Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Data protection and resilience with AWS storage (STG215-R)

Summary

• Palak Desai, Bisman Sethi, and Marcos Perez presented strategies for data resiliency and protection.
• They emphasized the importance of designing applications for high availability and disaster recovery.
• Key concepts discussed included Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO).
• Various strategies for data resiliency were covered: backup and restore, pilot light, warm standby, and multi-site active-active.
• AWS's shared responsibility model for data resiliency was highlighted, where AWS is responsible for infrastructure resiliency and customers for application resiliency.
• AWS Backup, Elastic Disaster Recovery, and AWS Resiliency Hub were mentioned as tools to ensure application resilience.
• The importance of testing disaster recovery plans was stressed.
• AWS well-architected pillars were recommended for guidance on resilient architectures.
• Real-life customer scenarios were used to illustrate how AWS helps customers architect their environments for high availability and disaster recovery.
• AWS Backup was presented as a centralized, policy-based service for managing data protection across AWS resources and hybrid resources.
• The session concluded with an invitation to explore further AWS training resources and attend related sessions at re:Invent.

Insights

• Designing for Failure: The session reinforced the AWS philosophy of anticipating and designing for failures, as echoed by AWS CTO Dr. Werner Vogels' statement that "everything fails all the time."
• Data Resiliency Strategies: The discussion on data resiliency strategies provided a clear understanding of the trade-offs between cost, complexity, and RTO. It highlighted the need for businesses to tailor their disaster recovery strategies based on the criticality of their applications and potential business impact.
• Shared Responsibility Model: The session reiterated the shared responsibility model in AWS, emphasizing that while AWS ensures the resilience of the infrastructure, customers are responsible for the resilience of their applications.
• AWS Backup as a Centralized Solution: AWS Backup was highlighted as a key service that simplifies data protection management, indicating AWS's focus on providing integrated solutions to common customer pain points such as managing data protection in silos.
• Customer-Centric Examples: The use of customer scenarios to explain concepts showed AWS's commitment to addressing real-world problems and providing practical solutions.
• Continuous Learning and Improvement: The mention of AWS training resources and upcoming sessions suggested that AWS encourages continuous learning and improvement, aligning with the fast-paced nature of cloud technology and the need for businesses to stay updated with the latest practices in data protection and resilience.