How long does it take to create a backup for my RDS for SQL Server instance?

Resolution

The time it takes to create a backup for your DB instance depends on the database workload. Higher database workload increases the number of incremental changes in the volume, which result in a longer backup time.

In Amazon RDS for SQL Server, you can back up your DB instances using RDS automated backups, manual RDS DB snapshots and native SQL backups.

• RDS automated backups and manual DB snapshots: These are storage volume snapshots of your DB instance that back up the entire DB instance. The first backup of a DB instance contains the data for the full DB instance. Subsequent backups of the same DB instance are incremental, meaning that only the data that changed after your most recent snapshot is saved.
• Native SQL backups: You can create full and differential backups of your DB instance, and then store the file in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) buckets. You can also create backups of individual databases on your DB instance.

In some scenarios, your DB instance might require a full backup instead of an incremental backup. This might be the case after a Multi-Availability Zone failover or after you turn on RDS automated backups. Creating a full backup might take considerably longer. Other factors that increase back up time including the following:

• CPU and memory availability
• Disk I/O
• Database activity
• Size of the database

Check the progress of a native backup or restore

To check the progress of native backup or restore, get the Task ID after you perform the backup or restore statement. Or, use the following script to identify all of the completed and pending tasks for a particular database. In the following command, replace database_name with the correct name for your database.

exec msdb.dbo.rds_task_status @db_name='database_name'

To track the status of the job, use the following SQL statement as a guide. In the following command, replace task_id with the correct ID for your task.

exec msdb..rds_task_status @task_id= 5

For more information, see Setting up for native backup and restore.

Check the progress of a manual DB snapshot

To check the progress of manual DB snapshot, do the following:

1. Open the RDS console.
2. Select Snapshots.
3. Select the snapshot you want to check the progress for, then select the Progress tab.

Note: You can't check the progress of an RDS automated backup from the RDS console or using the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI). Contact AWS Support for this information.