How do I increase the storage available for a SQL Server instance on AWS RDS?
What is the most convenient way to increase the storage space allocated to a SQL Server instance? Is there nothing better than Database Migration Services in this situation?


Native backup and restore through S3 might be an alternative to DMS. However it also has it's cons:


Requires you to stop writing to the existing database while the backup/restore is performed in order to ensure the latest data is included.
Won't work for databases larger than 1TB in size (limit on backup size).
If you've already run out of space on RDS, the backup stored procedure might not work.


AWS explains the procedure in their Import/Export documentation for SQL Server, here are the headlines:


Spin up a new RDS instance with the desired disk capacity
Ensure both source and target databases have an option group that includes SQLSERVER_BACKUP_RESTORE
Stop writes to the source database
Use the stored procedure rds_backup_database on the source instance to backup your database(s) to an S3 bucket you have permissions to write to
Use the stored procedure rds_restore_database on the destination database to restore the backup
Point your clients to the new RDS instance