A service for securely storing, rotating, and retrieving credentials (passwords, API keys, connection strings). It supports automatic secret rotation for RDS, Redshift, and other services.
On SAA-C03 this is distinguished from Parameter Store: Secrets Manager has automatic rotation and a per-secret cost; SSM Parameter Store is cheaper but lacks native automatic rotation. Question: automatically rotate an RDS password → Secrets Manager.
AWS Secrets Manager is a concept that can show up on the exam. Check the full guide to see it in context.