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


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!
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