Configure an Amazon RDS SQL Server database

Enable change data capture (CDC) for your source database. To do it, connect to the database and run the following command at a SQL prompt, in a terminal, or using the Amazon RDS dashboard:
```
EXEC msdb.dbo.rds_cdc_enable_db 'DATABASE_NAME'
```
Replace DATABASE_NAME with the name of your source database.
Enable CDC on the tables for which you need to capture changes:
```
USE DATABASE_NAME
EXEC sys.sp_cdc_enable_table
@source_schema = N'SCHEMA_NAME',
@source_name = N'TABLE_NAME',
@role_name = NULL
GO
```
Note: You need to run the command for each table for which you want to enable CDC.

Replace the following:
- DATABASE_NAME: the name of your source database
- SCHEMA_NAME: the name of the schema to which the tables belong
- TABLE_NAME: the name of the table for which you want to enable CDC
Set the retention period for which you want the changes to be available on your source:
```
EXEC rdsadmin.rds_set_configuration 'cdc_capture_pollinginterval' , 86399
```
The @pollinginterval parameter is measured in seconds with a recommended value set to 86399. This means that the transaction log retains changes for 86,399 seconds (one day). Executing the sp_cdc_start_job 'capture procedure initiates the settings.
Enable snapshot isolation:

When you backfill data from your SQL Server database, it's important to ensure consistent snapshots. If you don't apply the settings described further in this section, changes made to the database during the backfill process might lead to duplicates or incorrect results, in particular, for tables without primary keys.

Enabling snapshot isolation creates a temporary view of your database at the start of the backfill process. This ensures that the data being copied remains consistent, even if other users are making changes to the live tables at the same time. Enabling snapshot isolation might have a slight performance impact, but it's essential for reliable data extraction.

To enable snapshot isolation:
1. Connect to your database using a SQL Server client.
2. Run the following command:
```
ALTER DATABASE DATABASE_NAME SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION ON;
```
Replace DATABASE_NAME with the name of you database.

Set up a log truncation safeguard

To make sure that the CDC reader has enough time to read the logs while allowing log truncation to prevent using up the storage space, you can set up a log truncation safeguard:

Connect to the database using a SQL Server client.

Create a dummy table in the database:

USE DATABASE_NAME;
CREATE TABLE dbo.gcp_datastream_truncation_safeguard (
  [id] INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
  CreatedDate DATETIME DEFAULT GETDATE(),
  [char_column] CHAR(8)
  );

Replace DATABASE_NAME with the name of the database in which you want to create your dummy table.

Create a stored procedure that runs an active transaction for a period of 24 hours to prevent log truncation:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.DatastreamLogTruncationSafeguard
AS
BEGIN
  -- Start a new transaction
  BEGIN TRANSACTION;
  INSERT INTO dbo.gcp_datastream_truncation_safeguard (char_column) VALUES ('a')
  -- Wait for one day before ending the transaction
  WAITFOR DELAY '23:59';
  -- Commit the transaction
  COMMIT TRANSACTION;
END;

Create another stored procedure. This time, you create a job that runs the stored procedure that you created in the previous step on a daily basis:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.SetUpDatastreamJob AS
BEGIN

  DECLARE @database_name VARCHAR(MAX)
  Set @database_name =  (SELECT DB_NAME());;

  DECLARE @command_str VARCHAR(MAX);
  Set @command_str = CONCAT('Use ', @database_name,'; exec dbo.DatastreamLogTruncationSafeguard')

  DECLARE @job_name_1 VARCHAR(MAX);
  Set @job_name_1 = CONCAT(@database_name, '_', 'DatastreamLogTruncationSafeguardJob1')
  -- Schedule the procedure to run again tomorrow
  IF NOT EXISTS (
    select * from msdb.dbo.sysjobs
    WHERE name = @job_name_1
  )
  BEGIN
    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_job
    @job_name = @job_name_1,
    @enabled = 1,
    @description = N'Execute the procedure every day' ;

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep
    @job_name =  @job_name_1,
    @step_name = N'Execute_DatastreamLogTruncationSafeguard1',
    @subsystem = N'TSQL',
    @command = @command_str;

    -- Add a schedule that runs the stored procedure every day.
    DECLARE @start_time_1 time;
    SET @start_time_1 = DATEADD(MINUTE, 1, GETDATE());

    DECLARE @schedule_name_1 VARCHAR(MAX);
    Set @schedule_name_1 = CONCAT(@database_name, '_', 'DatastreamEverydaySchedule1')

    DECLARE @formatted_start_time_1 INT;
    SET @formatted_start_time_1 = CONVERT(INT, REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @start_time_1, 114), ':' ,''));

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_schedule
    @schedule_name = @schedule_name_1,
    @freq_type = 4,  -- daily start
    @freq_interval = 1,
    @active_start_time = @formatted_start_time_1;

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_attach_schedule
    @job_name = @job_name_1,
    @schedule_name = @schedule_name_1 ;

    -- Add a schedule that runs the stored procedure on the SQL Server Agent startup.
    DECLARE @schedule_name_agent_startup VARCHAR(MAX);
    Set @schedule_name_agent_startup = CONCAT(@database_name, '_', 'DatastreamSqlServerAgentStartupSchedule')

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_schedule
    @schedule_name = @schedule_name_agent_startup,
    @freq_type = 64,  -- start on SQL Server Agent startup
    @active_start_time = @formatted_start_time_1;

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_attach_schedule
    @job_name = @job_name_1,
    @schedule_name = @schedule_name_agent_startup ;

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver
    @job_name = @job_name_1,
    @server_name = @@servername ;
  END

  DECLARE @job_name_2 VARCHAR(MAX);
  Set @job_name_2 = CONCAT(@database_name, '_', 'DatastreamLogTruncationSafeguardJob2')

  IF NOT EXISTS (
    select * from msdb.dbo.sysjobs
    WHERE name = @job_name_2
  )
  BEGIN
    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_job
    @job_name = @job_name_2,
    @enabled = 1,
    @description = N'Procedure execution every day' ;

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep
    @job_name =  @job_name_2,
    @step_name = N'Execute_DatastreamLogTruncationSafeguard2',
    @subsystem = N'TSQL',
    @command = @command_str;

    DECLARE @start_time_2 time;
    SET @start_time_2 = DATEADD(HOUR, 12, GETDATE());
    DECLARE @formatted_start_time_2 INT;
    SET @formatted_start_time_2 = CONVERT(INT, REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @start_time_2, 114), ':' ,''));
    DECLARE @schedule_name_2 VARCHAR(MAX);
    Set @schedule_name_2 = CONCAT(@database_name, '_', 'DatastreamEverydaySchedule2')

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_schedule
    @schedule_name = @schedule_name_2,
    @freq_type = 4,  -- daily start
    @freq_interval = 1,
    @active_start_time = @formatted_start_time_2;

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_attach_schedule
    @job_name = @job_name_2,
    @schedule_name = @schedule_name_2 ;

    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver
    @job_name = @job_name_2,
   @server_name = @@servername ;
  END
End;

Execute the stored procedure that creates the Datastream job.

EXEC dbo.SetUpDatastreamJob

Create a Datastream user:

Connect to the source database and enter the following command:
```
 USE DATABASE_NAME;
 ```
```
Create a login to use while setting up the connection profile in Datastream.
```
CREATE LOGIN YOUR_LOGIN WITH PASSWORD = 'PASSWORD';
```

Create a user and assign the db_owner and db_denydatawriter roles to it:

CREATE USER USER_NAME FOR LOGIN YOUR_LOGIN;

EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_owner', 'USER_NAME';
EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_denydatawriter', 'USER_NAME';

Add this user to the master database and assign the following permissions to them:

USE master;
CREATE USER USER_NAME FOR LOGIN YOUR_LOGIN;
GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE TO YOUR_LOGIN;
GRANT SELECT ON sys.fn_dblog TO USER_NAME;

Add this user to the msdb database and assign the following permissions to them:

USE msdb;
CREATE USER USER_NAME FOR LOGIN YOUR_LOGIN;
GRANT SELECT ON dbo.sysjobs TO USER_NAME;