Protecting DynamoDB Tables

With Veeam Backup for AWS, you can perform the following operations to protect DynamoDB tables:

Create cloud-native backups of DynamoDB tables and store them in any backup vault in the source AWS Region.

An Amazon DynamoDB backup captures the whole image of the DynamoDB table at a specific point of time. DynamoDB backups are taken using native AWS capabilities.

Create backup copies of DynamoDB tables and store them in any AWS Region within the same AWS account.

By default, DynamoDB backups are stored only in the AWS Region where the processed resources reside. For enhanced data safety, you can instruct Veeam Backup for AWS to create copies of these backups and store them in any other AWS Region within the same AWS account.

To protect DynamoDB tables, Veeam Backup for AWS runs backup policies. A backup policy is a collection of settings that define the way backup operations are performed: what data to back up, where to store backups, when to start the backup process, how to retain restore points, and so on.

Veeam Backup for AWS does not install agent software inside instances to back up DynamoDB tables — it uses native AWS capabilities instead. During every backup session, Veeam Backup for AWS creates a cloud-native backup for each table added to a backup policy. The cloud-native backup is further used to create a backup copy in another AWS Region. For more information on how DynamoDB table backup works, see DynamoDB Backup.

Supported DynamoDB Table Properties

Veeam Backup for AWS allows you to back up and restore the following table properties:

Property	Description	Ability to Change Property During Restore to New Location
Table name	Name of a DynamoDB table.	Yes
Partition key	First attribute of the primary key.	No
Sort key	Second attribute of the primary key.	No
Global secondary index (GSI) and local secondary index (LSI)	Additional indexes that provide efficient access to the table data.	No
Table class	Defines how often the table data is accessed.	Yes
Capacity mode	Defines how read/write operations are charged and managed.	Yes
Provisioned read/write capacity units	Read/write throughput for the table and its indexes.	Yes
Maximum throughput capacity	Maximum read/write throughput for the on-demand table.	No
Tags	Table identifiers.	No
Deletion protection	Defines whether the table is protected against accidental deletion.	Yes
Server-side encryption	Defines the key used for data-at-rest encryption.	Yes
Point-in-time recovery (PITR)	Defines whether the table data can be restored to any point in time during the last 35 days.	Yes
DynamoDB Time to Live (TTL)	Attribute name with a timestamp that determines when the table items are no longer needed.	No

Important

Veeam Backup for AWS does not support the following:

CloudWatch alarms
Resource-based policies
DynamoDB global table feature
Adjusted provisioned throughput capacity provided by Amazon DynamoDB auto scaling
Item-level modifications captured by Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Time-ordered sequences of item-level modifications captured by Amazon DynamoDB Streams
Restore of the configured CloudWatch Contributor Insights diagnostic tool

How To Protect DynamoDB Tables

To create a DynamoDB policy, perform the following steps: