Set Up Cross-Region Disaster Recovery for DynamoDB Using Global Tables

In today’s cloud-native world, ensuring the continuous availability of data across regions is crucial. Amazon DynamoDB Global Tables offer a powerful, fully managed solution for building active-active cross-region architectures with built-in replication.

In this post, we’ll walk through how to set up a cross-region disaster recovery (DR) strategy for DynamoDB using Global Tables across us-east-1 and ap-south-1, covering setup, replication, and failover validation.

🔧 Use Case

Architecture: Active-Active (bi-directional replication)
Primary Region: us-east-1 (US East - N. Virginia)
Disaster Recovery Region: ap-south-1 (Asia Pacific - Mumbai)
Objective: Set up Global Tables in DynamoDB to ensure DR-readiness with real-time replication.

🛠 Step-by-Step Setup

Step 1: Create a DynamoDB Table in the Primary Region

Log in to the AWS Management Console.
Switch Region to US East (N. Virginia) – us-east-1.
Navigate to Services > DynamoDB.
Click on "Create Table".
Enter table details:
- Table name: test-table
- Partition key: user-id (String)
Leave defaults as-is (On-demand billing recommended).
Click "Create Table".
Wait until the table status is “Active”.

Step 2: Add Replica Region (ap-south-1)

While still in us-east-1, open the test-table.
Go to the "Global Tables" tab.
Click "Add region".
Select Asia Pacific (Mumbai) – ap-south-1.
Click "Create Replica".
AWS will provision a replica in ap-south-1 with automatic schema synchronization.

Step 3: Verify Replication

Switch Region to ap-south-1.
Go to DynamoDB > Tables.
Confirm that test-table appears.
Open it and validate that the schema matches the original.

Step 4: Test Bi-Directional Replication

A. Insert Data in Primary (us-east-1)

Switch back to us-east-1.
Open test-table > Explore table items > Create item.

Add:

 {
   "UserID": "U001",
   "Name": "Alice"
 }

Click "Create item".

B. Verify in DR Region (ap-south-1)

Switch to ap-south-1.
Navigate to test-table > Explore table items.
Verify that Alice’s record is replicated.

C. Insert in DR Region (ap-south-1)

In ap-south-1, add:

 {
   "UserID": "U002",
   "Name": "Bob"
 }

Switch to us-east-1 and verify Bob's entry is available there too.

Step 5: Simulate Region Failure (Optional Testing)

To test failover without bringing down the actual AWS region:

Block the us-east-1 endpoint locally:
```
 sudo nano /etc/hosts
```

Add the following line:

 127.0.0.1 dynamodb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com

Now perform read/write operations only in ap-south-1.
Once done, remove or comment out the line from /etc/hosts.

✅ Conclusion

With DynamoDB Global Tables, building a resilient, low-latency, and globally available application becomes straightforward. This architecture is ideal for mission-critical systems that demand real-time DR and global data access. By following this guide, you’ve successfully implemented an active-active cross-region DR strategy using only the AWS Console.

📌 Further Reading

💬 Have you implemented cross-region DR for DynamoDB or other AWS services? Share your setup in the comments!

Set Up Cross-Region Disaster Recovery for DynamoDB Using Global Tables (Step-by-Step Guide)

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🔧 Use Case

🛠 Step-by-Step Setup

Step 1: Create a DynamoDB Table in the Primary Region

Step 2: Add Replica Region (ap-south-1)

Step 3: Verify Replication

Step 4: Test Bi-Directional Replication

A. Insert Data in Primary (us-east-1)

B. Verify in DR Region (ap-south-1)

C. Insert in DR Region (ap-south-1)

Step 5: Simulate Region Failure (Optional Testing)

✅ Conclusion

📌 Further Reading

Command Palette

Comments

Ops Fix Hub

How to Set Up Disaster Recovery (DR) for AWS MSK with MirrorMaker 2 – Step-by-Step Guide

More from this blog

🔧 Use Case

🛠 Step-by-Step Setup

Step 1: Create a DynamoDB Table in the Primary Region

Step 2: Add Replica Region (ap-south-1)

Step 3: Verify Replication

Step 4: Test Bi-Directional Replication

A. Insert Data in Primary (us-east-1)

B. Verify in DR Region (ap-south-1)

C. Insert in DR Region (ap-south-1)

Step 5: Simulate Region Failure (Optional Testing)

✅ Conclusion

📌 Further Reading