{
  "id": 6569693,
  "title": "Why TDE SQL Server Restores Fail on Amazon RDS",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/10/why-tde-sql-server-restores-fail-on-amazon-rds",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-10T06:59:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "HackerNoon",
    "slug": "hackernoon",
    "url": "https://hackernoon.com/why-tde-sql-server-restores-fail-on-amazon-rds?source=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "This is an account of why Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) SQL Server restores fail on Amazon RDS. A colleague attempted to migrate a finance database to RDS with TDE enabled, but the restore failed due to a certificate error. The issue arises because RDS does not expose the master key infrastructure to arbitrary T-SQL commands, unlike self-managed SQL Server instances. To resolve this, AWS provides purpose-specific stored procedures: rds_backup_tde_certificate and rds_restore_tde_certificate. These procedures move the certificate through S3, with the private key password encrypted by a KMS key rather than sent in the clear. By following these procedures, one can successfully restore a TDE-encrypted database on RDS, avoiding the multi-day troubleshooting process that the colleague experienced.",
  "summary": "Learn why TDE-encrypted SQL Server backups fail on Amazon RDS and how to migrate certificates correctly using S3, KMS, and RDS procedures.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}