Aurora RDS Maintenance Window

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We have separate maintenance window options for our Aurora RDS Cluster as well as all the cluster instances, what is the difference between them?

Do we have the option to enable and disable them selectively? How will the cluster and instance be impacted by this change?

What maintenance actions will be applicable for cluster and what for instance?

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Hello.

what is the difference between them?

I think the difference is in the changes that are performed in the maintenance window.
If the change is to the cluster, the change will be made in the cluster maintenance window, and if the change is to the instance, the instance maintenance window will be used.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Aurora.Modifying.html#Aurora.Modifying.Settings

You can set the maintenance window independently for the DB cluster and for each DB instance in the DB cluster. When the scope of a modification is the entire DB cluster, the modification is performed during the DB cluster maintenance window. When the scope of a modification is the a DB instance, the modification is performed during maintenance window of that DB instance.

Do we have the option to enable and disable them selectively? How will the cluster and instance be impacted by this change?

I don't think it's possible to disable the maintenance window.
I think that if I did not set it and set it to the default value, the default maintenance window time for each region would be set.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Maintenance.html#Concepts.DBMaintenance

What maintenance actions will be applicable for cluster and what for instance?

For example, if the instance type is changed, I think the change is being made to the instance.
If it is a change to cluster storage, etc., I think it will be treated as a change to the cluster.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Aurora.Overview.StorageReliability.html#aurora-storage-type

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  • Thanks for your clarifications @Riku_Kobayashi . We currently have not enabled the Aurora Maintenance window on our RDS. We are mainly focussing on our security posture. In this case what all maintenance actions involve security updates?

    I read in AWS documentation Operating System updates will apply security fixes on the instance level. So, should we enable the maintenance window at the instance level alone and not on the cluster level? Is this option feasible?

    If it is feasible, what all the other maintenance actions that will be applicable at the instance level?

  • In this case what all maintenance actions involve security updates?

    In addition to security, there may also be bug fixes. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Maintenance.html

    I read in AWS documentation Operating System updates will apply security fixes on the instance level. So, should we enable the maintenance window at the instance level alone and not on the cluster level? Is this option feasible?

    I don't think it's possible to disable the maintenance window. I think a random time is set by default even if you don't set it. This means that both clusters and instances have maintenance windows.

  • Got it thanks again @Riku_kobayashi, I agree that we cannot disable the maintenance window. But we have the option to disable the Auto minor version upgrades. So, if we have it disabled, will it be possible to pick and choose the maintenance actions to apply the instance-level maintenance actions alone eg. OS updates rather than cluster-level maintenance like the Postgres (major.minor.patch) patch updates?

  • I think it depends on the type of maintenance applied. For example, if the maintenance type is "available", I think the user can control it to some extent. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Maintenance.html#USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Maintenance.Viewing

    If an update is available, you can take one of the actions: If the maintenance value is next window, defer the maintenance items by choosing Defer upgrade from Actions. You can't defer a maintenance action if it has already started. Apply the maintenance items immediately. Schedule the maintenance items to start during your next maintenance window. Take no action.

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