Using Hasura Cloud with an AWS RDS Aurora Postgres database

Introduction

This guide explains how to connect a new or existing AWS RDS Aurora Postgres database to a Hasura Cloud project.

Step 0: Sign up or log in to Hasura Cloud

Navigate to Hasura Cloud and sign up or log in.

Step 1: Create a Hasura Cloud project

On the Hasura Cloud dashboard, create a new project:

Create Hasura Cloud project

After the project is initialized successfully, click on Launch console to open the Hasura console in your browser.

On the Hasura console, navigate to Data -> Manage -> Connect Database -> Connect existing database:

You will get prompted for a Postgres Database URL. We will create this in the next step and then come back here.

Hasura Cloud database setup

Step 2: Create an Aurora DB on AWS RDS (skip if you have an existing DB)

Log into the AWS console.

On the top left, click on Services and type “RDS” into the search field. Then click on RDS:

Navigate to RDS in AWS

Click on the Create database button:

Create database in AWS

In Engine options, select Amazon Aurora as Engine type. Also, select Amazon Aurora with PostgreSQL compatibility as Edition:

Select Aurora for RDS instance on AWS

Scroll down to Settings:

Settings for RDS instance on AWS

Now you can choose a DB instance identifier as a name for your database. The Master username is postgres by default. You can change that if you have to. As for the password, you can click the checkbox for AWS to auto-generate one for you, or you can type in a password of your choice.

Scroll down and customize other database options such as DB instance size and Storage, based on your requirements.

In the Connectivity section, expand the Additional connectivity configuration. Then set Public access to Yes and choose or add a new security group:

Connectivity for RDS instance on AWS

When you’re done, at the bottom, click the Create database button:

Create RDS instance on AWS

Note

If you’re using a database user other than the default one, make sure to give it the right Postgres permissions.

Step 3: Allow connections to your DB from Hasura Cloud

On the database dashboard, click on Connectivity & security. On the right, click on the security group that you selected or added in step 2.

Find the security group on AWS RDS

Click on the security group:

Click on the security group

Click on Edit inbound rules:

Edit inbound rules for AWS RDS database

Click on Add rule:

Add an inbound rule for AWS RDS database

Copy the IP address from the copy icon in the Hasura Cloud IP field on the project’s details view on Hasura Cloud.

Hasura Cloud IP field

Add the Hasura IP address that you copied:

Add the Hasura IP for AWS RDS database

Then click Save rules.

Step 4: Construct the database connection URL

The structure of the database connection URL looks as follows:

postgresql://<user-name>:<password>@<public-ip>:<postgres-port>/<db>

On the database dashboard, click on Connectivity & security:

Construct the database connection string for AWS RDS
  • user-name: If you have a separate database user the user name will be their name. If you didn’t specify a user, the default user name is postgres.
  • password: If you have a separate database user, use their password. Otherwise, use the password that you chose when creating the database.
  • public-ip: On the screenshot above, the Endpoint is the public IP.
  • postgres-port: On the screenshot above you can find it under Port. The default port for Postgres is 5432.
  • db: The DB is postgres by default unless otherwise specified.

Step 5: Finish connecting the database

Back on Hasura Console, enter the database URL that we retrieved in step 4:

Database setup

Then click Connect Database.

Note

For security reasons, it is recommended to set database URLs as env vars and using the env vars to connect to the databases in place of the raw database URLs.

Voilà. You are ready to start developing.

Hasura console

Next steps

You can check out our 30-Minute Hasura Basics Course and other GraphQL & Hasura Courses for a more detailed introduction to Hasura.

You can also click the gear icon to manage your Hasura Cloud project. (e.g. add collaborators, env vars or custom domains).

Project actions