📌 Introduction
Data loss can be costly whether due to accidental deletion, hardware failure, or system crashes . In this blog, we will set up an automated backup and restore system using AWS S3, AWS CLI, and cron jobs, starting completely from scratch.
You will learn:
How to configure AWS CLI for S3
How to create a shell script for backup & restore
How to automate backups using cron
How to verify backups in real-world scenarios
🗂 Agenda
🛠 Prerequisites
📥 Install AWS CLI
👤 Create IAM User & Configure CLI
📦 Create S3 Bucket
📂 Prepare Local Folder
🖥 Create Backup & Restore Script
🔄 Backup & Restore (Manual)
⏱ Automate with Cron
🧪 Case Studies (Existing Data + New File)
🏁 Conclusion
🛠 Step 1 – Prerequisites
You need:
📥 Step 2 – Install AWS CLI
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y unzip tar gzip
curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip
sudo ./aws/install
aws --version
Go to AWS Console → IAM
Create a user backup-user with Programmatic access
Attach policy AmazonS3FullAccess (testing)
Save Access Key & Secret Key
On Ubuntu, run:
aws configure
Fill in:
Access Key
Secret Key
Region ()
📦 Step 4 – Create S3 Bucket
📂 Step 5 – Prepare Local Folder
ls
cd aws
mkdir mybackup
Add your files (HTML, CSS, JS, etc.) here.
🖥 Step 6 – Create Backup & Restore Script
vim backup-to-s3.sh
FOLDER_PATH="/home/ubuntu/mybackup"
BUCKET_NAME="s3-bucket-apurv-data"
LOG_FILE="/home/ubuntu/backup-log.txt"
DATE=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
if [ "$1" == "backup" ]; then
echo "[$DATE] Backup started..." | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
aws s3 sync "$FOLDER_PATH" "s3://$BUCKET_NAME/" --exact-timestamps --sse AES256 >> "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1
echo "[$DATE] Backup completed." | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
elif [ "$1" == "restore" ]; then
echo "[$DATE] Restore started..." | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
aws s3 sync "s3://$BUCKET_NAME/" "$FOLDER_PATH" --exact-timestamps >> "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1
echo "[$DATE] Restore completed." | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
else
echo "Usage: $0 backup|restore"
fi
Step 7 – Manual Backup & Restore
chmod +x backup-to-s3.sh
./backup-to-s3.sh backup
./backup-to-s3.sh restore
⏱ Step 8 – Automate with Cron
crontab -e
Add:
*/2 * * * * /home/ubuntu/aws/backup-to-s3.sh backup
This cron job will automatically run the backup script every 2 minutes.
🧪 Step 9 – Case Studies
📌 Case 1 – Existing Data in Bucket
When the bucket was created, it already contained:
index.html
style.css
script.js
Backup script compared timestamps:
📌 Case 2 – Adding a New File
We added:
echo "This is a test file" > /home/ubuntu/mybackup/test.txt
✅Check Total files and folders :-
ls
Backup run:
/home/ubuntu/aws/backup-to-s3.sh backup
Verification:
aws s3 ls s3://s3-bucket-apurv-data/ --recursive --human-readable --summarize
Now test.txt appears in the bucket.
💡
Notice :-The DIVP PROJECT/ folder contained code files (HTML, CSS, Java).
🏁 Conclusion
We successfully built an automated backup & restore system with:
AWS S3
AWS CLI
Cron automation
Logging & encryption
With this setup, your data is secure, versioned, and restorable anytime.
👨💻 About the Author
This series isn't just about using AWS; it's about mastering the core services that power modern cloud infrastructure.
📬 Let's Stay Connected
