Why were my RDS instances were patched in maintenance window without a warning?

Question

We updated our MariaDB RDS instances about four weeks ago (April 21st) because there was an e-mail from AWS that they have to be updated or they will be forcefully updated in the next maintenance window until some date.

But yesterday (May 18th) they were updated once again by themselves without our involvement or any e-mail indicating that this will happen. There was also nothing in the recommendations last time we updated - these four weeks ago. Previously all the critical updates were requested by e-mail first with a long deadline.

Minor version upgrades are disabled.

Where can we find information why was the update necessary or the list of planned updates? Is there any way to prevent patches without our involvement?

Monthly frequency is too often for our SLA.

Answer

> Usually, you will receive a notification about the pending maintenance and you can view them in your AWS console. Reference # [1]. Additionally, you can review the details of you required upgrade using the AWS CLI as well. Reference # [2]

```
aws rds describe-pending-maintenance-actions --resource-identifier 
```

Furthermore, you can view the details of planned activities in your Personal Health Dashboard. Reference # [3]

Hope the information shared is helpful.

[1] Maintaining a DB instance - Viewing pending maintenance - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Maintenance.html#USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Maintenance.Viewing

[2] describe-pending-maintenance-actions - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/rds/describe-pending-maintenance-actions.html

[3] AWS Health Dashboard - https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/technology/aws-health-dashboard/

Why were my RDS instances were patched in maintenance window without a warning?

Relevant content