How do I reset the admin user password for my Amazon RDS DB instance?

2 minute read

I want to reset the admin (master) user password for my Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) DB instance.

Short description

You can change the admin user password for your DB instance using the Amazon RDS console.

For clustered systems, such as Amazon Aurora, reset the password for any RDS DB instance in the cluster with a Writer or Reader role. Then, choose Apply Immediately. The password change is asynchronous and applies as soon as possible. This means that the RDS DB instance doesn't require a restart.

Note: Existing connections aren't dropped. However, when you reconnect, you must provide the updated password.

Resolution

To modify the master user password of your DB instance, complete the following steps:

Open the Amazon RDS console.
Select Databases.
Select the RDS DB instance, and then choose Modify.
Note: For Aurora, expand the cluster, and choose the instance that you want to modify. Then, choose Modify.
Enter the password that you want to use in the New Master Password field.
Note: The password change is asynchronous and applies as soon as possible. This change ignores the Apply Immediately setting.
Choose Continue, and then choose Modify DB Instance.

Note: In some cases, your RDS admin user might lose their privileges. If this happens, then reset the admin user password on the DB instance. This allows you to regain access and restore any revoked privileges. The password can be the same as a previously used password, or it can be a new password.

To use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to modify the password, run the modify-db-instance command. For an Aurora cluster, run the modify-db-cluster command.

You can also use the Amazon RDS API ModifyDBInstance to modify an RDS DB instance.

Note: If you receive errors when running AWS CLI commands, make sure that you're using the most recent AWS CLI version.

The Status field for your RDS DB instance on the RDS dashboard changes to resetting-master-credentials. When the modification is complete, the Status column changes to Available.