS RDS with Spring Boot:

Add Dependencies — Include Spring Data JPA, database driver (MySQL/PostgreSQL), and Flyway
Configure Datasource — Set connection properties in application.yml
Configure HikariCP — Optimize pool settings for your RDS workload
Set Up SSL — Enable encrypted connections to RDS
Configure Profiles — Set environment-specific configurations (dev/prod)
Add Migrations — Create Flyway scripts for schema management
Validate Connectivity — Run health check to verify database connection

If validation fails: Check security group rules, verify credentials, ensure RDS is accessible from your network, and confirm SSL certificate configuration.
Run Migrations — Apply Flyway migrations only after connectivity validation passes

Quick Start

Step 1: Add Dependencies

Maven (pom.xml):

<dependencies>
    <!-- Spring Data JPA -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Aurora MySQL Driver -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.mysql</groupId>
        <artifactId>mysql-connector-j</artifactId>
        <version>8.2.0</version>
        <scope>runtime</scope>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Aurora PostgreSQL Driver (alternative) -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
        <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
        <scope>runtime</scope>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Flyway for database migrations -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.flywaydb</groupId>
        <artifactId>flyway-core</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Validation -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Gradle (build.gradle):

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa'
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-validation'

    // Aurora MySQL
    runtimeOnly 'com.mysql:mysql-connector-j:8.2.0'

    // Aurora PostgreSQL (alternative)
    runtimeOnly 'org.postgresql:postgresql'

    // Flyway
    implementation 'org.flywaydb:flyway-core'
}

Step 2: Basic Datasource Configuration

Use the configuration in the Examples section below. For PostgreSQL, change:

Driver: org.postgresql.Driver
URL: jdbc:postgresql://... with ?ssl=true&sslmode=require
Dialect: org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect

Step 3: Set Up Environment Variables

# Production environment variables
export DB_PASSWORD=YourStrongPassword123!
export SPRING_PROFILES_ACTIVE=prod

# For development
export SPRING_PROFILES_ACTIVE=dev

Database Migration Setup

Create migration files for Flyway:

src/main/resources/db/migration/
├── V1__create_users_table.sql
├── V2__add_phone_column.sql
└── V3__create_orders_table.sql

V1__create_users_table.sql:

CREATE TABLE users (
    id BIGINT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
    created_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    updated_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    INDEX idx_email (email)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

Examples

Example 1: Aurora MySQL Configuration

spring:
  datasource:
    url: jdbc:mysql://myapp-aurora-cluster.cluster-abc123xyz.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com:3306/devops
    username: admin
    password: ${DB_PASSWORD}
    driver-class-name: com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver
    hikari:
      maximum-pool-size: 20
      minimum-idle: 5
      connection-timeout: 20000
  jpa:
    hibernate:
      ddl-auto: validate
    open-in-view: false

Example 2: Aurora PostgreSQL with SSL

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://myapp-aurora-pg-cluster.cluster-abc123xyz.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com:5432/devops?ssl=true&sslmode=require
spring.datasource.username=${DB_USERNAME}
spring.datasource.password=${DB_PASSWORD}
spring.datasource.hikari.maximum-pool-size=30
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect

Example 3: Read/Write Split Configuration

@Configuration
public class DataSourceConfiguration {

    @Bean
    @Primary
    public DataSource dataSource(
            @Qualifier("writerDataSource") DataSource writerDataSource,
            @Qualifier("readerDataSource") DataSource readerDataSource) {
        Map<Object, Object> targetDataSources = new HashMap<>();
        targetDataSources.put("writer", writerDataSource);
        targetDataSources.put("reader", readerDataSource);

        RoutingDataSource routingDataSource = new RoutingDataSource();
        routingDataSource.setTargetDataSources(targetDataSources);
        routingDataSource.setDefaultTargetDataSource(writerDataSource);

        return routingDataSource;
    }
}

Constraints and Warnings

HikariCP pool size must respect RDS instance connection limits
Security groups must allow traffic from your application's IP range
Use AWS Secrets Manager instead of hardcoding credentials
Enable storage autoscaling to prevent storage exhaustion

Best Practices

HikariCP: Enable leak detection and configure timeouts for failover scenarios
Security: Enable SSL/TLS; use IAM Database Authentication when possible
Performance: Disable open-in-view; use appropriate indexing and batch operations
Monitoring: Enable Spring Boot Actuator with database health checks

Testing

Verify connectivity with this health check endpoint:

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/health")
public class DatabaseHealthController {
    @Autowired
    private DataSource dataSource;

    @GetMapping("/db-connection")
    public ResponseEntity<Map<String, Object>> testDatabaseConnection() {
        Map<String, Object> response = new HashMap<>();
        try (Connection connection = dataSource.getConnection()) {
            response.put("status", "success");
            response.put("database", connection.getCatalog());
            response.put("connected", true);
            return ResponseEntity.ok(response);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            response.put("status", "failed");
            response.put("error", e.getMessage());
            response.put("connected", false);
            return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE).body(response);
        }
    }
}

curl http://localhost:8080/api/health/db-connection

Support

For detailed troubleshooting and advanced configuration, refer to: