Stopping Amazon RDS Instances: Cost Savings Strategies

Stop Amazon RDS Instances

Question

A database specialist wishes to save costs on Amazon RDS instances by stopping them.

Which statement below accurately describes the stopping of Amazon RDS instances?

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D.

Answer: B.

Option B is CORRECT because it is possible to stop a DB instance for up to seven days.

After several days, the DB instance is automatically started.

This is required to perform the maintenance updates.

Further, it is possible to stop and start a DB instance whether it is configured for a single Availability Zone or Multi-AZ.

One limitation is Amazon RDS for SQL Server.

You can't stop an Amazon RDS for SQL Server DB instance in a Multi-AZ configuration.

The question does not specify RDS for SQL Server.

Reference:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_StopInstance.html

When you stop an Amazon RDS DB instance, the instance is put into a stopped state, and you are no longer billed for the database compute resources. The stopped instance is still available in the AWS Management Console, and you can start it again when you are ready to use it.

Answer A is incorrect because a DB instance in a single availability zone can be stopped for up to only 72 hours (three days), not seven days.

Answer B is incorrect because a DB instance in a Multi-AZ configuration can also be stopped for up to only 72 hours (three days), not seven days.

Answer C is also incorrect because a DB instance in a single availability zone can be stopped for up to only 72 hours (three days), not any duration.

The correct answer is D. When you stop a DB instance in a Multi-AZ configuration, you can stop it for any duration, and the standby instance is automatically promoted to primary. This means that you can stop a Multi-AZ DB instance for as long as you like, and when you start it again, it will resume operation with no data loss or downtime. However, note that you are still charged for the storage used by your Multi-AZ instance while it is stopped.