📢 Amazon RDS Now Supports Easy Retrieval of Engine Lifecycle Support Dates

Managing the lifecycle of your Amazon RDS databases just got easier! Amazon RDS now provides a simple way to view engine support dates for your database engines — directly from the RDS API or AWS CLI.

🧠 What’s New?

With this new feature, you can now:

• ✅ View start and end dates for RDS Standard Support
• ✅ Check if RDS Extended Support is available
• ✅ Get both support periods in a single response (if available)

This applies to Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora major engine versions.

💡 Why It Matters

Previously, finding out when your database engine version would reach its end of support meant digging through documentation or announcements. Now, you can fetch this information programmatically, making it easier to:

• 🗓️ Plan upgrades ahead of time
• 🛡️ Ensure compliance and security
• 🚫 Avoid running unsupported versions

🛠️ Example: Using AWS CLI

Here’s how you can check support dates for PostgreSQL 11:

aws rds describe-db-engine-versions \
  --engine postgres \
  --engine-version 11 \
  --include-all

Output (simplified):

{
  "Engine": "postgres",
  "EngineVersion": "11",
  "SupportDescription": {
    "StandardSupport": {
      "StartDate": "2018-10-01",
      "EndDate": "2024-11-09"
    },
    "ExtendedSupport": {
      "EndDate": "2026-11-09"
    }
  }
}

Now you know exactly when your engine support ends — and whether Extended Support is an option.

🚀 Takeaway

This feature is a great step toward proactive database lifecycle management. If you're running critical workloads on Amazon RDS or Aurora, this new visibility helps ensure business continuity, security, and compliance.

➡️ Start using it today with the AWS CLI or API!

Let me know what you think about this new feature. Are you planning to use it to manage your DB upgrades better?