# Unnecessary Multi-AZ Configuration for Non-Production RDS Instances

Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/unnecessary-multi-az-configuration-for-non-production-rds-instances

[Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) 

# Unnecessary Multi-AZ Configuration for Non-Production RDS Instances

## Explanation

RDS Multi-AZ deployments are designed for production-grade fault tolerance. In non-production environments, this configuration doubles the cost of database instances and storage with little added value. Unless explicitly required for high-availability testing, Multi-AZ in dev, staging, or test environments typically results in avoidable expense.

## Relevant Billing Model

RDS instances incur compute and storage charges for both the primary and standby nodes in a Multi-AZ configuration, along with associated data transfer between zones.

## Detection

Identify RDS instances in non-production accounts or environments with Multi-AZ enabled Use environment tags or naming conventions to distinguish staging and development workloads Evaluate instance-level metrics to assess whether failover capabilities are actively used or needed Check for duplicated storage and compute resources across Availability Zones

## Remediation

Modify RDS instances in non-production environments to use single-AZ deployment Update provisioning templates and IaC modules to default to single-AZ for non-prod Create safeguards to prevent Multi-AZ deployments in dev/test unless explicitly approved

## Relevant Documentation

[https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/Concepts.MultiAZ.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/Concepts.MultiAZ.html) 
[https://aws.amazon.com/rds/pricing/](https://aws.amazon.com/rds/pricing/)

[Submit Feedback](https://hub.pointfive.co/inefficiencies/unnecessary-multi-az-configuration-for-non-production-rds-instances)

## At a glance

Reference

CER-0210

Cloud provider

AWS

Service

AWS RDS

Category

[Databases](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/databases)

Inefficiency type

Misconfigured Redundancy

## Contributed by

- Swapna Samuel 

### Swapna Samuel

Head, Central Cloud FinOps & Clarity Business Management @ BMO

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/swapna-samuel-792745111/)

---
Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.