Multi-Region Active-Active Architecture on AWS Checklist

A build checklist for running active-active applications across AWS regions: traffic routing, multi-region data and conflict resolution, the application changes that make failover work, and the cost you sign up for.

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Cloud ArchitectureAdvanced

awsmulti-regionactive-activehigh-availabilitydisaster-recovery

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Confirm you actually need active-active, not just multi-AZ

Critical

Pin down RTO, RPO, and your consistency model before writing code

Critical

Make every write API idempotent

Critical

Use globally unique IDs and kill auto-increment

Critical

Pick a data store that does multi-region writes

Critical

Decide conflict resolution per data type

Critical

Route traffic with latency routing plus health checks

Critical

Build health endpoints that reflect real app health

Critical

Make services stateless and externalize session state

Handle data residency by routing to a home region

Critical

Replicate object storage across regions

Deploy identical stacks to every region from one IaC module

Set up cross-region observability and replication-lag alarms

Automate failover and test it with regular game days

Critical

Watch the cost, especially inter-region data transfer

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