Sharing a DB snapshot - Amazon Relational Database Service
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Sharing a DB snapshot

Using Amazon RDS, you can share a manual DB snapshot in the following ways:

  • Sharing a manual DB snapshot, whether encrypted or unencrypted, enables authorized Amazon accounts to copy the snapshot.

  • Sharing an unencrypted manual DB snapshot enables authorized Amazon accounts to directly restore a DB instance from the snapshot instead of taking a copy of it and restoring from that. However, you can't restore a DB instance from a DB snapshot that is both shared and encrypted. Instead, you can make a copy of the DB snapshot and restore the DB instance from the copy.

Note

To share an automated DB snapshot, create a manual DB snapshot by copying the automated snapshot, and then share that copy. This process also applies to Amazon Backup–generated resources.

For more information on copying a snapshot, see Copying a DB snapshot. For more information on restoring a DB instance from a DB snapshot, see Restoring from a DB snapshot.

You can share a manual snapshot with up to 20 other Amazon accounts.

The following limitations apply when sharing manual snapshots with other Amazon accounts:

  • When you restore a DB instance from a shared snapshot using the Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) or Amazon RDS API, you must specify the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the shared snapshot as the snapshot identifier.

  • You can't share a DB snapshot that uses an option group with permanent or persistent options, except for Oracle DB instances that have the Timezone or OLS option (or both).

    A permanent option can't be removed from an option group. Option groups with persistent options can't be removed from a DB instance once the option group has been assigned to the DB instance.

    The following table lists permanent and persistent options and their related DB engines.

    Option name Persistent Permanent DB engine
    TDE Yes No Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition
    TDE Yes Yes Oracle Enterprise Edition
    Timezone Yes Yes

    Oracle Enterprise Edition

    Oracle Standard Edition

    Oracle Standard Edition One

    Oracle Standard Edition Two

    For Oracle DB instances, you can copy shared DB snapshots that have the Timezone or OLS option (or both). To do so, specify a target option group that includes these options when you copy the DB snapshot. The OLS option is permanent and persistent only for Oracle DB instances running Oracle version 12.2 or higher. For more information about these options, see Oracle time zone and Oracle Label Security.

Sharing public snapshots

You can also share an unencrypted manual snapshot as public, which makes the snapshot available to all Amazon accounts. Make sure when sharing a snapshot as public that none of your private information is included in the public snapshot.

When a snapshot is shared publicly, it gives all Amazon accounts permission both to copy the snapshot and to create DB instances from it.

You aren't billed for the backup storage of public snapshots owned by other accounts. You're billed only for snapshots that you own.

If you copy a public snapshot, you own the copy. You're billed for the backup storage of your snapshot copy. If you create a DB instance from a public snapshot, you're billed for that DB instance. For Amazon RDS pricing information, see the Amazon RDS product page.

You can delete only the public snapshots that you own. To delete a shared or public snapshot, make sure to log into the Amazon account that owns the snapshot.

Viewing public snapshots owned by other Amazon accounts

You can view public snapshots owned by other accounts in a particular Amazon Region on the Public tab of the Snapshots page in the Amazon RDS console. Your snapshots (those owned by your account) don't appear on this tab.

To view public snapshots
  1. Open the Amazon RDS console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/rds/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Snapshots.

  3. Choose the Public tab.

    The public snapshots appear. You can see which account owns a public snapshot in the Owner column.

    Note

    You might have to modify the page preferences, by selecting the gear icon at the upper right of the Public snapshots list, to see this column.

Viewing your own public snapshots

You can use the following Amazon CLI command (Unix only) to view the public snapshots owned by your Amazon account in a particular Amazon Region.

aws rds describe-db-snapshots --snapshot-type public --include-public | grep account_number

The output returned is similar to the following example if you have public snapshots.

"DBSnapshotArn": "arn:aws-cn:rds:us-east-1:123456789012:snapshot:mysnapshot1", "DBSnapshotArn": "arn:aws-cn:rds:us-east-1:123456789012:snapshot:mysnapshot2",
Note

You might see duplicate entries for DBSnapshotIdentifier or SourceDBSnapshotIdentifier.

Sharing encrypted snapshots

You can share DB snapshots that have been encrypted "at rest" using the AES-256 encryption algorithm, as described in Encrypting Amazon RDS resources. To do this, take the following steps:

  1. Share the Amazon KMS key that was used to encrypt the snapshot with any accounts that you want to be able to access the snapshot.

    You can share KMS keys with another Amazon account by adding the other account to the KMS key policy. For details on updating a key policy, see Key policies in the Amazon KMS Developer Guide. For an example of creating a key policy, see Allowing access to an Amazon KMS key later in this topic.

  2. Use the Amazon Web Services Management Console, Amazon CLI, or Amazon RDS API to share the encrypted snapshot with the other accounts.

These restrictions apply to sharing encrypted snapshots:

  • You can't share encrypted snapshots as public.

  • You can't share Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server snapshots that are encrypted using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE).

  • You can't share a snapshot that has been encrypted using the default KMS key of the Amazon account that shared the snapshot.

Allowing access to an Amazon KMS key

For another Amazon account to copy an encrypted DB snapshot shared from your account, the account that you share your snapshot with must have access to the Amazon KMS key that encrypted the snapshot.

To allow another Amazon account access to a KMS key, update the key policy for the KMS key. You update it with the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the Amazon account that you are sharing to as Principal in the KMS key policy. Then you allow the kms:CreateGrant action.

After you have given an Amazon account access to your KMS key, to copy your encrypted snapshot that Amazon account must create an Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) role or user if it doesn't already have one. In addition, that Amazon account must also attach an IAM policy to that IAM permission set or roles that allows the permission set or roles to copy an encrypted DB snapshot using your KMS key. The account must be an IAM user and can't be a root Amazon account identity due to Amazon KMS security restrictions.

In the following key policy example, user 111122223333 is the owner of the KMS key, and user 444455556666 is the account that the key is being shared with. This updated key policy gives the Amazon account access to the KMS key by including the ARN for the root Amazon account identity for user 444455556666 as a Principal for the policy, and by allowing the kms:CreateGrant action.

{ "Id": "key-policy-1", "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Sid": "Allow use of the key", "Effect": "Allow", "Principal": {"Amazon": [ "arn:aws-cn:iam::111122223333:user/KeyUser", "arn:aws-cn:iam::444455556666:root" ]}, "Action": [ "kms:CreateGrant", "kms:Encrypt", "kms:Decrypt", "kms:ReEncrypt*", "kms:GenerateDataKey*", "kms:DescribeKey" ], "Resource": "*" }, { "Sid": "Allow attachment of persistent resources", "Effect": "Allow", "Principal": {"Amazon": [ "arn:aws-cn:iam::111122223333:user/KeyUser", "arn:aws-cn:iam::444455556666:root" ]}, "Action": [ "kms:CreateGrant", "kms:ListGrants", "kms:RevokeGrant" ], "Resource": "*", "Condition": {"Bool": {"kms:GrantIsForAWSResource": true}} } ] }

Creating an IAM policy to enable copying of the encrypted snapshot

Once the external Amazon account has access to your KMS key, the owner of that Amazon account can create a policy that allows an IAM user created for that account to copy an encrypted snapshot encrypted with that KMS key.

The following example shows a policy that can be attached to an IAM user for Amazon account 444455556666 that enables the IAM user to copy a shared snapshot from Amazon account 111122223333 that has been encrypted with the KMS key c989c1dd-a3f2-4a5d-8d96-e793d082ab26 in the us-west-2 region.

{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Sid": "AllowUseOfTheKey", "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [ "kms:Encrypt", "kms:Decrypt", "kms:ReEncrypt*", "kms:GenerateDataKey*", "kms:DescribeKey", "kms:CreateGrant", "kms:RetireGrant" ], "Resource": ["arn:aws-cn:kms:us-west-2:111122223333:key/c989c1dd-a3f2-4a5d-8d96-e793d082ab26"] }, { "Sid": "AllowAttachmentOfPersistentResources", "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [ "kms:CreateGrant", "kms:ListGrants", "kms:RevokeGrant" ], "Resource": ["arn:aws-cn:kms:us-west-2:111122223333:key/c989c1dd-a3f2-4a5d-8d96-e793d082ab26"], "Condition": { "Bool": { "kms:GrantIsForAWSResource": true } } } ] }

For details on updating a key policy, see Key policies in the Amazon KMS Developer Guide.

Sharing a snapshot

You can share a DB snapshot using the Amazon Web Services Management Console, the Amazon CLI, or the RDS API.

Using the Amazon RDS console, you can share a manual DB snapshot with up to 20 Amazon accounts. You can also use the console to stop sharing a manual snapshot with one or more accounts.

To share a manual DB snapshot by using the Amazon RDS console
  1. Sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console and open the Amazon RDS console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/rds/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Snapshots.

  3. Select the manual snapshot that you want to share.

  4. For Actions, choose Share snapshot.

  5. Choose one of the following options for DB snapshot visibility.

    • If the source is unencrypted, choose Public to permit all Amazon accounts to restore a DB instance from your manual DB snapshot, or choose Private to permit only Amazon accounts that you specify to restore a DB instance from your manual DB snapshot.

      Warning

      If you set DB snapshot visibility to Public, all Amazon accounts can restore a DB instance from your manual DB snapshot and have access to your data. Do not share any manual DB snapshots that contain private information as Public.

    • If the source is encrypted, DB snapshot visibility is set as Private because encrypted snapshots can't be shared as public.

  6. For Amazon Account ID, type the Amazon account identifier for an account that you want to permit to restore a DB instance from your manual snapshot, and then choose Add. Repeat to include additional Amazon account identifiers, up to 20 Amazon accounts.

    If you make an error when adding an Amazon account identifier to the list of permitted accounts, you can delete it from the list by choosing Delete at the right of the incorrect Amazon account identifier.

    
							Permit Amazon accounts to restore a manual DB snapshot
  7. After you have added identifiers for all of the Amazon accounts that you want to permit to restore the manual snapshot, choose Save to save your changes.

To stop sharing a manual DB snapshot with an Amazon account
  1. Sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console and open the Amazon RDS console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/rds/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Snapshots.

  3. Select the manual snapshot that you want to stop sharing.

  4. Choose Actions, and then choose Share snapshot.

  5. To remove permission for an Amazon account, choose Delete for the Amazon account identifier for that account from the list of authorized accounts.

    
						Permit Amazon accounts to restore a manual DB snapshot
  6. Choose Save to save your changes.

To share a DB snapshot, use the aws rds modify-db-snapshot-attribute command. Use the --values-to-add parameter to add a list of the IDs for the Amazon accounts that are authorized to restore the manual snapshot.

Example of sharing a snapshot with a single account

The following example enables Amazon account identifier 123456789012 to restore the DB snapshot named db7-snapshot.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds modify-db-snapshot-attribute \ --db-snapshot-identifier db7-snapshot \ --attribute-name restore \ --values-to-add 123456789012

For Windows:

aws rds modify-db-snapshot-attribute ^ --db-snapshot-identifier db7-snapshot ^ --attribute-name restore ^ --values-to-add 123456789012
Example of sharing a snapshot with multiple accounts

The following example enables two Amazon account identifiers, 111122223333 and 444455556666, to restore the DB snapshot named manual-snapshot1.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds modify-db-snapshot-attribute \ --db-snapshot-identifier manual-snapshot1 \ --attribute-name restore \ --values-to-add {"111122223333","444455556666"}

For Windows:

aws rds modify-db-snapshot-attribute ^ --db-snapshot-identifier manual-snapshot1 ^ --attribute-name restore ^ --values-to-add "[\"111122223333\",\"444455556666\"]"
Note

When using the Windows command prompt, you must escape double quotes (") in JSON code by prefixing them with a backslash (\).

To remove an Amazon account identifier from the list, use the --values-to-remove parameter.

Example of stopping snapshot sharing

The following example prevents Amazon account ID 444455556666 from restoring the snapshot.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds modify-db-snapshot-attribute \ --db-snapshot-identifier manual-snapshot1 \ --attribute-name restore \ --values-to-remove 444455556666

For Windows:

aws rds modify-db-snapshot-attribute ^ --db-snapshot-identifier manual-snapshot1 ^ --attribute-name restore ^ --values-to-remove 444455556666

To list the Amazon accounts enabled to restore a snapshot, use the describe-db-snapshot-attributes Amazon CLI command.

You can also share a manual DB snapshot with other Amazon accounts by using the Amazon RDS API. To do so, call the ModifyDBSnapshotAttribute operation. Specify restore for AttributeName, and use the ValuesToAdd parameter to add a list of the IDs for the Amazon accounts that are authorized to restore the manual snapshot.

To make a manual snapshot public and restorable by all Amazon accounts, use the value all. However, take care not to add the all value for any manual snapshots that contain private information that you don't want to be available to all Amazon accounts. Also, don't specify all for encrypted snapshots, because making such snapshots public isn't supported.

To remove sharing permission for an Amazon account, use the ModifyDBSnapshotAttribute operation with AttributeName set to restore and the ValuesToRemove parameter. To mark a manual snapshot as private, remove the value all from the values list for the restore attribute.

To list all of the Amazon accounts permitted to restore a snapshot, use the DescribeDBSnapshotAttributes API operation.