Migrate from Amazon RDS with minimal downtime

[Kirk C]

From all the docs I read, the way to migrate from Amazon RDS mysql v5.7 is to use import from a dump file. Reliability can be increased by using cloudsql-import.

With this approach, would the downtime be from the time the source (RDS) dumps the file till the time the destination (Cloud SQL) imports all the data?

Is there another way with a smaller downtime? The only thing I can find seems to be with replication, which doesn't work between RDS and Cloud SQL.

[Digil (Google Cloud Platform Support)]

You can try importing the MySQL DBs from the external resource to Cloud SQL by assigning a higher resources (machine type) compared to what normally it would be required. You might use those machine types with higher memory so that it could be able to do the export-import operation on a minimum amount of time. This would help you to perform the whole operation on a much lower downtime.

You can check this help center article for various machine types available for the Cloud SQL instance and choose the appropriate one that might do your operation on less amount of time.

After importing the db to the CloudSQL, you can downgrade the machine type of the Cloud SQL to a lower tire.

Additionally, you might also need to check this best practice guide for importing and exporting MySQL data as well. Also, check the section where it has provided some tips if you are having a long-running import and export processes.