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Concepts

OPA with AWS RDS IAM Connect

Andrios Robert

• 1 min read

What is OPA with AWS RDS IAM Connect
Open Policy Agent is a policy engine for fine-grained authorization. AWS RDS IAM lets you connect to databases using short-lived credentials generated through AWS Identity and Access Management. When you integrate them, you can decide who can connect to what database, under which conditions, and have it enforced automatically every time.

Why this integration matters
Without IAM, database credentials often live too long and spread too far. With IAM Connect, credentials expire within minutes, making them useless to attackers. OPA adds a programmable layer where you declare policies:

  • Which roles can request an IAM token for RDS
  • From what networks or regions connections are allowed
  • Time windows when access is valid
  • Conditional checks based on real-time context

This setup eliminates static secrets and makes access auditable at the policy level.

Technical workflow

  1. The application requests connection access.
  2. OPA evaluates the request against defined policies.
  3. If allowed, the application uses AWS SDK to generate an RDS IAM token.
  4. The token is passed to the database in the connection string.
  5. AWS RDS verifies the token with IAM.

This pattern works with MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Aurora engines that support IAM authentication. Using OPA as the gatekeeper ensures all token requests obey the rules you set, with instant revocation possible by editing policy code.

Deployment tips

  • Run OPA close to your applications for low-latency policy checks.
  • Use AWS IAM roles for EC2, ECS, or Lambda to avoid manual key storage.
  • Define OPA policies in Rego that match your AWS IAM policies for consistency.
  • Set RDS parameter groups to enable IAM auth and require SSL connections.

Security benefits
OPA with AWS RDS IAM Connect enforces least privilege access. Temporary credentials reduce the attack surface. Centralized policy code means compliance audits can examine one source of truth. RDS handles the auth, OPA decides the access. Nothing static remains to leak.

Control database connections as tightly as you control production deployments. See how you can get OPA + AWS RDS IAM Connect running with dynamic policy enforcement in minutes — live at hoop.dev.