Disaster Recovery Manual

AWS Cold DR Runbook with XReplicator

Full-width runbook for recovering EC2 workloads from XReplicator snapshots: restore OS/data disks to staging, create EBS snapshot, convert snapshot to AMI, launch DR VM, and attach restored data disks.

Workflow

  1. Restore OS and data disks to a DR staging host via XReplicator disk-level restore.
  2. Create EBS snapshot from restored OS disk.
  3. Register AMI from snapshot.
  4. Launch DR EC2 from AMI.
  5. Attach restored data volumes to DR EC2 and validate services.

Prerequisites

  • Backup server reachable from DR landing zone.
  • Staging EC2 with XReplicator agent already connected.
  • Target EBS volumes attached with same sizes as source disks.
  • No formatting or partition creation needed before restore.

CLI Commands

Run after XReplicator has restored disk contents to attached staging volumes.

Set variables

# Required variables
export AWS_REGION=us-east-1
export DR_AZ=us-east-1a
export SUBNET_ID=subnet-xxxxxxxx
export SG_ID=sg-xxxxxxxx
export KEY_NAME=dr-keypair
export IAM_PROFILE=dr-instance-profile

# Restored volumes on staging host (from XReplicator restore)
export RESTORED_OS_VOLUME=vol-0abc1111osdisk
export RESTORED_DATA_VOLUME_1=vol-0abc2222datadisk1
export RESTORED_DATA_VOLUME_2=vol-0abc3333datadisk2

Create OS snapshot

# 1) Create snapshot from restored OS volume
OS_SNAP_ID=$(aws ec2 create-snapshot \
  --region "$AWS_REGION" \
  --volume-id "$RESTORED_OS_VOLUME" \
  --description "DR OS snapshot from XReplicator restored disk" \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=snapshot,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=dr-os-snapshot}]' \
  --query 'SnapshotId' --output text)

echo "OS snapshot: $OS_SNAP_ID"

# 2) Wait for snapshot to complete
aws ec2 wait snapshot-completed \
  --region "$AWS_REGION" \
  --snapshot-ids "$OS_SNAP_ID"

Snapshot to AMI conversion

# 3) Register AMI from OS snapshot
AMI_ID=$(aws ec2 register-image \
  --region "$AWS_REGION" \
  --name "dr-ami-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" \
  --architecture x86_64 \
  --root-device-name /dev/xvda \
  --virtualization-type hvm \
  --ena-support \
  --block-device-mappings "DeviceName=/dev/xvda,Ebs={SnapshotId=$OS_SNAP_ID,VolumeType=gp3,DeleteOnTermination=true}" \
  --query 'ImageId' --output text)

echo "AMI: $AMI_ID"

# Optional: wait until AMI is available
aws ec2 wait image-available \
  --region "$AWS_REGION" \
  --image-ids "$AMI_ID"

Bring up DR VM from AMI

# 4) Launch DR VM from AMI
DR_INSTANCE_ID=$(aws ec2 run-instances \
  --region "$AWS_REGION" \
  --image-id "$AMI_ID" \
  --instance-type m6i.large \
  --subnet-id "$SUBNET_ID" \
  --security-group-ids "$SG_ID" \
  --key-name "$KEY_NAME" \
  --iam-instance-profile Name="$IAM_PROFILE" \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=dr-recovered-vm}]' \
  --query 'Instances[0].InstanceId' --output text)

echo "DR instance: $DR_INSTANCE_ID"

aws ec2 wait instance-running \
  --region "$AWS_REGION" \
  --instance-ids "$DR_INSTANCE_ID"

Attach restored data disks

# 5) Detach restored data volumes from staging host (if attached)
aws ec2 detach-volume --region "$AWS_REGION" --volume-id "$RESTORED_DATA_VOLUME_1"
aws ec2 detach-volume --region "$AWS_REGION" --volume-id "$RESTORED_DATA_VOLUME_2"

aws ec2 wait volume-available --region "$AWS_REGION" --volume-ids "$RESTORED_DATA_VOLUME_1" "$RESTORED_DATA_VOLUME_2"

# 6) Attach restored data volumes to DR VM
aws ec2 attach-volume \
  --region "$AWS_REGION" \
  --volume-id "$RESTORED_DATA_VOLUME_1" \
  --instance-id "$DR_INSTANCE_ID" \
  --device /dev/sdf

aws ec2 attach-volume \
  --region "$AWS_REGION" \
  --volume-id "$RESTORED_DATA_VOLUME_2" \
  --instance-id "$DR_INSTANCE_ID" \
  --device /dev/sdg

Validation Checklist

  • Recovered instance boots cleanly from AMI.
  • Expected filesystems and data volumes are mounted.
  • Application health endpoints and login paths pass.
  • DNS or load balancer cutover is completed.
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