Managing SQL Server Encryption Keys Across AWS Regions for Disaster Recovery
Microsoft Workloads on AWS Blog
This article explains how to manage SQL Server encryption keys across AWS Regions for disaster recovery on Amazon EC2.
- SQL Server uses a layered encryption hierarchy: SMK → DMK → certificates → encryption keys
- Back up Service Master Key and Database Master Key for same-instance recovery scenarios
- Export TDE certificates and private keys; restore on DR instance before database recovery
- Re-encrypt user database DMKs with DR instance's SMK for column-level encryption access
- Store certificates and keys in S3 with cross-region replication and server-side KMS encryption
- Store passwords and metadata in AWS Secrets Manager with multi-region replication enabled
- SSL/TLS certificates live in Windows Certificate Store; export as PFX files to S3
- Validate encryption chain post-failover using SQL queries to confirm functionality
Proper encryption key management across regions ensures encrypted SQL Server databases recover successfully during disaster recovery events.
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