Profile Applicability:

  • Level 2

Description:

AWS Disaster Recovery configuration includes setting up AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (EDR) to replicate critical workloads across regions or accounts. This setup ensures that mission-critical applications can be quickly recovered in case of region-wide outages, hardware failures, or data loss. Proper configuration involves enabling replication, assigning staging areas, configuring recovery settings, and validating DR readiness.

Rationale:

Ensuring AWS Disaster Recovery is correctly configured provides:

  • Business continuity in the event of an outage or disaster

  • Minimal downtime through rapid recovery

  • Compliance with organizational RTO and RPO requirements

  • A scalable and automated recovery environment for production systems

Default Value:

AWS Disaster Recovery is not configured by default. Setup must be manually performed via the AWS Console or CLI.

Impact:

Pros:
 • Enables recovery from data loss, outages, and hardware failures
• Ensures continuity of operations for critical applications
 • Reduces downtime through automation and replication

Cons:
 • Requires upfront configuration and ongoing monitoring
• May incur additional storage and replication costs
 • Misconfiguration may lead to incomplete recovery or data inconsistency

Pre-requisites:

IAM Permissions Required:
 drs:*
 ec2:* (limited to snapshot, volume, network, and instance operations)
 s3:*, iam:PassRole
 Full access to source and recovery environments

Remediation:

Test Plan:

Using AWS Console:

  1. Log in to the AWS Management Console
  2. Navigate to Elastic Disaster Recovery (EDR)
  3. Verify that:

  • Source servers are added

  • Replication is healthy (status: Continuous)

  • Launch and replication settings are configured

  • Recovery instances can be launched in test or actual recovery mode
    • Review DR settings to confirm alignment with business policies

Using AWS CLI:

aws drs describe-source-servers
aws drs get-replication-configuration \
  --source-server-id s-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
aws drs get-launch-configuration \
  --source-server-id s-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Implementation Plan:

Using AWS Console:

  1. Navigate to Elastic Disaster Recovery Console
  2. Add source servers and install the AWS Replication Agent
  3. Configure replication settings (e.g., staging area subnet, instance type)
  4. Configure launch settings (e.g., instance type, security group, subnet)
  5. Enable replication and verify that replication status is Healthy
  6. Test recovery by launching recovery instances in test mode

Using AWS CLI:

aws drs create-source-server \
  --source-properties file://source.json
aws drs update-replication-configuration \
  --source-server-id s-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx \
  --staging-area-subnet-id subnet-xxxxxxxx \
  --replication-server-instance-type t3.medium
aws drs update-launch-configuration \
  --source-server-id s-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx \
  --target-instance-type m5.large
aws drs start-recovery \
  --source-server-ids s-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Backout Plan:

Using AWS Console:

  1. Terminate recovery instances
  2. Remove source servers from the EDR service
  3. Revert network, IAM, or replication settings as needed

Using AWS CLI:

aws drs terminate-recovery-instances \
  --recovery-instance-ids ri-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
aws drs delete-source-server \
  --source-server-id s-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

References: