Using Azure AD for Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL Authentication

As of my last update in September 2021, Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL does not directly support Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) authentication natively. Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL supports IAM database authentication and traditional username/password authentication methods.

If you want to use Azure AD for authentication with Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL, you would need to set up a proxy or an intermediate service that handles the authentication between Azure AD and Amazon RDS. This way, you can use Azure AD to authenticate users and then use the obtained credentials to connect to the PostgreSQL instance in Amazon RDS.

Here's a general outline of the steps you can take to achieve this:

1. Set up Azure AD:

   • Create an Azure AD tenant if you haven't already.
   • Add users or groups to Azure AD and assign the appropriate roles.

2. Create a service to handle authentication:

   • You can build a custom authentication service that accepts Azure AD tokens, validates them, and retrieves temporary credentials for connecting to Amazon RDS.
   • Alternatively, you can explore third-party solutions or identity providers that support Azure AD and integrate with Amazon RDS.

3. Set up IAM database authentication in Amazon RDS:

   • Enable IAM database authentication for your PostgreSQL instance in Amazon RDS. This allows you to use temporary credentials obtained from AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management) to connect to the database.

4. Configure PostgreSQL users in Amazon RDS:

   • Create PostgreSQL users in Amazon RDS with appropriate privileges for the users in Azure AD.

5. Connect to Amazon RDS using the obtained credentials:

   • Your custom authentication service or the third-party identity provider will provide you with the necessary credentials to connect to Amazon RDS. Use these credentials to establish the connection.

Please note that implementing this setup may involve various security considerations, such as ensuring secure communication between the Azure AD authentication service and Amazon RDS, managing user roles and permissions effectively, and handling authentication errors gracefully.

As technologies evolve and service offerings change, it's essential to check the latest documentation and updates from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure to see if there are any native integrations or new features that support Azure AD authentication directly with Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL.