How to Achieve AWS Cross‑Region Disaster Recovery with CloudEndure

Overview

CloudEndure (acquired by AWS in January 2019) provides automated migration and disaster‑recovery (DR) between on‑premises data centers, public clouds, and AWS regions. A free CE Migration License can be used for testing; production DR requires a purchased license.

Key Advantages

Highly automated workflow reduces migration and DR complexity.

Supports physical hosts, virtual machines, and cloud instances as long as the OS meets the CloudEndure Agent requirements.

Continuous block‑level replication delivers millisecond‑level RPO and minute‑level RTO.

Low resource consumption during replication lowers operating costs.

Example Architecture

The source environment resides in AWS Asia Pacific (Singapore) (VPC‑1 CIDR 10.0.0.0/16) with an App server and a DB server, each having a root EBS volume and a data EBS volume. A dedicated subnet hosts the replication server. The DR target is in AWS Asia Pacific (Seoul) (VPC‑2 CIDR 20.0.0.0/16) with a matching subnet layout. VPC peering connects the two VPCs, allowing data transfer over the AWS backbone.

A NAT gateway in the public subnet and appropriate route tables enable the CE Agents on the DB server to reach the CloudEndure service.

Security Group Requirements

Agents and replication instances communicate over:

TCP 443 – API and S3 access.

TCP 1500 – Data replication traffic.

Both source and target VPC security groups must allow inbound/outbound traffic on these ports.

Procedure

1. Initial Setup

Register for a free account at https://migration-register.cloudendure.com/ and log in to the CloudEndure console at https://console.cloudendure.com.

Create a new project, select Migration or Disaster Recovery , and note the license information.

Enter AWS Access Key ID and Secret Access Key under Setup & Info → AWS Credentials .

In Setup & Info → Replication Setting choose source and target AWS regions, set the replication server instance type (default t3.small), subnet, security groups, and enable Use VPN or DirectConnect (using a private IP) because the example uses VPC peering.

Optionally adjust network bandwidth throttling (disable by default).

2. Data Replication

Install the CloudEndure Agent on both the App and DB servers. The Agent performs an initial full sync, then continuously replicates block‑level changes to the replication server in Seoul.

The Console Machines view shows replication progress and eventually displays the status Continuous Data Protection . A replication server instance with five EBS volumes (including a root volume) appears in the Seoul VPC.

3. Switching (Test / Recovery)

Switching creates DR target instances from the latest snapshots. Two modes are available:

Test Mode – validates the DR servers while the production workload continues in Singapore.

Recovery Mode – stops production in Singapore and promotes the DR servers to become the active workload.

A Recovery Plan defines launch order (DB before App) and optional wait times.

Blueprint settings allow selection of instance type, launch type (On‑Demand or Spot), subnet, security groups, private IP handling, and Elastic IP assignment.

To start a test switch, choose Initiate Recovery Plan → Test Mode , select the desired recovery point (typically “latest”), and monitor progress in the Console Job Progress view.

4. Failback (Back to Normal)

Set the project status to Prepared for Failback . CloudEndure launches a new replication server in Singapore and begins reverse replication from Seoul to Singapore.

If the replication subnet or security group is missing, modify the replication settings via Machine Actions → Modify Replication Setting for 2 Machines and specify the correct subnet and security groups in Singapore.

After reverse sync reaches Continuous Data Protection , perform a test switch in Singapore to verify the restored instances.

Execute Back to Normal to reverse the replication direction (Singapore → Seoul), delete the Singapore replication server, and resume normal operation.

After failback, both App and DB servers resume continuous replication from Singapore to Seoul, and the project status updates accordingly.

Reference

CloudEndure Official Documentation – http://docs.cloudendure.com