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Simple Disaster Recovery with CloudFormation and Lambda

Recovering AWS workloads after a disaster is a crucial skill for organizations using the AWS cloud. This requires creating strategies and testing **Disaster Recovery (DR)** plans and techniques. **CloudFormation** offers a simple solution that can help with DR over the long term and while working toward implementing more advanced strategies. One problem, however, is that **AMI ID numbers** can change over time, and vary from region to region. Adding a simple **Lambda function** to the strategy can automate and fix the issue. #### In this lab you will: *Click [here](https://github.com/ACloudGuru-Resources/content-simple-dr-cf-lambda) to download lab files* 1. Explore **disaster recovery strategies** including: - Backup & Restore - Pilot Light - Warm Standby - Multi-site 2. Use a CloudFormation template to **restore a production AWS environment** 3. Examine a **Lambda function** and a **CloudFormation Cross Stack Reference** that can **automate** looking up current AMI ID numbers for launching resources in the correct VPC. 4. Use a modified **CloudFormation template** with **Lambda** to launch an additional EC2 instance.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Advanced
Duration
Clock icon 1h 30m
Last updated
Clock icon Sep 03, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Review the Disaster Recovery Plan

    1. Review the basics of Disaster Recovery in AWS including:
      • Disaster recovery strategies
      • Recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO)
    2. Examine a demo cross-region DR Plan using Backup and Restore with CloudFormation.

  2. Challenge

    Implement and Test the Disaster Recovery Plan

    1. Verify the CF_WordPress_Blog CloudFormation template is in your S3 bucket.
    2. Launch the template in the Production region (us-east-1).
    3. Review the new stack and the resources created.
    4. Review the Outputs tab of the CloudFormation stack.

  3. Challenge

    Add and Test the Lambda AMI Lookup Function

    1. Copy the code for the Lamdba AMI Lookup function (amilookup.zip) to an S3 bucket.
    2. Copy the 1-CF_WordPress_Blog_with_Lookup CloudFormation template to an S3 bucket.
    3. Copy the 2-Add_Single_Instance CloudFormation template to an S3 bucket.
    4. Examine both CloudFormation templates:
      • Note the Cross Stack Reference
    5. Launch the 1-CF_WordPressBlog_with_Lookup template in the Disaster Recovery region:
      • For this lab, also use us-east-1 for DR.
      • Examine the Outputs tab of the new stack.
    6. Launch the 2-Add_Single_Instance template:
      • Use the same region as in the previous step.
    7. Examine the newly created EC2 instance:
      • Note which VPC is in use.
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Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

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