From fragmented recovery processes to automated cloud resilience
AWS Backup Disaster Recovery Implementation
The Client
Our client is a large European energy provider operating a cloud-based trading and operations platform hosted on AWS.
As a regulated utility managing sensitive operational data and mission-critical services, the organisation required a robust disaster recovery strategy capable of meeting strict recovery time objectives and governance requirements.
With the organisation migrating critical workloads to AWS, there was a need to introduce modern, cloud-native resilience practices including infrastructure automation, centralised backup management, and validated recovery procedures.
Cloud Elemental partnered with the organisation to design and implement a scalable disaster recovery model aligned with AWS best practices.
The Challenge
As the platform transitioned to cloud-native operations, the organisation needed to ensure it could meet strict recovery objectives while maintaining operational reliability.
Four key challenges were identified:
Resilience Validation
The organisation needed to demonstrate it could meet strict recovery objectives across realistic infrastructure failure scenarios.
Consistent Disaster Recovery Processes
Existing recovery procedures lacked standardisation and relied heavily on manual intervention and undocumented workflows.
Cloud-Native Operational Practices
Infrastructure management needed to evolve toward Infrastructure as Code, automated governance, and improved observability.
Platform-Level Recovery Automation
Recovery of application infrastructure and compute services needed to be automated to reduce restoration time and operational risk.
The CE Approach
Cloud Elemental applied a structured and collaborative delivery model, combining AWS best practices, technical workshops, and simulation-based validation.
Readiness Review
Assessed workloads, recovery objectives, and compliance requirements
Identified resilience gaps and operational risks
Defined recovery targets including RTO and RPO
Collaborative Architecture Design
Designed a modular disaster recovery architecture using Terraform-based infrastructure-as-code
Defined governance and operational boundaries for infrastructure management
Established a scalable platform design for resilience
Simulation & Validation
Executed disaster recovery simulations to validate infrastructure restoration
Tested recovery scenarios including infrastructure failures and data restoration events
Verified recovery objectives across multiple failure scenarios
Delivery of a DR Blueprint
Delivered a production-ready disaster recovery framework
Embedded automation into CI/CD pipelines
Provided operational documentation and governance guidance
Our Solution
Dual-Vault AWS Backup Architecture
A dual-vault backup architecture was implemented using AWS Backup.
Key elements included:
Local backup vaults within the primary AWS account for rapid recovery
Secondary cross-account vaults acting as an isolated recovery layer
Tag-based backup policies for automated resource inclusion
Vault Lock configuration to prevent deletion or tampering with backup data
This architecture balanced operational efficiency with compliance-grade data protection and durability.
Infrastructure as Code for Platform Resilience
The platform infrastructure was restructured using Terraform-based infrastructure-as-code modules.
Key improvements included:
Lifecycle-based infrastructure management
Targeted access controls following least-privilege IAM practices
Independent infrastructure updates and recovery operations
Automated drift detection for infrastructure integrity
Scheduled checks compared infrastructure state against deployed resources to detect configuration drift and identify unexpected changes.
Automated EC2 Recovery and Application Reconfiguration
Automated recovery workflows were implemented to support rapid infrastructure restoration.
The solution enabled:
Restoration of Amazon EC2 instances directly from AWS Backup
Automatic reapplication of application configurations after recovery
Reduced manual reconfiguration during disaster recovery events
This significantly reduced operational complexity during infrastructure failures.
Disaster Recovery Simulations
To validate the resilience of the new disaster recovery model, Cloud Elemental conducted multiple full-scale disaster recovery simulations.
Scenarios included:
Full AWS account failure
Single Availability Zone outage
Local backup-only recovery
Backup integrity and security validation scenarios
These exercises validated recovery objectives and provided operational confidence that the environment could recover from major infrastructure failures.
Our Results
Reduced Operational Risk
A validated disaster recovery process enables authorised engineers to restore services independently.
Cross-Account Backup Protection
Secure backup architecture with Vault Lock ensures durable, tamper-resistant protection of critical data.
Infrastructure Integrity Assurance
Automated drift detection and infrastructure checks enable rapid identification of unauthorised changes.
Rapid Recovery Capability
Automated infrastructure recovery enables fast restoration with minimal manual intervention.
Looking to modernise your own platform?
Discover how Cloud Elemental partners with organisations to deliver secure, resilient, and future-ready cloud solutions.
