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What's the scenario here, are you running quite a new version of a database engine and AWS is telling you about a brand new latest version of this?
Or are you running a very old version that's about to go out-of-support and AWS is telling you it's going to upgrade it?
If it's a very old version then look at the AWS Health Dashboard in your account and look at the Scheduled changes tab https://health.console.aws.amazon.com/
Any mandatory updates to database version will be communicated here. For instance, PostgreSQL 11 is about to drop out of support completely (even Extended Support will cease) at the end of this month. So instances in-scope of this will have an RDS planned lifecycle event stating:
Amazon RDS will automatically upgrade your PostgreSQL databases running minor version 11.22 as well as any instances restored from the snapshots of this version to RDS for PostgreSQL extended support minor version 11.22-RDS.20241121 or higher during a scheduled maintenance window between March 31, 2025, 12:01 AM PDT and April 30, 2025, 12:01 AM PDT. On April 30, 2025, 12:01 AM PDT, any PostgreSQL databases running minor version 11.22 that remain will be upgraded to 11.22-RDS.20241121 or higher regardless of instances’ scheduled maintenance window.
(you might not be running PostgreSQL 11 but I hope you get the idea).
See the explanation of Operating Systems updates for RDS here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_UpgradeDBInstance.Maintenance.html#OS_Updates
As RDS is a managed service, you don't need to be as concerned about what the update is but rather whether it is optional or mandatory and when/if it will be automatically applied.
Operating system updates for RDS DB instances
RDS for Db2, RDS for MariaDB, RDS for MySQL, RDS for PostgreSQL, and RDS for Oracle DB instances occasionally require operating system updates. Amazon RDS upgrades the operating system to a newer version to improve database performance and customers’ overall security posture. Typically, the updates take about 10 minutes. Operating system updates don't change the DB engine version or DB instance class of a DB instance.
Operating system updates can be either optional or mandatory:
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An optional update can be applied at any time. While these updates are optional, we recommend that you apply them periodically to keep your RDS fleet up to date. RDS does not apply these updates automatically.
To be notified when a new, optional operating system patch becomes available, you can subscribe to RDS-EVENT-0230 in the security patching event category. For information about subscribing to RDS events, see Subscribing to Amazon RDS event notification.
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A mandatory update is required and has an apply date. Plan to schedule your update before this apply date. After the specified apply date, Amazon RDS automatically upgrades the operating system for your DB instance to the latest version during one of your assigned maintenance windows.
I have no doubt the database will run with the new update applied. The issue is whether the software connecting to the new database will run when said random update is applied. Without knowing if it's a point release or an update from say version 8.0 to 8.1 there is no way to tell.
I would recommend you open a support case if this information is not sufficient to answer your question.
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asked 2 years ago
Thank you for responding. The scenario is that when I go to the RDS dashboard and look at the production instance, under maintenance and backups the pending maintenance block says 'New Operating System update is available' . There does not appear to be any other information anywhere other than that message. It would be helpful to know what the 'New Operating System' actually is. If it's a point release, it's less risky, if it's an OS upgrade obviously that requires more testing time etc.
The 'New Operating System update is available' is a pretty broad description with some not so great consequences if you just hit the button and wait and see. Obviously this would never be done in production, hopefully.
When using a managed service such as RDS, you are offloading concerns and controls of the operating system and database engine patching to AWS. AWS tests and manages the release of both items for you and your level of concern is just when they are applied. If you still want to control all the versions and know exactly what is being applied then the managed service that RDS provides is not for you and you would be better served to run EC2 where you fully own the operating system and installation of a database engine and managing the patching and upgrades of both.