Retaining automated backups - Amazon Aurora
Retention periodRetention costsPrevent automated backup deletionLimitations

Retaining automated backups

When you delete a provisioned or Aurora Serverless v2 DB cluster, you can retain automated backups. This allows you to restore a DB cluster to a specific point in time within the backup retention period, even after the cluster is deleted.

Retained automated backups contain system snapshots and transaction logs from a DB cluster. They also include DB cluster properties, such as DB instance class, which are required to restore it to an active cluster.

You can restore or remove retained automated backups using the AWS Management Console, RDS API, and AWS CLI.

Note

You can't retain automated backups for Aurora Serverless v1 DB clusters.

Topics

Retention period

The system snapshots and transaction logs in a retained automated backup expire the same way that they expire for the source DB cluster. The settings for the retention period of the source cluster also apply to the automated backups. Because no new snapshots or logs are created for this cluster, the retained automated backups eventually expire completely. After the retention period is over, you continue to retain manual DB cluster snapshots, but all of the automated backups expire.

You can remove retained automated backups using the console, AWS CLI or RDS API. For more information, see Deleting retained automated backups for Amazon Aurora.

Unlike a retained automated backup, a final snapshot doesn't expire. We strongly suggest that you take a final snapshot even if you retain automated backups, because the retained automated backups eventually expire.

Retention costs

There is no additional charge for backup storage of up to 100% of your total Aurora database storage for each Aurora DB cluster. There is also no additional charge up to one day when you retain automated backups after deleting a DB cluster. Backups that you retain for more than one day are charged.

There is no additional charge for transaction logs or instance metadata. All other pricing rules for backups apply to restorable clusters. For more information, see the Amazon Aurora pricing page.

Prevent automated backup deletion

Amazon RDS deletes automated backups in several situations:

  • At the end of their retention period.

  • When you disable automated backups for a DB cluster.

  • When you delete a DB cluster.

If you want to keep an automated backup for a longer period, copy it to create a manual snapshot, which is retained until you delete it. Amazon RDS storage costs might apply to manual snapshots if they exceed your default storage space.

For more information about copying a DB cluster snapshot, see DB cluster snapshot copying.

For more information about backup storage costs, see Amazon RDS pricing.

Limitations

The following limitations apply to retained automated backups:

  • The maximum number of retained automated backups in one AWS Region is 40. It's not included in the quota for DB clusters. You can have up to 40 running DB clusters, 40 running DB instances, and 40 retained automated backups for DB clusters at the same time.

    For more information, see Quotas in Amazon Aurora.

  • Retained automated backups don't contain information about parameters or option groups.

  • You can restore a deleted cluster to a point in time that is within the retention period at the time of deletion.

  • You can't modify a retained automated backup because it consists of system backups, transaction logs, and the DB cluster properties that existed at the time that you deleted the source cluster.