End-of-life for t2 RDS instances

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We received an email stating that all t2 (and m4 and r4) RDS MySQL instances will reach end of life and will be retired. We have a t2 instance and we tried to follow the procedure suggested for the upgrade/change of instance type in https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/Overview.DBInstance.Modifying.html

"We recommend that you test any changes on a test instance before modifying a production instance. Doing this helps you to fully understand the impact of each change. Testing is especially important when upgrading database versions. "

Since t2 instances cannot be bought, what is the best way to test this change?

Thanks for any suggestion.

asked 9 months ago1532 views
3 Answers
1

Hi

If you want to test out if there are any impacts from changing the RDS instance type, I would suggest taking a snapshot of the database and then restoring the snapshot with the new instance type. Let's say you have a t2.medium then we take a snapshot of the existing database and then restore it with a t3.medium so you can determine if there are any issues and then apply the upgrade to the production instance.

RDS Snapshot -> https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_CreateSnapshot.html

PS - Unless you are downgrading the instance changing the instance type would not cause any issues, however, there will be downtime during the upgrade.

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Bisina
answered 9 months ago
  • Thank you very much for the suggestion of the snapshot. Looks like a great idea.

1

I beleive you can still purchase t2 if you wanted to for testing. Ensure when selecting Instinet Class, switch on Include Previous Generation Classes and t2 appears.

You should be able to restore a t2 snapshot and test your upgrade procedure.

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EXPERT
answered 9 months ago
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EXPERT
reviewed 9 months ago
  • I stand corrected, you can still buy the t2 if you. Thank you for pointing it out. I missed the 'Include previous generation classes' switch.

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I'd like to select both answers as accepted because both contain useful information, but I don't think is possible. Again many thanks to both. Here I'll list what I have tested, in case somebody else may need to do the same process.

Our instance is a t2.micro with 20GB of disk space - your mileage may vary.

  1. created a snapshot of the current instance - took about 5 mins
  2. restored the snapshot in another t2.micro instance
  3. updated the instance type from t2.micro to t3.micro and also updated the mysql version (more about this later) - took about 16 mins - I chose to apply the changes immediately
  4. checked access to data, tested some queries and so on

I'm a little surprise that my original instance has minor version upgrades turned on, but it is 2 minor versions behind (on 8.0.28, when 8.0.32 and 8.0.33 are available). This is the reason why I also updated the mysql version at the same time as the instance type.

answered 9 months ago

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