Your MySQL 5.7 and PostgreSQL 11 databases will probably be routinely enrolled into Amazon RDS Extended Support

Today, we’re saying that your MySQL 5.7 and PostgreSQL 11 database cases working on Amazon Aurora and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) will probably be routinely enrolled into Amazon RDS Extended Support beginning on February 29, 2024.

This will assist keep away from unplanned downtime and compatibility points that may come up with routinely upgrading to a brand new main model. This gives you with extra management over whenever you wish to improve the foremost model of your database.

This computerized enrollment might imply that you’ll expertise increased prices when RDS Extended Support begins. You can keep away from these prices by upgrading your database to a more recent DB model earlier than the beginning of RDS Extended Support.

What is Amazon RDS Extended Support?
In September 2023, we announced Amazon RDS Extended Support, which lets you proceed working your database on a significant engine model previous its RDS finish of ordinary help date on Amazon Aurora or Amazon RDS at a further value.

Until neighborhood finish of life (EoL), the MySQL and PostgreSQL open supply communities handle frequent vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE) identification, patch era, and bug fixes for the respective engines. The communities launch a brand new minor model each quarter containing these safety patches and bug fixes till the database main model reaches neighborhood finish of life. After the neighborhood finish of life date, CVE patches or bug fixes are now not accessible and the neighborhood considers these engines unsupported. For instance, MySQL 5.7 and PostgreSQL 11 are now not supported by the communities as of October and November 2023 respectively. We are grateful to the communities for his or her continued help of those main variations and a clear course of and timeline for transitioning to the latest main model.

With RDS Extended Support, Amazon Aurora and RDS takes on engineering the essential CVE patches and bug fixes for as much as three years past a significant model’s neighborhood EoL. For these 3 years, Amazon Aurora and RDS will work to establish CVEs and bugs within the engine, generate patches and launch them to you as shortly as attainable. Under RDS Extended Support, we’ll proceed to supply help, such that the open supply neighborhood’s finish of help for an engine’s main model doesn’t go away your purposes uncovered to essential safety vulnerabilities or unresolved bugs.

You may surprise why we’re charging for RDS Extended Support reasonably than offering it as a part of the RDS service. It’s as a result of the engineering work for sustaining safety and performance of neighborhood EoL engines requires AWS to speculate developer sources for essential CVE patches and bug fixes. This is why RDS Extended Support is just charging clients who want the extra flexibility to remain on a model previous neighborhood EoL.

RDS Extended Support could also be helpful that can assist you meet what you are promoting necessities in your purposes when you have explicit dependencies on a particular MySQL or PostgreSQL main model, comparable to compatibility with sure plugins or customized options. If you’re presently working on-premises database servers or self-managed Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) cases, you’ll be able to migrate to Amazon Aurora MySQL-Compatible Edition, Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition, Amazon RDS for MySQL, Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL past the neighborhood EoL date, and proceed to make use of these variations these variations with RDS Extended Support whereas benefiting from a managed service. If you should migrate many databases, you too can make the most of RDS Extended Support to separate your migration into phases, guaranteeing a clean transition with out overwhelming IT sources.

In 2024, RDS Extended Support will probably be accessible for RDS for MySQL main variations 5.7 and better, RDS for PostgreSQL main variations 11 and better, Aurora MySQL-compatible model 2 and better, and Aurora PostgreSQL-compatible model 11 and better. For a listing of all future supported variations, see Supported MySQL main variations on Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora main variations within the AWS documentation.

Note: RDS Extended Support for PostgreSQL 11 begins on March 1, 2024, however won’t be charged till April 1, 2024. Between March 1 and March 31, all PostgreSQL 11 cases on Aurora and RDS are coated below RDS Extended Support. RDS Extended Support for Aurora MySQL 2 begins on November 1, 2024, however won’t be charged till December 1, 2024. Between November 1 and November 30, all Aurora MySQL 2 clusters are coated below RDS Extended Support.

RDS Extended Support is priced per vCPU per hour. Learn extra about pricing particulars and timelines for RDS Extended Support at Amazon Aurora pricing, RDS for MySQL pricing, and RDS for PostgreSQL pricing. For extra data, see the weblog posts about Amazon RDS Extended Support for MySQL and PostgreSQL databases within the AWS Database Blog.

Why are we routinely enrolling all databases to Amazon RDS Extended Support?
We had originally knowledgeable you that RDS Extended Support would supply the opt-in APIs and console options in December 2023. In that announcement, we mentioned that in case you determined to not choose your database in to RDS Extended Support, it might routinely improve to a more recent engine model beginning on March 1, 2024. For instance, you’d be upgraded from Aurora MySQL 2 or RDS for MySQL 5.7 to Aurora MySQL 3 or RDS for MySQL 8.0 and from Aurora PostgreSQL 11 or RDS for PostgreSQL 11 to Aurora PostgreSQL 15 and RDS for PostgreSQL 15, respectively.

However, we heard plenty of suggestions from clients that these computerized upgrades might trigger their purposes to expertise breaking adjustments and different unpredictable habits between main variations of neighborhood DB engines. For instance, an unplanned main model improve might introduce compatibility points or downtime if purposes are usually not prepared for MySQL 8.0 or PostgreSQL 15.

Automatic enrollment in RDS Extended Support offers you further time and extra management to arrange, plan, and check your database upgrades by yourself timeline, offering you flexibility on when to transition to new main variations whereas persevering with to obtain essential safety and bug fixes from AWS.

If you’re apprehensive about elevated prices attributable to computerized enrollment in RDS Extended Support, you’ll be able to keep away from RDS Extended Support and related prices by upgrading earlier than the tip of RDS commonplace help.

How to improve your database to keep away from RDS Extended Support prices
Although RDS Extended Support helps you schedule your improve by yourself timeline, sticking with older variations indefinitely means lacking out on one of the best price-performance in your database workload and incurring further prices from RDS Extended Support.

MySQL 8.0 on Aurora MySQL, also called Aurora MySQL 3, unlocks help for widespread Aurora options, comparable to Global Database, Amazon RDS Proxy, Performance Insights, Parallel Query, and Serverless v2 deployments. Upgrading to RDS for MySQL 8.0 gives options together with as much as thrice increased efficiency versus MySQL 5.7, comparable to Multi-AZ cluster deployments, Optimized Reads, Optimized Writes, and help for AWS Graviton2 and Graviton3-based cases.

PostgreSQL 15 on Aurora PostgreSQL helps the Aurora I/O Optimized configuration, Aurora Serverless v2, Babelfish for Aurora PostgreSQL, pgvector extension, Trusted Language Extensions for PostgreSQL (TLE), and AWS Graviton3-based cases in addition to community enhancements. Upgrading to RDS for PostgreSQL 15 gives options comparable to Multi-AZ DB cluster deployments, RDS Optimized Reads, HypoPG extension, pgvector extension, TLEs for PostgreSQL, and AWS Graviton3-based cases.

Major model upgrades might make database adjustments that aren’t backward-compatible with current purposes. You ought to manually modify your database occasion to improve to the foremost model. It is strongly really helpful that you just completely check any main model improve on non-production cases earlier than making use of it to manufacturing to make sure compatibility along with your purposes. For extra details about an in-place improve from MySQL 5.7 to eight.0, see the incompatibilities between the 2 variations, Aurora MySQL in-place main model improve, and RDS for MySQL upgrades within the AWS documentation. For the in-place improve from PostgreSQL 11 to fifteen, you should utilize the pg_upgrade technique.

To reduce downtime throughout upgrades, we suggest utilizing Fully Managed Blue/Green Deployments in Amazon Aurora and Amazon RDS. With just some steps, you should utilize Amazon RDS Blue/Green Deployments to create a separate, synchronized, absolutely managed staging setting that mirrors the manufacturing setting. This includes launching a parallel inexperienced setting with higher model replicas of your manufacturing databases decrease model. After validating the inexperienced setting, you’ll be able to shift site visitors over to it. Then, the blue setting will be decommissioned. To be taught extra, see Blue/Green Deployments for Aurora MySQL and Aurora PostgreSQL or Blue/Green Deployments for RDS for MySQL and RDS for PostgreSQL within the AWS documentation. In most circumstances, Blue/Green Deployments are the best choice to scale back downtime, apart from restricted circumstances in Amazon Aurora or Amazon RDS.

For extra data on performing a significant model improve in every DB engine, see the next guides within the AWS documentation.

Now accessible
Amazon RDS Extended Support is now accessible for all clients working Amazon Aurora and Amazon RDS cases utilizing MySQL 5.7, PostgreSQL 11, and better main variations in AWS Regions, together with the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions past the tip of the usual help date in 2024. You don’t have to choose in to RDS Extended Support, and also you get the flexibleness to improve your databases and continued help for as much as 3 years.

Learn extra about RDS Extended Support within the Amazon Aurora User Guide and the Amazon RDS User Guide. For pricing particulars and timelines for RDS Extended Support, see Amazon Aurora pricing, RDS for MySQL pricing, and RDS for PostgreSQL pricing.

Please ship suggestions to AWS re:Post for Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora or by your normal AWS Support contacts.

— Channy

Update December 22, 2022 – This put up has been up to date for readability to supply the knowledge of charged interval about RDS Extended Support for our readers.