rds-sqlserver

An agent skill by aws, from aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws. Tags: database, debugging, networking, rds, sql-server.

What it does

Provides connectivity, authentication, and troubleshooting guidance for Amazon RDS for SQL Server. Applicable when users ask about SSMS times out connecting from EC2, Cannot generate SSPI context with Windows auth, connect RDS SQL Server from Lambda with pymssql, auth_scheme shows NTLM instead of KERBEROS on ECS Fargate, SSM tunnel to RDS SQL Server from laptop, port 1433 security group, TrustServerCertificate=True for localhost tunnels, SPN MSSQLSvc, AWS Managed Microsoft AD, CNAME not RDS endpoint for Kerberos, tds_version='7.4', encryption='require', port-as-string for pymssql, Secrets Manager credential caching in Lambda, error 18456 login failed. Covers Python (pymssql, pyodbc), .NET (Microsoft.Data.SqlClient), Java (JDBC mssql-jdbc), Node.js (tedious), IAM auth via RDS Proxy, and VPC/ECS/EKS/Lambda deployment.

Install

With the skills CLI, which installs into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents:

npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill rds-sqlserver

Or copy the skill folder into Claude Code's skills directory by hand (~/.claude/skills for every project, or .claude/skills inside one):

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws
cp -r agent-toolkit-for-aws/skills/specialized-skills/database-skills/rds-sqlserver ~/.claude/skills/rds-sqlserver

Safety box score

Grade D, elevated risk: 60 of 100 risk points, rated 2026-10-19. The grade rates what the skill and its scripts can reach on the machine of whoever installs it, across eight categories from shell execution to secrets access. How the score works.

This skill is a connectivity and troubleshooting guide for Amazon RDS for SQL Server, but it also orchestrates AWS infrastructure changes, secret handling, and local system setup. The main risks are broad cloud-side mutations after confirmation, system-wide installs/trust-store edits on the user’s machine, and pulling credentials or installers over the network.

Category levels, from 0 (none) to 3 (high)
Category	Level	Why
Code & shell execution	2 (moderate)	It drives shell/package-manager/AWS CLI actions such as `pip install`, `npm install`, `aws rds create-db-instance`, and tunnel setup commands, but not arbitrary code execution.
Network access	2 (moderate)	It downloads CA bundles and installers from external URLs (`truststore.pki.rds.amazonaws.com`, S3 session-manager downloads) and sends requests to AWS services for RDS, EC2, SSM, Secrets Manager, and Directory Service.
Filesystem reach	2 (moderate)	It writes outside the project into system locations like `/etc/ssl/certs/rds-global-bundle.pem`, `/etc/krb5.conf`, and log paths under `/var`, which affects the host globally.
Secrets & credentials	2 (moderate)	It explicitly uses Secrets Manager for DB passwords and IAM auth tokens (`GetSecretValue`, `create-secret`, `rotate-secret`, `DB_SECRET`), so it touches real credentials even though it avoids hardcoding them.
Privilege & persistence	2 (moderate)	Several setup steps require elevated privileges or system-wide changes, including `sudo apt install`, importing root certificates, and installing the Session Manager plugin into system paths.
Instruction hijack surface	0 (none)	I found no prompt-injection behavior, hidden instructions, or requests to ignore safeguards; the confirmation requirement is protective rather than evasive.
Irreversible actions	3 (high)	The skill can create and modify AWS resources after confirmation, including `create-db-instance`, `modify-db-instance`, `create-db-proxy`, `create-directory`, `create-vpc-endpoint`, `create-route`, `create-nat-gateway`, and `create-service`.
Transparency	2 (moderate)	It depends on externally downloaded installers and references helper scripts that were not included in the provided files (`scripts/test_connection.py`, `scripts/test_connection.ps1`, `scripts/validate_ad_network.ps1`), so part of the behavior is not directly inspectable here.

Before installing

Read `SKILL.md` and confirm you want it to manage AWS RDS, AD, proxy, networking, and secret resources.
Check whether you can accept system-wide changes on the host (`sudo`, `/etc/ssl/certs`, Session Manager plugin installs).
Verify the AWS identity you’ll use is scoped to the actions you expect (`rds`, `ec2`, `ssm`, `secretsmanager`, `ds`).
If you plan to use the SSM tunnel path, review the external installer steps in `references/ssm-tunneling.md` and test on a throwaway machine first.

Rated 2026-10-19 by an automated review of 15 files from the skill's repository.

Source

Repository: aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws (all skills from this repository)
Path: skills/specialized-skills/database-skills/rds-sqlserver/SKILL.md
Branch: main
Updated: 2026-09-19

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connecting-to-data-source — Create and troubleshoot AWS Glue connections to JDBC databases (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, RDS), Redshift, Snowflake, and BigQuery.
redshift-guide — Amazon Redshift is NOT PostgreSQL — corrects PostgreSQL-derived LLM mistakes; covers Redshift-specific SQL, DDL, COPY/UNLOAD, system views, metadata discovery.
amazon-dynamodb — Designs, reviews, and debugs DynamoDB data layers from design axioms — enumerates access patterns, chooses partition/sort keys and GSIs.
exporting-rds-to-s3 — Exports Amazon RDS or Aurora database snapshots to Amazon S3 in Apache Parquet format for analytics, backup, or data migration.
rds-db2 — Provisions, connects, migrates, and operates Amazon RDS for Db2.