To replicate objects in a bucket to a destination bucket on a target site either in the same cluster or a different cluster, start by enabling [versioning](https://docs.minio.io/docs/minio-bucket-versioning-guide.html) for both source and destination buckets. Finally, the target site and the destination bucket need to be configured on the source MinIO server.
- Supports source and destination buckets to have the same name unlike AWS S3, addresses variety of usecases such as *Splunk*, *Veeam* site to site DR.
- Supports object locking/retention across source and destination buckets natively out of the box, unlike AWS S3.
- Simpler implementation than [AWS S3 Bucket Replication Config](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/replication-add-config.html) with requirements such as IAM Role, AccessControlTranslation, Metrics and SourceSelectionCriteria are not needed with MinIO.
> The user running the above command needs *s3:GetReplicationConfiguration* and *s3:GetBucketVersioning* permission on the source cluster. We do not recommend running root credentials/super admin with replication, instead create a dedicated user. The access credentials used at the destination requires *s3:ReplicateObject* permission.
The access key provided for the replication *target* cluster should have these minimal permissions:
```
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:GetBucketVersioning"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:s3:::destbucket"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:ReplicateTags",
"s3:GetObject",
"s3:GetObjectVersion",
"s3:GetObjectVersionTagging",
"s3:PutObject",
"s3:ReplicateObject"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:s3:::destbucket/*"
]
}
]
}
```
Once successfully created and authorized, the `mc admin bucket remote add` command generates a replication target ARN. This command lists all the currently authorized replication targets:
The replication configuration can now be added to the source bucket by applying the json file with replication configuration. The Role ARN above is passed in as a json element in the configuration.
The replication configuration follows [AWS S3 Spec](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/replication-add-config.html). Any objects uploaded to the source bucket that meet replication criteria will now be automatically replicated by the MinIO server to the remote destination bucket. Replication can be disabled at any time by disabling specific rules in the configuration or deleting the replication configuration entirely.
When object locking is used in conjunction with replication, both source and destination buckets needs to have object locking enabled. Similarly objects encrypted on the server side, will be replicated if destination also supports encryption.
Replication status can be seen in the metadata on the source and destination objects. On the source side, the `X-Amz-Replication-Status` changes from `PENDING` to `COMPLETE` or `FAILED` after replication attempt either succeeded or failed respectively. On the destination side, a `X-Amz-Replication-Status` status of `REPLICA` indicates that the object was replicated successfully. Any replication failures are automatically re-attempted during a periodic disk crawl cycle.
Delete marker replication is allowed in [AWS V1 Configuration](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/storage/managing-delete-marker-replication-in-amazon-s3/) but not in V2 configuration. The MinIO implementation above is based on V2 configuration, however it has been extended to allow both DeleteMarker replication and replication of versioned deletes with the `DeleteMarkerReplication` and `DeleteReplication` fields in the replication configuration above. By default, this is set to `Disabled` unless the user specifies it while adding a replication rule.
When an object is deleted from the source bucket, the corresponding replica version will be marked deleted if delete marker replication is enabled in the replication configuration.Replication of deletes that specify a version id (a.k.a hard deletes) can be enabled by setting the `DeleteReplication` status to enabled in the replication configuration. This is a MinIO specific extension that can be enabled using the `mc replicate add` or `mc replicate edit` command with the --replicate "delete" flag.
Note that due to this extension behavior, AWS SDK's may not support the extension functionality pertaining to replicating versioned deletes.
To add a replication rule allowing both delete marker replication, versioned delete replication or both specify the --replicate flag with comma separated values as in the example below.
Additional permission of "s3:ReplicateDelete" action would need to be specified on the access key configured for the target cluster if Delete Marker replication or versioned delete replication is enabled.
