Posted On: Jul 26, 2018

Amazon Redshift is now available on two different release cycles - Current Maintenance Track and Trailing Maintenance Track. With the Current Maintenance Track you will get the most up-to-date certified release version with the latest features, security updates, and performance enhancements. With the Trailing Maintenance Track you will be on the previous certified release. 

Each Amazon Redshift release undergoes thorough testing by our QA and security teams. By default, all clusters are created in the Current Maintenance Track to take advantage of the most up-to-date certified release. With this feature, you now have the option to run a subset of clusters in the Trailing Track to allow for 3-4 weeks of integration validation in your environment before adopting the release across all your clusters. 

Track selection has no impact on your Maintenance Schedule. You can set your weekly maintenance schedule via Modify cluster using the Amazon Redshift console. Alternately, when Amazon Redshift releases a new maintenance version for a track (current or trailing), you can choose to upgrade to that version immediately instead of waiting until your next maintenance window. You can also choose to roll back to a previous version within that track.

To learn more, see Amazon Redshift Maintenance Tracks in the Cluster Management Guide.

Maintenance Tracks are now available in the following AWS Regions: US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (N. California), US West (Oregon) Canada (Central), South America (Sao Paulo), EU (Frankfurt), EU (Ireland). EU (London), Asia Pacific (Beijing), Asia Pacific (Mumbai) Asia Pacific (Seoul) Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), China (Ningxia).