AWS RDS Schedule Start & Stop
Schedule when your RDS instances start and stop with Server Scheduler. Without writing code.
- Server Scheduler
- AWS RDS Schedule Start & Stop
How To Start & Stop AWS RDS Databases On A Schedule
Reduce your AWS costs by starting and stoping RDS instances on a schedule with our elegant time grid. Using Server Scheduler, you can precisly control when your RDS resources are on/off so they are not burning cash when nobody is using them.
Don't worry, this is not some complex Infrastrucure as Code exercise. Everything can be performed via clicks in our dashboard. Some people don't like click ops. We believe there is a time and place and it is exactly this use case. The end result will be a cloudwatch chart that looks like:
Contents
- Why Schedule RDS Start & Stop?
- How Server Scheduler Makes RDS Scheduling Easy
- Use Cases For RDS Scheduling
- How to Get Started with Server Scheduler
- Can RDS Scale Up On Schedule
- What About An RDS Start Stop Lambda Function
- Frequently Asked Questions
- ✅ Save up to 80% on RDS costs: run databases only when needed
- ✅ No scripting: forget terraform and Infrastructure as code. Visually click the time grid instead.
- ✅ Database engine support: Works with all RDS engines including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and SQL Server
- ✅ Multi-AZ handling: Properly manages Multi-AZ deployments during start/stop operations
- ✅ Database parameter groups: Maintains custom parameter group configurations across start/stop cycles
- ✅ Improve security: limit database exposure when not needed
- 👉 Intuitive database scheduling UI: Control every hour of every day with just a few clicks.
- 👉 Automated discovery: We automatically locate all databases in your account.
- 👉 Team management: Assign roles, manage permissions, and collaborate securely on database schedules.
- 👉 Database notifications: Get alerts when databases are started, stopped, or encounter issues.
- 👉 Audit logs: Track all database scheduling and activity for compliance and monitoring.
- 👉 Start/Stop EC2 also: accounts can also schedule start/stop times for EC2 incase your database is on a plain server.
- Development Team: db.t3.medium instance running 24/7 = $613/month → 12 hours/day = $306/month (50% savings)
- QA Environment: db.r5.large instance running 24/7 = $1,314/month → 8 hours/day, 5 days/week = $394/month (70% savings)
- Training Database: db.t3.large instance running 24/7 = $1,226/month → 4 hours/week = $73/month (94% savings)
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1 Create Your Trial Account:
Visit our registration page and sign up with your email or Google account. -
2 Connect Your Cloud Account:
After logging in, go to the “Cloud Providers” section in your dashboard. Click “Add Cloud Provider” and select AWS. You’ll be prompted to paste your AWS API key and secret. (We recommend creating a dedicated IAM user with the necessary permissions for security.) -
3 Discover Your RDS Instances:
Once connected, select RDS in the left nav and Server Scheduler will automatically discover all your RDS instances. You’ll see them listed in your dashboard, along with their current status. -
4 Set Up Your Schedule:
Click Manage to select the instance you want to automate, choose your preferred start and stop times and save your schedule. Server Scheduler will handle the rest! Default times are UTC. Change to your local time for less headaches. Everything is still stored in our system as UTC
Why Schedule RDS Start & Stop?
Amazon RDS is a powerful managed database service, but running database instances 24/7 can quickly become one of your largest AWS expenses. This is especially true for development, staging, or testing databases. By using Server Scheduler, you unlock all of the following benefits:
How Server Scheduler Makes RDS Scheduling Easy
Server Scheduler is built to make scheduling RDS database start and stop times simple. Our platform offers:
Use Cases For RDS Scheduling
| Use Case | Description |
|---|---|
| Development DBs | Automatically start dev databases at 8am and stop them at 7pm to save costs overnight and weekends. |
| QA & Testing DBs | Spin up test databases only during testing hours or for scheduled test runs. |
| ML Training | Schedule ML databases to be available only during training. |
| Staging Envs | Start staging databases before deployments and stop them when not actively testing. |
| Analytics & Reporting | Schedule reporting databases to run only during specific reporting windows. |
| Global Development Teams | Set database schedules based on team timezones, ensuring data availability when developers are active. |
Cost Savings Examples
How to Get Started with Server Scheduler
Getting started is quick and easy. Here’s how you can automate your RDS instance scheduling in a few clicks:Can RDS Scale Up On Schedule
If you don't want to stop your instance entirely and only want RDS to Scale Up On Schedule, that is possible with our RDS scheduled resize feature. Most likely you'll want your EC2 to scale up on schedule as well and that is possible too.
If scheduled scaling isn't what you need, you might find our scheduled reboot of RDS helpful. This comes in useful when your instance has been running for a long time and accumulating memory which can be easily released with a simple reboot.
What About An RDS Start Stop Lambda Function
You might be asking yourself why wouldn't you simply deploy an RDS start stop Lambda function which does the same thing. That is possible of course but we prefer the simplicity of our UI that we have spent hour researching and crafting to make the best user experience possible. Compare that to a lambda function where it's all too common to hit deployment errors and packages out of date. You'll see the click ops method really is pain free in comparison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How to stop RDS instance permanently?
A: Stopping an RDS instance is only temporary (up to 7 days). After that, AWS will automatically restart it. If you want it gone forever, you need to delete the RDS instance
Q: Why does my AWS RDS auto start after 7 days?
A: That’s a built-in AWS behavior that cannot be changed. We suspect it's to generate more money for them!
Q: What is AWS instance Scheduler for RDS?
A: Instance Scheduler is the AWS way to start and stop instances on schedule. It requires cloud formation, tagging and lambdas. Save yourself the hassle and use Server Scheduler instead!
Q: In AWS RDS how can I stop replication?
A: You cannot “pause” replication. The only solution is to delete the read replica.
Get Started Today
Ready to take control of your RDS costs and automate your RDS instance management?
Sign up for Server Scheduler and start scheduling your RDS instances today!