Use the AWS VSS solution to restore data for your instance - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Customize a script to restore EBS volumes from AWS VSS solution snapshots

Use the AWS VSS solution to restore data for your instance

You can restore EBS volumes for a Windows instance from VSS based snapshots created by the AWS VSS solution. If your AWS VSS solution snapshots contain backups of a Microsoft SQL Server database, you can restore the database using the AWSEC2-RestoreSqlServerDatabaseWithVss AWS Systems Manager Automation runbook.

The database restore runbook automates the entire restore process, including creating volumes from the snapshots and attaching them to the instance. The automation leverages VSS technology to restore the database, allowing you to restore without stopping your SQL Server application or disconnecting any active connections.

For detailed instructions on how to use the Microsoft SQL Server database runbook, see Restore from VSS based snapshots in the Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Customize a script to restore EBS volumes from AWS VSS solution snapshots

You can use the RestoreVssSnapshotSampleScript.ps1 script as a model to create your own custom script that restores EBS volumes from AWS VSS solution snapshots. The sample script performs the following tasks:

  • Stops an instance

  • Removes all existing drives from the instance (except the boot volume, if it was excluded)

  • Creates new volumes from the snapshots

  • Attaches the volumes to the instance by using the device ID tag on the snapshot

  • Restarts the instance

Important

The following script detaches all volumes attached to an instance, and then creates new volumes from a snapshot. Make sure that you have properly backed-up the instance. The old volumes are not deleted. If you want, you can edit the script to delete the old volumes.

To restore volumes from VSS based EBS snapshots

  1. Download the RestoreVssSnapshotSampleScript.zip file and extract the file contents.

  2. Open RestoreVssSnapshotSampleScript.ps1 in a text editor and edit the sample call at the bottom of the script with a valid EC2 instance ID and EBS snapshot ID, and then run the script from PowerShell.