Capturing Change Data

Scenarios

You can use a stored procedure to enable or disable the change data capture function for a specified database. Change data capture can record the insertion, update, and deletion activities of an enabled table, and provide detailed change information using an easy-to-use relational format.

Only RDS for SQL Server enterprise editions, RDS for SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition, and later standard editions support change data capture.

For more information about change data capture, see the official documents.

Prerequisites

• An RDS for SQL Server DB instance has been connected. For details about how to connect to a DB instance, see Connecting to a DB Instance Through a Public Network.
• The stored procedure must be executed by a user who has the [CREATE ANY DATABASE] permission. If a user who does not have this permission attempts to execute the stored procedure, the system displays the following information:

  Database restores can only be performed by database logins with [CREATE ANY DATABASE] permissions.

Constraints

• The change data capture function cannot be enabled or disabled for system databases. If you attempt to enable or disable change data capture for a system database, the system displays the following information:

  CDC can not open on system database and [rdsadmin].

Procedure

Run the following command to enable or disable change data capture:

EXEC msdb.dbo.rds_cdc_db '@DBName', @dbAction;

• @DBName: specifies the database on which to be operated.
• @dbAction: specifies the operation. The value 1 indicates that enable change data capture. The value 0 indicates that disable change data capture.

For example, to enable the change data capture function for testDB_1, run the following command:

EXEC msdb.dbo.rds_cdc_db 'testDB_1', 1;