What is the main difference between a failover region and a secondary read region?

The main difference between a failover region and a secondary read region lies in the primary function of each. A failover region is specifically designed to take over operations when the primary region experiences a failure, ensuring business continuity. In this scenario, the failover region contains a complete replica of the primary region's data and can assume control seamlessly, minimizing downtime and maintaining service availability.

Conversely, secondary read regions serve a different purpose. They are typically used to offload read operations from the primary region, which helps in distributing the load and improving performance for read-intensive applications. While they can be used for analytics or reporting, they do not provide failover capabilities in the event of a primary region failure.

This distinction is crucial as it governs how systems are architected for resilience and performance, leveraging the strengths of each type of region appropriately based on their intended use cases.