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Amazon EBS Snapshots & Data Lifecycle Manager — Efficient backup and management of EBS volumes
EBS Snapshots provide point-in-time backups of EBS volumes, while Data Lifecycle Manager automates the management of these backups.
What it is
- Amazon EBS Snapshots are incremental backups of EBS volumes stored in S3.
- Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) automates the creation and deletion of EBS snapshots based on defined policies.
When I reach for it
- When needing to back up EBS volumes regularly without manual intervention.
- To ensure compliance and data recovery requirements are met with minimal operational overhead.
Key architectural decisions
- Determine snapshot frequency (e.g., hourly, daily) based on RPO (Recovery Point Objective).
- Decide on retention policies for snapshots to manage costs and storage limits.
- Evaluate the use of tags for organizing and filtering snapshots.
Gotchas & exam traps
- Snapshots are incremental, meaning only changes since the last snapshot are saved, affecting restore time.
- Data Lifecycle Manager only works with EBS volumes that are not in use (e.g., must be unmounted).
- Understand the difference between snapshots and backups; snapshots are not a full backup solution.
The architect view
- Utilize EBS Snapshots for cost-effective, reliable backups and DLM for efficient management.
- Always consider the impact on performance during snapshot creation, especially for I/O-intensive applications.