Cross Region Backup and Recovery in Original Region (Failback)

Failback refers to restoring clusters from the Disaster Recovery (DR) environment back to the original (primary) region once the disaster issue is resolved. Depending on system state and business requirements, failback can occur in the following ways:

Rapid Failback (No changes)

Return to the original environment (region) without any configuration or data changes in DR environment.

When this applies:

• DR was used temporarily

• No writes or updates occurred in DR

• Primary environment remains consistent

Key characteristics:

• Fastest recovery option

• No data synchronization required

• No configuration drift

Example: A short outage occurred, traffic was redirected to DR, but no data was modified. Once the primary is back, traffic is simply switched back.

Failback with Synchronization (Same Environment)

Return to the original environment after incorporating configuration and/or data changes made in DR.

When this applies:

• DR environment was actively used

• Data was written or configurations were updated during failover

Key characteristics:

• Requires data replication back to primary

• May involve config reconciliation

• Potential downtime or controlled switchover

Example: Users continued operations in DR for several hours/days, generating new data or/and configurations changes. This data must be synced back before switching to primary.

Rebuild and Failback (New Environment in Original Region)

Failback to a newly provisioned environment in the original region, including configuration and/or data changes.

When this applies:

• Original environment is no longer usable

• Infrastructure needs to be rebuilt

• Migration back is strategic (not just reversal)

Key characteristics:

• Requires environment provisioning

• Full data migration + configuration setup

• Highest effort and longest recovery time

Example: Primary region suffered a major failure or corruption. A fresh environment is created in the original region, and data/config is migrated from DR.

Simple Summary Table