From XtraBackup to RDS: A Production-Grade MySQL Restore Pipeline
Migrating or restoring large MySQL databases into Amazon RDS is not as simple as running a single restore command—especially when you require minimal local storage , full automation , and safe cleanup . In this post, I’ll walk through a fully automated, production-grade pipeline that: * Streams Percona XtraBackup from an on-prem MySQL server directly to Amazon S3 * Uses a temporary EC2 worker to prepare the backup in an RDS-compatible format * Automatically self-terminates the EC2 instance once its job is complete * Restores the prepared backup into a new Amazon RDS MySQL instance * Cleans up IAM roles, instance profiles, and SSH keys safely This design avoids long-running EC2 instances, reduces operational cost, and strictly follows least-privilege IAM principles . When This Pipeline Is Useful This approach is well-suited for: * Large database migrations * Disaster recovery testing * Controlled production restores * Compliance-driven environments High-Level Architecture +-------...
