Data Backup, Replication & Recovery

Ensuring data availability and recoverability is critical for SecureCart to prevent data loss, maintain business continuity, and recover from failures or security incidents. AWS provides various services for backups, replication, and disaster recovery (DR) to ensure SecureCart's customer orders, transaction history, and logs remain protected.

✔ Why does SecureCart focus on Backup, Replication & Recovery?

• Protects against accidental deletions, corruption, and cyber threats.

• Ensures high availability and resilience across AWS Regions.

• Maintains compliance with regulatory retention requirements.

• Supports disaster recovery plans for quick restoration.

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🔹 Step 1: Understanding Backup, Replication & Recovery in AWS

Concept	Definition	Use Case in SecureCart
Backup	A periodic copy of data stored securely for restoration.	SecureCart backs up customer orders and payment history in RDS and DynamoDB.
Replication	Continuous copying of data across systems for availability.	SecureCart replicates DynamoDB tables and S3 data across AWS Regions for disaster recovery.
Recovery	The process of restoring data after failure or loss.	SecureCart restores lost customer transactions using automated RDS snapshots.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Implement automated backups for all critical AWS services. ✔ Use multi-region replication for high availability. ✔ Regularly test backup restorations to ensure readiness.

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🔹 Step 2: Implementing Data Backups

✔ Why? – Protects against data corruption, accidental deletion, and cyber threats.

AWS Service	Backup Method	Use Case in SecureCart
Amazon RDS	Automated Snapshots	SecureCart retains 7 days of automatic backups for order transactions.
Amazon DynamoDB	Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR)	Restores accidental deletions within the last 35 days.
Amazon S3	S3 Versioning & Replication	Protects product images and logs against accidental overwrites.
Amazon EBS	Scheduled Snapshots	Backups of EC2 instances running backend services.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Enable RDS automatic backups with a defined retention period. ✔ Configure DynamoDB PITR to restore from accidental deletions. ✔ Use S3 Versioning & Replication to prevent data loss.

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🔹 Step 3: Implementing Data Replication for High Availability

✔ Why? – Ensures data availability across multiple AWS Regions and Availability Zones (AZs).

A. Multi-AZ Replication for Databases

Service	Replication Type	Use Case in SecureCart
Amazon RDS	Multi-AZ Standby	Ensures automatic failover for order transactions.
Amazon DynamoDB	Global Tables	Replicates order history across multiple regions for disaster recovery.

B. Cross-Region Replication for Storage

Service	Replication Method	Use Case in SecureCart
Amazon S3	Cross-Region Replication (CRR)	Copies customer invoices to another AWS Region.
Amazon EBS	Snapshot Copying	SecureCart creates backups in a secondary AWS Region for disaster recovery.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Enable Multi-AZ deployments for RDS to handle failovers automatically. ✔ Use DynamoDB Global Tables for real-time replication. ✔ Configure S3 Cross-Region Replication to store backups in a different AWS Region.

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🔹 Step 4: Disaster Recovery (DR) Strategies

✔ Why? – Ensures SecureCart can restore operations quickly in case of failure.

DR Strategy	Description	Use Case in SecureCart
Backup & Restore	Data is backed up regularly and restored when needed.	SecureCart restores database snapshots in case of corruption.
Pilot Light	A minimal version of the infrastructure runs in another region.	SecureCart keeps a replica of its RDS in another region but scales only when needed.
Warm Standby	A smaller, always-running environment is maintained in another region.	SecureCart maintains a scaled-down production clone for rapid failover.
Multi-Site Active-Active	Fully redundant environments in multiple regions.	SecureCart ensures global availability of order processing using DynamoDB Global Tables.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Choose a DR strategy based on recovery objectives (RTO, RPO). ✔ Use AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) for automated failover. ✔ Implement Route 53 for automatic DNS failover between regions.

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🔹 Step 5: Data Recovery & Restoration

✔ Why? – Ensures SecureCart can recover from outages, cyberattacks, and accidental deletions.

Service	Recovery Method	Use Case in SecureCart
Amazon RDS	Point-in-Time Recovery	Restores customer order database to a specific timestamp.
Amazon DynamoDB	PITR	Recovers lost order records from the last 35 days.
Amazon S3	Versioning	Restores previous versions of invoices and logs.
AWS Backup	Centralized backup management	SecureCart restores multiple services from a single console.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Regularly test disaster recovery plans to ensure quick recovery. ✔ Use AWS Backup for centralized backup management. ✔ Enable S3 Versioning to prevent accidental data loss.

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🔹 Step 6: Continuous Monitoring & Compliance

✔ Why? – Ensures backup and recovery processes remain secure and compliant.

Monitoring Tool	Purpose	Use Case in SecureCart
AWS CloudTrail	Tracks backup & restore API calls.	Audits who accessed and modified backups.
AWS Backup Audit Manager	Ensures compliance with backup policies.	Validates that SecureCart retains RDS snapshots for 7 days.
Amazon GuardDuty	Detects backup-related anomalies.	Identifies unauthorized attempts to delete S3 backups.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Enable CloudTrail logging for backup & recovery operations. ✔ Use AWS Backup Audit Manager to ensure compliance with PCI DSS & GDPR. ✔ Monitor for suspicious backup deletions using GuardDuty alerts.

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🚀 Summary

✔ Implement automated backups using AWS services (RDS, DynamoDB, S3, EBS). ✔ Use multi-region replication for disaster recovery & high availability. ✔ Define a DR strategy (Backup & Restore, Warm Standby, Multi-Site Active-Active). ✔ Regularly test disaster recovery plans to ensure operational readiness. ✔ Monitor backup and restore activities using AWS Backup Audit Manager & CloudTrail.

Scenario:

SecureCart needs automated backups, replication, and disaster recovery strategies to ensure data availability.

Key Learning Objectives:

✅ Implement AWS Backup for centralized backup management ✅ Use S3 Versioning & RDS Snapshots for point-in-time recovery ✅ Replicate data across AWS Regions for disaster recovery ✅ Implement multi-AZ replication for high availability

Hands-on Labs:

1️⃣ Configure AWS Backup for Automated Backups 2️⃣ Enable Cross-Region Replication for S3 3️⃣ Create an RDS Snapshot & Restore from Backup

🔹 Outcome: SecureCart ensures data durability, high availability, and disaster recovery readiness.