REL09-BP03 Perform data backup automatically
Configure backups to be taken automatically based on a periodic schedule informed by the Recovery Point Objective (RPO), or by changes in the dataset. Critical datasets with low data loss requirements need to be backed up automatically on a frequent basis, whereas less critical data where some loss is acceptable can be backed up less frequently.
Desired outcome: An automated process that creates backups of data sources at an established cadence.
Common anti-patterns:
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Performing backups manually.
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Using resources that have backup capability, but not including the backup in your automation.
Benefits of establishing this best practice: Automating backups verifies that they are taken regularly based on your RPO, and alerts you if they are not taken.
Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Medium
Implementation guidance
AWS Backup can be used to create automated data backups of various AWS data sources. Amazon RDS instances can be backed up almost continuously every five minutes and Amazon S3 objects can be backed up almost continuously every fifteen minutes, providing for point-in-time recovery (PITR) to a specific point in time within the backup history. For other AWS data sources, such as Amazon EBS volumes, Amazon DynamoDB tables, or Amazon FSx file systems, AWS Backup can run automated backup as frequently as every hour. These services also offer native backup capabilities. AWS services that offer automated backup with point-in-time recovery include Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon RDS, and Amazon Keyspaces (for Apache Cassandra) – these can be restored to a specific point in time within the backup history. Most other AWS data storage services offer the ability to schedule periodic backups, as frequently as every hour.
Amazon RDS and Amazon DynamoDB offer continuous backup with point-in-time recovery. Amazon S3 versioning, once turned on, is automatic. Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager can be used to automate the creation, copy and deletion of Amazon EBS snapshots. It can also automate the creation, copy, deprecation and deregistration of Amazon EBS-backed Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) and their underlying Amazon EBS snapshots.
AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery provides continuous block-level replication from the source environment (on-premises or AWS) to the target recovery region. Point-in-time Amazon EBS snapshots are automatically created and managed by the service.
For a centralized view of your backup automation and history, AWS Backup provides a fully managed, policy-based backup solution. It centralizes and automates the back up of data across multiple AWS services in the cloud as well as on premises using the AWS Storage Gateway.
In additional to versioning, Amazon S3 features replication. The entire S3 bucket can be automatically replicated to another bucket in the same, or a different AWS Region.
Implementation steps
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Identify data sources that are currently being backed up manually. For more detail, see REL09-BP01 Identify and back up all data that needs to be backed up, or reproduce the data from sources.
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Determine the RPO for the workload. For more detail, see REL13-BP01 Define recovery objectives for downtime and data loss.
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Use an automated backup solution or managed service. AWS Backup is a fully-managed service that makes it easy to centralize and automate data protection across AWS services, in the cloud, and on-premises. Using backup plans in AWS Backup, create rules which define the resources to backup, and the frequency at which these backups should be created. This frequency should be informed by the RPO established in Step 2. For hands-on guidance on how to create automated backups using AWS Backup, see Testing Backup and Restore of Data
. Native backup capabilities are offered by most AWS services that store data. For example, RDS can be leveraged for automated backups with point-in-time recovery (PITR). -
For data sources not supported by an automated backup solution or managed service such as on-premises data sources or message queues, consider using a trusted third-party solution to create automated backups. Alternatively, you can create automation to do this using the AWS CLI or SDKs. You can use AWS Lambda Functions or AWS Step Functions to define the logic involved in creating a data backup, and use Amazon EventBridge to invoke it at a frequency based on your RPO.
Level of effort for the Implementation Plan: Low
Resources
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