How to Uninstall Redshift in PostgreSQL

How do I uninstall or delete an Amazon Redshift cluster safely?

Safely deletes an Amazon Redshift cluster and all its dependent resources.

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Description

Why would you uninstall a Redshift cluster?

Archive-only workloads, migrating to Amazon RDS PostgreSQL, or cutting cloud costs often require deleting the entire Redshift cluster instead of simply dropping tables like Customers or Orders.Removing the cluster frees compute nodes, storage, and IAM roles.

What prerequisites must be met?

Ensure you have awscli v2 installed, an IAM user with redshift:DeleteCluster and s3:PutObject (for snapshots) permissions, and that no critical ETL jobs still point to the cluster.

How do I take a last-minute snapshot?

Create a final, restorable copy with aws redshift create-cluster-snapshot --cluster-identifier ecommerce-prod --snapshot-identifier ecommerce-prod-final.Snapshots allow tables such as OrderItems or Products to be restored later.

What command uninstalls (deletes) the cluster?

Run aws redshift delete-cluster with either --skip-final-cluster-snapshot or --final-cluster-snapshot-identifier. The operation is asynchronous; use aws redshift describe-clusters to confirm its status turns to deleting and then disappears.

How do I confirm all resources are gone?

Check that the cluster no longer appears in describe-clusters, the subnet group is unused, and CloudWatch alarms tied to the cluster have been removed.Finally, revoke or delete dedicated IAM roles.

Best practices after deletion?

Delete unused snapshots older than your retention policy, update connection strings in application code, and migrate any leftover S3 UNLOAD data to cost-effective storage classes.

Why How to Uninstall Redshift in PostgreSQL is important

How to Uninstall Redshift in PostgreSQL Example Usage


--Take a final look at table counts before deletion
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Customers;
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Orders;
--Delete the cluster via AWS CLI
aws redshift delete-cluster \
  --cluster-identifier ecommerce-prod \
  --skip-final-cluster-snapshot

How to Uninstall Redshift in PostgreSQL Syntax


aws redshift delete-cluster \
  --cluster-identifier <cluster_name> \
  [--final-cluster-snapshot-identifier <snapshot_name> | --skip-final-cluster-snapshot] \
  [--iam-roles <role_arn1> <role_arn2>] \
  [--region <aws_region>]

# Example (ecommerce context)
aws redshift delete-cluster \
  --cluster-identifier ecommerce-prod \
  --final-cluster-snapshot-identifier ecommerce-prod-final \
  --iam-roles arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/RedshiftRole \
  --region us-east-1

Common Mistakes

Skipping the final snapshot on production clusters. Fix: Always specify --final-cluster-snapshot-identifier unless you are absolutely sure all data is backed up elsewhere.
Forgetting to detach IAM roles tied to the cluster, causing lingering permissions. Fix: After cluster deletion, run aws iam detach-role-policy and remove unused roles.