Starting, stopping, and restarting instances

MySQL   |  PostgreSQL   |  SQL Server

This page describes how to start an instance, stop an instance, and restart an instance that is running.

Activation policy

When you start, stop, or restart an instance, you need to set an activation policy to use. The activation policy indicates if the instance is activated to accept connection requests.

Activation policy options are:

• ALWAYS - The instance is always up and running.
• NEVER- The instance should never spin up.
• ON_DEMAND - The instance spins up upon receiving requests.

Generally, you should set your activation policy to ALWAYS. If you are not using your instance, you can set its activation policy to NEVER to avoid instance charges.

Note: NEVER is not supported for read replica instances.

Starting an instance

To start a stopped instance:

Console

1. Go to the Cloud SQL Instances page in the Google Cloud Console.

   Go to the Cloud SQL Instances page

2. Select an instance to start by clicking the instance name.
3. Click the Start button, in the button bar at the top of the page.
4. In the Start database instance? dialog box, click Start.
   The activation policy of the instance is set to Always and the instance is started.

gcloud

Use ALWAYS for the activation policy:

gcloud sql instances patch [INSTANCE_NAME] --activation-policy ALWAYS

REST

Before using any of the request data below, make the following replacements:

• project-id: The project ID
• instance-id: The instance ID
• activation-policy: The activation policy is ALWAYS or NEVER

HTTP method and URL:

PATCH https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id

Request JSON body:

{
  "settings": {
    "activationPolicy": "activation-policy"
  }
}

To send your request, expand one of these options:

curl (Linux, macOS, or Cloud Shell)

Note: The command below assumes that you have used either gcloud init or gcloud auth login to authenticate gcloud with your user account. You can check the currently active account by executing gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file called request.json, and execute the following command:

curl -X PATCH \
-H "Authorization: Bearer "$(gcloud auth print-access-token) \
-H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
-d @request.json \
https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id

PowerShell (Windows)

Note: The command below assumes that you have used either gcloud init or gcloud auth login to authenticate gcloud with your user account. You can check the currently active account by executing gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file called request.json, and execute the following command:

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
  -Method PATCH `
  -Headers $headers `
  -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
  -InFile request.json `
  -Uri "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id" | Select-Object -Expand Content

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "kind": "sql#operation",
  "targetLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id",
  "status": "PENDING",
  "user": "[e-mail]",
  "insertTime": "2020-01-20T21:30:35.667Z",
  "operationType": "UPDATE",
  "name": "operation-id",
  "targetId": "instance-id",
  "selfLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/operations/operation-id",
  "targetProject": "project-id"
}

If your First Generation instance is using per-use pricing, you can reduce costs by choosing On Demand. For more information, see Which activation policy should I use? in the FAQ.

Note: Second Generation has replaced First Generation; support for First Generation instances ended January 30, 2020 and you no longer can create First Generation instances. To upgrade a First Generation instance to Second Generation, see Upgrading a First Generation Instance to Second Generation.

To see how the underlying REST API request is constructed for this task, see the APIs Explorer on the instances:patch page.

Stopping an instance

You can manually stop an instance when needed. When you stop an instance, it remains stopped, and does not respond to application connections, until you start it again.

Stopping an instance suspends instance charges. The instance data is unaffected, and charges for storage and IP addresses continue to apply.

Note: You cannot stop a read replica instance.

To stop an instance:

Console

1. Go to the Cloud SQL Instances page in the Google Cloud Console.

   Go to the Cloud SQL Instances page

2. Select an instance to stop by clicking the instance name.
3. Click the Stop button, in the button bar at the top of the page.
4. In the Stop database instance? dialog box, click Stop.

   The activation policy of the instance is set to Off (Never) and the instance is stopped.

gcloud

gcloud sql instances patch [INSTANCE_NAME] --activation-policy NEVER

REST

Before using any of the request data below, make the following replacements:

• project-id: The project ID
• instance-id: The instance ID
• activation-policy: The activation policy is NEVER

HTTP method and URL:

PATCH https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id

Request JSON body:

{
  "settings": {
    "activationPolicy": "activation-policy"
  }
}

To send your request, expand one of these options:

curl (Linux, macOS, or Cloud Shell)

Note: The command below assumes that you have used either gcloud init or gcloud auth login to authenticate gcloud with your user account. You can check the currently active account by executing gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file called request.json, and execute the following command:

curl -X PATCH \
-H "Authorization: Bearer "$(gcloud auth print-access-token) \
-H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
-d @request.json \
https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id

PowerShell (Windows)

Note: The command below assumes that you have used either gcloud init or gcloud auth login to authenticate gcloud with your user account. You can check the currently active account by executing gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file called request.json, and execute the following command:

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
  -Method PATCH `
  -Headers $headers `
  -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
  -InFile request.json `
  -Uri "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id" | Select-Object -Expand Content

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "kind": "sql#operation",
  "targetLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id",
  "status": "PENDING",
  "user": "[e-mail]",
  "insertTime": "2020-01-20T21:30:35.667Z",
  "operationType": "UPDATE",
  "name": "operation-id",
  "targetId": "instance-id",
  "selfLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/operations/operation-id",
  "targetProject": "project-id"
}

To see how the underlying REST API request is constructed for this task, see the APIs Explorer on the instances:patch page.

Restarting an instance

Restarting an instance drains the connections from the instance and stops it. Next, the instance restarts and is ready to accept new connections.

Note: Restarting a running instance can resolve some problems with the instance. However, restarting an instance causes a disruption in service, and empties the instance cache, which results in a temporary reduction in performance. If you have restarted your instance recently, check the instance logs to ensure it has fully recovered before restarting it again.

To restart an instance:

Console

1. Go to the Cloud SQL Instances page in the Google Cloud Console.

   Go to the Cloud SQL Instances page

2. Select an instance to restart by clicking the instance name.
3. Click the Restart button, in the button bar at the top of the page.
4. In the Restart database instance dialog box, click Restart.

gcloud

Restart the instance:

gcloud sql instances restart [INSTANCE_NAME]

REST

Before using any of the request data below, make the following replacements:

• project-id: The project ID
• instance-id: The instance ID
• activation-policy: The activation policy is ALWAYS or NEVER

HTTP method and URL:

POST https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id/restart

Request JSON body:

{
  "settings": {
    "activationPolicy": "activation-policy"
  }
}

To send your request, expand one of these options:

curl (Linux, macOS, or Cloud Shell)

Note: The command below assumes that you have used either gcloud init or gcloud auth login to authenticate gcloud with your user account. You can check the currently active account by executing gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file called request.json, and execute the following command:

curl -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer "$(gcloud auth print-access-token) \
-H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
-d @request.json \
https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id/restart

PowerShell (Windows)

Note: The command below assumes that you have used either gcloud init or gcloud auth login to authenticate gcloud with your user account. You can check the currently active account by executing gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file called request.json, and execute the following command:

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
  -Method POST `
  -Headers $headers `
  -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
  -InFile request.json `
  -Uri "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id/restart" | Select-Object -Expand Content

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "kind": "sql#operation",
  "targetLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/instances/instance-id",
  "status": "PENDING",
  "user": "[e-mail]",
  "insertTime": "2020-01-20T21:30:35.667Z",
  "operationType": "RESTART",
  "name": "operation-id",
  "targetId": "instance-id",
  "selfLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/project-id/operations/operation-id",
  "targetProject": "project-id"
}

To see how the underlying REST API request is constructed for this task, see the APIs Explorer on the instances:restart page.