AWS S3 Replication: Step-by-Step Guide From Data Engineers

Most businesses rely on cloud storage platforms for their unparalleled scalability, availability, and flexibility in storing and processing data. Among these platforms, Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 storage solution offers exceptional durability and robust security for businesses of all sizes. However, businesses often encounter challenges when configuring or managing AWS S3 replication within S3 or from external sources. Common issues include the complexity of setting up replication rules or the lack of built-in transformation capabilities.

This article provides a step-by-step guide on performing an AWS S3 replication, giving businesses the confidence to replicate their data effectively.

What is AWS S3 Replication?

Amazon S3 replication is a robust, fully managed feature designed to facilitate the automatic and asynchronous copying of objects between S3 buckets. This feature can be utilized within the same AWS Region or across different Regions, offering flexibility depending on the business's geographical and operational needs.

S3 Replication works by enabling the replication of data from a source bucket to one or more destination buckets. These buckets can be within the same region (Same-Region Replication, SRR) or across different regions (Cross-Region Replication, CRR). The replication process is asynchronous, meaning it is independent and does not interfere with the normal use of the source bucket.

Type of S3 Replication

There are two types of replication based on the location of the destination bucket.

Cross-Region Replication (CRR)

CRR allows data to be replicated across multiple AWS regions (ARs), which are geographically separate data centers. It is primarily used for disaster recovery and ensures that data is available in a geographically distant location in case of a regional failure. The feature provides higher levels of data protection and ensures data durability.

Same Region Replication (SRR)

SRR focuses on maintaining multiple copies of data within the same AWS region but in different availability zones. Availability zones are separate, isolated data centers within the same AWS region. This provides additional protection against localized failures and accidental deletions.

Additionally, it is also useful for creating distinct copies of data for development or testing purposes without affecting the primary production dataset. SRR is a smart choice when the high data availability within a specific region is the highest priority.

Method 1: AWS S3 Replication Using AWS Management Console

Before initiating Amazon S3 Replication, it is essential to ensure the below prerequisites are correctly configured.‍

Prerequisites:

• Amazon S3 requires the necessary permissions to replicate objects from the source bucket to the designated destination bucket(s). These permissions ensure that S3 can act on your behalf during the replication process. Refer to the documentation on Setting up permissions for more details.
• Versioning must be enabled on both source and destination buckets. This is because S3 relies on versioning to track changes and manage object replicas. You can refer to the Using Versioning in S3 buckets documentation for more information.
• If the source bucket owner doesn't own the objects in the S3 bucket, the object owner must provide the bucket owner with READ and READ_ACP permissions through the object access control list (ACL). This ensures that the bucket owner has the necessary access to replicate those objects. For more information, refer to the Access Control List (ACL) overview documentation.
• If the source bucket has S3 Object Lock enabled, then the destination buckets must also have S3 Object Lock enabled. To enable replication on buckets with S3 Object Lock, you can use the AWS Command Line Interface, REST API, or AWS SDKs. Refer to the Using S3 Object Lock documentation for more information.

After properly configuring your AWS with the required roles and permissions for replication, follow these steps to replicate AWS S3 data.

• Step 1: Navigate to the AWS S3 management console, authenticate your account credentials, and select the source bucket you wish to replicate.
• ‍Step 2: Proceed to the Management tab within the menu, and choose Replication >> Add rule.

• Step 3: In the Replication Rule dialogue box, select Entire Bucket >> Next. This indicates that you want to replicate all objects within the source bucket. If your bucket is encrypted with AWS Key Management Service (KMS), ensure you select the appropriate encryption key during this step.

• Step 4: In the Set Destination configuration option, if you wish to replicate within the same account, choose the Bucket in this account option. Alternatively, if you want to replicate to a different account, select the corresponding option and specify the necessary bucket policies for the destination.

• Step 5: To change the storage class of the replicated objects, go to the Destination options configuration and select a new storage class for the destination objects.

• Step 6: To configure the Replication time, navigate to the Replication time control settings and enable the Replication time control option. This configuration ensures the system replicates new objects within 15 minutes with a 99.99% guarantee. However, choosing this service level agreement (SLA) will incur additional costs.
• ‍Step 7: Next, in the Configure Options section, you have the option to create a new AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) role. However, if you already have an existing role that has the required replication permissions, you can use it instead.

• Step 8: Finally, navigate to the Status configuration and choose the Enabled option. Click on Next to start the replication process. You can verify this by waiting a few minutes and checking the destination bucket.

Best Practices and Guidelines For AWS S3 Replication

Ensuring efficient and reliable data replication is crucial for many applications and use cases. However, to fully leverage S3 replication's capabilities and avoid performance bottlenecks, it is essential to follow best practices and adhere to specific guidelines.

1. Request Rate Performance

When utilizing the Amazon S3 Replication Time Control (S3 RTC) feature, it is crucial to grasp the request rate performance guidelines. For each prefix within an S3 bucket, your application can execute at least 3,500 PUT/COPY/POST/DELETE requests or 5,500 GET/HEAD requests per second. This includes requests made by S3 replication itself.

Additionally, there are no limits to the number of prefixes in a bucket. To increase read performance, you can parallelize reads by creating multiple prefixes. For example, by creating ten prefixes in an S3 bucket, you could scale your read performance to 55,000 read requests per second.

2. Estimating Replication Request Rates

Accurately estimating your replication request rates is a critical step in ensuring seamless operations. For each replicated object, S3 replication initiates up to five GET/HEAD requests and one PUT request to the source bucket, along with one PUT request to each destination bucket.

If you anticipate replicating 100 objects per second, S3 replication may perform additional 100 PUT requests and upto to 500 GET/HEAD requests on your behalf.

3. Exceeding Data Transfer Limits

Should your S3 RTC data transfer rate exceed the default 1 Gbps limit, you need to either utilize Service Quotas to request a limit increase or contact the AWS Support Center.

4. AWS KMS Encrypted Object Replication

When replicating objects encrypted with AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS), you should consider the AWS KMS request rate limit. S3 replication may consume a significant portion of your available requests per second, as each replicated object requires AWS KMS requests for encryption and decryption operations.

Additionally, if your request rates exceed the limit, AWS KMS might reject valid requests, resulting in a ThrottlingException error. For example, for replicating 1000 objects per second, you should account for 2000 requests consumed by S3 replication from your AWS KMS limit.

Limitation of AWS S3 Replication

While AWS replication offers a convenient way to replicate data within S3 buckets, there are a few limitations: 

• Setting up replication rules is relatively straightforward when the source data resides within S3 buckets. However, if you need to replicate data sources from outside of S3 buckets, such as other AWS services or external cloud providers, configuring replication can become more complex and may require developing custom solutions and modules.
• In most cases, you need to transform or modify the source data before replication. However, S3 options for data transformation can be a significant limitation for specific use cases.
• Understanding and predicting the pricing model of Replication can be difficult due to its scalable nature.

Method 2: AWS S3 Replication using Airbyte

Airbyte is a powerful alternative that effectively addresses several limitations of native AWS S3 replication. It is a versatile data integration platform that helps you replicate your data from various sources to the desired destination without any technical expertise.

With its user-friendly interface and over 350 pre-built connectors, it allows you to seamlessly replicate data from various sources into your AWS S3 bucket and vice versa. This includes external cloud providers and other AWS services as well.

For unique integration requirements, Airbyte provides the Customer Development Kit, which enables you to create custom connectors within 30 minutes.

Below are the three straightforward steps you can follow to configure AWS S3 replication using Airbyte:

‍Prerequisites:

• Access to the S3 bucket containing the files to replicate.

Step 1: Configure AWS S3 as the Source

• Login to your Airbyte account or register a new one for free.
• On the dashboard, click on Sources and use the Search box to find the S3 connector.

• Now, enter a unique Source name to help you identify this connection easily and the S3 Bucket name containing files to replicate.
• Next, add a Stream. Choose the File Format (CSV, Parquet, Avro and JSON) of your files from the dropdown menu. Give a Name to the stream.
• Once you have filled in the mandatory fields, click on the Set up source button to complete the setup.

Step 2: Configure Your Destination System

• Now, navigate back to the dashboard and click on Destinations.
• Search for the required destination connector in the Search box and select it as your destination.
• Fill in the mandatory fields, such as the Destination name, etc., and click on the Set up Destination button to complete the setup.

Step 3: Create a Connection

• Now that you have configured the source and destination, the final step is creating a connection within Airbyte.
• Navigate to the dashboard and click on Connections.
• Fill in the required details, such as Connection Name, Replication Frequency, Schedule type, and other configuration options.
• Set the sync mode as per your convenience. Airbyte supports four sync modes—Full Refresh - Overwrite, Full Refresh - Append, Incremental Sync - Append, and Incremental Sync - Append + Deduped.‍
• Click on Set up connection to start the replication process.

That’s it! With these 3 straightforward steps, you have successfully configured your AWS S3 replication with Airbyte.

Why Choose Airbyte for AWS S3 Replication?

• User-friendly Interface: Airbyte’s intuitive user interface allows you to set up and manage data replication with ease. It's no-code, easy-to-navigate interface enables you to easily configure sources, destinations, and connectors without much technical expertise.
• ‍CDC: Airbyte’s CDC feature is crucial for efficient data replication. It supports log-based CDC, which detects changes in source databases and replicates them. This ensures minimal latency and updated information.
• ‍Developer-friendly Pipeline: PyAirbyte is a Python library that enables you to interact with Airbyte’s connectors programmatically. This helps automate data integration tasks, providing a more seamless experience.
• ‍Security: Airbyte offers several security features, such as OAuth for secure authentication and role-based access control for managing user permissions. Airbyte maintains compliance with multiple established security benchmarks and standards, including SOC 2, GDPR, ISO, and HIPAA, which further ensure confidentiality and reliability.
• ‍Data Monitoring and Management Features: Airbyte allows you to easily connect with popular data monitoring platforms such as Datadog, providing insights into data pipeline performance and health. Additionally, it supports popular tools like Airflow, Prefect, and Dagster, streamlining data pipeline management and processing tasks.

Conclusion

AWS S3 replication provides robust data protection and flexibility for businesses working in cloud environments. By replicating data across regions or within a single region, you can greatly enhance data availability, ensure application responsiveness for globally distributed customers, and streamline development workflows.

While S3 replication using AWS Management Console offers a straightforward approach for replicating S3 buckets, it has limitations with external data sources. For more complex replication scenarios, particularly those involving external data sources, data integration platforms like Airbyte provide a powerful and user-friendly solution. Its ready-to-use connectors and support for data replication from multiple sources streamline the process and ensure easier data management within your AWS environment.

FAQs

Q. What is AWS S3 replication?

AWS S3 replication is a fully managed feature that enables the replication of objects between S3 buckets, either in the same AWS Region (Same-Region Replication) or across different AWS Regions (Cross-Region Replication).

Q. Does S3 replicate existing objects?

Yes. You can use the S3 Batch Replication feature to replicate existing objects in your S3 bucket.

Q. Is replication better than backup?

Though similar, replication and backup serve entirely different purposes. Backup is mainly used for long-term data retention, while replication focuses on continuously synchronizing data with the primary source.