Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Restoring a backup

How to restore

For console restore instructions and links to documentation for each Amazon Backup-supported resource type, see the links at the bottom of this page.

To restore a backup programmatically, use the StartRestoreJob API operation.

The configuration values ("restore metadata") that you need to restore your resource varies depending on the resource that you want to restore. To get the configuration metadata that your backup was created with, you can call GetRecoveryPointRestoreMetadata. Restore metadata examples are also available in the links at the bottom of this page.

Restoring from cold storage typically takes 4 hours more than restoring from warm storage.

For each restore, a restore job is created with a unique job ID—for example, 1323657E-2AA4-1D94-2C48-5D7A423E7394.

Non-destructive restores

When you use Amazon Backup to restore a backup, it creates a new resource with the backup that you are restoring. This is to protect your existing resources from being destroyed by your restore activity.

Restore testing

You can conduct tests on your resources to simulate a restore experience. This helps determine if you meet your organizational Restore Time Objective (RTO) and helps prepare for future restore needs.

For more information, see Restore testing.

Copy tags during a restore

Introduction

You can copy tags as you restore a resource if the tags belonged to the protected resource at the time of backup. Tags, which are labels containing a key and value pair, can help you identify and search for resources. When you start a restore job, tags that belonged to the original backed-up resources can be added to the resource being restored.

When you choose to include tags during a restore job, this step can replace the overhead and labor of manually applying tags to resources after a restore job is completed. Note this is distinct from adding new tags to restored resources.

When you restore a backup in the console flow, your source tags will be copied by default. In the console, uncheck the box if you wish to opt out of copying tags to a restored resource

In the API operation StartRestoreJob, the parameter CopySourceTagsToRestoredResource is set to false by default, which will exclude the original source tags from the resource you are restoring. If you wish to include tags from the original source, set this to True.

Considerations

Copy tags via the console

To include tags programmatically

Use the API operation StartRestoreJob . Ensure the following Boolean parameter is set to True:

CopySourceTagsToRestoredResource = true

If the boolean parameter CopySourceTagsToRestoredResource = True, the restore job will copy the tags from the original resource(s) to the restored material.

{
    "RecoveryPointArn": "arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1::image/ami-1234567890a1b234",
    "Metadata": {
        "InstanceInitiatedShutdownBehavior": "stop",
        "DisableApiTermination": "false",
        "EbsOptimized": "false",
        "InstanceType": "t1.micro",
        "SubnetId": "subnet-123ab456cd7efgh89",
        "SecurityGroupIds": "[\"sg-0a1bc2d345ef67890\"]",
        "Placement": "{\"GroupName\":null,\"Tenancy\":\"default\"}",
        "HibernationOptions": "{\"Configured\":false}",
        "IamInstanceProfileName": "UseBackedUpValue",
        "aws:backup:request-id": "1a2345b6-cd78-90e1-2345-67f890g1h2ij"
    },
    "IamRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/EC2Restore",
    "ResourceType": "EC2",
    "IdempotencyToken": "34ab5678-9012-3c4d-5678-efg9h01f23i4",
    "CopySourceTagsToRestoredResource": true
}

Troubleshoot tag restore issues

ERROR: Insufficient Permissions

REMEDY: Ensure you have the necessary permissions in your restore role so you can include tags on your restored resource. The default Amazon managed service role policy for restores, AWSBackupServiceRolePolicyForRestores, contains the necessary permissions for this task.

If you choose to use a custom role, ensure the following permissions are present:

For more information, see API permissions.

Restore job statuses

You can view the status of a restore job on the Jobs page of the Amazon Backup console. Restore job statuses include pending, running, completed, aborted, and failed.