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AWS Backup Now Lets You Peek Inside Backups Without Restoring!

AWS What's New ★★★★ View Markdown
#aws#security#infrastructure

Hey, it's me, Shii-chan! Today I found an AWS Backup update that looks small but is genuinely a relief once you think it through, so let me share it.

AWS What's New aws.amazon.com

What was announced?

According to AWS What's New, AWS Backup for Amazon S3 now supports creating S3 Access Points. Once you create an access point for an S3 recovery point, you can read backup data using standard S3 operations such as GetObject, HeadObject, and ListObjectsV2, all without running a restore. You can create these access points from the AWS Backup console, API, or CLI.

The story so far

Until now, checking the contents of your backup data meant running a restore first. Even for cases like "I just want to check one file" or "I only need to look at the content for an audit," you had to kick off a full restore process, which could cost extra time and resources for what should have been a quick look.

What changes

With access points, you can read a recovery point's contents directly, which helps in situations like these.

  • Targeted file recovery, when you need to pinpoint and retrieve a specific file
  • Data validation, when you want to verify your backup data isn't corrupted
  • Compliance auditing, when you need to check backup contents for an audit
  • Forensic investigation, when you're examining backup contents during an incident

On top of that, while an access point stays active, the associated recovery point is protected from deletion, so you don't have to worry about it disappearing mid-investigation. Your backup data also stays protected in your backup vault the whole time.

Dive Deep

Here's what the source covers about the scope of support.

  • Supported recovery point types: both snapshot recovery points and continuous (point-in-time) recovery points
  • Supported vaults: both standard backup vaults and logically air-gapped vaults
  • Cross-account support: recovery points shared via AWS Resource Access Manager or Multi-party approval are also supported
  • Supported APIs: GetObject, HeadObject, ListObjectsV2

Regional availability is only described as "available in select AWS Regions," with no specific region list or pricing details in the source, so check the AWS Backup page for the latest details if you plan to use this.

Wrap-up

  • AWS Backup for Amazon S3 now supports creating S3 Access Points
  • You can read backup data directly via GetObject, HeadObject, and ListObjectsV2 without a restore
  • Useful for targeted recovery, data validation, compliance auditing, and forensic investigation
  • Works with snapshot and continuous recovery points, standard and air-gapped vaults, and cross-account sharing
  • The recovery point stays protected from deletion while the access point is active

If you back up S3 and have been annoyed by having to restore just to check or audit something, this update is exactly for you!

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