Integrate Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL with Databox

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Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a managed cloud database service from AWS that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale relational databases without managing the underlying infrastructure. It supports multiple database engines including PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server. Connecting Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL to Databox lets you pull data directly from your managed database, build datasets using SQL queries, and visualize business-critical figures alongside data from your other connected tools.

Note: This article covers connections using the PostgreSQL engine. If your RDS instance runs a different engine, use the corresponding Databox connector: MySQL instances use the MySQL connector, and SQL Server instances use the SQL Server connector. The steps for configuring public access and security group rules in AWS are the same regardless of engine.

If you've already established a connection, you can reuse it to add new data sources to your Databox account.

Databox only reads data from your database — it never writes to it. Create a dedicated PostgreSQL role with SELECT-only privileges on the schemas and tables you want to expose. You can run these commands using a PostgreSQL client connected to your RDS instance, or via the Query Editor in the AWS Management Console.

CREATE ROLE databox WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'your_secure_password';
GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE your_database TO databox;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO databox;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO databox;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO databox;

Replace your_database with the name of the database you want to connect, and your_secure_password with a strong password. If you need to expose tables in additional schemas, repeat the GRANT USAGE and GRANT SELECT statements for each schema.

Note: Avoid the following special characters in your password, as they can cause encoding issues when establishing the connection: `, ', ", /, \, and spaces.

By default, RDS instances are not accessible from outside their VPC. To allow Databox to reach your instance, it must be configured as publicly accessible.

1. In the AWS Management Console, go to Databases and select your DB instance.
2. Click Modify.
3. Under Connectivity, set Public access to Yes.
4. Click Continue, then choose when to apply the change (Apply immediately or during the next maintenance window).
5. Click Modify DB instance to save.

Note: For the instance to be reachable after enabling public access, its DB subnet group must be in a VPC subnet with an internet gateway attached. If connectivity still fails after enabling this setting, verify that a route to 0.0.0.0/0 via an internet gateway exists in the associated route table.

RDS controls network access through VPC security groups. Add an inbound rule that permits TCP traffic on port 5432 from the Databox IP address.

1. In the AWS Management Console, go to Databases and select your DB instance.
2. Under Connectivity & security, click the link to the VPC security group associated with the instance.
3. Select the security group, then click Edit inbound rules.
4. Click Add rule and fill in:
   • Type: PostgreSQL
   • Protocol: TCP
   • Port range: 5432
   • Source: Custom — enter 52.4.198.118/32
5. Click Save rules.

1. In Databox, go to Data Sources > + New connection.
2. Search for Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and click Connect.
3. Fill in the connection form:
   • Data source name — a label for this connection in Databox.
   • Host — your RDS endpoint hostname, found on the instance's Connectivity & security tab in the AWS Console (e.g., mydb.abc123.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com).
   • Port — the port your RDS instance listens on. The default for PostgreSQL is 5432.
   • User — the PostgreSQL role name created in Step 1.
   • Password — the password for that role.
   • Database name (optional) — the specific database to connect to. Leave blank to connect at the server level.
   • Timezone — the time zone used to interpret date values in query results. Defaults to Etc/UTC.
4. Toggle Use SSL/TLS to enable encrypted connections.
5. Click Connect.

The Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL integration supports the creation of datasets, which allow you to define and shape the specific data you want to use for reporting in Databox. Datasets make it easier to focus on the most relevant information, enabling you to filter, visualize, and analyze metrics across projects, teams, and clients without writing complex queries each time.

1. Select a table: Pick the appropriate schema within that database.
2. Select columns: Browse and select the specific columns (fields) from your tables or views to include in your dataset. These columns define the structure and content of your dataset.

For more advanced use cases, you can write a custom SQL query instead of selecting columns manually. This allows you to:

• Join multiple tables
• Apply filters and aggregations
• Format or transform data before importing it into Databox

Your query must return a valid tabular result to be used as a dataset.

• Amazon RDS documentation — Official AWS docs for Amazon RDS, covering instance creation, connectivity, security, backups, multi-AZ deployments, read replicas, and monitoring.
• Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL — PostgreSQL-specific guidance within the RDS User Guide, including supported versions, parameter groups, and engine-specific features.

For comprehensive details on metrics, data availability, templates, specifications, usage guidelines, and other key information, refer to the resources listed below.

Technical Details

Behavior & Usage

Notes

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