Although being technically in operation for three and a half years, Amazon’s RDS database never made general release until now. Along with the public unveiling, the service has gained a useful SLA for some peace of mind.

RDS stands for Relational Database Service. This hosted database service includes the full package, from set-up, to operations, and through to scaling.

Amazon note any pre-existing Applications, Tools, or Code which IT staff are already using on their databases can still be used on RDS.

One of the most appealing factors of Amazon’s solution is the SLA, which is offered for customers with databases in multiple places. This agreement means the service must meet a 99.95 uptime, equating to a maximum of 22 minutes downtime per month.

If the availability drops below this percentage, the refund is calculated as a percentage of the charge paid to Amazon on your monthly …