If you no longer need an RDS SQL Server instance, you can manually release a pay-as-you-go or Serverless instance, or unsubscribe from a subscription instance. This topic describes how to release an instance in the console or by calling an API operation.
Notes
Data retention policy after release: Pay-as-you-go and Serverless instances can only be released. Subscription instances can only be unsubscribed from. After an instance is released or unsubscribed from, its data is retained for a period in the following cases:
The following instances are moved to the recycle bin. In the recycle bin, you can restore the instances.
Recycle bin feature classification
Specific scenarios
Scenarios where instances are moved to the recycle bin
Pay-as-you-go primary instances that are manually released.
Pay-as-you-go primary instances that are automatically released due to overdue payments in an Alibaba Cloud account.
Subscription primary instances that are manually unsubscribed from.
Subscription primary instances that are automatically released after expiration.
Scenarios where instances are not moved to the recycle bin
Read-only instances are not moved to the recycle bin.
Serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances are not moved to the recycle bin.
SQL Server 2008 R2 instances that are manually released or unsubscribed from are not moved to the recycle bin.
For an instance with cross-region backup configured, the cross-region backup data is retained if it is still within the retention period.
WarningIn all other cases, the instance is immediately purged. The instance data is deleted and cannot be recovered. Proceed with caution. Before you proceed, back up your data and download the backups.
Prerequisite for releasing a read-only instance: Before you release the last read-only instance of a primary instance, you must disable read/write splitting (read-only endpoint).
Impact of releasing a primary instance on read-only instances: When you release a primary instance that has read-only instances, its subscription read-only instances are automatically refunded and released. Its pay-as-you-go read-only instances are directly released.
Instance status and billing after release: After an instance is released, it no longer appears on the Instances page in the console, and billing for the instance stops. You can recover a primary instance from the instance recycle bin if it has been used for more than seven days.
A privileged account created using Terraform may cause the release to fail: If you used Terraform to create a privileged account, you may not be able to release the instance. This is because the account cannot be deleted using Terraform.
Release or unsubscribe from a primary RDS instance
Release a pay-as-you-go primary RDS instance and a serverless RDS instance
You cannot release a pay-as-you-go RDS instance in the Suspended state. You must restart the RDS instance and then release the instance. You can also call the DeleteDBInstance operation to release the RDS instance.
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Instances. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides.
Use one of the following methods to Release Instance:
Method 1: Find the required RDS instance and choose in the Actions column.
Method 2: Find the required RDS instance and click the instance ID. In the Status section of the Basic Information page, click Release Instance.
In the message that appears, click Yes.
Unsubscribe from a subscription primary RDS instance
You can use one of the following methods to unsubscribe from a subscription RDS instance:
Unsubscriptions page
Go to the Resource Unsubscription page. Then, submit a ticket to apply for unsubscribing from a subscription RDS instance.
Basic Information page
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Instances. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides.
Find the required RDS instance and click the instance ID. In the Status section of the Basic Information page, click Cancellation of Instance Subscription to go to the Resource Unsubscription page. Then, submit a ticket to apply for unsubscribing from a subscription RDS instance.
Instance details page
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Instances. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides.
Find the required RDS instance. In the Actions column of the RDS instance, choose More > Cancellation of Instance Subscription. In the dialog box that appears, click OK to go to the Resource Unsubscription page. Then, submit a ticket to apply for unsubscribing from a subscription RDS instance.
Release or unsubscribe from a read-only RDS instance
Manually release a pay-as-you-go read-only RDS instance
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Instances. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which your RDS instance resides.
Use one of the following methods to Release Instance:
Method 1: Find the required read-only RDS instance and choose in the Actions column.
Method 2: Find the required read-only RDS instance and click the instance ID. On the Basic Information page, click Release Instance.
In the message that appears, click OK.
Unsubscribe from a subscription read-only RDS instance
You can use one of the following methods to unsubscribe from a subscription RDS instance:
Unsubscriptions page
Go to the Resource Unsubscription page. Then, submit a ticket to apply for unsubscribing from a subscription RDS instance.
Basic Information page
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Instances. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides.
Find the required RDS instance and click the instance ID. In the Status section of the Basic Information page, click Cancellation of Instance Subscription to go to the Resource Unsubscription page. Then, submit a ticket to apply for unsubscribing from a subscription RDS instance.
Instance details page
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Instances. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides.
Find the required RDS instance. In the Actions column of the RDS instance, choose More > Cancellation of Instance Subscription. In the dialog box that appears, click OK to go to the Resource Unsubscription page. Then, submit a ticket to apply for unsubscribing from a subscription RDS instance.
Automatically release a read-only RDS instance
After you release or unsubscribe from a primary RDS instance, the subscription read-only RDS instances or pay-as-you-go read-only RDS instances of the primary RDS instance are automatically deleted. In addition, the payments for the subscription read-only RDS instances of the primary RDS instance are refunded.
References
You can release pay-as-you-go and Serverless instances by calling the DeleteDBInstance API operation. You cannot unsubscribe from subscription instances by calling an API operation.
For more information about read-only instances, see FAQ.