Stopping and starting an Amazon DocumentDB elastic cluster

Stopping and starting Amazon DocumentDB elastic clusters can help you manage costs for development and test environments. Instead of creating and deleting elastic clusters each time you use Amazon DocumentDB, you can temporarily stop your cluster when it isn't needed. You can then start it again when you resume your testing.

Overview of stopping and starting an elastic cluster

During periods where you don't need an Amazon DocumentDB elastic cluster, you can stop the cluster. You can then start the cluster again anytime you need to use it. Starting and stopping simplifies the setup and teardown processes for elastic clusters that are used for development, testing, or similar activities that don't require continuous availability. You can stop and start an elastic cluster using the AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI with a single action.

While your elastic cluster is stopped, the cluster storage volume remains unchanged. You are charged only for storage, manual snapshots, and automated backup storage within your specified retention window. Amazon DocumentDB automatically starts your elastic cluster after seven days so that it doesn't fall behind any required maintenance updates. When your cluster starts after seven days, you will begin to be charged for the use of the elastic cluster again. While your cluster is stopped, you can't query your storage volume because querying requires that the cluster is in the available state.

When an Amazon DocumentDB elastic cluster is stopped, the cluster cannot be modified in any way. This includes deleting the cluster.

Using the AWS Management Console

The following procedure shows you how to stop an elastic cluster in the available state, or start a stopped elastic cluster.

To stop or start an Amazon DocumentDB elastic cluster

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Clusters.

   Tip

   If you don't see the navigation pane on the left side of your screen, choose the menu icon () in the upper-left corner of the page.

3. In the list of clusters, choose the button to the left of the name of the cluster that you want to stop or start.

   

4. Choose Actions, and then choose the action that you want to perform on the cluster.

   • If you want to stop the cluster and the cluster is available:

     1. Choose Stop.

        

     2. On the confirmation dialog, confirm that you want to stop the elastic cluster by choosing Stop cluster, or to keep the cluster running, choose Cancel.

        

   • If you want to start the cluster, and the cluster is stopped, choose Start.

     

5. Monitor the status of the elastic cluster. If you started the cluster, you can resume using the cluster when the cluster is available. For more information, see Determining a cluster's status.

   

Using the AWS CLI

The following code examples show you how to stop an elastic cluster in the active or available state, or start a stopped elastic cluster.

To stop an elastic cluster using the AWS CLI, use the stop-cluster operation. To start a stopped cluster, use the start-cluster operation. Both operations use the --cluster-arn parameter.

Parameter:

• --cluster-arn—Required. The ARN identifier of the elastic cluster that you want to stop or start.

Example — To stop an elastic cluster using the AWS CLI

In the following example, replace each user input placeholder with your own information.

The following code stops the elastic cluster with an ARN of arn:aws:docdb-elastic:us-east-1:477568257630:cluster/b9f1d489-6c3e-4764-bb42-da62ceb7bda2.

Note

The elastic cluster must be in the active or available state.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws docdb-elastic stop-cluster \
   --cluster-arn arn:aws:docdb-elastic:us-east-1:477568257630:cluster/b9f1d489-6c3e-4764-bb42-da62ceb7bda2

For Windows:

aws docdb-elastic stop-cluster ^
   --cluster-arn arn:aws:docdb-elastic:us-east-1:477568257630:cluster/b9f1d489-6c3e-4764-bb42-da62ceb7bda2

Example — To start an elastic cluster using the AWS CLI

In the following example, replace each user input placeholder with your own information.

The following code starts the elastic cluster with an ARN of arn:aws:docdb-elastic:us-east-1:477568257630:cluster/b9f1d489-6c3e-4764-bb42-da62ceb7bda2.

Note

The elastic cluster must currently be stopped.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws docdb-elastic start-cluster \
   --cluster-arn arn:aws:docdb-elastic:us-east-1:477568257630:cluster/b9f1d489-6c3e-4764-bb42-da62ceb7bda2

For Windows:

aws docdb-elastic start-cluster ^
   --cluster-arn arn:aws:docdb-elastic:us-east-1:477568257630:cluster/b9f1d489-6c3e-4764-bb42-da62ceb7bda2

Operations you can perform on a stopped elastic cluster

You can't modify the configuration of an Amazon DocumentDB elastic cluster while the cluster is stopped. You must start the cluster before performing any such administrative actions.

Amazon DocumentDB applies any scheduled maintenance to your stopped elastic cluster only after it's started again. After seven days, Amazon DocumentDB automatically starts a stopped elastic cluster so that it doesn't fall too far behind in its maintenance status. When the elastic cluster restarts, you will begin to be charged for the shards in the cluster again.

While an elastic cluster is stopped, Amazon DocumentDB does not perform any automated backups nor does it extend the backup retention period.