Setting Up Multi-Region Active-Active with AWS Global Accelerator and Aurora Global Database

Ever wondered how to make your app lightning-fast for users around the world while keeping it up and running even if a whole AWS region goes down?

First things first, you'll need at least two AWS regions.

Let's say we're using eu-west-2 (London) and ap-southeast-2 (Sydney).

Pick whatever works for you based on where your customers are.

In each region, set up your application stack - EC2 instances, Auto Scaling groups, whatever you're using. Let's sort out our database.

Amazon Aurora Global Database

Create your primary cluster in one region and add a secondary cluster in the other.

Aurora handles replication for you, typically with less than 1 second of replica lag.

To configure your app for multi region, you'll need to update your application to be aware of multiple database endpoints. Implement logic to write to the primary region and read from the closest region. This might involve some clever DNS work or application-level routing.

AWS Global Accelerator

This is where the magic happens. AWS Global Accelerator will route your users to the nearest regional endpoint using Amazon's global network. Create a Global Accelerator and add your regional application load balancers as endpoints.

DNS Configuration

Point your application's DNS to the Global Accelerator endpoints. Now, when users hit your app, they'll be automagically routed to the nearest healthy region.

Test, Test, Test Before you pop the champagne, thoroughly test your setup. Simulate regional failures, database failovers, the lot.

Make sure your app behaves as expected under all scenarios.

And there you have it!

You've just set up a multi-region active-active architecture that's resilient, performant, and globally distributed.

Your users will thank you for the blazing-fast experience, and you can sleep soundly knowing your app can weather almost any storm. Remember, this is a complex setup with lots of moving parts.