changing identifier in RDS (aws_db_instance) will destroy/create the db

[hashibot]

This issue was originally opened by @adrianlop as hashicorp/terraform#11636. It was migrated here as part of the provider split. The original body of the issue is below.

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Terraform Version

0.8.5

Affected Resource(s)

• aws_db_instance

Expected Behavior

Using AWS RDS UI you can change the identifier and it won't recreate the database, it will only apply it on the preferred maintenance window/apply immediately if you select it.

This change also changes the endpoint, so AWS will give you a warn as expected: Warning! Endpoint will also change.

Actual Behavior

Terraform will destroy + recreate the instance. It should only apply the change in the maintenance window or immediately if you selected apply_immediately=true, not destroy the DB.

Thanks.

[fernviridian]

This would be great if Terraform didn't try to destroy my DB instances when doing a "DB instance identifier change". Something you can do easily in the AWS console. So my current workaround is to change the db instance id via AWS console, manually change my tfstate json, and then run terraform plan and terraform apply to make sure it's all good.

[catsby]

It looks like this is supported via NewDBInstanceIdentifier in the ModifyDBInstance call. It should be straightforward to change, however we need to ensure that we update the local resources ID, as it uses DBIdentifer as it's key

[Geartrixy]

Hi,

has any progress been made here?

Thanks!

[zoi-aschmid]

Hi,
I really recommend that renaming can be possible without deletion!

Thanks!
Alex

[baptiste-mnh]

Hi,
I agree, this could be really helpful!
It's quite time consuming.

Thanks!

[yeukhon]

It looks like this is supported via NewDBInstanceIdentifier in the ModifyDBInstance call. It should be straightforward to change, however we need to ensure that we update the local resources ID, as it uses DBIdentifer as it's key

AWS does support an unique identifier:

DbiResourceId (string) --
The AWS Region-unique, immutable identifier for the DB instance. This identifier is found in AWS CloudTrail log entries whenever the AWS KMS key for the DB instance is accessed.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/APIReference/API_DBInstance.html