Connection timed out when connecting to RDS PostgreSQL 15 in Quicksight

Question & Answer
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1

Hello everyone.

FYI I am using Quicksight Enterprise.

I am trying to create a new dataset in Quicksight by getting the data from my PostgreSQL 15 in RDS. I am getting this error:

Connection timed out. Check your data source network configurations.

For the “Show details”, it is:

|sourceErrorCode:|DATA_SOURCE_TIMEOUT|
|sourceErrorMessage:|Connection to the data source timed out before validation is complete.|

Now, I have been reading up a lot on this problem. I have essentially followed these two links:
My QuickSight cannot connect to RDS PostgreSQL DB via VPC - Question & Answer - Amazon QuickSight Community
Create a private connection from QuickSight to Redshift or RDS | AWS re:Post (repost.aws)

I have setup the security groups properly and did the following

  1. Created a PostgreSQL 13.12 using the same VPC with the new security groups - I can connect this RDS to Quicksight (validated connection)
  2. Used my original PostgreSQL 15 using the same VPC with the new same security groups - created a new user with md5 encryption. I can connect to the “Public network” using this md5 account. When I attempt to connect to my private subnet, I get the above connection timed out.

Now, I am pretty sure my security group works since the PostgreSQL 13.12 is able to connect. Furthermore, I believe that my user should be using md5 encryption since my PostgreSQL 15 using public network connection type works.

The issue is that I can’t connect it if I use my private subnet.

I am at a lost here. Any one can help me? Thanks.

Tldr: Created security group and used it on PostgreSQL 13.12 and 15.2. Created and used the same VPC connection in Quicksight for both. PostgreSQL 13.12 validated connection successfully when using VPC connection for connection type, but PostgreSQL 15.2 could not validate the connection when using the same VPC.

2

Hi @dixerio,
When you mentioned that you used your original PostgreSQL; by that do you mean RDS?
If so, my initial thought would be that it’s related to network configurations or permissions.
A couple things you could check on for this:

  • Check Network ACLs for private subnet to ensure they allow inbound/outbound traffic
  • VPC Configuration
  • IAM role permissions

If it is not an RDS PostgreSQL, than I believe the issue might be with versioning.

If you continue to encounter this issue, I would suggest creating a support ticket for further help!

3

Yes. All the PostgreSQL I mentioned are in RDS.

Both RDS are hosted in the same VPC, using the exact same security groups and network interface. Even the QuickSight VPC connection is the same.

The IAM role is the same since I used the same QuickSight VPC connection.

This is why I am puzzled as to why I can’t connect to my private version 15 whereas version 13 is OK if all the configurations are the same.

I would like to reiterate that version 15 is able to connect successfully if I use public network instead of VPC connection - does this means that it isn’t the problem with the user password encryption md5?

Note: using the same user account that I created in postgresql 15 to attempt connection in both public and VPC connection.

4

Solved my own problem.

Turns out if your RDS is publicly accessible, then you can only connect it using “Public Network” in Quicksight. Otherwise, you can use “VPC connection” when it is not publicly accessible.

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