What should the solutions architect do to meet this requirement with the LEAST amount of effort?
Take a snapshot of the EBS storage that is attached to each EC2 instance. Create an AWS CloudFormation template to launch new EC2 instances from the EBS storage.
Take a snapshot of the EBS storage that is attached to each EC2 instance. Use AWS Elastic Beanstalk to set the environment based on the EC2 template and attach the EBS storage.
Use AWS Backup to set up a backup plan for the entire group of EC2 instances. Use the AWS Backup API or the AWS CLI to speed up the restore process for multiple EC2 instances.
Create an AWS Lambda function to take a snapshot of the EBS storage that is attached to each EC2 instance and copy the Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). Create another Lambda function to perform the restores with the copied AMIs and attach the EBS storage.
Explanations:
While taking snapshots of EBS volumes and using a CloudFormation template to launch new EC2 instances can enable recovery, it requires manual steps and does not automate the process for multiple instances. This adds complexity and effort compared to other options.
Taking snapshots of EBS volumes is useful, but using AWS Elastic Beanstalk for managing EC2 instances is not ideal for disaster recovery. Elastic Beanstalk is primarily designed for deploying applications rather than managing backups and restores of EC2 instances directly. This approach may not effectively automate recovery.
AWS Backup allows for the creation of backup plans for EC2 instances and their associated EBS volumes, simplifying the process of managing backups and restores. It can handle multiple instances automatically, reducing the effort required to ensure recovery after a disaster. Using the AWS Backup API or CLI can also expedite the restore process.
While creating Lambda functions to automate snapshots and AMI copies could work, it involves more complexity in terms of developing and managing custom code. This method does not provide the same level of built-in disaster recovery automation and simplicity offered by AWS Backup.
I infer that the answer is:
Use AWS Backup to set up a backup plan for the entire group of EC2 instances. Use the AWS Backup API or the AWS CLI to speed up the restore process for multiple EC2 instances.