Perform an Aurora MySQL blue/green deployment for a zero-downtime major version upgrade
domain: docs.aws.amazon.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
In the RDS console, select your Aurora MySQL cluster and choose 'Create Blue/Green Deployment' — AWS provisions a green cluster as a replicated copy of the blue cluster.
Apply the desired changes (engine version upgrade, parameter group changes) to the green cluster while it replicates from blue with low lag.
Test your application against the green cluster endpoint; verify query behavior and performance before switching over.
Initiate switchover from the RDS console or CLI (`aws rds switchover-blue-green-deployment`); Aurora atomically redirects connections — typical switchover takes under a minute.
After switchover confirm the green cluster is now serving production traffic, then delete the old blue cluster after a validation period.
Known gotchas
Blue/green switchover requires replication lag to be near zero; if lag is high at switchover time, the operation waits or times out — monitor `ReplicaLag` before initiating.
Application connection strings that hardcode the cluster endpoint (not the CNAME DNS) may not automatically follow the switchover; use the cluster DNS endpoint, not a static IP.
DDL changes made on the green cluster that are not replication-safe (e.g., some `ALTER TABLE` operations) can break the replication link from blue — apply schema changes carefully during the validation window.
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