How can I certify that the data in a specified AWS region is actually in that region?

Question

We have a business requirement to confirm that the data stored in a specific AWS Region (ca-central-1) is actually stored in Canada. Is there any way to confirm this either through AWS, or in another way? Ideally, we would like point to a web page to show clients that their data is in fact in the country (Canada). Less ideally, we could show screenshots of the AWS console showing the client's EC2 and S3 in the ca-central-1 region but we are looking for something more "official".

Answer 1

You could use a dnslookup command. The following will give you the ip

dig +nocmd your.cloud any +multiline +noall +answer

Then you can use the following command to get the region:

curl freegeoip.net/xml/xx.xxx.xxx.xxx

this will get you the geolocation of the address. You can also use their website if that helps

tested with: curl freegeoip.net/xml/54.231.184.255

response:

<Response> <DeprecationMessage>This API endpoint is deprecated and will stop working on July 1st, 2018. For more information please visit: https://github.com/apilayer/freegeoip#readme</DeprecationMessage> <IP>54.231.184.255</IP> <CountryCode>US</CountryCode> <CountryName>United States</CountryName> <RegionCode>OR</RegionCode> <RegionName>Oregon</RegionName> <City>Boardman</City> <ZipCode>97818</ZipCode> <TimeZone>America/Los_Angeles</TimeZone> <Latitude>45.7788</Latitude> <Longitude>-119.529</Longitude> <MetroCode>810</MetroCode> </Response>

Answer 2

freegeoip will stop working in a couple of months.

Here is an alternative: https://geocoder.ca/54.231.184.255?geoit=xml

    <geodata>
    <latt>47.584095 </latt>
    <longt>-122.299566      </longt>
    <city>Mercer Island     </city>
    <prov>WA        </prov>
    <postal>98040   </postal>
    <stnumber>2121  </stnumber>
    <staddress>26TH AVE S   </staddress>
    <inlatt>47.5839 </inlatt>
    <inlongt>-122.2995      </inlongt>
    <distance>0.022 </distance>
    <NearRoad>25TH AVE S    </NearRoad>
    <NearRoadDistance>0.010 </NearRoadDistance>
    <neighborhood>Atlantic  </neighborhood>
    <TimeZone>America/Los_Angeles   </TimeZone>
    <AreaCode>206   </AreaCode>
    <confidence>0.9 </confidence>
    <intersection>
    <street1>26th Ave S     </street1>
    <street2>Walker St S    </street2>
    <lattx>47.583643        </lattx>
    <longtx>-122.299038     </longtx>
    <city>Mount Baker       </city>
    <prov>WA        </prov>
    <distance>0.045 </distance>
    </intersection>
    <major_intersection>
    <street1>Walker St S    </street1>
    <street2>25th Ave       </street2>
    <lattx>47.5835200000    </lattx>
    <longtx>-122.3001360000 </longtx>
    <city>Seattle   </city>
    <prov>WA        </prov>
    <distance>0.064 </distance>
    </major_intersection>
    <usa>
    <latt>47.5840948        </latt>
    <longt>-122.2995659     </longt>
    <uscity>Mercer Island   </uscity>
    <state>WA       </state>
    <zip>98040      </zip>
    <usstnumber>2121        </usstnumber>
    <usstaddress>26TH AVE S </usstaddress>
    <inlatt>47.5839 </inlatt>
    <inlongt>-122.2995      </inlongt>
    <distance>0.022 </distance>
    <NearRoad>25TH AVE S    </NearRoad>
    <NearRoadDistance>0.010 </NearRoadDistance>
    <neighborhood>Atlantic  </neighborhood>
    <TimeZone>America/Los_Angeles   </TimeZone>
    <AreaCode>206   </AreaCode>
    <confidence>0.9 </confidence>
    <intersection>
    <street1>26th Ave S     </street1>
    <street2>Walker St S    </street2>
    <lattx>47.583643        </lattx>
    <longtx>-122.299038     </longtx>
    <city>Mount Baker       </city>
    <prov>WA        </prov>
    <distance>0.045 </distance>
    </intersection>
    <major_intersection>
    <street1>Walker St S    </street1>
    <street2>25th Ave       </street2>
    <lattx>47.5835200000    </lattx>
    <longtx>-122.3001360000 </longtx>
    <city>Seattle   </city>
    <prov>WA        </prov>
    <distance>0.064 </distance>
    </major_intersection>
    <usa>
    <latt>47.5840948        </latt>
    <longt>-122.2995659     </longt>
    <uscity>Mercer Island   </uscity>
    <state>WA       </state>
    <zip>98040      </zip>
    <usstnumber>2121        </usstnumber>
    <usstaddress>26TH AVE S </usstaddress>
    <inlatt>47.5839 </inlatt>
    <inlongt>-122.2995      </inlongt>
    <distance>0.022 </distance>
    </usa>
    </geodata>