Dabber

Dynamo Automated Backup, (Benevolently Ergonomic) Restore

Dabber is a Node CLI tool and AWS Lambda that helps you work with Dynamo. The CLI can

• Backup Dynamo tables
• Restore to a Dynamo table from a backup
  • Give you a list of backups to select from
• Deploy a Dabber lambda
• Create an IAM role with the necessary permissions for the Dabber Lambda
• Create Backup Schedules as CloudWatch Rules that trigger the Dabber lambda
  • Schedules require the Dabber lambda, and can be
    • Daily
    • Hourly
    • Business Hourly (8AM-6PM, PST, Hourly)
• Remove Backup Schedules (COMING SOON)

Installation

Install with npm

npm install dabber -g

How to use

Dabber is two pieces: a CLI and a Lambda. The CLI can perform one-off backups and restores from your machine. It can also deploy a Lambda and create CloudWatch rules that trigger the lambda to perform scheduled backups. You only need to deploy one lambda for Dabber, per account; after that you can create as many backup schedules as you want against the same lambda, since each schedule is a trigger that describes the backup operation for the lambda.

Lambda Permissions

For the Dabber Lambda to work proprely it needs an IAM role with access to S3, Lambda, Events, and Dynamo. This role can be created with the CLI setup-iam-role command.

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "s3:GetObject",
                "s3:GetObjectVersion",
                "s3:PutObject",
                "dynamodb:BatchGetItem",
                "dynamodb:GetItem",
                "dynamodb:Query",
                "dynamodb:Scan",
                "dynamodb:DescribeTable",
                "lambda:InvokeFunction",
                "logs:*"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}

It also needs Trust Relationships, described by this policy

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": {
        "Service": [
          "events.amazonaws.com",
          "ec2.amazonaws.com",
          "states.us-west-2.amazonaws.com",
          "lambda.amazonaws.com"
        ]
      },
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
    }
  ]

CLI Docs

Dabber uses commands for each action. If you installed it globally, the format is

dabber [command] [...options]

Backup

Options:
  --help          Show help                                            [boolean]
  -b, --s3Bucket  S3 Bucket to store backup in                        [required]
  -p, --s3Prefix  The folder path to store the backup in (can be deep, e.g.
                  "app/data/backups"). Datestamp and table name will be
                  appended.                                           [required]
  -r, --s3Region  Region of the S3 Bucket                             [required]
  -t, --dbTable   Dynamo Table to Backup                              [required]
  -R, --dbRegion  Region of the dynamo table. Defaults to S3 region if ommited

Example

dabber backup -b "niketech-dynamo-backups" -p "dev-devportal" -r "us-west-2" -t "DevPortal_Dev_Users"

Restore

Options:
  --help          Show help                                            [boolean]
  -b, --s3Bucket  S3 Bucket to store backup in                        [required]
  -p, --s3Prefix  The folder path to store the backup in (can be deep, e.g.
                  "app/data/backups"). Datestamp and table name will be
                  appended.                                           [required]
  -r, --s3Region  Region of the S3 Bucket                             [required]
  -t, --dbTable   Dynamo Table to Restore to                          [required]
  -T, --s3Table   The name of the table that was backed up to s3. Will filter
                  the restore options                              [default: ""]
  -R, --dbRegion  Region of the dynamo table. Defaults to S3 region if ommited
  -l, --list      List available backups from the given prefix

Examples Known backup

dabber backup -b "niketech-dynamo-backups" -p "dev-devportal/2017-06-06T15:42:23.739Z/DevPortal_Dev_Users" -r "us-west-2" -t "DevPortal_Dev_Users"

Select backup from List

dabber restore -b "niketech-dynamo-backups" -p "devportal/prod" -r "us-west-2" -t "DevPortal_Service_catalog_UserTeamProject" -l

Select Backup from List with filter

dabber restore -b "niketech-dynamo-backups" -p "devportal/prod" -r "us-west-2" -t "DevPortal_Service_catalog_UserTeamProject" -T "DevPortal_Prod_UserTeamProject" -l

Setup Iam Role

Create the IAM role needed by the dabber lambda

Options:
  --help        Show help                                              [boolean]
  -R, --region  Region to setup the IAM role.                         [required]
  -n, --name    name for the dabber lambda                   [default: "dabber"]

Example

dabber setup-iam-role -R us-west-2

Deploy

Deploy the Dabber Lambda

Options:
  --help         Show help                                             [boolean]
  -n, --name     name for the dabber lambda                  [default: "dabber"]
  -p, --profile  aws profile to use from the credentials chain
                                                            [default: "default"]
  -R, --region   Region to deploy the lambda.                         [required]
  -r, --role     IAM Role for the lambda. Can be full ARN or just Role Name
                                                                      [required]

Example

dabber deploy -R us-west-2 -r dabber # this is an IAM role that you need to create, see the lambda permissions section

Cleanup

Remove the dabber lambda

Options:
  --help         Show help                                             [boolean]
  -R, --region   Region to deploy the lambda.                         [required]
  -n, --name     name for the dabber lambda                  [default: "dabber"]
  -p, --profile  aws profile to use from the credentials chain
                                                            [default: "default"]

Missing required argument: R

Example

dabber cleanup -R us-west-2

Schedule Backup

Create a backup schedule in Cloudwatch Rules

Options:
  --help          Show help                                            [boolean]
  -b, --s3Bucket  S3 Bucket to store backup in                        [required]
  -p, --s3Prefix  The folder path to store the backup in (can be deep, e.g.
                  "app/data/backups"). Datestamp and table name will be
                  appended.                                           [required]
  -r, --s3Region  Region of the S3 Bucket                             [required]
  -t, --dbTable   Dynamo Table to Backup                              [required]
  -R, --dbRegion  Region of the dynamo table. Defaults to S3 region if ommited
  -s, --schedule  Schedule a table for backups using the dabber lambda
       [required] [choices: "h", "hourly", "bh", "business-hours", "d", "daily"]
  -n, --name      name for the dabber lambda                 [default: "dabber"]

Example

dabber schedule-backup -b "niketech-dynamo-backups" -p "devportal/prod" -r "us-west-2" -t "DevPortal_Prod_Invites" -s bh # business hours

Unschedule (COMING SOON)

Remove a backup schedule

Options:
  --help          Show help                                            [boolean]
  -b, --s3Bucket  S3 Bucket to store backup in                        [required]
  -p, --s3Prefix  The folder path to store the backup in (can be deep, e.g.
                  "app/data/backups"). Datestamp and table name will be
                  appended.                                           [required]
  -r, --s3Region  Region of the S3 Bucket                             [required]
  -t, --dbTable   Dynamo Table to Backup                              [required]
  -R, --dbRegion  Region of the dynamo table. Defaults to S3 region if ommited
  -s, --schedule  Schedule a table for backups using the dabber lambda
       [required] [choices: "h", "hourly", "bh", "business-hours", "d", "daily"]
  -n, --name      name for the dabber lambda                 [default: "dabber"]

Example

dabber unschedule-backup -b "niketech-dynamo-backups" -p "devportal/prod" -r "us-west-2" -t "DevPortal_Prod_Invites" -s bh # business hours