Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - Protect Data and Lower Costs with Amazon EBS Snapshots (STG212)

Summary

Introduction: Vianna Chin and Kalyan Balichola introduced themselves and their roles related to EBS Snapshots at AWS.
EBS Snapshot Basics: EBS Snapshots are point-in-time backups of EBS volumes stored on Amazon S3, which are incremental and crash-consistent.
Use Cases: Snapshots are used for EBS backup and disaster recovery, refresh/scale-up/data handoff workloads, and non-EBS backup and migration.
Incrementality and Consistency: Snapshots are incremental, storing only changed blocks, and crash-consistent, capturing only completed IOs.
Snapshot Sharing and Copying: Snapshots can be shared and copied across accounts and regions, with encryption being a key aspect of data protection.
Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM): DLM automates the creation, retention, deletion, and archiving of snapshots based on policies.
Recycle Bin: Recycle Bin retains deleted snapshots and AMIs based on configured retention rules, protecting against accidental or malicious deletions.
EBS Snapshot Archive Tier: A new tier for long-term retention of rarely accessed snapshots, offering significant cost savings but with longer retrieval times.
EBS Direct APIs: APIs that allow direct reading and writing to EBS snapshots, simplifying data migration and backup workflows.

Cost Optimization: The incremental nature of snapshots and the ability to automate lifecycle policies with DLM can lead to significant cost savings.
Data Protection: Recycle Bin and encryption are critical for protecting against data loss due to accidental deletion or security breaches.
Compliance and Long-Term Storage: The EBS Snapshot Archive Tier addresses the need for long-term storage of snapshots for compliance purposes, as demonstrated by Johnson & Johnson's use case.
Operational Efficiency: EBS Direct APIs streamline the process of migrating data to and from AWS, enhancing backup and disaster recovery operations.
Best Practices: The session highlighted best practices such as separating boot and data volumes, encrypting snapshots, and carefully considering when to archive snapshots.
Future Developments: The mention of potential future features, such as the ability to archive AMI-based snapshots, indicates ongoing improvements to EBS snapshot capabilities.