Performance Insights to CloudWatch Database Insights
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is transitioning from Performance Insights to CloudWatch Database Insights in 2025, marking a significant evolution in database monitoring capabilities. This article provides detailed information about the transition and its implications.
Key Transition Dates:
- Public Announcement: May 30, 2025
- Complete Transition: June 30, 2026 (Updated)
Affected Database Services:
- Amazon Aurora (PostgreSQL and MySQL)
- Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL
- Amazon RDS for MySQL
- Amazon RDS for MariaDB
- Amazon RDS for SQL Server
- Amazon RDS for Oracle
CloudWatch Database Insights Overview: Database Insights offers two distinct operating modes:
Modes for Database Insights
- Database Insights has an Advanced mode and a Standard mode. Standard mode is the default for Database Insights, and you can turn on the Advanced mode for your database.
- The following table shows which features CloudWatch supports for the Advanced mode and Standard mode of Database Insights
Standard Mode (Default):
- 7-day metric retention
- DB load analysis capabilities
- Basic monitoring features
- Query and graphing capabilities
- Fine-grained access control
Advanced Mode:
- 15-month metric retention
- Enhanced monitoring capabilities
- Operating system process analysis
- Fleet-wide monitoring views
- SQL analysis tools
- Integration with CloudWatch Application Signals
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Q1: Why is AWS making this transition?
A: We are making this transition to avoid customer confusion between different pricing and branding of PI and DBI. Ultimately, DBI will be one stop solution for all your database observability needs.
Q2: What happens to existing Performance Insights data?
A: If you are a PI (Performance Insight) paid tier customer with >=1 month retention and do not upgrade to DBI Advanced before 11/30, you will lose access to telemetry history beyond 7 days.
Q3: Do I need to enable Performance Insights for Database Insights?
A: Yes, Performance Insights must be enabled to use Advanced mode. Standard mode, enabling Performance Insights is optional.
Q4: Are all features available in all AWS Regions?
A: No, Advanced Mode feature availability varies by Region. It's important to check regional availability for specific features.
Q5: What are the main differences between Standard and Advanced modes?
A: Standard mode offers basic monitoring with 7-day retention, while Advanced mode provides enhanced features, 15-month retention, and additional analysis capabilities.
Q6: How will this affect existing monitoring setups?
A: Existing Performance Insights metrics will be available in CloudWatch. Customers may need to update their monitoring configurations to leverage new features.
Q7: What happens after June 30, 2026?
A: Performance Insights APIs will continue to exist without any pricing change, and all monitoring will transition to CloudWatch Database Insights.
Q8: What happens to custom dashboards and configurations?
A: You'll need to recreate custom dashboards in CloudWatch Database Insights.
Q9: Is there a difference in SQL analysis capabilities between database engines?
A: Yes. Some features are engine-specific: *SQL lock analysis is only available for Aurora PostgreSQL *SQL execution plan analysis is supported only for Aurora PostgreSQL, RDS for Oracle, and RDS for SQL Server
Q10: How does Database Insights handle process monitoring?
A: Process monitoring in Database Insights requires Amazon RDS Enhanced Monitoring to be enabled. The integration of information related to processes with Database Insights, is only available in Advanced mode. If you don’t use database insights, you can still enable and monitor information related to enhanced monitoring from the RDS console under the monitoring tab as usual.
Q11: Can I monitor databases across different AWS accounts?
A: No, Database Insights supports monitoring workloads only within the same AWS account.
Q12: What metrics retention periods are available?
A: There are two retention periods:
- Standard mode: 7 days of Performance Insights counter metrics
- Advanced mode: 15 months of all metrics
Q13: What happens to existing Performance Insights API calls?
A: Performance Insights APIs will continue to function as before, with no changes to their existing pricing. However, PI APIs will be aligned with CloudWatch brand.
Q14: How does Database Insights handle security and access control?
A: It allows you to define fine-grained access control policies to restrict access to sensitive dimensions such as SQL text.
Q15: Can I analyze historical performance data on-demand?
A: Yes, but only in Advanced mode and only for specific databases:
- Aurora PostgreSQL
- Aurora MySQL
- RDS for PostgreSQL
- RDS for MySQL
- RDS for MariaDB
Q16: Will Database Insights automatically import all Performance Insights counter metrics?
A: Yes, in Advanced mode, all Performance Insights counter metrics are automatically imported into CloudWatch without additional configuration.
Q17: How does Database Insights integrate with other AWS services?
A: It integrates with:
- CloudWatch Application Signals
- CloudWatch metrics and alarms
- Enhanced Monitoring
- RDS Events
Best Practices for Transition: 1. Early Adoption:
- Begin familiarizing with Database Insights features
- Plan migration strategy
- Update monitoring configurations
2. Feature Evaluation:
- Assess which mode best suits your needs
- Review regional availability of features
- Understand retention requirements
3. Monitoring Strategy:
- Update alerting configurations
- Review dashboard customizations
- Plan for extended retention periods
Pricing Comparison between Performance Insights Paid Tier and Database Insights Advanced Mode :
There is a difference between the pricing of Performance Insights Paid Tier and Database Insights Advanced Mode. For example, for an instance with 2vCPUs in us-east-1, the pricing difference between Performance Insights Paid tier (with 15 months retention, same as Database Insights retention) and Database Insights can be calculated as below:
Database Insights Pricing Calculation:
1 instances x 2 vCPU x 730 hours in a month x 0.0125 USD = 18.25 USD Database Insights Pricing for RDS Provisioned Instances (monthly): 18.25 USD
**Performance Insights Pricing Calculation: **Cost for one month of retention (per vCPU per month): 1.50 USD Cost for each additional month of retention (per vCPU per month): 0.0631 USD 15 months - 1 month = 14 additional month(s) 14 additional month(s) x 0.0631 USD = 0.88 USD 1.50 USD + 0.88 USD = 2.38 USD **Cost for total retention (per vCPU per month): 2.38 USD **1 instances x 2 vCPUs x 2.38 USD = 4.76 USD Cost for RDS Performance Insights (monthly): 4.76 USD As you can see above, the price of performance insights paid tier is 4.76 USD and the price of Database Insights is 18.25 USD.
To create an estimate of your own instance, please use the AWS pricing calculator linked below:
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