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Use Case for AWS RDS Low Connections

  1. Configure AWS RDS Low Connections
  2. Use Case for AWS RDS Low Connections
  3. Triage Guides by Violation Type
    1. Triage AWS RDS Low Connections CONNECTIONS_BELOW_THRESHOLD
    2. Triage AWS RDS Low Connections ZERO_CONNECTIONS

AWS RDS Low Connections Policy

Why Use This Policy?​

This policy helps to identify RDS DB instances that are under-utilized by examining their connection metrics over the past 30 days. Under-utilized instances can result in unnecessary costs and resource wastage. By flagging instances with low connection counts, you can make informed decisions about scaling, optimizing, or decommissioning them.

Pros and Cons​

Pros​

  • Helps reduce costs by identifying under-utilized resources
  • Improves resource utilization
  • Provides actionable metrics for decision making

Cons​

  • Requires CloudWatch metrics to be available
  • Might need appropriate IAM permissions to fetch data

How the Policy Works​

This policy evaluates the average daily connections of an RDS instance over the last 30 days. If the average connections fall below a specified threshold, the instance is flagged as under-utilized.

Variables​

  • rds_db_instance_avg_connections (default: 2): Minimum number of average connections per day required for DB instances to be considered in-use.

Violation Types​

  • ZERO_CONNECTIONS: Indicates the instance has had zero connections in the past 30 days.
  • CONNECTIONS_BELOW_THRESHOLD: Indicates the instance's average daily connections are below the specified threshold.