Altering huge mysql table (adding column) on RDS

Question

Basically I have a huge mysql table on RDS, I want to add a column to the table. I know that mysql normally copies all the data over a new table and adds the column there. I tried to run the alter statement, it created a temporary table and then the alter statement failed (not enough memory). I increased RDS memory but now I can not modify table, It always says table sql-ib237 exists.

Can anyone please propose a solution?

Answer 1

I'm not familiar with running mysql in RDS, but I would expect that that online schema change tools by Percona and Facebook should work here and solve the problem of running out of memory.