Spring Boot + AWS RDS MySQL: Connect Your App to Cloud DB

Connecting a Spring Boot application to AWS RDS MySQL is almost identical to using a local MySQL instance. Only the datasource URL, username, and password change—your Spring Boot, JPA, Hibernate, and repository code remain the same.

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Step 1: Local MySQL Setup with Spring Boot

Create a Spring Boot project from Spring Initializr with:

• Spring Web
• Spring Data JPA
• MySQL Driver

Below is an example Product entity:

package com.example.demo.entity;

import jakarta.persistence.*;

@Entity
public class Product {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;

    private String name;
    private double price;

    // getters and setters
}

Product JPA Repository:

package com.example.demo.repository;

import com.example.demo.entity.Product;
import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;

public interface ProductRepository extends JpaRepository {
}

Product REST Controller:

package com.example.demo.controller;

import com.example.demo.entity.Product;
import com.example.demo.repository.ProductRepository;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.*;

import java.util.List;

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/products")
public class ProductController {

    private final ProductRepository repo;

    public ProductController(ProductRepository repo) {
        this.repo = repo;
    }

    @PostMapping
    public Product addProduct(@RequestBody Product product) {
        return repo.save(product);
    }

    @GetMapping
    public List<Product> getProducts() {
        return repo.findAll();
    }
}

Your local application.properties:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/testdb
spring.datasource.username=root
spring.datasource.password=yourpassword

spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.show-sql=true

Once MySQL is running locally, Spring Boot creates the tables and your APIs begin storing and retrieving data.

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Step 2: Create MySQL Database on AWS RDS

In the AWS Console → RDS → Create Database:

• Engine: MySQL
• Template: Free Tier
• Username: admin
• Password: admin1234 (example)
• Public access: Enabled
• Security group: Allow port 3306

After RDS becomes Available, copy the RDS endpoint.

Connect via terminal:

mysql -h mydb.xxxxx.ap-south-1.rds.amazonaws.com -u admin -p

Create the database:

CREATE DATABASE inventory;

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Step 3: Connect Spring Boot to AWS RDS MySQL

Update your application.properties to use the RDS endpoint and new database:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://mydb.xxxxx.ap-south-1.rds.amazonaws.com:3306/inventory
spring.datasource.username=admin
spring.datasource.password=admin1234

spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.show-sql=true

After restarting the application, Hibernate creates the product table in AWS RDS automatically. Your APIs now store and fetch data from the cloud database instead of local MySQL.

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Final Thoughts

Spring Boot treats AWS RDS MySQL exactly like a regular MySQL server. As long as your network security group allows access and your JDBC URL is correct, the application works without any other changes.

This makes RDS a reliable choice when moving from local development to cloud deployment on EC2, Elastic Beanstalk, Docker, or Kubernetes.