# RDS version numbers in RDS for MariaDB
<a name="USER_UpgradeDBInstance.MariaDB.rds.version"></a>

RDS version numbers use either the `major.minor.patch` or the `major.minor.patch.YYYYMMDD` naming scheme. An RDS patch version includes important bug fixes added to a minor version after its release. An RDS date version (*YYMMDD*) is a security patch. A security patch doesn't include any fixes that might change the engine's behavior. 

To identify the Amazon RDS version number of your database, you must first create the `rds_tools` extension by using the following command:

```
CREATE EXTENSION rds_tools;
```

You can find out the RDS version number of your RDS for MariaDB database with the following SQL query:

```
mysql> select mysql.rds_version();
```

For example, querying an RDS for MariaDB 10.6.14 database returns the following output:

```
+---------------------+
| mysql.rds_version() |
+---------------------+
| 10.6.14.R2.20231201  |
+---------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)
```