Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Upgrading a BYOM DB instance for RDS for SQL Server

You can apply minor engine version upgrades to your BYOM DB instances on RDS for SQL Server. Minor version upgrades include Microsoft cumulative updates that contain security patches, bug fixes, and performance improvements.

Unlike License Included instances, upgrading a BYOM instance requires a BYOM engine version to be available before you initiate the upgrade.

Identifying valid upgrade targets

Before you upgrade, identify which engine versions are available as valid upgrade targets for your current version.

Use the describe-db-engine-versions command to list valid minor version upgrade targets:

Example:

aws rds describe-db-engine-versions \
    --engine sqlserver-ee \
    --engine-version 15.00.4440.1.v1 \
    --include-all \
    --query "DBEngineVersions[?DBEngineMediaType=='Customer Provided'].ValidUpgradeTarget[] | [?IsMajorVersionUpgrade==\`false\`]"

Sample output:

[
    {
        "Engine": "sqlserver-ee",
        "EngineVersion": "15.00.4455.2.v1",
        "AutoUpgrade": false,
        "IsMajorVersionUpgrade": false
    },
    .....
    {
        "Engine": "sqlserver-ee",
        "EngineVersion": "15.00.4465.1.v1",
        "AutoUpgrade": false,
        "IsMajorVersionUpgrade": false
    }
]

Applying a BYOM version upgrade (Amazon CLI)

Before you initiate a version upgrade, take a manual snapshot. Amazon RDS creates automated snapshots, but a manual snapshot gives you a known restore point.

Example:

aws rds modify-db-instance \
    --db-instance-identifier my-byom-instance \
    --engine-version 15.00.4465.1.v1 \
    --no-apply-immediately

Verifying the upgrade

After the upgrade completes, verify the new engine version on your DB instance.

Example:

aws rds describe-db-instances \
    --db-instance-identifier my-byom-instance \
    --query "DBInstances[*].[DBInstanceIdentifier,EngineVersion,DBInstanceStatus,LicenseModel]"

[
    [
        "my-byom-instance",
        "15.00.4465.1.v1",
        "available",
        "bring-your-own-media"
    ]
]

Confirm the following values:

Converting a License Included instance to Bring Your Own Media

You can convert an existing RDS for SQL Server instance from the License Included model to BYOM. This lets you use your own SQL Server licenses instead of paying the Amazon-included license fee.

Use the modify-db-instance command to change the license model:

aws rds modify-db-instance \
    --db-instance-identifier DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER \
    --license-model bring-your-own-media \
    --no-apply-immediately

To verify the current license model of your DB instance, use the describe-db-instances command and check the LicenseModel field in the response. If a modification is in progress, check the PendingModifiedValues field for the pending license model. After the modification completes, the LicenseModel field reflects the new value. For more information, see Describing a DB instance.

Considerations