By using AWS re:Post, you agree to the AWS re:Post Terms of Use
AWS re:Postre:Post

RDS with multiAz enabled not deleting automated backups according to backup retention

0

Problem

My RDS instance's automated backups are not deleting after 1 day (the configured backup retention period). In my account I see 3 automated backups for the database. one backup for each of the past 3 days.

What I expected

My RDS instance to only have 1 automated backup at any given time. Because I've specified backup retention of 1 day it should delete the previous days backup right after creating a new backup.

My instance

  • MultiAZ: enabled
  • Engine: Postgres 14.3
  • Backup Retention: 1 day

Screenshot of RDS instance with 3 automated backups

Topics
DatabaseMigration & ModernizationAnalytics
Tags
PostgreSQLAmazon Relational Database ServiceDatabase
Language
English
ryparker
asked 2 years ago349 views
2 Answers
1
Accepted Answer

Hi, It is expected for PITR requirements. Please see below explanation from RDS FAQs page.

https://aws.amazon.com/rds/faqs/ Q. Why do I have more automated DB snapshots than the number of days in the retention period for my DB instance?

A. It is normal to have 1 or 2 more automated DB snapshots than the number of days in your retention period. One extra automated snapshot is retained to ensure the ability to perform a point in time restore to any time during the retention period. For example, if your backup window is set to 1 day, you will require 2 automated snapshots to support restores to any within previous 24 hours. You may also see an additional automated snapshot as a new automated snapshot is always created before the oldest automated snapshot is deleted.

Joseph
answered 2 years ago
profile picture
EXPERT
Giovanni Lauria
reviewed 20 days ago
  • ryparker
    2 years ago

    Thank you for the explanation and link. Do you know if we're charged for these extra backups?

0

I just learned it can be far worse, than this.

In my case there 11 (Sic!) backups retained while the retention was set to 1 day..... Enter image description here

This happened since the machine concerned was an Acceptance machine that is often running for a few hours a day only (elastic!). Unfortunately the DB concerned was 800GB, which made these copies rather expensive!

Since then I learned that the 1 day retention period is actually a 24 hour retention where only the 'running' state hours are calculated........

As stated in the documentation [1], Backups can be retained longer than the backup retention period if a database has been stopped. RDS doesn't include time spent in the stopped state when the backup retention window is calculated.

[1] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_WorkingWithAutomatedBackups.html#USER_WorkingWithAutomatedBackups.BackupRetention

data
answered 4 months ago

You are not logged in. Log in to post an answer.

A good answer clearly answers the question and provides constructive feedback and encourages professional growth in the question asker.

Guidelines for Answering Questions

Relevant content