Delete RDS Snapshots older than a specified period of time
What It Does
Deletes manual Amazon RDS snapshots—either DB instance or DB cluster snapshots—that are older than a specified retention period. Outdated snapshots can accumulate over time, leading to unnecessary storage costs. Removing them optimizes storage usage without affecting operational databases.
Risk and Scope
Risk Level
Low
AWS Service Targeted
Amazon RDS
Permissions Required
Delete Permissions
rds:DeleteDBSnapshots
rds:DeleteDBClusterSnapshots
Read Permissions
rds:DescribeDBSnapshots
rds:DescribeDBClusterSnapshots
These permissions are granted only to the runbook, not to the OneLens platform itself.
Optimization Policies Addressed
This runbook remediates violation tickets of the following policy:
rds_31
Manual Aurora cluster snapshots older than a specified period of time should be deleted
Risk Mitigation
Risk Mitigation Strategy
The change is assessed as low risk with limited scope and impact.
No downtime is expected during or after implementation.
No additional safety measures are required due to the non-disruptive nature of the change.
A rollback plan is not defined, as standard procedures are sufficient to manage the change.
How to Install
Runbook Workflow
Step 1: Start
Trigger: Begins the runbook to identify and delete outdated manual RDS snapshots.
Step 2: checkSnapshotType
Action: Runs a script to determine whether the snapshot is a DB instance snapshot or a DB cluster snapshot.
Step 3: If/Else
Condition: Checks if the snapshot type is valid.
If the snapshot is both manual and available:
DeleteDBSnapshot Executes
DeleteDBSnapshot
for outdated manual instance-level snapshots.DeleteDBClusterSnapshot Executes
DeleteDBClusterSnapshot
for outdated manual cluster-level snapshots.ThrowError Script raises a runtime error to capture the errors, failing the workflow explicitly.
Else: Terminates workflow if the snapshot type is not supported.
See How It Works
Triggering the Runbook
To run this workflow:
1. Locate the Ticket
Identify the ticket associated with the above mentioned policy violation.
2. Execute the Runbook
Last updated