Sign in Subscribe
Concepts

Non-Human Identities with AWS RDS IAM Connect

Andrios Robert

• 1 min read

The database waits. Your service wants to speak to it—but it’s not a human at the console. It’s code, automation, pipelines. You need access without storing passwords in files or hiding secrets in containers. That’s where Non-Human Identities with AWS RDS IAM Connect change everything.

AWS RDS supports IAM database authentication. This lets you connect to MySQL and PostgreSQL instances using short-lived credentials generated by AWS. No static usernames and passwords. No hardcoding secrets into deployment scripts. You can assign IAM roles to compute resources—EC2, ECS tasks, Lambda functions—and those roles become the “non-human identities” that can log into your database.

Why use Non-Human Identities with AWS RDS IAM Connect?

  • Eliminate long-lived database credentials.
  • Centralize access control within IAM policies.
  • Rotate credentials automatically with no manual step.
  • Reduce attack surface by granting least privilege.

To set it up, you create an IAM role with the rds-db:connect permission tied to your RDS instance’s resource ID. Attach that role to the compute environment that needs access. Then configure your database client to request an auth token from AWS using aws rds generate-db-auth-token. That token, valid for 15 minutes, replaces traditional passwords.

PostgreSQL and MySQL both support this mode through RDS when IAM DB Authentication is enabled. Connections are encrypted over SSL, and access is logged in CloudTrail. This gives you consistent audit trails, rapid credential revocation, and policy-based governance.

Modern architectures depend on automation and microservices that act without human operators. By using IAM-based non-human identities, each piece of your system becomes individually accountable. If you ever need to remove access, you update the IAM policy or detach the role—no need to touch the database itself.

Fast, secure, and designed for scale. That’s the promise of Non-Human Identities with AWS RDS IAM Connect.

See it live in minutes at hoop.dev and start building without ever storing a static password again.