Creating an Amazon Aurora DB cluster - Amazon Aurora
PrerequisitesCreating a DB clusterAvailable settingsSettings that don't apply to Aurora for DB clustersSettings that don't apply to Aurora DB instances

Creating an Amazon Aurora DB cluster

An Amazon Aurora DB cluster consists of a DB instance, compatible with either MySQL or PostgreSQL, and a cluster volume that holds the data for the DB cluster, copied across three Availability Zones as a single, virtual volume. By default, an Aurora DB cluster contains a primary DB instance that performs reads and writes, and, optionally, up to 15 Aurora Replicas (reader DB instances). For more information about Aurora DB clusters, see Amazon Aurora DB clusters.

Aurora has two main types of DB cluster:

  • Aurora provisioned – You choose the DB instance class for the writer and reader instances based on your expected workload. For more information, see Aurora DB instance classes. Aurora provisioned has several options, including Aurora global databases. For more information, see Using Amazon Aurora global databases.

  • Aurora Serverless – Aurora Serverless v1 and Aurora Serverless v2 are on-demand autoscaling configurations for Aurora. Capacity is adjusted automatically based on application demand. You're charged only for the resources that your DB cluster consumes. This automation is especially useful for environments with highly variable and unpredictable workloads. For more information, see Using Amazon Aurora Serverless v1 and Using Aurora Serverless v2.

Following, you can find out how to create an Aurora DB cluster. To get started, first see DB cluster prerequisites.

For simple instructions on connecting to your Aurora DB cluster, see Connecting to an Amazon Aurora DB cluster.

DB cluster prerequisites

Important

Before you can create an Aurora DB cluster, you must complete the tasks in Setting up your environment for Amazon Aurora.

The following are prerequisites to complete before creating a DB cluster.

Configure the network for the DB cluster

You can create an Amazon Aurora DB cluster only in a virtual private cloud (VPC) based on the Amazon VPC service, in an AWS Region that has at least two Availability Zones. The DB subnet group that you choose for the DB cluster must cover at least two Availability Zones. This configuration ensures that your DB cluster always has at least one DB instance available for failover, in the unlikely event of an Availability Zone failure.

If you plan to set up connectivity between your new DB cluster and an EC2 instance in the same VPC, you can do so during DB cluster creation. If you plan to connect to your DB cluster from resources other than EC2 instances in the same VPC, you can configure the network connections manually.

Configure automatic network connectivity with an EC2 instance

When you create an Aurora DB cluster, you can use the AWS Management Console to set up connectivity between an Amazon EC2 instance and the new DB cluster. When you do so, RDS configures your VPC and network settings automatically. The DB cluster is created in the same VPC as the EC2 instance so that the EC2 instance can access the DB cluster.

The following are requirements for connecting an EC2 instance with the DB cluster:

  • The EC2 instance must exist in the AWS Region before you create the DB cluster.

    If no EC2 instances exist in the AWS Region, the console provides a link to create one.

  • Currently, the DB cluster can't be an Aurora Serverless DB cluster or part of an Aurora global database.

  • The user who is creating the DB instance must have permissions to perform the following operations:

    • ec2:AssociateRouteTable

    • ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupEgress

    • ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress

    • ec2:CreateRouteTable

    • ec2:CreateSubnet

    • ec2:CreateSecurityGroup

    • ec2:DescribeInstances

    • ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces

    • ec2:DescribeRouteTables

    • ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups

    • ec2:DescribeSubnets

    • ec2:ModifyNetworkInterfaceAttribute

    • ec2:RevokeSecurityGroupEgress

Using this option creates a private DB cluster. The DB cluster uses a DB subnet group with only private subnets to restrict access to resources within the VPC.

To connect an EC2 instance to the DB cluster, choose Connect to an EC2 compute resource in the Connectivity section on the Create database page.

Connect an EC2 instance

When you choose Connect to an EC2 compute resource, RDS sets the following options automatically. You can't change these settings unless you choose not to set up connectivity with an EC2 instance by choosing Don't connect to an EC2 compute resource.

Console option Automatic setting

Network type

RDS sets network type to IPv4. Currently, dual-stack mode isn't supported when you set up a connection between an EC2 instance and the DB cluster.

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

RDS sets the VPC to the one associated with the EC2 instance.

DB subnet group

A DB subnet group with a private subnet in each Availability Zone in the AWS Region is required. If a DB subnet group that meets this requirement exists, RDS uses the existing DB subnet group.

If a DB subnet group that meets this requirement doesn’t exist, RDS uses an available private subnet in each Availability Zone to create a DB subnet group using the private subnets. If a private subnet isn’t available in an Availability Zone, RDS creates a private subnet in the Availability Zone and then creates the DB subnet group.

When a private subnet is available, RDS uses the route table associated with it and adds any subnets it creates to this route table. When no private subnet is available, RDS creates a route table with no internet gateway access and adds the subnets it creates to the route table.

Public access

RDS chooses No so that the DB cluster isn't publicly accessible.

For security, it is a best practice to keep the database private and make sure it isn't accessible from the internet.

VPC security group (firewall)

RDS creates a new security group that is associated with the DB cluster. The security group is named rds-ec2-n, where n is a number. This security group includes an inbound rule with the EC2 VPC security group (firewall) as the source. This security group that is associated with the DB cluster allows the EC2 instance to access the DB cluster.

RDS also creates a new security group that is associated with the EC2 instance. The security group is named ec2-rds-n, where n is a number. This security group includes an outbound rule with the VPC security group of the DB cluster as the source. This security group allows the EC2 instance to send traffic to the DB cluster.

You can add another new security group by choosing Create new and typing the name of the new security group.

You can add existing security groups by choosing Choose existing and selecting security groups to add.

Availability Zone

When you don't create an Aurora Replica in Availability & durability during DB cluster creation (Single-AZ deployment), RDS chooses the Availability Zone of the EC2 instance.

When you create an Aurora Replica during DB cluster creation (Multi-AZ deployment), RDS chooses the Availability Zone of the EC2 instance for one DB instance in the DB cluster. RDS randomly chooses a different Availability Zone for the other DB instance in the DB cluster. Either the primary DB instance or the Aurora Replica is created in the same Availability Zone as the EC2 instance. There is the possibility of cross Availability Zone costs if the primary DB instance and EC2 instance are in different Availability Zones.

For more information about these settings, see Settings for Aurora DB clusters.

If you make any changes to these settings after the DB cluster is created, the changes might affect the connection between the EC2 instance and the DB cluster.

Configure the network manually

If you plan to connect to your DB cluster from resources other than EC2 instances in the same VPC, you can configure the network connections manually. If you use the AWS Management Console to create your DB cluster, you can have Amazon RDS automatically create a VPC for you. Or you can use an existing VPC or create a new VPC for your Aurora DB cluster. Whichever approach you take, your VPC must have at least one subnet in each of at least two Availability Zones for you to use it with an Amazon Aurora DB cluster.

By default, Amazon RDS creates the primary DB instance and the Aurora Replica in the Availability Zones automatically for you. To choose a specific Availability Zone, you need to change the Availability & durability Multi-AZ deployment setting to Don't create an Aurora Replica. Doing so exposes an Availability Zone setting that lets you choose from among the Availability Zones in your VPC. However, we strongly recommend that you keep the default setting and let Amazon RDS create a Multi-AZ deployment and choose Availability Zones for you. By doing so, your Aurora DB cluster is created with the fast failover and high availability features that are two of Aurora's key benefits.

If you don't have a default VPC or you haven't created a VPC, you can have Amazon RDS automatically create a VPC for you when you create a DB cluster using the console. Otherwise, you must do the following:

For information on VPCs, see Amazon VPC VPCs and Amazon Aurora. For a tutorial that configures the network for a private DB cluster, see Tutorial: Create a VPC for use with a DB cluster (IPv4 only).

Additional prerequisites

Before you create your DB cluster, consider the following additional prerequisites:

  • If you are connecting to AWS using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) credentials, your AWS account must have IAM policies that grant the permissions required to perform Amazon RDS operations. For more information, see Identity and access management for Amazon Aurora.

    If you are using IAM to access the Amazon RDS console, you must first sign on to the AWS Management Console with your IAM user credentials. Then go to the Amazon RDS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/rds/.

  • If you want to tailor the configuration parameters for your DB cluster, you must specify a DB cluster parameter group and DB parameter group with the required parameter settings. For information about creating or modifying a DB cluster parameter group or DB parameter group, see Working with parameter groups.

  • Determine the TCP/IP port number to specify for your DB cluster. The firewalls at some companies block connections to the default ports (3306 for MySQL, 5432 for PostgreSQL) for Aurora. If your company firewall blocks the default port, choose another port for your DB cluster. All instances in a DB cluster use the same port.

Creating a DB cluster

You can create an Aurora DB cluster using the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the RDS API.

You can create a DB instance running MySQL with the AWS Management Console with Easy create enabled or not enabled. With Easy create enabled, you specify only the DB engine type, DB instance size, and DB instance identifier. Easy create uses the default setting for other configuration options. With Easy create not enabled, you specify more configuration options when you create a database, including ones for availability, security, backups, and maintenance.

Note

For this example, Standard create is enabled, and Easy create isn't enabled. For information about creating an Aurora MySQL DB cluster with Easy create enabled, see Getting started with Amazon Aurora.

To create an Aurora DB cluster using the console

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon RDS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/rds/.

  2. In the upper-right corner of the AWS Management Console, choose the AWS Region in which you want to create the DB cluster.

    Aurora is not available in all AWS Regions. For a list of AWS Regions where Aurora is available, see Region availability.

  3. In the navigation pane, choose Databases.

  4. Choose Create database.

  5. In Choose a database creation method, choose Standard create.

  6. In Engine options, choose Amazon Aurora.

    Engine options

  7. In Edition, choose one of the following:

    • Amazon Aurora with MySQL compatibility

    • Amazon Aurora with PostgreSQL compatibility

  8. Choose one of the following in Capacity type:

  9. For Version, choose the engine version.

  10. In Templates, choose the template that matches your use case.

  11. To enter your master password, do the following:

    1. In the Settings section, open Credential Settings.

    2. Clear the Auto generate a password check box.

    3. (Optional) Change the Master username value and enter the same password in Master password and Confirm password.

    By default, the new DB instance uses an automatically generated password for the master user.

  12. (Optional) Set up a connection to a compute resource for this DB cluster.

    You can configure connectivity between an Amazon EC2 instance and the new DB cluster during DB cluster creation. For more information, see Configure automatic network connectivity with an EC2 instance.

  13. For the remaining sections, specify your DB cluster settings. For information about each setting, see Settings for Aurora DB clusters.

  14. Choose Create database.

    If you chose to use an automatically generated password, the View credential details button appears on the Databases page.

    To view the master user name and password for the DB cluster, choose View credential details.

    To connect to the DB instance as the master user, use the user name and password that appear.

    Important

    You can't view the master user password again. If you don't record it, you might have to change it. If you need to change the master user password after the DB instance is available, you can modify the DB instance to do so. For more information about modifying a DB instance, see Modifying an Amazon Aurora DB cluster.

  15. For Databases, choose the name of the new Aurora DB cluster.

    On the RDS console, the details for new DB cluster appear. The DB cluster and its DB instance have a status of creating until the DB cluster is ready to use.

    Summary during DB cluster creation

    When the state changes to available for both, you can connect to the DB cluster. Depending on the DB instance class and the amount of storage, it can take up to 20 minutes before the new DB cluster is available.

    To view the newly created cluster, choose Databases from the navigation pane in the Amazon RDS console. Then choose the DB cluster to show the DB cluster details. For more information, see Viewing an Amazon Aurora DB cluster.

    Amazon Aurora DB Instances List

    On the Connectivity & security tab, note the port and the endpoint of the writer DB instance. Use the endpoint and port of the cluster in your JDBC and ODBC connection strings for any application that performs write or read operations.

Note

Before you can create an Aurora DB cluster using the AWS CLI, you must fulfill the required prerequisites, such as creating a VPC and an RDS DB subnet group. For more information, see DB cluster prerequisites.

You can use the AWS CLI to create an Aurora MySQL DB cluster or an Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster.

To create an Aurora MySQL DB cluster using the AWS CLI

When you create an Aurora MySQL DB cluster or DB instance, ensure that you specify the correct value for the --engine option value based on the MySQL compatibility of the DB cluster or DB instance.

  • When you create an Aurora MySQL 8.0-compatible or 5.7-compatible DB cluster or DB instance, you specify aurora-mysql for the --engine option.

  • When you create an Aurora MySQL 5.6-compatible DB cluster or DB instance, you specify aurora for the --engine option.

Complete the following steps:

  1. Identify the DB subnet group and VPC security group ID for your new DB cluster, and then call the create-db-cluster AWS CLI command to create the Aurora MySQL DB cluster.

    For example, the following command creates a new MySQL 8.0–compatible DB cluster named sample-cluster.

    For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

    aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-mysql \
     --engine-version 8.0 --master-username user-name --master-user-password password \
     --db-subnet-group-name mysubnetgroup --vpc-security-group-ids sg-c7e5b0d2

    For Windows:

    aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-mysql ^
    --engine-version 8.0 --master-username user-name --master-user-password password ^
    --db-subnet-group-name mysubnetgroup --vpc-security-group-ids sg-c7e5b0d2

    The following command creates a new MySQL 5.7–compatible DB cluster named sample-cluster.

    For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

    aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-mysql \
     --engine-version 5.7.12 --master-username user-name --master-user-password password \
     --db-subnet-group-name mysubnetgroup --vpc-security-group-ids sg-c7e5b0d2

    For Windows:

    aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-mysql ^
    --engine-version 5.7.12 --master-username user-name --master-user-password password ^
    --db-subnet-group-name mysubnetgroup --vpc-security-group-ids sg-c7e5b0d2

    The following command creates a new MySQL 5.6–compatible DB cluster named sample-cluster.

    For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

    aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora \
     --engine-version 5.6.10a --master-username user-name --master-user-password password \
     --db-subnet-group-name mysubnetgroup --vpc-security-group-ids sg-c7e5b0d2

    For Windows:

    aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora ^
    --engine-version 5.6.10a --master-username user-name --master-user-password password ^
    --db-subnet-group-name mysubnetgroup --vpc-security-group-ids sg-c7e5b0d2

  2. If you use the console to create a DB cluster, then Amazon RDS automatically creates the primary instance (writer) for your DB cluster. If you use the AWS CLI to create a DB cluster, you must explicitly create the primary instance for your DB cluster. The primary instance is the first instance that is created in a DB cluster.

    Call the create-db-instance AWS CLI command to create the primary instance for your DB cluster. Include the name of the DB cluster as the --db-cluster-identifier option value.

    For example, the following command creates a new MySQL 5.7–compatible or MySQL 8.0–compatible DB instance named sample-instance.

    For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

    aws rds create-db-instance --db-instance-identifier sample-instance \
     --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-mysql --db-instance-class db.r5.large

    For Windows:

    aws rds create-db-instance --db-instance-identifier sample-instance ^
     --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-mysql --db-instance-class db.r5.large

    The following command creates a new MySQL 5.6–compatible DB instance named sample-instance.

    For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

    aws rds create-db-instance --db-instance-identifier sample-instance \
     --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora --db-instance-class db.r5.large

    For Windows:

    aws rds create-db-instance --db-instance-identifier sample-instance ^
     --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora --db-instance-class db.r5.large

To create an Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster using the AWS CLI

  1. Identify the DB subnet group and VPC security group ID for your new DB cluster, and then call the create-db-cluster AWS CLI command to create the Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster.

    For example, the following command creates a new DB cluster named sample-cluster.

    For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

    aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-postgresql \
     --master-username user-name --master-user-password password \
     --db-subnet-group-name mysubnetgroup --vpc-security-group-ids sg-c7e5b0d2

    For Windows:

    aws rds create-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-postgresql ^
    --master-username user-name --master-user-password password ^
    --db-subnet-group-name mysubnetgroup --vpc-security-group-ids sg-c7e5b0d2

  2. If you use the console to create a DB cluster, then Amazon RDS automatically creates the primary instance (writer) for your DB cluster. If you use the AWS CLI to create a DB cluster, you must explicitly create the primary instance for your DB cluster. The primary instance is the first instance that is created in a DB cluster.

    Call the create-db-instance AWS CLI command to create the primary instance for your DB cluster. Include the name of the DB cluster as the --db-cluster-identifier option value.

    For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

    aws rds create-db-instance --db-instance-identifier sample-instance \
     --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-postgresql --db-instance-class db.r4.large

    For Windows:

    aws rds create-db-instance --db-instance-identifier sample-instance ^
     --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster --engine aurora-postgresql --db-instance-class db.r4.large
Note

Before you can create an Aurora DB cluster using the AWS CLI, you must fulfill the required prerequisites, such as creating a VPC and an RDS DB subnet group. For more information, see DB cluster prerequisites.

Identify the DB subnet group and VPC security group ID for your new DB cluster, and then call the CreateDBCluster operation to create the DB cluster.

When you create an Aurora MySQL DB cluster or DB instance, ensure that you specify the correct value for the Engine parameter value based on the MySQL compatibility of the DB cluster or DB instance.

  • When you create an Aurora MySQL 5.7 DB cluster or DB instance, you must specify aurora-mysql for the Engine parameter.

  • When you create an Aurora MySQL 5.6 DB cluster or DB instance, you must specify aurora for the Engine parameter.

When you create an Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster or DB instance, specify aurora-postgresql for the Engine parameter.

Settings for Aurora DB clusters

The following table contains details about settings that you choose when you create an Aurora DB cluster.

Note

Additional settings are available if you are creating an Aurora Serverless v1 DB cluster. For information about these settings, see Creating an Aurora Serverless v1 DB cluster. Also, some settings aren't available for Aurora Serverless v1 because of Aurora Serverless v1 limitations. For more information, see Limitations of Aurora Serverless v1.

Console setting Setting description CLI option and RDS API parameter

Auto minor version upgrade

Choose Enable auto minor version upgrade if you want to enable your Aurora DB cluster to receive preferred minor version upgrades to the DB engine automatically when they become available.

The Auto minor version upgrade setting applies to both Aurora PostgreSQL and Aurora MySQL DB clusters. For Aurora MySQL version 1 and version 2 clusters, this setting upgrades the clusters to a maximum version of 1.22.2 and 2.07.2, respectively.

For more information about engine updates for Aurora PostgreSQL, see Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL updates.

For more information about engine updates for Aurora MySQL, see Database engine updates for Amazon Aurora MySQL.

Set this value for every DB instance in your Aurora cluster. If any DB instance in your cluster has this setting turned off, the cluster isn't automatically upgraded.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-instance and set the --auto-minor-version-upgrade|--no-auto-minor-version-upgrade option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBInstance and set the AutoMinorVersionUpgrade parameter.

AWS KMS key

Only available if Encryption is set to Enable encryption. Choose the AWS KMS key to use for encrypting this DB cluster. For more information, see Encrypting Amazon Aurora resources.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --kms-key-id option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the KmsKeyId parameter.

Backtrack

Applies only to Aurora MySQL. Choose Enable Backtrack to enable backtracking or Disable Backtrack to disable backtracking. Using backtracking, you can rewind a DB cluster to a specific time, without creating a new DB cluster. It is disabled by default. If you enable backtracking, also specify the amount of time that you want to be able to backtrack your DB cluster (the target backtrack window). For more information, see Backtracking an Aurora DB cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --backtrack-window option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the BacktrackWindow parameter.
Copy tags to snapshots

Choose this option to copy any DB instance tags to a DB snapshot when you create a snapshot.

For more information, see Tagging Amazon RDS resources.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --copy-tags-to-snapshot | --no-copy-tags-to-snapshot option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the CopyTagsToSnapshot parameter.
Database authentication

The database authentication you want to use.

For MySQL:

  • Choose Password authentication to authenticate database users with database passwords only.

  • Choose Password and IAM database authentication to authenticate database users with database passwords and user credentials through IAM users and roles. For more information, see IAM database authentication.

For PostgreSQL:

To use IAM database authentication with the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --enable-iam-database-authentication | --no-enable-iam-database-authentication option.

To use IAM database authentication with the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the EnableIAMDatabaseAuthentication parameter.

To use Kerberos authentication with the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --domain and --domain-iam-role-name options.

To use Kerberos authentication with the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the Domain and DomainIAMRoleName parameters.

Database port

Specify the port for applications and utilities to use to access the database. Aurora MySQL DB clusters default to the default MySQL port, 3306, and Aurora PostgreSQL DB clusters default to the default PostgreSQL port, 5432. The firewalls at some companies block connections to these default ports. If your company firewall blocks the default port, choose another port for the new DB cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --port option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the Port parameter.

DB cluster identifier

Enter a name for your DB cluster that is unique for your account in the AWS Region that you chose. This identifier is used in the cluster endpoint address for your DB cluster. For information on the cluster endpoint, see Amazon Aurora connection management.

The DB cluster identifier has the following constraints:

  • It must contain from 1 to 63 alphanumeric characters or hyphens.

  • Its first character must be a letter.

  • It cannot end with a hyphen or contain two consecutive hyphens.

  • It must be unique for all DB clusters per AWS account, per AWS Region.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --db-cluster-identifier option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the DBClusterIdentifier parameter.

DB cluster parameter group

Choose a DB cluster parameter group. Aurora has a default DB cluster parameter group you can use, or you can create your own DB cluster parameter group. For more information about DB cluster parameter groups, see Working with parameter groups.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --db-cluster-parameter-group-name option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the DBClusterParameterGroupName parameter.

DB instance class

Applies only to the provisioned capacity type. Choose a DB instance class that defines the processing and memory requirements for each instance in the DB cluster. For more information about DB instance classes, see Aurora DB instance classes.

Set this value for every DB instance in your Aurora cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-instance and set the --db-instance-class option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBInstance and set the DBInstanceClass parameter.

DB parameter group

Choose a parameter group. Aurora has a default parameter group you can use, or you can create your own parameter group. For more information about parameter groups, see Working with parameter groups.

Set this value for every DB instance in your Aurora cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-instance and set the --db-parameter-group-name option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBInstance and set the DBParameterGroupName parameter.

DB subnet group

Choose the DB subnet group to use for the DB cluster. For more information, see DB cluster prerequisites.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --db-subnet-group-name option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the DBSubnetGroupName parameter.
Enable deletion protection Choose Enable deletion protection to prevent your DB cluster from being deleted. If you create a production DB cluster with the console, deletion protection is enabled by default.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --deletion-protection | --no-deletion-protection option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the DeletionProtection parameter.

Enable encryption

Choose Enable encryption to enable encryption at rest for this DB cluster. For more information, see Encrypting Amazon Aurora resources.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --storage-encrypted | --no-storage-encrypted option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the StorageEncrypted parameter.

Enable Enhanced Monitoring

Choose Enable enhanced monitoring to enable gathering metrics in real time for the operating system that your DB cluster runs on. For more information, see Monitoring OS metrics with Enhanced Monitoring.

Set these values for every DB instance in your Aurora cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-instance and set the --monitoring-interval and --monitoring-role-arn options.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBInstance and set the MonitoringInterval and MonitoringRoleArn parameters.
Engine type

Choose the database engine to be used for this DB cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --engine option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the Engine parameter.

Engine version

Applies only to the provisioned capacity type. Choose the version number of your DB engine.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --engine-version option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the EngineVersion parameter.

Failover priority

Choose a failover priority for the instance. If you don't choose a value, the default is tier-1. This priority determines the order in which Aurora Replicas are promoted when recovering from a primary instance failure. For more information, see Fault tolerance for an Aurora DB cluster.

Set this value for every DB instance in your Aurora cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-instance and set the --promotion-tier option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBInstance and set the PromotionTier parameter.

Initial database name

Enter a name for your default database. If you don't provide a name for an Aurora MySQL DB cluster, Amazon RDS doesn't create a database on the DB cluster you are creating. If you don't provide a name for an Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster, Amazon RDS creates a database named postgres.

For Aurora MySQL, the default database name has these constraints:

  • It must contain 1–64 alphanumeric characters.

  • It can't be a word reserved by the database engine.

For Aurora PostgreSQL, the default database name has these constraints:

  • It must contain 1–63 alphanumeric characters.

  • It must begin with a letter. Subsequent characters can be letters, underscores, or digits (0–9).

  • It can't be a word reserved by the database engine.

To create additional databases, connect to the DB cluster and use the SQL command CREATE DATABASE. For more information about connecting to the DB cluster, see Connecting to an Amazon Aurora DB cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --database-name option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the DatabaseName parameter.

Log exports

 In the Log exports section, choose the logs that you want to start publishing to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. For more information about publishing Aurora MySQL logs to CloudWatch Logs, see Publishing Amazon Aurora MySQL logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. For more information about publishing Aurora PostgreSQL logs to CloudWatch Logs, see Publishing Aurora PostgreSQL logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --enable-cloudwatch-logs-exports option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the EnableCloudwatchLogsExports parameter.

Maintenance window

Choose Select window and specify the weekly time range during which system maintenance can occur. Or choose No preference for Amazon RDS to assign a period randomly.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --preferred-maintenance-window option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the PreferredMaintenanceWindow parameter.

Master password

Enter a password to log on to your DB cluster:

  • For Aurora MySQL, the password must contain 8–41 printable ASCII characters.

  • For Aurora PostgreSQL, it must contain 8–99 printable ASCII characters.

  • It can't contain /, ", @, or a space.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --master-user-password option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the MasterUserPassword parameter.

Master username

Enter a name to use as the master user name to log on to your DB cluster:

  • For Aurora MySQL, the name must contain 1–16 alphanumeric characters.

  • For Aurora PostgreSQL, it must contain 1–63 alphanumeric characters.

  • The first character must be a letter.

  • The name can't be a word reserved by the database engine.

You can't change the master user name after the DB cluster is created.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --master-username option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the MasterUsername parameter.

Multi-AZ deployment

Applies only to the provisioned capacity type. Determine if you want to create Aurora Replicas in other Availability Zones for failover support. If you choose Create Replica in Different Zone, then Amazon RDS creates an Aurora Replica for you in your DB cluster in a different Availability Zone than the primary instance for your DB cluster. For more information about multiple Availability Zones, see Regions and Availability Zones.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --availability-zones option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the AvailabilityZones parameter.

Network type

The IP addressing protocols supported by the DB cluster.

IPv4 to specify that resources can communicate with the DB cluster only over the IPv4 addressing protocol.

Dual-stack mode to specify that resources can communicate with the DB cluster over IPv4, IPv6, or both. Use dual-stack mode if you have any resources that must communicate with your DB cluster over the IPv6 addressing protocol. To use dual-stack mode, make sure at least two subnets spanning two Availability Zones that support both the IPv4 and IPv6 network protocol. Also, make sure you associate an IPv6 CIDR block with subnets in the DB subnet group you specify.

For more information, see Amazon Aurora IP addressing.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the -network-type option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the NetworkType parameter.

Public access

Choose Publicly accessible to give the DB cluster a public IP address, or choose Not publicly accessible. The instances in your DB cluster can be a mix of both public and private DB instances. For more information about hiding instances from public access, see Hiding a DB cluster in a VPC from the internet.

To connect to a DB instance from outside of its Amazon VPC, the DB instance must be publicly accessible, access must be granted using the inbound rules of the DB instance's security group, and other requirements must be met. For more information, see Can't connect to Amazon RDS DB instance.

If your DB instance is isn't publicly accessible, you can also use an AWS Site-to-Site VPN connection or an AWS Direct Connect connection to access it from a private network. For more information, see Internetwork traffic privacy.

Set this value for every DB instance in your Aurora cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-instance and set the --publicly-accessible | --no-publicly-accessible option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBInstance and set the PubliclyAccessible parameter.

RDS Proxy

Choose Create an RDS Proxy to create a proxy for your DB cluster. Amazon RDS automatically creates an IAM role and a Secrets Manager secret for the proxy.

For more information, see Using Amazon RDS Proxy.

Not available when creating a DB cluster.

Retention period

Choose the length of time, from 1 to 35 days, that Aurora retains backup copies of the database. Backup copies can be used for point-in-time restores (PITR) of your database down to the second.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --backup-retention-period option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the BackupRetentionPeriod parameter.

Turn on Performance Insights

Choose Turn on Performance Insights to turn on Amazon RDS Performance Insights. For more information, see Monitoring DB load with Performance Insights on Amazon Aurora.

Set these values for every DB instance in your Aurora cluster.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-instance and set the --enable-performance-insights | --no-enable-performance-insights, --performance-insights-kms-key-id, and --performance-insights-retention-period options.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBInstance and set the EnablePerformanceInsights, PerformanceInsightsKMSKeyId, and PerformanceInsightsRetentionPeriod parameters.

Turn on DevOps Guru

Choose Turn on DevOps Guru to turn on Amazon DevOps Guru for your Aurora database. For DevOps Guru for RDS to provide detailed analysis of performance anomalies, Performance Insights must be turned on. For more information, see Setting up DevOps Guru for RDS.

You can turn on DevOps Guru for RDS from within the RDS console, but not by using the RDS API or CLI. For more information about turning on DevOps Guru, see the Amazon DevOps Guru User Guide.

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

Choose the VPC to host the DB cluster. Choose Create a New VPC to have Amazon RDS create a VPC for you. For more information, see DB cluster prerequisites.

For the AWS CLI and API, you specify the VPC security group IDs.

VPC security group (firewall)

Choose Create new to have Amazon RDS create a VPC security group for you. Or choose Choose existing and specify one or more VPC security groups to secure network access to the DB cluster.

When you choose Create new in the RDS console, a new security group is created with an inbound rule that allows access to the DB instance from the IP address detected in your browser.

For more information, see DB cluster prerequisites.

Using the AWS CLI, run create-db-cluster and set the --vpc-security-group-ids option.

Using the RDS API, call CreateDBCluster and set the VpcSecurityGroupIds parameter.

Settings that don't apply to Amazon Aurora for DB clusters

The following settings in the AWS CLI command create-db-cluster and the RDS API operation CreateDBCluster don't apply to Amazon Aurora DB clusters.

Note

The AWS Management Console doesn't show these settings for Aurora DB clusters.

AWS CLI setting RDS API setting

--allocated-storage

AllocatedStorage

--auto-minor-version-upgrade | --no-auto-minor-version-upgrade

AutoMinorVersionUpgrade

--db-cluster-instance-class

DBClusterInstanceClass

--enable-performance-insights | --no-enable-performance-insights

EnablePerformanceInsights

--iops

Iops

--monitoring-interval

MonitoringInterval

--monitoring-role-arn

MonitoringRoleArn

--option-group-name

OptionGroupName

--performance-insights-kms-key-id

PerformanceInsightsKMSKeyId

--performance-insights-retention-period

PerformanceInsightsRetentionPeriod

--publicly-accessible | --no-publicly-accessible

PubliclyAccessible

--storage-type

StorageType

Settings that don't apply to Amazon Aurora DB instances

The following settings in the AWS CLI command create-db-instance and the RDS API operation CreateDBInstance don't apply to DB instances Amazon Aurora DB cluster.

Note

The AWS Management Console doesn't show these settings for Aurora DB instances.

AWS CLI setting RDS API setting

--allocated-storage

AllocatedStorage

--availability-zone

AvailabilityZone

--backup-retention-period

BackupRetentionPeriod

--backup-target

BackupTarget

--character-set-name

CharacterSetName

--character-set-name

CharacterSetName

--custom-iam-instance-profile

CustomIamInstanceProfile

--db-security-groups

DBSecurityGroups

--deletion-protection | --no-deletion-protection

DeletionProtection

--domain

Domain

--domain-iam-role-name

DomainIAMRoleName

--enable-cloudwatch-logs-exports

EnableCloudwatchLogsExports

--enable-customer-owned-ip | --no-enable-customer-owned-ip

EnableCustomerOwnedIp

--enable-iam-database-authentication | --no-enable-iam-database-authentication

EnableIAMDatabaseAuthentication

--engine-version

EngineVersion

--iops

Iops

--kms-key-id

KmsKeyId

--license-model

LicenseModel

--master-username

MasterUsername

--master-user-password

MasterUserPassword

--max-allocated-storage

MaxAllocatedStorage

--multi-az | --no-multi-az

MultiAZ

--nchar-character-set-name

NcharCharacterSetName

--network-type

NetworkType

--option-group-name

OptionGroupName

--preferred-backup-window

PreferredBackupWindow

--processor-features

ProcessorFeatures

--storage-encrypted | --no-storage-encrypted

StorageEncrypted

--storage-type

StorageType

--tde-credential-arn

TdeCredentialArn

--tde-credential-password

TdeCredentialPassword

--timezone

Timezone

--vpc-security-group-ids

VpcSecurityGroupIds