AWS Backup is a fully managed service that centralizes and automates data protection across AWS services. Two fundamental components are backup plans and backup vaults, which are essential for maintaining reliability and business continuity.
Backup Plans define the backup schedule, lifecycle polic…AWS Backup is a fully managed service that centralizes and automates data protection across AWS services. Two fundamental components are backup plans and backup vaults, which are essential for maintaining reliability and business continuity.
Backup Plans define the backup schedule, lifecycle policies, and resource assignments for your data protection strategy. A backup plan consists of backup rules that specify when backups occur, how long they are retained, and whether they should be copied to another region for disaster recovery. You can configure backup frequency (hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly), specify backup windows to control when backups start, and set retention periods ranging from days to years. Backup plans support tagging resources for automatic inclusion, allowing you to apply consistent backup policies across your infrastructure.
Backup Vaults are containers that store and organize your recovery points. Each vault uses AWS KMS encryption keys to protect your backup data at rest. You can create multiple vaults to separate backups by environment, application, or compliance requirements. Vault access policies enable you to control who can access recovery points, supporting the principle of least privilege. Vault Lock provides an additional layer of protection by enabling write-once-read-many (WORM) settings, preventing anyone from deleting backups before the retention period expires.
For the SysOps Administrator exam, understanding how to configure backup plans with appropriate RPO (Recovery Point Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective) settings is crucial. You should know how to monitor backup jobs using CloudWatch, set up SNS notifications for backup events, and troubleshoot failed backup jobs. Cross-region and cross-account backup capabilities are important for disaster recovery scenarios. AWS Backup supports EC2, EBS, RDS, DynamoDB, EFS, FSx, and other services, making it a comprehensive solution for protecting your AWS workloads.
Backup Plans and Vaults - AWS Backup Complete Guide
Why Backup Plans and Vaults Are Important
Data protection is a critical component of any reliable infrastructure. AWS Backup provides a centralized service to automate and manage backups across multiple AWS services. Understanding backup plans and vaults is essential for the AWS SysOps Administrator Associate exam because they form the foundation of business continuity and disaster recovery strategies.
What Are Backup Plans?
A backup plan is a policy expression that defines when and how you want to back up your AWS resources. Backup plans consist of:
• Backup Rules - Define the backup schedule, backup window, and lifecycle rules • Resource Assignments - Specify which resources to back up using tags or resource ARNs • Backup Schedule - Cron expressions or rate expressions defining backup frequency • Lifecycle Policies - Rules for transitioning backups to cold storage and deletion
What Are Backup Vaults?
A backup vault is a container that stores and organizes your backups (recovery points). Key characteristics include:
• Encryption - All backups are encrypted using AWS KMS keys • Access Policies - Resource-based policies control access to the vault and its contents • Vault Lock - Provides WORM (Write Once Read Many) protection for compliance requirements • Default Vault - AWS creates a default vault, but you can create custom vaults for organization
How AWS Backup Works
1. Create a Backup Vault - Establish where recovery points will be stored 2. Define a Backup Plan - Set schedules, retention periods, and lifecycle rules 3. Assign Resources - Use tags or resource IDs to specify what to back up 4. Automated Execution - AWS Backup runs jobs according to your schedule 5. Recovery Points Created - Backups are stored in the designated vault 6. Restore When Needed - Use recovery points to restore data
Supported Services
AWS Backup supports: EC2, EBS, RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, EFS, FSx, Storage Gateway, S3, and more.
Key Features for the Exam
• Cross-Region Backup - Copy backups to different regions for disaster recovery • Cross-Account Backup - Share backups across AWS accounts using AWS Organizations • Backup Vault Lock - Enforces retention policies that cannot be changed or deleted • Compliance Mode vs Governance Mode - Compliance mode prevents anyone from deleting backups; Governance mode allows users with special permissions • Legal Hold - Prevents deletion of specific recovery points
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Backup Plans and Vaults
Tip 1: When questions mention compliance requirements or regulatory retention, think of Backup Vault Lock in compliance mode.
Tip 2: For centralized backup management across multiple AWS services, AWS Backup is the preferred solution over individual service backup features.
Tip 3: Questions about disaster recovery across regions should lead you to consider cross-region copy capabilities in backup plans.
Tip 4: If a question involves multi-account backup strategies, look for answers involving AWS Organizations integration and cross-account backup features.
Tip 5: Remember that backup vaults use AWS KMS for encryption - questions about encryption at rest for backups relate to KMS key management.
Tip 6:Lifecycle policies in backup plans help reduce costs by transitioning older backups to cold storage - relevant for cost optimization questions.
Tip 7: When asked about preventing accidental deletion of backups, Vault Lock and access policies are the key features to consider.
Tip 8: For questions about backup monitoring and auditing, remember AWS Backup integrates with CloudWatch for metrics and CloudTrail for API logging.