Useful AWS RDS CLI commands

 Here’s a list of very useful AWS RDS CLI commands using the AWS CLI, grouped by categories for ease of reference. These commands can help you manage your RDS instances, snapshots, security, and more efficiently.

---

🔍 Instance Management

1. List all RDS instances

aws rds describe-db-instances

2. Describe a specific RDS instance

aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier <instance-id>

3. Create a new RDS instance

aws rds create-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance \
  --db-instance-class db.t3.micro \
  --engine mysql \
  --master-username admin \
  --master-user-password MyPassword123 \
  --allocated-storage 20

4. Modify an RDS instance

aws rds modify-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance \
  --allocated-storage 50 \
  --apply-immediately

5. Delete an RDS instance

aws rds delete-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance \
  --skip-final-snapshot

---

💾 Snapshot Management

6. Create a snapshot

aws rds create-db-snapshot \
  --db-snapshot-identifier mydb-snapshot-2025-10-17 \
  --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance

7. List snapshots

aws rds describe-db-snapshots

8. Restore a DB from snapshot

aws rds restore-db-instance-from-db-snapshot \
  --db-instance-identifier restored-db \
  --db-snapshot-identifier mydb-snapshot-2025-10-17

---

📜 Parameter & Option Groups

9. List DB parameter groups

aws rds describe-db-parameter-groups

10. Modify a parameter in a parameter group

aws rds modify-db-parameter-group \
  --db-parameter-group-name my-param-group \
  --parameters "ParameterName=log_min_duration_statement,ParameterValue=1000,ApplyMethod=immediate"

---

🔐 Security & Access

11. List security groups for an instance

aws rds describe-db-instances \
  --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance \
  --query "DBInstances[*].VpcSecurityGroups[*].VpcSecurityGroupId" --output text

12. List RDS subnet groups

aws rds describe-db-subnet-groups

---

📊 Monitoring & Logs

13. List available log files

aws rds describe-db-log-files --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance

14. Download a specific log file

aws rds download-db-log-file-portion \
  --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance \
  --log-file-name error/mysql-error.log \
  --starting-token 0

---

🔄 Automated Backups & Retention

15. Set backup retention period

aws rds modify-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance \
  --backup-retention-period 7 \
  --apply-immediately

---

⏱️ Maintenance & Scheduling

16. List pending maintenance actions

aws rds describe-pending-maintenance-actions

---

🔁 Replication & Read Replicas

17. Create a read replica

aws rds create-db-instance-read-replica \
  --db-instance-identifier mydb-replica \
  --source-db-instance-identifier mydbinstance

18. Promote a read replica to standalone

aws rds promote-read-replica --db-instance-identifier mydb-replica

---

🛠️ General Helpers

19. List available DB engines

aws rds describe-db-engine-versions

20. List all instance classes

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine mysql