Why is my Amazon Aurora DB instance in an incompatible parameter status?

Short description

The incompatible-parameters status occurs when a parameter in the associated parameter group has a value that isn't compatible with your engine version. Or, the value isn't compatible with the current DB instance class and size.

A DB instance might be in the incompatible-parameters state for one of these reasons:

• The sum of memory used by parameters in the cluster and the instance parameter groups exceeds the available memory on the instance.
• The database engine is incompatible with one or more of the parameter settings in the custom DB parameter group.
• The workload on the DB instance is memory intensive, and results in an out of memory (OOM) state. This happens even when memory related parameters are not set or are set to default values.

If an Amazon Aurora for MySQL DB instance is in the incompatible-parameters status, then you can only reboot or delete your DB instance. You can't modify the DB instance or the engine version.

Resolution

Note: If you receive errors when running AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) commands, make sure that you’re using the most recent AWS CLI version.

To identify the root cause of the issue, first copy the incompatible parameter group. Then, compare the differences between the custom parameter values and the default values. For more information, see Working with parameter groups.

After you identify the issue, resolve an incompatible-parameters status using one of these methods.

Reset incompatible parameter values

Follow these steps to reset only the incompatible parameter values:

1. Open the Amazon RDS console, and then choose Parameter groups from the navigation pane.
2. Select the incompatible parameter groups.
3. Choose Parameter group actions, and then choose Edit.
4. Enter valid (lower memory usage) parameter values, and then choose Save changes.
5. Reboot the DB instance to apply the new settings.

Reset all the parameters in the parameter group to their default values

Follow these steps using the Amazon RDS console to reset all parameters in the parameter group to default values:

1. Open the Amazon RDS console, and then choose Parameter groups from the navigation pane.
2. Choose the parameter group that you want to reset.
3. Choose Parameter group actions, and then choose Reset.

Reduce memory for heavy workloads

For memory intensive workloads, reduce the buffer pool size from the default value (75% of memory) to a smaller value. For example, you might use DBInstanceClassMemory*5/8 or DBInstanceClassMemory *1/2. To do this, modify the innodb_buffer_pool_size parameter.

Note: If you modified or reset any static parameters, wait for the modification to be applied. Then, trigger a reboot of the DB instance.

Related information

Viewing Amazon RDS DB instance status

How do I resolve issues with an Amazon RDS database that is in an incompatible-network state