AWS-LMS Backup/Archive

We had several questions that we were not able to find the answer to.  I emailed the questions to Vishal and the items in bold were his answers.  Hope this helps someone else.

1. How are the files organized into folders?

When a file is uploaded manually/automatically into an S3 bucket, the lambda function is executed.

If a file backed up has a name of “backup-moodle2-course-9053-2022sp-art-111-a8ol1-20220403-1432.mbz”

The lambda function will do the following

1. Split the file name according to “-“( dashes)
2. Take the 5^th portion and check if it matches YYYYAA format.  If this doesn’t match, DO NOTHING and keep the file where it is.
3. As 2022sp matches “YYYYAA” convert it to upper case   à 2022SP.
4. Take the 6rth portion “art” and convert it to upper case à ART
5. Move the file from Create folders for 2022SP/ART and move the file to this folder.

If the filename doesn’t meet the above guidelines, the file is not moved to a separate sub folder.

1. What programming language is the Lambda code written in?

The Lambda code is written in Python

1. Who owns the Lambda function code?

This code is owned by the college.

1. Can the college staff change the Lambda function code?

Yes. The college staff can change the code. Please test in a non-production environment, before applying it in your production environment.

1. How many copies of a course does the backup solution keep?

This backup solution on AWS doesn’t know about courses. This solution treats each incoming file as a separate entity without correlation to other files.

In the default configuration of S3 Lifecycle Management, from the date of upload, each file is retained in S3 Standard storage class for 180 days and then moved to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval (IR) for 10 years then it is deleted. This lifecycle management can be changed via the console using this link : https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/object-lifecycle-mgmt.html.  

1. What is the on-going cost of this solution? and how do I see the cost of my backup each month?

For each 1 GB of file in S3 standard the cost / month is $0.023. For each 1 GB of file in S3 Glacier IR the cost/month is $0.004.

You can see the ongoing monthly cost in the AWS Cost Explorer.

1. Is there any cost to download a file from the backup?

If the file is in S3 Standard storage class, there is no cost to download a file. If the file is in S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval (IR) then the cost to download is $0.03 cents/GB

For additional costs please see https://aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing/

1. Is there any cost to move files from S3 Standard storage class to Glacier IR?

The cost to move 1000 files is $0.02.

1. What is the contract for this solution?

There is no separate contract for this solution. This is part of the existing AWS contract. To view the monthly cost, please see #6.

1. Is there any additional documentation of this solution view the user guide at https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/Welcome.html