Working with DB cluster parameter groups

Amazon Aurora DB clusters use DB cluster parameter groups. The following sections describe configuring and managing DB cluster parameter groups.

Amazon Aurora DB cluster and DB instance parameters

Aurora uses a two-level system of configuration settings:

• Parameters in a DB cluster parameter group apply to every DB instance in a DB cluster. Your data is stored in the Aurora shared storage subsystem. Because of this, all parameters related to physical layout of table data must be the same for all DB instances in an Aurora cluster. Likewise, because Aurora DB instances are connected by replication, all the parameters for replication settings must be identical throughout an Aurora cluster.

• Parameters in a DB parameter group apply to a single DB instance in an Aurora DB cluster. These parameters are related to aspects such as memory usage that you can vary across DB instances in the same Aurora cluster. For example, a cluster often contains DB instances with different AWS instance classes.

Every Aurora cluster is associated with a DB cluster parameter group. This parameter group assigns default values for every configuration value for the corresponding DB engine. The cluster parameter group includes defaults for both the cluster-level and instance-level parameters. Each DB instance within a provisioned or Aurora Serverless v2 cluster inherits the settings from that DB cluster parameter group.

Each DB instance is also associated with a DB parameter group. The values in the DB parameter group can override default values from the cluster parameter group. For example, if one instance in a cluster experienced issues, you might assign a custom DB parameter group to that instance. The custom parameter group might have specific settings for parameters related to debugging or performance tuning.

Aurora assigns default parameter groups when you create a cluster or a new DB instance, based on the specified database engine and version. You can specify custom parameter groups instead. You create those parameter groups yourself, and you can edit the parameter values. You can specify these custom parameter groups at creation time. You can also modify a DB cluster or instance later to use a custom parameter group.

For provisioned and Aurora Serverless v2 instances, any configuration values that you modify in the DB cluster parameter group override default values in the DB parameter group. If you edit the corresponding values in the DB parameter group, those values override the settings from the DB cluster parameter group.

Any DB parameter settings that you modify take precedence over the DB cluster parameter group values, even if you change the configuration parameters back to their default values. You can see which parameters are overridden by using the describe-db-parameters AWS CLI command or the DescribeDBParameters RDS API operation. The Source field contains the value user if you modified that parameter. To reset one or more parameters so that the value from the DB cluster parameter group takes precedence, use the reset-db-parameter-group AWS CLI command or the ResetDBParameterGroup RDS API operation.

The DB cluster and DB instance parameters available to you in Aurora vary depending on database engine compatibility.

Database engine	Parameters
Aurora MySQL	See Aurora MySQL configuration parameters. For Aurora Serverless clusters, see additional details in Working with parameter groups for Aurora Serverless v2 and Parameter groups for Aurora Serverless v1.
Aurora PostgreSQL	See Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL parameters. For Aurora Serverless clusters, see additional details in Working with parameter groups for Aurora Serverless v2 and Parameter groups for Aurora Serverless v1.

Note

Aurora Serverless v1 clusters have only DB cluster parameter groups, not DB parameter groups. For Aurora Serverless v2 clusters, you make all your changes to custom parameters in the DB cluster parameter group.

Aurora Serverless v2 uses both DB cluster parameter groups and DB parameter groups. With Aurora Serverless v2, you can modify almost all of the configuration parameters. Aurora Serverless v2 overrides the settings of some capacity-related configuration parameters so that your workload isn't interrupted when Aurora Serverless v2 instances scale down.

To learn more about Aurora Serverless configuration settings and which settings you can modify, see Working with parameter groups for Aurora Serverless v2 and Parameter groups for Aurora Serverless v1.

Creating a DB cluster parameter group

You can create a new DB cluster parameter group using the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the RDS API.

After you create a DB cluster parameter group, wait at least 5 minutes before creating a DB cluster that uses that DB cluster parameter group. Doing this allows Amazon RDS to fully create the parameter group before it is used by the new DB cluster. You can use the Parameter groups page in the Amazon RDS console or the describe-db-cluster-parameters command to verify that your DB cluster parameter group is created.

The following limitations apply to the DB cluster parameter group name:

• The name must be 1 to 255 letters, numbers, or hyphens.

  Default parameter group names can include a period, such as default.aurora-mysql5.7. However, custom parameter group names can't include a period.

• The first character must be a letter.

• The name can't end with a hyphen or contain two consecutive hyphens.

Console

To create a DB cluster parameter group

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Parameter groups.

3. Choose Create parameter group.

   The Create parameter group window appears.

4. In the Parameter group family list, select a DB parameter group family

5. In the Type list, select DB cluster parameter group.

6. In the Group name box, enter the name of the new DB cluster parameter group.

7. In the Description box, enter a description for the new DB cluster parameter group.

8. Choose Create.

AWS CLI

To create a DB cluster parameter group, use the AWS CLI create-db-cluster-parameter-group command.

The following example creates a DB cluster parameter group named mydbclusterparametergroup for Aurora MySQL version 5.7 with a description of "My new cluster parameter group."

Include the following required parameters:

• --db-cluster-parameter-group-name

• --db-parameter-group-family

• --description

To list all of the available parameter group families, use the following command:

aws rds describe-db-engine-versions --query "DBEngineVersions[].DBParameterGroupFamily"

Note

The output contains duplicates.

Example

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds create-db-cluster-parameter-group \
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup \
    --db-parameter-group-family aurora-mysql5.7 \
    --description "My new cluster parameter group"

For Windows:

aws rds create-db-cluster-parameter-group ^
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup ^
    --db-parameter-group-family aurora-mysql5.7 ^
    --description "My new cluster parameter group"

This command produces output similar to the following:

{
    "DBClusterParameterGroup": {
        "DBClusterParameterGroupName": "mydbclusterparametergroup",
        "DBParameterGroupFamily": "aurora-mysql5.7",
        "Description": "My new cluster parameter group",
        "DBClusterParameterGroupArn": "arn:aws:rds:us-east-1:123456789012:cluster-pg:mydbclusterparametergroup"
    }
}

RDS API

To create a DB cluster parameter group, use the RDS API CreateDBClusterParameterGroup action.

Include the following required parameters:

• DBClusterParameterGroupName

• DBParameterGroupFamily

• Description

Associating a DB cluster parameter group with a DB cluster

You can create your own DB cluster parameter groups with customized settings. You can associate a DB cluster parameter group with a DB cluster using the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the RDS API. You can do so when you create or modify a DB cluster.

For information about creating a DB cluster parameter group, see Creating a DB cluster parameter group. For information about creating a DB cluster, see Creating an Amazon Aurora DB cluster. For information about modifying a DB cluster, see Modifying an Amazon Aurora DB cluster.

Note

For Aurora PostgreSQL 15.2, 14.7, 13.10, 12.14, and all 11 versions, when you change the DB cluster parameter group associated with a DB cluster, reboot each replica instance to apply the changes.

To determine whether the primary DB instance of a DB cluster must be rebooted to apply changes, run the following AWS CLI command:

aws rds describe-db-clusters --db-cluster-identifier db_cluster_identifier

Check the DBClusterParameterGroupStatus value for the primary DB instance in the output. If the value is pending-reboot, then reboot the primary DB instance of the DB cluster.

Console

To associate a DB cluster parameter group with a DB cluster

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Databases, and then select the DB cluster that you want to modify.

3. Choose Modify. The Modify DB cluster page appears.

4. Change the DB cluster parameter group setting.

5. Choose Continue and check the summary of modifications.

   The change is applied immediately regardless of the Scheduling of modifications setting.

6. On the confirmation page, review your changes. If they are correct, choose Modify cluster to save your changes.

   Alternatively, choose Back to edit your changes, or choose Cancel to cancel your changes.

AWS CLI

To associate a DB cluster parameter group with a DB cluster, use the AWS CLI modify-db-cluster command with the following options:

• --db-cluster-name

• --db-cluster-parameter-group-name

The following example associates the mydbclpg DB parameter group with the mydbcluster DB cluster.

Example

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds modify-db-cluster \
    --db-cluster-identifier mydbcluster \
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclpg

For Windows:

aws rds modify-db-cluster ^
    --db-cluster-identifier mydbcluster ^
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclpg

RDS API

To associate a DB cluster parameter group with a DB cluster, use the RDS API ModifyDBCluster operation with the following parameters:

• DBClusterIdentifier

• DBClusterParameterGroupName

Modifying parameters in a DB cluster parameter group

You can modify parameter values in a customer-created DB cluster parameter group. You can't change the parameter values in a default DB cluster parameter group. Changes to parameters in a customer-created DB cluster parameter group are applied to all DB clusters that are associated with the DB cluster parameter group.

Console

To modify a DB cluster parameter group

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Parameter groups.

3. In the list, choose the parameter group that you want to modify.

4. For Parameter group actions, choose Edit.

5. Change the values of the parameters you want to modify. You can scroll through the parameters using the arrow keys at the top right of the dialog box.

   You can't change values in a default parameter group.

6. Choose Save changes.

7. Reboot the primary (writer) DB instance in the cluster to apply the changes to it.

8. Then reboot the reader DB instances to apply the changes to them.

AWS CLI

To modify a DB cluster parameter group, use the AWS CLI modify-db-cluster-parameter-group command with the following required parameters:

• --db-cluster-parameter-group-name

• --parameters

The following example modifies the server_audit_logging and server_audit_logs_upload values in the DB cluster parameter group named mydbclusterparametergroup.

Example

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds modify-db-cluster-parameter-group \
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup \
    --parameters "ParameterName=server_audit_logging,ParameterValue=1,ApplyMethod=immediate" \
                 "ParameterName=server_audit_logs_upload,ParameterValue=1,ApplyMethod=immediate"

For Windows:

aws rds modify-db-cluster-parameter-group ^
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup ^
    --parameters "ParameterName=server_audit_logging,ParameterValue=1,ApplyMethod=immediate" ^
                 "ParameterName=server_audit_logs_upload,ParameterValue=1,ApplyMethod=immediate"

The command produces output like the following:

DBCLUSTERPARAMETERGROUP  mydbclusterparametergroup

RDS API

To modify a DB cluster parameter group, use the RDS API ModifyDBClusterParameterGroup command with the following required parameters:

• DBClusterParameterGroupName

• Parameters

Resetting parameters in a DB cluster parameter group

You can reset parameters to their default values in a customer-created DB cluster parameter group. Changes to parameters in a customer-created DB cluster parameter group are applied to all DB clusters that are associated with the DB cluster parameter group.

Note

In a default DB cluster parameter group, parameters are always set to their default values.

Console

To reset parameters in a DB cluster parameter group to their default values

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Parameter groups.

3. In the list, choose the parameter group.

4. For Parameter group actions, choose Edit.

5. Choose the parameters that you want to reset to their default values. You can scroll through the parameters using the arrow keys at the top right of the dialog box.

   You can't reset values in a default parameter group.

6. Choose Reset and then confirm by choosing Reset parameters.

7. Reboot the primary DB instance in the DB cluster to apply the changes to all of the DB instances in the DB cluster.

AWS CLI

To reset parameters in a DB cluster parameter group to their default values, use the AWS CLI reset-db-cluster-parameter-group command with the following required option: --db-cluster-parameter-group-name.

To reset all of the parameters in the DB cluster parameter group, specify the --reset-all-parameters option. To reset specific parameters, specify the --parameters option.

The following example resets all of the parameters in the DB parameter group named mydbparametergroup to their default values.

Example

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds reset-db-cluster-parameter-group \
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbparametergroup \
    --reset-all-parameters

For Windows:

aws rds reset-db-cluster-parameter-group ^
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbparametergroup ^
    --reset-all-parameters

The following example resets the server_audit_logging and server_audit_logs_upload to their default values in the DB cluster parameter group named mydbclusterparametergroup.

Example

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds reset-db-cluster-parameter-group \
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup \
    --parameters "ParameterName=server_audit_logging,ApplyMethod=immediate" \
                 "ParameterName=server_audit_logs_upload,ApplyMethod=immediate"

For Windows:

aws rds reset-db-cluster-parameter-group ^
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup ^
    --parameters "ParameterName=server_audit_logging,ParameterValue=1,ApplyMethod=immediate" ^
                 "ParameterName=server_audit_logs_upload,ParameterValue=1,ApplyMethod=immediate"

The command produces output like the following:

DBClusterParameterGroupName  mydbclusterparametergroup

RDS API

To reset parameters in a DB cluster parameter group to their default values, use the RDS API ResetDBClusterParameterGroup command with the following required parameter: DBClusterParameterGroupName.

To reset all of the parameters in the DB cluster parameter group, set the ResetAllParameters parameter to true. To reset specific parameters, specify the Parameters parameter.

Copying a DB cluster parameter group

You can copy custom DB cluster parameter groups that you create. Copying a parameter group is a convenient solution when you have already created a DB cluster parameter group and you want to include most of the custom parameters and values from that group in a new DB cluster parameter group. You can copy a DB cluster parameter group by using the AWS CLI copy-db-cluster-parameter-group command or the RDS API CopyDBClusterParameterGroup operation.

After you copy a DB cluster parameter group, wait at least 5 minutes before creating a DB cluster that uses that DB cluster parameter group. Doing this allows Amazon RDS to fully copy the parameter group before it is used by the new DB cluster. You can use the Parameter groups page in the Amazon RDS console or the describe-db-cluster-parameters command to verify that your DB cluster parameter group is created.

Note

You can't copy a default parameter group. However, you can create a new parameter group that is based on a default parameter group.

You can't copy a DB cluster parameter group to a different AWS account or AWS Region.

Console

To copy a DB cluster parameter group

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Parameter groups.

3. In the list, choose the custom parameter group that you want to copy.

4. For Parameter group actions, choose Copy.

5. In New DB parameter group identifier, enter a name for the new parameter group.

6. In Description, enter a description for the new parameter group.

7. Choose Copy.

AWS CLI

To copy a DB cluster parameter group, use the AWS CLI copy-db-cluster-parameter-group command with the following required parameters:

• --source-db-cluster-parameter-group-identifier

• --target-db-cluster-parameter-group-identifier

• --target-db-cluster-parameter-group-description

The following example creates a new DB cluster parameter group named mygroup2 that is a copy of the DB cluster parameter group mygroup1.

Example

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds copy-db-cluster-parameter-group \
    --source-db-cluster-parameter-group-identifier mygroup1 \
    --target-db-cluster-parameter-group-identifier mygroup2 \
    --target-db-cluster-parameter-group-description "DB parameter group 2"

For Windows:

aws rds copy-db-cluster-parameter-group ^
    --source-db-cluster-parameter-group-identifier mygroup1 ^
    --target-db-cluster-parameter-group-identifier mygroup2 ^
    --target-db-cluster-parameter-group-description "DB parameter group 2"

RDS API

To copy a DB cluster parameter group, use the RDS API CopyDBClusterParameterGroup operation with the following required parameters:

• SourceDBClusterParameterGroupIdentifier

• TargetDBClusterParameterGroupIdentifier

• TargetDBClusterParameterGroupDescription

Listing DB cluster parameter groups

You can list the DB cluster parameter groups you've created for your AWS account.

Note

Default parameter groups are automatically created from a default parameter template when you create a DB cluster for a particular DB engine and version. These default parameter groups contain preferred parameter settings and can't be modified. When you create a custom parameter group, you can modify parameter settings.

Console

To list all DB cluster parameter groups for an AWS account

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Parameter groups.

   The DB cluster parameter groups appear in the list with DB cluster parameter group for Type.

AWS CLI

To list all DB cluster parameter groups for an AWS account, use the AWS CLI describe-db-cluster-parameter-groups command.

Example

The following example lists all available DB cluster parameter groups for an AWS account.

aws rds describe-db-cluster-parameter-groups

The following example describes the mydbclusterparametergroup parameter group.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds describe-db-cluster-parameter-groups \
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup

For Windows:

aws rds describe-db-cluster-parameter-groups ^
    --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup

The command returns a response like the following:

{
    "DBClusterParameterGroups": [
        {
            "DBClusterParameterGroupName": "mydbclusterparametergroup",
            "DBParameterGroupFamily": "aurora-mysql5.7",
            "Description": "My new cluster parameter group",
            "DBClusterParameterGroupArn": "arn:aws:rds:us-east-1:123456789012:cluster-pg:mydbclusterparametergroup"
        }
    ]
}

RDS API

To list all DB cluster parameter groups for an AWS account, use the RDS API DescribeDBClusterParameterGroups action.

Viewing parameter values for a DB cluster parameter group

You can get a list of all parameters in a DB cluster parameter group and their values.

Console

To view the parameter values for a DB cluster parameter group

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Parameter groups.

   The DB cluster parameter groups appear in the list with DB cluster parameter group for Type.

3. Choose the name of the DB cluster parameter group to see its list of parameters.

AWS CLI

To view the parameter values for a DB cluster parameter group, use the AWS CLI describe-db-cluster-parameters command with the following required parameter.

• --db-cluster-parameter-group-name

Example

The following example lists the parameters and parameter values for a DB cluster parameter group named mydbclusterparametergroup, in JSON format.

The command returns a response like the following:

aws rds describe-db-cluster-parameters --db-cluster-parameter-group-name mydbclusterparametergroup

{
    "Parameters": [
        {
            "ParameterName": "allow-suspicious-udfs",
            "Description": "Controls whether user-defined functions that have only an xxx symbol for the main function can be loaded",
            "Source": "engine-default",
            "ApplyType": "static",
            "DataType": "boolean",
            "AllowedValues": "0,1",
            "IsModifiable": false,
            "ApplyMethod": "pending-reboot",
            "SupportedEngineModes": [
                "provisioned"
            ]
        },
        {
            "ParameterName": "aurora_binlog_read_buffer_size",
            "ParameterValue": "5242880",
            "Description": "Read buffer size used by master dump thread when the switch aurora_binlog_use_large_read_buffer is ON.",
            "Source": "engine-default",
            "ApplyType": "dynamic",
            "DataType": "integer",
            "AllowedValues": "8192-536870912",
            "IsModifiable": true,
            "ApplyMethod": "pending-reboot",
            "SupportedEngineModes": [
                "provisioned"
            ]
        },

...

RDS API

To view the parameter values for a DB cluster parameter group, use the RDS API DescribeDBClusterParameters command with the following required parameter.

• DBClusterParameterGroupName

In some cases, the allowed values for a parameter aren't shown. These are always parameters where the source is the database engine default.

To view the values of these parameters, you can run the following SQL statements:

• MySQL:

  -- Show the value of a particular parameter
  mysql$ SHOW VARIABLES LIKE '%parameter_name%';
  
  -- Show the values of all parameters
  mysql$ SHOW VARIABLES;

• PostgreSQL:

  -- Show the value of a particular parameter
  postgresql=> SHOW parameter_name;
  
  -- Show the values of all parameters
  postgresql=> SHOW ALL;

Deleting a DB cluster parameter group

You can delete a DB cluster parameter group using the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or RDS API. A DB cluster parameter group parameter group is eligible for deletion only if it isn't associated with a DB cluster.

Console

To delete parameter groups

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

2. In the navigation pane, choose Parameter groups.

   The parameter groups appear in a list.

3. Choose the name of the DB cluster parameter groups to be deleted.

4. Choose Actions and then Delete.

5. Review the parameter group names and then choose Delete.

AWS CLI

To delete a DB cluster parameter group, use the AWS CLI delete-db-cluster-parameter-group command with the following required parameter.

• --db-parameter-group-name

Example

The following example deletes a DB cluster parameter group named mydbparametergroup.

aws rds delete-db-cluster-parameter-group --db-parameter-group-name mydbparametergroup

RDS API

To delete a DB cluster parameter group, use the RDS API DeleteDBClusterParameterGroup command with the following required parameter.

• DBParameterGroupName