Automatic upgrades of Amazon RDS for MariaDB versions 10.0 and 10.1 to begin March 9, 2021

MariaDB Server is one of the world’s most popular open source relational databases. It is available in the standard repositories of all major Linux and Windows distributions.

The MariaDB Foundation ensures a steady cadence of releases. On average, MariaDB Server has had one stable major release every year. The current supported versions are 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5. The development version is 10.6. Each stable version receives periodic bug and security fixes. The community end of life (EOL) policy is to support a major version for five years after its initial release. For EOL releases, MariaDB Foundation does not provide security updates. For the final release dates of all versions of MariaDB, see the MariaDB Server maintenance policy.

Versions 10.0 and 10.1 will reach EOL on February 9, 2021. In this blog post, we will explain why you should upgrade to the latest version of MariaDB and how AWS will support you throughout this journey.

Preparing to upgrade

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for MariaDB makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale MariaDB server deployments in the cloud. With Amazon RDS, you can deploy scalable MariaDB cloud databases in minutes with cost-efficient and resizable hardware capacity. Amazon RDS frees you up to focus on your application by managing time-consuming database administration tasks, including backups, software patching, monitoring, scaling, and replication.

Amazon RDS relies on the MariaDB Foundation to fix critical security, availability, and data correctness issues in the database engine. After the community stops supporting a major version, it’s important to retire unsupported major versions in tandem with the community. We encourage you to upgrade to newer versions as soon as possible and validate your applications before automatic upgrades begin.

To encourage the use of newer versions of MariaDB, Amazon RDS for MariaDB has stopped supporting the creation of MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1 instances in the console or AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI). After February 9, 2021, RDS will automatically upgrade MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1 instances to version 10.3 within the earliest scheduled maintenance window that follows. Any remaining MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1 instances will be automatically upgraded to MariaDB 10.3 after March 9, 2021.

We strongly encourage you to upgrade any Amazon RDS for MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1 databases before March 9, 2021 so you have time to test your applications.

To get a list of all valid upgrade targets, use the describe-db-engine-versions AWS CLI command. For example:

export REGION=AWS-Region                         
export ENDPOINT=https://rds.AWS-Region.amazonaws.com

aws rds describe-db-engine-versions \
  --engine mariadb \
  --engine-version version-number \
  --query "DBEngineVersions[*].ValidUpgradeTarget[*].{EngineVersion:EngineVersion}" --output text

To identify valid upgrade targets for a MariaDB version 10.1.19 DB instance, run the following AWS CLI command:

aws rds describe-db-engine-versions \
  --engine mariadb \
  --engine-version 10.1.19 \
  --query "DBEngineVersions[*].ValidUpgradeTarget[*].{EngineVersion:EngineVersion}" --output text

If you have any MariaDB 10.0 or 10.1 instances in your account, you can upgrade them before March 09, 2021. For instructions, see Upgrading the MariaDB Engine for Amazon RDS in the Amazon RDS User Guide. After March 09, 2021, RDS will automatically upgrade any MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1 instances to version 10.3, whether or not they are in a maintenance window.

Major version upgrades for MariaDB

Major version upgrades can contain database changes that are not backward-compatible with existing applications. As a result, Amazon RDS doesn’t apply major version upgrades automatically. You must manually modify your DB instance. We recommend that you thoroughly test any upgrade before you apply it to your production instances.

Amazon RDS supports the following in-place upgrades for major versions of the MariaDB database engine:

• MariaDB 10.0 to MariaDB 10.1
• MariaDB 10.1 to MariaDB 10.2
• MariaDB 10.2 to MariaDB 10.3
• MariaDB 10.3 to MariaDB 10.4
• MariaDB 10.4 to MariaDB 10.5

To perform a major version upgrade for a MariaDB version 10.0 DB instance on Amazon RDS to MariaDB version 10.1 or later, first upgrade to each major version: 10.0 to 10.1, and then 10.1 to 10.2, and then 10.2 to 10.3, and then 10.3 to 10.4, and then 10.4 to 10.5.

Features in new major versions

Although Amazon RDS recommends that you upgrade all RDS for MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1 instances to MariaDB 10.3 or later, there might be business reasons that require you to upgrade to a different major version. For example, some applications are not yet certified on MariaDB 10.3 and must move to an earlier version. When you manually upgrade before the automatic upgrades that start on March 9, you can choose the version of MariaDB that best meets your needs.

The following table summarizes the major features of current versions. For more information, see MariaDB on Amazon RDS in the Amazon RDS User Guide.

In addition to the new features available in each major version, Amazon RDS MariaDB continues to increase performance year over year, which provides a compelling reason to stay current with the latest versions. Newer MariaDB versions also give you access to newer instance types. However, because some queries or operations in your application might experience performance regressions, be sure to test for performance and compatibility with your application before you upgrade.

Summary

Here are critical dates for MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1:

Amazon RDS for MariaDB 10.2 will reach end of life in early 2022. Now is the time for you to upgrade all your MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1 instances. You can initiate upgrades to MariaDB 10.3 or later at any time until March 9, 2021. After March 9, Amazon RDS for MariaDB will automatically upgrade any remaining MariaDB 10.0 and 10.1 instances to version 10.3, whether or not they are in a maintenance window.

If you have questions or concerns, please share them in the comments. For more information about Amazon RDS, see the Amazon RDS Features, Resources, Pricing, and FAQ pages.

About the Authors

Nitin Aggarwal is a Senior Solutions Architect at AWS based in New York. He provides technical assistance and architectural guidance to customers. Before he joined AWS, Nitin worked for more than 16 years in software engineering and architecture roles for various large-scale enterprises.

Gaurav Sharma is a Solutions Architect at AWS. He offers architectural guidance to digital native business customers.

Vivek Kumar is a Solutions Architect at AWS. He offers architectural guidance to digital native business customers.

Sai Kondapalli is a Database Specialist Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services.