AWS RDS instance parameter groups
Hello Everyone
Welcome to CloudAffaire and this is Debjeet.
In the last blog post, we have discussed AWS RDS instance logging.
https://cloudaffaire.com/aws-rds-instance-logs
In this blog post, we will discuss AWS RDS parameter groups.
Parameter Groups:
A parameter group acts as a container for engine configuration values that are applied to one or more DB instances. If not explicitly specified, AWS RDS uses the default parameter group of your RDS instance. If you want to change any parameter for your AWS RDS instance, you need to create your own parameter group and associate it to your RDS instance by modifying your RDS instance parameter group. Parameter groups are specific to AWS RDS instance type and vary with each type of AWS RDS instance providers. For example, the parameter group for MySQL is different from the parameter group of PostgreSQL.
Not all parameter in a parameter group are mutable and some parameters can be applied to your RDS instance without downtime (dynamic parameter) and some needs instance reboot (static parameter). Parameters that relate to the character set or collation of your database in your parameter group needs to be defined in the parameter group before creating the DB instance and before you create a database in your DB instance.
Next, we are going to create a parameter group for PostgreSQL RDS instance and associate it to the instance.
Prerequisites for this demo:
- AWS RDS PostgreSQL instance.
AWS RDS parameter groups:
Step 1: Login to AWS console and navigate to ‘RDS’.
Step 2: In the navigation pane, click ‘Parameter groups’ and click ‘Create parameter group’.
Step 3: Select ‘postgres10’ as your parameter group family, provide a name and description and click ‘Create’.
Note: Make sure your PostgreSQL RDS version is 10.
Our parameter group has been created successfully. Next, we will configure the parameter for this parameter group. Select the newly created parameter group and from ‘Parameter group actions’ click ‘Edit’.
Change the log_connections value to 1 and click ‘Save changes’.
Note: log_connections is a dynamic parameter and can be applied without an instance reboot. However, since we have not associated this new parameter group with our RDS instance and changing parameter group require an instance reboot, our RDS instance will be rebooted while applying this parameter.
Next, we are going to associate the new parameter group with our RDS instance.
Step 4: In the navigation pane click ‘Databases’. Select your RDS instance and click ‘Modify’.
Step 5: Navigate to ‘Database options’ section and select the new parameter group. Apply the changes.
Reboot the RDS instance.
Next, we will test if the new parameter group working properly by making a connection to the RDS instance.
Note: You need to enable PostgreSQL log export to CloudWatch (discussed in the previous blog post), in order to view the connection logging.
Step 6: Make a connection to the RDS instance and check the logs.
Hope you have enjoyed this article, In the next blog post, we will discuss AWS RDS events.
To get more details on AWS RDS, please refer below AWS documentation
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/rds/index.html