AWS RDS MS SQL server cost saving

When you shut down your Amazon RDS SQL Server instance at night, you will save on compute costs, but the licensing approach for RDS SQL Server is different from EC2-based SQL Server deployments.

For Amazon RDS SQL Server, the license is included in the pricing model. AWS holds the license for the SQL Server database software, and this licensing cost is built into the hourly rate you pay. When you stop an RDS instance, you are not charged for compute time, but you will still incur storage costs.

Unlike EC2-based SQL Server deployments where you might have flexibility between Bring Your Own License (BYOL) and License Included (LI) models, RDS SQL Server uses the License Included model exclusively. This means the license is part of the service offering.

If cost optimization is your primary goal, you could consider scheduling your RDS SQL Server instance to stop during non-business hours and restart when needed. This would save you the compute portion of the costs while the instance is stopped, though you'll still pay for storage.

For more extensive cost optimization strategies with SQL Server workloads, you might want to explore options like:

• Consolidating small SQL Server databases into one instance
• Choosing the correct instance type based on your workload requirements
• Using SQL Server Developer edition for non-production environments (though this would require EC2 rather than RDS)
• Optimizing storage type selection based on your workload patterns
  Sources
  Licensing Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon RDS - Amazon Relational Database Service
  Top 10 recommendations to optimize costs with your SQL Server workloads on AWS | Microsoft Workloads on AWS
  Understand SQL Server licensing - AWS Prescriptive Guidance