Amazon DynamoDB provides features for backing up and restoring tables, allowing users to protect their data against accidental deletion, corruption, or other data loss scenarios. Here's an overview of how DynamoDB handles backups and restores:
On-Demand Backups :
* DynamoDB offers on-demand backups, which allow users to create full backups of their tables at any time.
* Users can create backups manually through the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or AWS SDKs/APIs.
* On-demand backups capture the entire state of the table, including its schema, data, indexes, and provisioned throughput settings.
* Backups are stored securely in Amazon S3 and are incremental, meaning only the data that has changed since the last backup is stored.
Point-In-Time Recovery (PITR) :
* DynamoDB also supports point-in-time recovery (PITR), which enables users to restore tables to any point in time within the last 35 days.
* PITR allows users to recover tables to a specific state prior to data loss or corruption, providing additional data protection and resilience.
* PITR backups are automatically enabled when a table is created or restored from a backup. Users can disable PITR if not needed or disable it temporarily to save costs.
* PITR backups are stored in Amazon S3 and are managed internally by DynamoDB.
Backup and Restore Process :
* When a backup is initiated, DynamoDB creates a snapshot of the table's data and configuration.
* The snapshot is stored in Amazon S3, encrypted using server-side encryption (SSE).
* Users can specify a backup retention period for on-demand backups, after which older backups are automatically deleted.
* To restore a table from a backup or point-in-time, users can use the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or AWS SDKs/APIs to initiate a restore operation.
* During the restore process, DynamoDB creates a new table with the specified configuration and restores the data from the backup snapshot.
* Once the restore is complete, users can access the restored table with its original data and configuration.
Usage Considerations :
* While backups and restores are powerful features, users should consider the cost implications, especially for PITR backups, which incur additional charges.
* Users should also carefully manage backup retention periods to balance data protection needs with cost considerations.
* It's recommended to regularly test backup and restore procedures to ensure they work as expected and meet recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs).
