DB cluster snapshot copying

With Amazon Aurora, you can copy automated backups or manual DB cluster snapshots. After you copy a snapshot, the copy is a manual snapshot. You can make multiple copies of an automated backup or manual snapshot, but each copy must have a unique identifier.

You can copy a snapshot within the same AWS Region, you can copy a snapshot across AWS Regions, and you can copy shared snapshots.

You can't copy a DB cluster snapshot across Regions and accounts in a single step. Perform one step for each of these copy actions. As an alternative to copying, you can also share manual snapshots with other AWS accounts. For more information, see Sharing a DB cluster snapshot.

Review the limitations and considerations for DB cluster snapshot copying. To copy DB cluster snapshots, see one of the following topics.

Limitations

The following are some limitations when you copy snapshots:

Considerations for snapshot copying

The following are considerations when copying snapshots.

Considerations for shared snapshot copying

You can copy snapshots shared to you by other AWS accounts. In some cases, you might copy an encrypted snapshot that has been shared from another AWS account. In these cases, you must have access to the AWS KMS key that was used to encrypt the snapshot.

You can only copy a shared DB cluster snapshot, whether encrypted or not, in the same AWS Region. For more information, see Sharing encrypted snapshots.

Considerations for encrypted DB cluster snapshot copying

You can copy a snapshot that has been encrypted using a KMS key. If you copy an encrypted snapshot, the copy of the snapshot must also be encrypted. If you copy an encrypted snapshot within the same AWS Region, you can encrypt the copy with the same KMS key as the original snapshot. Or you can specify a different KMS key.

If you copy an encrypted snapshot across Regions, you must specify a KMS key valid in the destination AWS Region. It can be a Region-specific KMS key, or a multi-Region key. For more information on multi-Region KMS keys, see Using multi-Region keys in AWS KMS.

For more information about AWS KMS key management for Amazon RDS, see AWS KMS key management.

The source snapshot remains encrypted throughout the copy process. For more information, see Limitations of Amazon Aurora encrypted DB clusters.

To copy encrypted DB cluster snapshots, see the following topics.

Considerations for Cross-Region snapshot copying

You can copy DB cluster snapshots across AWS Regions. However, there are certain constraints and considerations for cross-Region snapshot copying.

Depending on the AWS Regions involved and the amount of data to be copied, a cross-Region snapshot copy can take hours to complete.

In some cases, there might be a large number of cross-Region snapshot copy requests from a given source AWS Region. In such cases, Amazon RDS might put new cross-Region copy requests from that source AWS Region into a queue until some in-progress copies complete. No progress information is displayed about copy requests while they are in the queue. Progress information is displayed when the copying starts.

Cross-Region snapshot copying creates full copies in the target data, but the data transfer charges are incremental. Incremental data includes both the new data that has been added to a customer’s database since the last copy, as well as any changes made to existing data. For more information, see Creating backup copies across AWS Regions in the AWS Backup Developer Guide.

Considerations for parameter groups

When you copy a snapshot across Regions, the copy doesn't include the parameter group used by the original DB cluster. When you restore a snapshot to create a new DB cluster, that DB cluster gets the default parameter group for the AWS Region it is created in. To give the new DB cluster the same parameters as the original, do the following: