AWS Backup

A service for centrally managing backup plans for AWS resources.

AWS Backup is a managed service that provides centralized backup management across multiple AWS services.

• Managing RDS backups
• Managing EFS backups
• Standardizing backup policies

• A service that centrally manages backups
• Allows you to set backup policies
• Should be considered together with recovery requirements

• Decide backup frequency based on RPO/RTO
• Consider cross-region copy for disaster recovery
• Longer retention periods increase cost

AWS Backup is a managed service that centralizes backup management across multiple AWS services. It allows backup policies (frequency, retention, cross-region copy settings) to be defined collectively as backup plans across supported services — RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, EFS, FSx, EBS, S3, Storage Gateway, and more — and executed automatically. In practice, consolidating backups (previously managed separately as RDS snapshots, EBS snapshots, and DynamoDB on-demand backups) under AWS Backup reduces operational overhead by enabling unified management of retention periods that satisfy compliance requirements, centralized audit logs of who restored what and when, and consolidated restoration testing. Backup design centers on RPO (Recovery Point Objective: how much data loss is tolerable) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective: how long can recovery take). For workloads with short RPO (a few minutes or less), service-specific fine-grained backup features such as Aurora continuous backup or DynamoDB Point-in-Time Recovery are often used in combination. For disaster recovery (DR), the standard approach uses AWS Backup's cross-region copy feature to replicate backups to another region. Backups should not only be taken but also tested periodically to confirm that recovery is actually possible. CLF-C02 asks questions such as "Which service centralizes backup management?" and "For what is backup frequency determined based on RPO/RTO?". Starting at SAA-C03, the focus shifts to AWS Backup's role within DR strategies (Backup & Restore / Pilot Light / Warm Standby / Multi-Site Active-Active), retention period design that aligns with compliance requirements (SOC / HIPAA / PCI DSS), and protection mechanisms such as deletion permission restrictions and Vault Lock.

• AWS Backup (AWS Official)
• What is AWS Backup (AWS Official Documentation)
• Cross-Region Backup Copy (AWS Official Documentation)

Last updated: 2026-06-07