Amazon RDS Supports Stopping and Starting of Database Instances

Amazon RDS for MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle and SQL Server now allows you to easily stop and start your database instances. This makes it easy and affordable to use databases for development and test purposes, where the database is not required to be running all of the time.

Stopping and starting a database instance requires just a few clicks in the AWS Management Console, or a single call using the AWS API or AWS Command Line Interface, and takes just a few minutes. While your database instance is stopped, you are charged for provisioned storage, manual snapshots and automated backup storage within your specified retention window, but not for database instance hours.

While a database instance is stopped, Amazon RDS does not delete any of your automatic backups or transaction logs. This means you can do a point-in-time restore to any point within your specified automated backup retention window, even after an instance is started. Starting an instance restores it to the same configuration as it had when stopped, including its endpoint, DB parameter group, security group, and option group membership.

You can stop an instance for up to 7 days at a time. After 7 days, it will be automatically started. For more details on stopping and starting a database instance, please refer to Stopping and Starting a DB Instance in the Amazon RDS User Guide.

The stop/start feature is available for database instances running in a Single-AZ deployment which are not part of a Read Replica (both source and replica) configuration. Please see Amazon RDS Pricing for regional availability.