How can the database be migrated from on-premises to Amazon RDS with the LEAST amount of effort?
Back up the SQL Server database using a native SQL Server backup. Upload the backup files to Amazon S3. Download the backup files on an Amazon EC2 instance and restore them from the EC2 instance into the new production RDS instance.
Back up the SQL Server database using a native SQL Server backup. Upload the backup files to Amazon S3. Restore the backup files from the S3 bucket into the new production RDS instance.
Provision and configure AWS DMS. Set up replication between the on-premises SQL Server environment to replicate the database to the new production RDS instance.
Back up the SQL Server database using AWS Backup. Once the backup is complete, restore the completed backup to an Amazon EC2 instance and move it to the new production RDS instance.
Explanations:
Although backing up and uploading the SQL Server backup to S3 is feasible, the restore operation to an EC2 instance before restoring to RDS adds unnecessary complexity and effort. Direct restore from S3 to RDS would be more efficient.
This option directly uploads the SQL Server backup to Amazon S3 and restores it to the RDS instance. This is the simplest and most efficient method, with minimal effort. RDS supports native SQL Server backup restoration from S3.
AWS DMS (Database Migration Service) is typically used for ongoing replication and migration but is not the most efficient method for a one-time migration of a large database, especially when downtime is acceptable.
AWS Backup is not typically used for SQL Server backups on RDS. It is better suited for backing up EC2 instances and EBS volumes. Additionally, restoring to EC2 before migrating to RDS is an unnecessary extra step.
I arrange that the answer is:
Back up the SQL Server database using a native SQL Server backup. Upload the backup files to Amazon S3. Restore the backup files from the S3 bucket into the new production RDS instance.