Posted On: Oct 5, 2021

Multi-Region Replication support for Amazon Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory, also known as Amazon Web Services Managed Microsoft AD, is now available in the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, operated by NWCD, and the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region, operated by Sinnet. Now you can deploy and use a single Amazon Web Services Managed Microsoft AD (Enterprise Edition) directory across both Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, operated by NWCD, and the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region, operated by Sinnet. This makes it easier and more cost-effective for you to deploy and manage your Microsoft Windows and Linux workloads. After you enabled this feature, with the automated multi-region replication capability you get higher resiliency, while your applications use a local directory for optimal performance.

When you enable this feature and add new Regions to your directory, Amazon Managed Microsoft AD automatically configures inter-region networking connectivity, deploys domain controllers, and replicates all your directory data, including users, groups, Group Policy Objects (GPOs), and schema, across your selected regions. In addition, Amazon Managed Microsoft AD configures a new AD site per region which improves user authentication and domain controller replication performance within the region while also lowering costs by minimizing data transfers between regions.

Amazon Managed Microsoft AD is built on highly available, Amazon-managed infrastructure. In addition, data replication and automated daily snapshots are configured for you. You do not have to install software, and Amazon handles all patching and software updates. With Amazon Managed Microsoft AD, you can seamlessly join your Amazon EC2 for Windows, Amazon EC2 for Linux, Amazon RDS for SQL Server, and Amazon FSx for Windows File Server instances to your directory. By integrating with Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) and Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Managed Microsoft AD allows you to monitor the directory’s health and security logs.

You pay by the hour for the domain controllers in each region, plus the cross-region data transfer. To learn more, see the Amazon Directory Service Administration Guide.