Configuring Backups for Amazon DynamoDB Intances with Access Key and Secret Key Authentication

You can configure backups for Amazon DynamoDB instances using access key/secret key authentication for dev/test or proof-of-concept environments.

Important: As a best practice, AWS recommends using IAM roles instead of access keys. For more information, see Security best practices in IAM in the AWS documentation.

Start the Configuration Wizard

From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Databases.
The Instances page appears.
In the upper-right area of the page, click Add instance, and then select Cloud database service.
The Add Cloud DB Instance page appears.
Select Amazon Web Services.
Click Next.
The Configure Amazon Database page appears.
Select DynamoDB.
Click Next.
The Backup Method page appears.
Review the information.
Click Next.
The IAM Role page of the configuration wizard appears.

IAM Role

From the Authentication method list, select Access and secret key.
Verify an existing MetallicUserGroup IAM user group or create a new MetallicUserGroup IAM user group:
- If the MetallicUserGroup IAM user group was previously created for another AWS workload, do the following:
  1. Verify that the IAM policies for the AWS workload are still attached to the MetallicUserGroup IAM user group.
  2. At the bottom of the page, select the confirmation check box.
  3. Click Next.
    The Region page of the configuration wizard appears.
- If the MetallicUserGroup IAM user group does not exist yet, create it in AWS.
  Steps to create MetallicUserGroup IAM user group
  1. Click the Launch CloudFormation Stack link to open the AWS console.
    Important: If you do not have permission to create a role in the AWS account, copy the Launch CloudFormation Stack link and share it with your AWS IAM administrator.
  2. Log on to the AWS console.
    The Quick create stack page appears.
  3. Under Capabilities, read the information about the template, and then select the acknowledgment check box.
  4. Click Create stack.
    Wait for the CloudFormation Stack to finish creating the MetallicUserGroup IAM user group. The CloudFormation Stack creates IAM policies for all supported AWS workloads, and then attaches the policies to MetallicUserGroup.
  5. Go to the IAM dashboard.
    The IAM dashboard page appears.
  6. Select Users, and then click Add users.
    The Add user page appears.
  7. Enter a name for the user (for example, MetallicSvcUser).
  8. Select the Access key - Programmatic access check box.
    Metallic does not need AWS Console Access.
    This setting creates an access key for each new user.
  9. Click Next to set permissions.
  10. Select Add user to group, and then select the MetallicUserGroup IAM user group.
  11. Optionally, you can set IAM tags which are key-value pairs you can add to your user.
  12. Click Review to display the user details.
  13. Click Create user.
    A message confirms that the user is created successfully. From here, you can download the .csv file and view details about the access and secret key for the new user.
  14. Verify that the IAM policies for the AWS workload are still attached to the MetallicUserGroup IAM user group.
  15. At the bottom of the page, select the confirmation check box.
  16. Click Next.
    The Region page of the configuration wizard appears.

Region

Select the region that the databases reside in.
Click Next.
The Backup Gateway page of the configuration wizard appears.

Backup Gateway

If AWS EBS encryption is enabled for your region in your AWS account, the user who uses the backup gateway template must be a key user for the default encryption key. To see if EBS encryption is enabled, in your AWS account, go to EC2 > EC2 Dashboard > Settings > EBS encryption. To see a list of key users for the default encryption key, in your AWS account, go to Key Management Service > Customer managed keys. If you do not have the correct level of access to use the template, you can copy the Launch Cloud Formation Stack link and share it with someone who has the correct level of access, such as your security administrator.
Determine the region of your AWS S3 storage. The backup gateway must reside in the same region as the primary storage.

Select an existing backup gateway or create a new backup gateway.
Steps to create a backup gateway
1. Click the add button .
  The Add a new backup gateway dialog box appears.
2. For Platform, select the OS for the backup gateway.
3. Click Generate link.
  An AWS CloudFormation template is created based on the region and the operating system that you selected.
4. Click the Launch CloudFormation Template link to open the AWS console.
  Note: If AWS EBS encryption is enabled for your region in your AWS account, to use the template, you must be a key user for the default encryption key. If you are not a key user for the default encryption key, copy the Launch Cloud Formation Template link and share it with someone who is a key user, such as your security administrator.
5. Log on to the AWS console.
  The Quick create stack page appears.
6. Under Parameters, enter the following information:
  1. From the EC2 Instance Type list, select the type of EC2 instance to use for the backup gateway.
  1. From the EC2 Key Pair list, select a key pair to use to access the Metallic backup gateway.
  1. From the VPC ID list, select an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).
  1. From the Subnet ID list, select a subnet.
  1. From the VPC CIDR list, select a VPC CIDR.
  Note: Port 8403 opens on backup gateways only when the request comes from the IP ranges that are listed in the VPC CIDR field.
7. Click Create stack.
  Wait for the Metallic backup gateway to be created.
8. Return to the Metallic configuration wizard.
9. Refresh the list of backup gateways, and then select the backup gateway that you created.
Click Next.
The Cloud Storage page of the configuration wizard appears.

Cloud Storage

For the primary copy of the backup data, select an existing S3 storage bucket or create a new S3 storage bucket.
Steps to create an Amazon S3 storage bucket
1. Click the add button .
  The Add cloud storage dialog box appears.
2. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the cloud storage.
3. For Authentication, select the authentication type that you want to use.
  Access keys and secret keys: Enter the access key ID and the secret access key.
  STS assume role with IAM role: Enter the ARN of the MetallicRole.
4. In Bucket, enter the Amazon S3 bucket name.
5. For Storage Class, select the storage class for the type of access that you want to have for the data.
6. Click Save.
Click Next.
The Plan page of the configuration wizard appears.

Plan

A plan specifies the storage to back up the data to and other settings such as recovery point objective (RPO) settings.

Select an existing plan or create a new plan.
Steps to create a plan
1. Click the add button .
  The Add plan dialog box appears.
2. In the Plan name box, enter a descriptive name for the plan.
3. For the plan settings, select pre-defined settings or create custom settings:
  - To select pre-defined settings, under Retention rules, select one if the following:
    Select Standard retention to retain the incremental backups for 1 month.
    Select Extended retention for optimized storage where the incremental backups of primary and secondary copies are retained for 1 month, and extended retention for monthly and yearly full backups.
    Note: The Extended retention option is available only when the secondary copy backup is selected.
  - To create custom settings, select Custom plan, and then specify the following:
    For Retention, specify the amount of time to retain the backups.
    For Backups run every, specify how often to run backups.
4. Click Done.
Click Next.
The Cloud Account page of the configuration wizard appears.

Cloud Account

The cloud account is used to access the instances for discovery, backups, and other operations.

Select an existing cloud account or create a new cloud account.
Steps to create a cloud account
1. Select Add a new cloud account.
2. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the account.
3. For Credential, select an existing access key and secret key credential or create a new credential.
Click Next.
The Backup Content page of the configuration wizard appears.

Backup Content

Review the list of instances that will be protected.
Click Next.
The Summary page of the configuration wizard appears.

Summary

Review the summary.
Click Finish.