How to handle data residency requirements in a global deployment?

All answers to this question.

Handling data residency in <cloud computing> requires a "Geo-sharding" strategy. You shouldn't try to sync everything back to the US. Instead, deploy regional endpoints of your database—like Aurora Global Database or Azure Cosmos DB—and use logic to route users to the region where their data is stored. This ensures compliance with GDPR because the PII never leaves the EU. For the application logic, you can keep a global CI/CD pipeline that deploys the same code to every <cloud computing> region, but the data layer must remain strictly isolated to satisfy the local residency auditors.

   Answered 2025-08-20 by Theresa Castillo

Do you have a centralized identity provider that can handle the routing based on user location, or does your <cloud computing> setup handle routing at the DNS level?

   Answered 2025-08-22 by Wayne Rogers

• Wayne, we are using Route 53 for latency-based routing. However, I’m worried that if a European user travels to the US, their data might inadvertently be cached or moved. In your experience, how do you handle "transient" data? Should we block access to certain features based on the data's home region, or is there a more elegant way to handle global roaming while staying compliant?

     Commented 2025-08-23 by Ryan Brooks

We use "Local Zones" in <cloud computing> to keep latency low for regional users without having to manage a full-blown region in every single country.

   Answered 2025-08-25 by Gloria Jenkins

• Local Zones are great, Gloria. They provide just enough compute power at the edge to handle the residency requirements without the massive overhead of a full region.

     Commented 2025-08-26 by Kevin Peterson