Amazon Aurora

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Announcing Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL serverless database creation in seconds | Amazon Web Services

Amazon’s new Aurora PostgreSQL express configuration lets developers create a serverless database in seconds with two console clicks or a single CLI/API call. It uses preconfigured defaults, IAM authentication, and an internet access gateway to simplify secure connections without requiring a VPC, VPN, or Direct Connect. The feature is designed to accelerate prototyping and application development while preserving Aurora capabilities such as read replicas and automated failover. ## Express Configuration for Aurora PostgreSQL - Creates an Aurora PostgreSQL serverless cluster and instance within seconds. - Uses preconfigured defaults to reduce setup complexity. - Allows customization of: - Cluster identifier - Serverless capacity range during creation - Read replicas and parameter groups after creation - Express-configured clusters do not require an Amazon VPC. - An internet access gateway is enabled by default for secure connections from development tools worldwide. - The gateway is distributed across multiple Availability Zones for high availability. - IAM authentication is configured for the administrator, enabling passwordless database authentication. ## Creating a Database - In the Aurora and RDS console: - Open the Dashboard. - Choose **Create** with the rocket icon. - Review or adjust the express configuration. - Choose **Create database**. - The AWS CLI and SDKs support the `--with-express-configuration` parameter. - A single `create-db-cluster` call creates both the cluster and its instance: ```bash aws rds create-db-cluster \ --db-cluster-identifier channy-express-db \ --engine aurora-postgresql \ --with-express-configuration ``` - The database becomes ready when its status changes to **Available**. ## Connecting to the Database The **Connectivity & security** tab provides several connection methods: - **Code snippets** - Generates connection examples for .NET, Go, JDBC, Node.js, PHP, PostgreSQL, Python, and TypeScript. - Python examples use `boto3` to generate an IAM authentication token and `psycopg2` to connect over SSL. - **AWS CloudShell** - Launches a shell with a preconfigured `psql` connection command. - Developers can immediately run SQL commands at the PostgreSQL prompt. - **Endpoints** - Supports tools such as pgAdmin that use username-and-password fields. - The password is an IAM authentication token valid for 15 minutes. - A new token must be generated if the connection ends or the token expires. ## Application Development Integrations - Aurora is now included among eligible AWS Free Tier database services. - AWS’s enhanced Free Tier offers up to $200 in credits: - $100 upon signup - Up to another $100 through usage of services such as RDS, Lambda, and Bedrock - Integrations with Vercel and v0 allow developers to create or connect to AWS databases quickly. - v0 can use natural-language prompts to generate full-stack applications backed by Aurora PostgreSQL, Aurora DSQL, or DynamoDB. - Existing Aurora databases created with express configuration can also be connected to Vercel. The express configuration is best suited for quickly starting development, experimentation, and prototypes. Developers can begin with minimal networking and authentication setup, then add capacity, replicas, and other Aurora features as their application grows.

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AWS Weekly Roundup: Claude Sonnet 4.6 in Amazon Bedrock, Kiro in GovCloud Regions, new Agent Plugins, and more (February 23, 2026) | Amazon Web Services

AWS’s February 23, 2026 roundup highlights continued investment in AI-assisted development, cloud infrastructure, and production-grade agents. Major launches include Claude Sonnet 4.6 in Amazon Bedrock, Kiro for GovCloud, customizable SageMaker deployments for Nova models, and new EC2 and Aurora capabilities. The post also points developers toward agent tooling, operational best practices, community resources, and upcoming events. ## Developer Conferences and AI Collaboration - AWS teams discussed “renascent software,” where humans and AI work together as co-developers through Kiro. - Developer Week sessions focused on: - Agent memory - Multi-agent architectures - Meta-tooling - Hooks - Production deployment of AI agents - At dev/nexus in Atlanta, AWS speakers will cover AI agents with Spring and MCP, along with AI-assisted Java modernization. ## Major AWS Launches - **Claude Sonnet 4.6 in Amazon Bedrock** - Provides near-Opus 4.6 intelligence at lower cost. - Targets coding, agent workloads, and professional knowledge work. - Designed for fast, high-quality task completion at scale. - **Amazon EC2 Hpc8a instances** - Powered by 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors. - Deliver up to 40% higher performance, increased memory bandwidth, and 300 Gbps Elastic Fabric Adapter networking. - Intended for simulations, engineering, and tightly coupled HPC workloads. - **Custom Amazon Nova models with SageMaker Inference** - Supports configuration of instance types, auto-scaling policies, and concurrency. - Enables deployments to be tuned for specific performance and cost requirements. - **Nested virtualization on EC2** - Allows KVM or Hyper-V virtual machines to run inside virtual EC2 instances. - Supports mobile emulators, automotive hardware simulation, and Windows Subsystem for Linux environments. - **Aurora encryption by default** - New database clusters automatically use server-side encryption with AWS-owned keys. - Encryption is transparent, fully managed, and has no additional cost or performance impact. - **Kiro in AWS GovCloud** - Brings Kiro’s agentic development capabilities to teams working on government missions. - Supports regulated environments requiring stringent security controls. ## Agent Tools and Operational Reliability - AWS introduced open-source **Agent Plugins for AWS** that add AWS-specific skills to coding agents. - The `deploy-on-aws` plugin can generate: - Architecture recommendations - Cost estimates - Infrastructure-as-code - AWS also highlighted automated reasoning research led by Byron Cook, applying formal verification techniques to AI-generated code and critical agent decisions. - Recommended practices for AWS DevOps Agent focus on configuring Agent Spaces to balance broad investigation capabilities with operational efficiency. - AWS reports that DevOps Agent has handled thousands of escalations and achieved an estimated root-cause identification rate above 86% within Amazon. ## Community Projects and Resources - Community content includes: - A practical guide to AWS for developers entering their first job. - An AI agent that automates job searching. - A Kiro Power integrating 25 MCP tools, 10 steering guides, and structured development guidance. - AWS encourages developers to use the AWS Builder Center to exchange knowledge and discover community content. ## Upcoming Events and Hackathons - 2026 AWS Summits are scheduled for Paris, London, and Bengaluru. - The six-week Amazon Nova AI Hackathon runs through March 16, with $40,000 in prizes across areas such as agentic AI, multimodal applications, UI automation, and voice. - Upcoming AWS Community Days include events in Ahmedabad, Tokyo, Chennai, Slovakia, and Pune. Developers interested in AI-assisted coding, agent operations, or high-performance cloud workloads should explore the new Bedrock, Kiro, SageMaker, and Agent Plugin capabilities, while using AWS events and community forums for practical guidance.

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AWS Weekly Roundup: Amazon ECS, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Cognito and more (December 15, 2025) (opens in new tab)

The AWS Weekly Roundup for mid-December 2025 highlights a series of updates designed to streamline developer workflows and enhance security across the cloud ecosystem. Following the momentum of re:Invent 2025, these releases focus on reducing operational friction through faster database provisioning, more granular container control, and AI-assisted development tools. These advancements collectively aim to simplify infrastructure management while providing deeper cost visibility and improved performance for enterprise applications. ## Database and Developer Productivity * **Amazon Aurora DSQL** now supports near-instant cluster creation, reducing provisioning time from minutes to seconds to facilitate rapid prototyping and AI-powered development via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. * **Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL** has integrated with **Kiro powers**, allowing developers to use AI-assisted coding for schema management and database queries through pre-packaged MCP servers. * **Amazon CloudWatch SDK** introduced support for optimized JSON and CBOR protocols, improving the efficiency of data transmission and processing within the monitoring suite. * **Amazon Cognito** simplified user communications by enabling automated email delivery through Amazon SES using verified identities, removing the need for manual SES configuration. ## Compute and Networking Optimizations * **Amazon ECS on AWS Fargate** now honors custom container stop signals, such as SIGQUIT or SIGINT, allowing for graceful shutdowns of applications that do not use the default SIGTERM instruction. * **Application Load Balancer (ALB)** received performance enhancements that reduce latency for establishing new connections and lower resource consumption during traffic processing. * **AWS Fargate** cost optimization strategies were highlighted in new technical guides, focusing on leveraging Graviton processors and Fargate Spot to maximize compute efficiency. ## Security and Cost Management * **Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser** introduced Web Content Filtering, providing category-based access control across 25+ predefined categories and granular URL policies at no additional cost. * **AWS Cost Management** tools now feature **Tag Inheritance**, which automatically applies tags from resources to cost data, allowing for more precise tracking in Cost Explorer and AWS Budgets. * **Amazon Step Functions** integration with Amazon Bedrock was further detailed in community resources, showcasing how to build resilient, long-running AI workflows with integrated error handling. To take full advantage of these updates, organizations should review their Fargate task definitions to implement custom stop signals for better application stability and enable Tag Inheritance to improve the accuracy of year-end cloud financial reporting.