Connecting Microsoft Entra to AWS RDS IAM for Passwordless, Secure Database Access

Microsoft Entra acts as your central identity service. AWS RDS IAM Connect allows you to use that identity to authorize database sessions without storing passwords in the code or configuration. The integration brings single sign-on to your relational databases while enforcing strong security policies.

Here’s how it works:

1. Configure AWS RDS to support IAM-based authentication for your chosen engine, such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.
2. Set up Microsoft Entra ID as the federated identity provider in AWS IAM.
3. Create IAM roles mapped to your Entra users or groups, granting the rds-db:connect permission.
4. Use the AWS CLI or SDK to request temporary authentication tokens.
5. Pass the token to RDS over TLS for a secure, short-lived connection.

This eliminates hardcoded secrets, improves audit trails, and reduces attack surfaces. Every login is verified against your central identity store. The connection lifecycle is defined in seconds, not hours, lowering the chance of credential leaks.

Security teams gain a single point of control. Developers stop worrying about rotating database passwords. Operations benefit from automated onboarding and offboarding—disable a user in Microsoft Entra, and their database access ends instantly across AWS RDS IAM Connect.

Performance impact is minimal. The token request adds milliseconds, and encryption is handled natively. Logging in through Microsoft Entra to AWS RDS keeps compliance easier: identity proof is tied to every query.

If you need speed, reliability, and verifiable identity from cloud to database, this integration is the lever. See it live in minutes—connect Microsoft Entra to AWS RDS IAM with hoop.dev and ship secure database access without storing a single password.