# Configuring and managing a Multi-AZ deployment for Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployments can have one standby or two standby DB instances. When the deployment has one standby DB instance, it's called a *Multi-AZ DB instance deployment*. A Multi-AZ DB instance deployment has one standby DB instance that provides failover support, but doesn't serve read traffic. When the deployment has two standby DB instances, it's called a *Multi-AZ DB cluster deployment*. A Multi-AZ DB cluster deployment has standby DB instances that provide failover support and can also serve read traffic. You can use the AWS Management Console to determine whether a Multi-AZ deployment is a Multi-AZ DB instance deployment or a Multi-AZ DB cluster deployment. In the navigation pane, choose **Databases**, and then choose a **DB identifier**. + A Multi-AZ DB instance deployment has the following characteristics: + There is only one row for the DB instance. + The value of **Role** is **Instance** or **Primary**. + The value of **Multi-AZ** is **Yes**. + A Multi-AZ DB cluster deployment has the following characteristics: + There is a cluster-level row with three DB instance rows under it. + For the cluster-level row, the value of **Role** is **Multi-AZ DB cluster**. + For each instance-level row, the value of **Role** is **Writer instance** or **Reader instance**. + For each instance-level row, the value of **Multi-AZ** is **3 Zones**. **Topics** + [Multi-AZ DB instance deployments for Amazon RDS](Concepts.MultiAZSingleStandby.md) + [Multi-AZ DB cluster deployments for Amazon RDS](multi-az-db-clusters-concepts.md) In addition, the following topics apply to both DB instances and Multi-AZ DB clusters. + [Tagging Amazon RDS resources](USER_Tagging.md) + [Amazon Resource Names (ARNs) in Amazon RDS](USER_Tagging.ARN.md) + [Working with storage for Amazon RDS DB instances](USER_PIOPS.StorageTypes.md) + [Maintaining a DB instance](USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Maintenance.md) + [Upgrading a DB instance engine version](USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Upgrading.md)