What are the AWS-recommended production approach to recover Apache Iceberg tables in another region after regional disruption?

I do not 100% agree with the previous answer as it misses the root cause of why your UPDATE/DELETE tables are failing: Iceberg metadata stores absolute S3 URIs. The recommended path is:

1. Stop manual path rewriting:

rewrite_table_path is not designed for cross-region DR of complex tables with delete files. Manual metadata edits are not production-safe.

2. Use Managed Glue Catalog Replication:

Instead of register_table (which has known "Glue backend limitations"), use the native AWS Glue Data Catalog replication feature to sync metadata automatically between regions.

3. Ensure Consistent S3 URIs:

Use S3 Aliases in different accounts. This ensures that the absolute paths inside Iceberg’s manifests (e.g., s3://my-bucket/path/) remain valid in the DR region without any "path rewriting."

„Iceberg doesn’t support relative paths, but you can use MRAP to perform Amazon S3 operations by mapping buckets to access points.„

source: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/apache-iceberg-on-aws/best-practices-workloads.html#workloads-replication

see also:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/access-points-naming.html

4. For existing data:

If paths must change, the only supported way to relocate is the Spark-based CALL glue_catalog.system.snapshot in the target region, which creates a consistent local metadata set.

So, move to S3 CRR + Managed Glue Catalog Replication with consistent S3 URIs for a "zero-touch" failover that supports all operation types.

see also:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/s3-tables-replication-tables.html
• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/apache-iceberg-on-aws/table-migration-inplace.html

Regarding your last comment: You are looking for a "point-and-click" recovery path for data that has already been moved, but you are running into the fundamental way Apache Iceberg handles metadata.To address your specific situation in ap-south-2 (HYD) with your existing S3 copy:

1. Why your current approach is failingIceberg stores absolute S3 URIs inside its manifest files.

Even if you copy the files to a new bucket and update the metadata_location in Glue, the internal manifests still point to me-central-1. This is why tables with UPDATE/DELETE/MERGE (which rely on complex hidden delete files) are failing—the pointers are physically broken.

2. The "Supported" Recovery Path for Existing Data

Since your URIs have changed, there is no "zero-touch" way to make the tables work by just clicking a button in Glue. You have two options for your existing copy:

• Option A: The snapshot Procedure (Recommended for Consistency): The only AWS-supported way to "re-base" an Iceberg table to a new S3 path (without MRAP) is using the Spark-based procedure: CALL glue_catalog.system.snapshot(source_table => '...', table => '...', location => 's3://your-new-hyd-bucket/...') . This creates new metadata pointing to the HYD paths while preserving the data state.

• Option B: register_table (The "Manual" Way): You can use CALL glue_catalog.system.register_table(...) by pointing it to the specific metadata.json file in your HYD bucket.

Note: If register_table fails with UnsupportedOperationException, it is often due to the specific Glue optimistic locking version or Spark environment you are using. In this case, you must recreate the table manually in Glue pointing to the new metadata_location.

3. Regarding "Managed Glue Catalog Replication"

You are correct to be skeptical:** There is NO native "one-click" managed service for Glue Iceberg replication in the console like there is for S3.**

• When experts refer to "Managed Replication," they are referring to the AWS Glue Data Catalog replication utilities (often Lambda-based or Glue-ETL patterns) described in AWS Prescriptive Guidance.
• This is exactly why AWS recommends S3 Multi-Region Access Points (MRAP) for production. With MRAP, the S3 URI (e.g., s3://mrap-alias/...) is identical in both regions. This avoids the "path rewriting" nightmare you are currently facing.

In short - for your HYD environment:

1. Stop manual metadata edits; they are not production-safe.
2. Use the snapshot procedure in Spark to correctly register the existing data into the HYD Glue Catalog with the correct local paths.
3. For future tables, implement S3 MRAP to ensure that a regional failover requires zero metadata manipulation.

Does that answer your question?

Official AWS References for your Case:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/apache-iceberg-on-aws/best-practices-workloads.html#workloads-replication (see the section on "Multi-Region Access Points" which explains why path consistency is mandatory.)
• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/apache-iceberg-on-aws/table-migration-inplace.html (Snapshot Procedure – Explains the use of Spark procedures to register existing data files.)
• The Utility Mentioned: The "Replication Utility" I referred to is the AWS Glue Catalog Sync available on GitHub -> https://github.com/aws-samples/cross-region-disaster-recovery-sample-for-iceberg-deltalake , which is the official sample for this pattern.

The AWS-recommended production approach for cross-region disaster recovery of Apache Iceberg tables is to implement proactive replication rather than reactive recovery after a disruption. Here's the recommended solution:

Recommended Production DR Pattern:

Set up Cross-Region Replication (CRR) with Amazon S3 Multi-Region Access Points (MRAP) before a regional disruption occurs. This architecture involves:

1. Create tables using the MRAP location from the start - this ensures that Iceberg metadata files point to the MRAP location instead of physical bucket locations, avoiding the path rewriting issues you encountered.

2. Enable Amazon S3 MRAP for automatic replication - MRAP supports data replication with a 15-minute SLA, and Iceberg's design prevents read operations from introducing inconsistencies during replication.

3. Make tables available in the secondary region's AWS Glue Data Catalog through one of two methods:

• Set up an event-driven pipeline for replicating Iceberg table metadata using AWS Glue Data Catalog replication utilities
• Register tables in the secondary region when you need to fail over using the register_table procedure, pointing it to the latest metadata.json file

Addressing Your Specific Questions:

1. The production DR pattern is proactive MRAP-based replication, not post-disruption copying and metadata manipulation.

2. This single approach works for all Iceberg table types (append-only and update/delete/merge) because it replicates the complete Iceberg metadata structure including snapshots, manifests, and delete files without modification.

3. Manual metadata_location updates are not safe for production use, especially for tables with UPDATE/DELETE/MERGE operations, as you've discovered. These operations create complex metadata structures with delete files and position delete records that cannot be safely relocated through simple path rewriting.

4. The register_table procedure is the AWS-supported way to make existing Iceberg tables visible in AWS Glue, but it requires the metadata to already exist at the correct S3 location. The procedure should point to the actual metadata.json file location in your secondary region.

Critical Issue with Your Current Approach:

Your post-disruption copying and metadata rewriting approach is fundamentally incompatible with how Iceberg manages ACID transactions and metadata. The rewrite_table_path limitation you encountered exists because AWS Glue's Iceberg catalog implementation doesn't support certain operations that would be required for safe cross-region path rewriting.

Going Forward:

To implement production-safe DR, you need to establish the MRAP-based replication architecture prospectively. For your current situation with already-copied data, the most reliable path is to use register_table with the copied metadata files in ap-south-2, but understand this is a recovery measure, not the recommended production pattern. For true production safety, implement MRAP-based replication for future protection.
Sources
Using Iceberg workloads in Amazon S3 - AWS Prescriptive Guidance
Enterprise scale in-place migration to Apache Iceberg: Implementation guide | AWS Big Data Blog