Using Amazon Aurora Blue/Green Deployments for database updates

A blue/green deployment copies a production database environment to a separate, synchronized staging environment. By using Amazon Aurora Blue/Green Deployments, you can make changes to the database in the staging environment without affecting the production environment. For example, you can upgrade the major or minor DB engine version, change database parameters, or make schema changes in the staging environment. When you're ready, you can promote the staging environment to be the new production database environment, with downtime typically under one minute.

Amazon Aurora creates the staging environment by cloning the underlying Aurora storage volume in the production environment. The cluster volume in the staging environment only stores incremental changes made to that environment.