ApsaraDB RDS:Change instance specifications

For more information about the specific configuration items of an RDS instance, see Configuration items for an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.

For more information about how to change the specifications of an RDS instance that runs a different database engine, see the following topics:

• Change the specifications of an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance

• Change the specifications of an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance

• Change the specifications of an ApsaraDB RDS for MariaDB instance

Prerequisites

• The RDS instance uses the subscription or pay-as-you-go billing method.

  Note

  If the RDS instance uses the serverless billing method, follow the instructions provided in Configure a serverless ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.

• Your Alibaba Cloud account does not have unpaid renewal orders.

• The RDS instance is in the Running state.

Limits

• After you submit a specification change order, you cannot cancel the order. Therefore, before you submit a specification change order, we recommend that you evaluate whether the new specifications meet your business requirements.

• When you change the specifications of a read-only RDS instance, the primary RDS instance to which the read-only RDS instance is attached must be in the Running state.

• The storage capacity of a read-only RDS instance must be greater than or equal to the storage capacity of its primary RDS instance. We recommend that you expand the storage capacity of the read-only RDS instance before you expand the storage capacity of the primary RDS instance.

• Only the configuration items that are described in Configuration items for an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance can be changed.

• If you reduce the storage capacity of your RDS instance that uses local disks, the new storage capacity must be greater than or equal to 120% of storage that is used. For example, if the storage capacity of your RDS instance that uses local disks is 100 GB and 50 GB of storage is used, the new storage capacity must be greater than or equal to 60 GB (50 × 120%).

• You can reduce the storage capacity of your RDS instance that runs RDS Basic Edition or RDS High-availability Edition without the need to change the RDS edition or the architecture of the RDS instance. The new storage capacity of your RDS instance must be greater than or equal to the minimum storage capacity supported by the instance type of the RDS instance. The minimum storage capacity to which you can reduce your RDS instance is calculated by using the following formula: min{Used storage × 1.3, Used storage + 400 GB}. You can reduce the storage capacity at a step size of 5 GB.

Impacts

Billing rules

For more information, see Specification change fees.

Procedure

1. Go to the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides. Then, find the RDS instance and click the ID of the instance.

2. In the Configuration Information section of the page that appears, click Change Specifications.

3. In the dialog box that appears, select a specification change method and click Next. This step is required only when the RDS instance uses the subscription billing method.

   You can select one of the following specification change methods:

   Upgrade or Downgrade: After you submit a specification change order, the new specifications immediately take effect. These specification change methods are supported for both subscription RDS instances and pay-as-you-go RDS instances.

   After you submit a specification change order, the system synchronizes the data of the RDS instance from the disk to a new RDS instance. Then, the system switches the information such as the ID and endpoints about the original RDS instance over to the new RDS instance based on the switching time that you specified for the specification change. You can use the same ID and endpoints to connect to your RDS instance.

4. Change the specifications of the RDS instance.

   Note

   • You can change the instance type and storage capacity of the RDS instance regardless of the instance configuration. For more information about the usage notes for specification changes, see Primary ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance types (x86).

   • You can reduce the storage capacity of an RDS instance if the RDS instance runs RDS High-availability Edition with cloud disks or local disks or runs RDS Basic Edition with cloud disks.

   • If the RDS instance runs MySQL 5.6 on RDS Enterprise Edition, you can downgrade the RDS instance to RDS High-availability Edition.

   • If the RDS instance runs MySQL 5.7 on RDS Basic Edition, you can upgrade the RDS instance to RDS High-availability Edition with local disks.

   • If the RDS instance runs MySQL 5.7 or MySQL 8.0 on RDS High-availability Edition and uses enhanced SSDs (ESSDs), you can upgrade the RDS instance from RDS High-availability Edition to RDS Cluster Edition.

   • Make sure that the new specifications meet your business requirements.

5. Configure the Switching Time parameter.

   • Execute Immediately: After the data of the RDS instance is migrated to a new RDS instance, the system immediately switches your workloads over to the new RDS instance.

   • Switch Within Maintenance Window: The system switches your workloads over to the new RDS instance within the maintenance window that you specify. For more information, see Set the maintenance window of an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.

   Important

   • If you use RDS Basic Edition, no secondary RDS instance is provided as a hot standby for the RDS instance. Therefore, your database service becomes unavailable for a long period of time when you change the specifications of the RDS instance. We recommend that you change the specifications of the RDS instance during off-peak hours to prevent interruptions to your workloads.

   • If you do not use RDS Basic Edition, one or two transient connections that each lasts approximately 30 seconds may occur when you change the specifications of the RDS instance. The transient connections do not interrupt your workloads. However, we still recommend that you change the specifications of the RDS instance during off-peak hours or make sure that your application is configured to automatically reconnect to the RDS instance.

   • If you select Switch Within Maintenance Window, the RDS instance stays in the upgrading or downgrading state until the switchover is complete. During the switchover, you cannot perform specific operations on the RDS instance. For example, you cannot upgrade or downgrade the specifications of the RDS instance, upgrade the database engine version of the RDS instance, or migrate the RDS instance across zones.

   • In most cases, the storage capacity expansion or change in the ESSD storage type does not interrupt your workloads and can immediately take effect. In this case, you do not need to select Switch Within Maintenance Window.

6. Read and select Terms of Service and click Pay Now. In the dialog box that appears, confirm the instance information before and after the specification change and click Continue to complete the payment.

   Warning

   • After you submit a specification change order, you cannot cancel the order. Therefore, before you submit a specification change order, we recommend that you evaluate whether the new specifications meet your business requirements.

   • After you submit a specification change order, do not perform DDL operations before the specification change is applied.

FAQ

• How do I change the storage type of my RDS instance between local SSDs, standard SSDs, and ESSDs?

  For more information, see How do I change the storage type of an ApsaraDB RDS instance from standard SSD or ESSD to local SSD?

• When I expand the storage capacity of my RDS instance, what do I do if an error that indicates insufficient storage resources occurs?

  You can migrate your RDS instance to a different zone and then expand the storage capacity of your RDS instance again. For more information, see Migrate an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance across zones in the same region. After you migrate your RDS instance to a different zone, the endpoints of your RDS instance remain unchanged. However, the IP addresses that are associated with the endpoints change. Make sure that your application is configured to automatically reconnect to your RDS instance.

• If I expand only the storage capacity of my RDS instance, does the system migrate the data of my RDS instance to a new RDS instance?

  In most cases, if your RDS instance uses cloud disks and does not run RDS Basic Edition, no transient connections occur when you expand the storage capacity. If your RDS instance uses local disks, the system migrates the data of your RDS instance based on the storage resources on the host on which your RDS instance is deployed:

  • The host on which your RDS instance is deployed can provide sufficient storage. In this case, you can directly expand the storage capacity. The expansion process does not interrupt your workloads.

  • The host on which your RDS instance is deployed cannot provide sufficient storage. In this case, the system creates a primary RDS instance and a secondary RDS instance on a different host that can provide sufficient storage. Then, the system synchronizes the data of your original RDS instance to the new primary and secondary RDS instances. The synchronization does not interrupt the workloads on your original RDS instance. However, after the synchronization is complete, a switchover of your workloads causes a transient connection that lasts approximately 30 seconds.

  Note

  You cannot obtain the amount of available storage in the host on which an RDS instance is deployed.

• When I upgrade my primary RDS instance, does the system automatically upgrade the read-only RDS instances that are attached to my primary RDS instance?

  No, when you upgrade your primary RDS instance, the system does not automatically upgrade the read-only RDS instances that are attached to your primary RDS instance. You must manually upgrade the read-only RDS instances.

• When I change the specifications of my RDS instance, are my online workloads interrupted?

  For more information, see Impacts.

• After I change the specifications of my RDS instance, do the endpoints of my RDS instance change?

  No, after you change the specifications of your RDS instance, the endpoints of your RDS instance remain unchanged. An example endpoint is rm-bpxxxxx.mysql.rds.aliyuncs.com. However, the IP addresses that are associated with the endpoints may change. We recommend that you add the endpoints to your application. Do not add the IP addresses to your application.

• What factors affect the period of time that is required to change the specifications of my RDS instance?

  For more information, see Which factors affect the time that is required to change the specifications of my ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance?

• If I upgrade the CPU cores, memory, and storage capacity of my RDS instance at the same time, how long does a transient connection last?

  The transient connection lasts the same as the transient connection that occurs when you separately upgrade the CPU cores, memory, or storage capacity of an RDS instance. In most cases, the transient connection lasts for a few minutes. When the system switches your workloads, a transient connection may occur, or your RDS instance may be restarted. During the switchover, you cannot perform most of the operations that are related to databases, accounts, and network settings. We recommend that you change the specifications of your RDS instance within the specified maintenance window. For more information about the impacts of different configuration items, see Impacts.

• When I expand the storage capacity of my RDS instance, why does a transient connection occur?

  When you expand the storage capacity of your RDS instance, the system switches your workloads over to the secondary RDS instance and then upgrades the primary RDS instance. The switchover causes a transient connection and requires approximately 30 seconds to complete.

• When I expand the storage capacity of my primary RDS instance, is data replication from the primary RDS instance to its read-only RDS instances affected?

  No, specification changes do not affect data replication from the primary RDS instance to its read-only RDS instances.

• Automatic storage expansion is not supported for RDS instances that use local disks. What do I do if I want to enable the automatic storage expansion feature for an RDS instance that uses local disks?

  You must create an RDS instance that uses cloud disks and then migrate your data from the original RDS instance to the new RDS instance. For more information, see Migrate data between ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instances.

• How do I expand the storage capacity of my RDS instance after the upper limit is reached?

  If your RDS instance runs MySQL 8.0 or MySQL 5.7 on RDS High-availability Edition and uses local disks, you can upgrade the storage type of the RDS instance to cloud disks to increase the upper limit of the storage capacity. This applies only when your RDS instance resides in one of the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Zhangjiakou), and Singapore.

• If I delete a database from an RDS instance, is the disk space released?

  If you execute the DROP statement to delete a database, the disk space is released. If you execute the DELETE statement to delete a database, the disk space is not released and disk fragments are generated.

• Can I convert a regular ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance into a serverless ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance?

  No, you cannot convert a regular RDS instance into a serverless RDS instance. If you want to use a serverless RDS instance, you must create a serverless RDS instance. For more information, see Create a serverless ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.

• How am I charged for automatic storage expansion?

  By default, the automatic storage expansion feature is disabled. In this case, you are not charged for the feature. If you enable the feature, you are charged for the feature based on the billing method that is used for manual storage expansion. For more information, see Specification changes.

• What are the rules for automatic storage expansion?

  For more information about the rules for automatic storage expansion, see Configure automatic storage expansion.

• How do I change single-zone deployment to multi-zone deployment?

  If you want to change single-zone deployment to multi-zone deployment, you must migrate your RDS instance across zones in the same region. For more information, see Migrate an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance across zones in the same region.

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