Release protection prevents pay-as-you-go and Serverless RDS instances from being accidentally deleted — either through the console or via API. Enable it for any instance running production workloads.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure that you have:
An ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance using the pay-as-you-go or Serverless billing method. For details, see Serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances
How release protection works
When release protection is enabled, any attempt to delete the instance is blocked:
Console: The console returns an error indicating that the delete operation failed.
API: Calling the
DeleteDBInstanceoperation returns an error indicating that the delete operation failed.
Limitations
Release protection does not prevent automatic release in the following cases:
| Case | Reason |
|---|---|
| Your account has an overdue payment for more than 15 days | Alibaba Cloud reclaims resources to recover unpaid costs. Release protection does not override account-level enforcement. |
| The instance does not comply with security compliance policies | Compliance-triggered releases are initiated by platform policy, not by user action. |
To avoid unexpected loss in these cases, back up your data regularly and keep your account balance positive.
Enable release protection when creating an instance
When creating an instance in the console, or by calling CreateDBInstance or CloneDBInstance, set the DeletionProtection parameter to enable release protection. For the CreateDBInstance API reference, see CreateDBInstance. For the CloneDBInstance API reference, see CloneDBInstance.
To enable release protection in the console during instance creation:
This section covers only the release protection setting. For the full instance creation procedure, see Create and use an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance.
Go to the ApsaraDB RDS buy page.
Set Billing Method to Pay-as-you-go or Serverless.
In the More section, select Prevents instances from being unexpectedly deleted by using the console or calling an API operation.
Configure the remaining parameters based on your requirements.
Enable or disable release protection on an existing instance
To change the release protection setting using the console, use the ModifyDBInstanceDeletionProtection operation. For API details, see ModifyDBInstanceDeletionProtection.
Before deleting an instance, make sure release protection is turned off. If protection is enabled, the delete operation will fail.
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Instances. In the top navigation bar, select the region where the instance resides.
On the Instances page, find the target instance. In the Actions column, click More > Change Release Protection Settings.
In the dialog box, turn on or turn off Release Protection.
Click OK.
Check release protection status
Go to the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region where the instance resides. Click the instance ID.
On the Basic Information page, check the Release Protection parameter in the Configuration Information section.
