Most RDS SQL Server instances are moved to the recycle bin after they are released or their subscriptions are canceled. You can unlock or rebuild an instance from the recycle bin within a specific period to ensure business continuity. You can also permanently destroy an instance in the recycle bin to ensure data security.
Example
If your subscription RDS instance is locked because it expired, you can take the following actions to restore your business data:
Within 15 days after the instance is locked, you can renew and unlock it from the recycle bin.
After 15 days, the instance is released and can no longer be renewed. However, its backup is retained for another 8 days. During this period, you can rebuild and restore the instance from the recycle bin. This action restores the data from the original instance to a new RDS instance.
Starting from the 9th day after the instance is released, the instance backup is no longer retained, and the data cannot be recovered.
You can go to the Recycle Bin page in the console to view the Last Recoverable Time of the instance.
Features
Recycle bin feature classification | Specific scenarios |
Scenarios where instances are moved to the recycle bin |
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Scenarios where instances are not moved to the recycle bin |
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After an instance is moved to the recycle bin, its database accounts are released. If you later renew and unlock the instance from the recycle bin, you need to re-create the database accounts after the instance is restored.
Limits
Instances with transparent data encryption (TDE) enabled cannot be rebuilt and restored from backup data.
Serverless instances cannot be rebuilt and restored.
Unlock by adding funds
If a pay-as-you-go RDS instance is locked due to an overdue payment, check the payment method of your Alibaba Cloud account.
For more information, see Overdue payments.
Renew and unlock an instance
If a subscription RDS instance is locked because it expired, you can renew and unlock the instance from the recycle bin within 15 days. If you do not renew the instance within this period, the instance is released.
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console.
In the navigation pane on the left, click Recycle Bin. Then, select a region in the top navigation bar.
Find the locked instance and click Unlock to renew the instance.
After you renew the instance, it is immediately restored to its normal state.
Rebuild an instance
After a subscription instance is released upon expiration, or a pay-as-you-go or subscription instance is manually released, its backup is retained for 8 days. During this period, you can use the rebuild feature to restore the backup to a new instance.
Starting from the 9th day after the instance is released, the instance backup is no longer retained, and the data cannot be recovered.
After the instance's backup is deleted, data from the cross-region backup of the RDS SQL Server instance is still retained.
When an instance is rebuilt, the data from the original instance is restored to a new instance. By default, a new instance with the same specifications is created in the same zone as the original instance, but you can select other zones and instance types. However, the original instance ID and endpoint are not retained. You can change the endpoint of the new instance to the endpoint of the original instance to ensure that your applications can connect without interruption. For more information about how to change an endpoint, see Modify the public and internal endpoints and port numbers.
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console.
In the navigation pane on the left, click Recycle Bin. Then, select a region in the top navigation bar.
Find the locked instance and click Rebuild.
Destroy an instance
When you destroy an instance, all of its backups are also destroyed. Proceed with caution.
If an RDS instance expires or has an overdue payment, you can destroy it in the recycle bin.
Due to latency in system cache updates, you may not be able to immediately destroy an instance that has just been moved to the recycle bin. Typically, an instance must be in the recycle bin for about 10 minutes before it can be destroyed. Billing for the instance stops as soon as it enters the recycle bin.
Go to the Instances page.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Recycle Bin. In the top navigation bar of the page that appears, select the region of the required RDS instance.
Find the required RDS instance and click Destroy in the Operation column. In the message that appears, click OK.
Related operations
If you have a local backup, you can upload the local backup to OSS and then import the data to an RDS instance. For more information about other on-premises data migration solutions, see Overview of data migration solutions.
To manually release a pay-as-you-go instance or unsubscribe from a subscription instance, see Release or unsubscribe from an RDS instance.