diff --git a/plugins/inventory/ec2.ini b/plugins/inventory/ec2.ini
index 90c09df1a7..8a4e711aab 100644
--- a/plugins/inventory/ec2.ini
+++ b/plugins/inventory/ec2.ini
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ vpc_destination_variable = ip_address
 # Route53, uncomment and set 'route53' to True.
 route53 = False
 
-# To include RDS instances in inventory, set to True.
-rds = False
+# To exclude RDS instances from the inventory, uncomment and set to False.
+#rds = False
 
 # Additionally, you can specify the list of zones to exclude looking up in
 # 'route53_excluded_zones' as a comma-separated list.
diff --git a/plugins/inventory/ec2.py b/plugins/inventory/ec2.py
index b6d6765fbe..275e07505d 100755
--- a/plugins/inventory/ec2.py
+++ b/plugins/inventory/ec2.py
@@ -223,7 +223,9 @@ class Ec2Inventory(object):
                 config.get('ec2', 'route53_excluded_zones', '').split(','))
 
         # RDS
-        self.rds_enabled = config.getboolean('ec2', 'rds')
+        self.rds_enabled = True
+        if config.has_option('ec2', 'rds'):
+            self.rds_enabled = config.getboolean('ec2', 'rds')
 
         # Cache related
         cache_dir = os.path.expanduser(config.get('ec2', 'cache_path'))