Data Hosting Locations and AWS Regions

Updated July 24, 2026 21:23

This article explains where Absorb hosts your LMS data, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) regions available for hosting, why your region selection matters for data residency and performance, and how Absorb stores, accesses, backs up, and retains client data.

Understanding Data Regions

Regions are separate geographic areas that Absorb uses to house its infrastructure. These regions are distributed around the world so that you can choose the one closest to your Users when storing your LMS data. The Absorb LMS is cloud-hosted on AWS across five regions:

Region	Data Center Location
Canada Central	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
USA East	Northern Virginia, United States
Ireland	Dublin, Ireland
Australia	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
China	Beijing, China

Why Data Region Selection Matters

Your choice of hosting region affects legal compliance, contractual obligations, and system performance. The following factors explain why region selection is important for Absorb clients:

Data Residency and Data Sovereignty: The localization of regulated data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), within a particular region or country. Many Absorb clients are required to ensure that data collected and hosted in the LMS remains in a specific country or region.
- For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) governs the processing of personal data within the European Union (EU) and is a key component of the EU's privacy and human rights law. As of recent legislation, 137 of 194 countries have enacted laws to secure the protection of data and privacy.
Contractual Requirements: Because some clients have specific data residency requirements, Absorb is in some cases contractually required to host their data in a particular region.
LMS Performance: Data center location affects redundancy, customer experience, and access speed. For optimal LMS performance, choose the data center nearest to your Users so that data travels a shorter distance between the server and the end-user device.
China Access: Absorb operates globally, but a separate China instance (AWS China) is required to support users behind the firewall in mainland China. This setup also requires a System Admin located in mainland China.

Where Your LMS Data Is Hosted

At the time of onboarding, you choose the region in which to host your data. Absorb offers the same five regions described above: AWS Canada, AWS US-East, AWS Ireland, AWS Australia, and AWS China.

You select your hosting region as part of your onboarding process.

For more information, see How to Prepare for a Successful Onboarding.

Data Residency Guarantee

All client data, including backups, remains hosted within your selected region. It is not transferred to, backed up to, or processed by another region's computing infrastructure.

Data Hosting FAQs

The following questions and answers address how Absorb hosts, accesses, backs up, and retains client data.

Question	Answer	Additional Information
Will client data be transferred outside of the selected AWS hosting region?	No. All client data, including backups, remains hosted within the client-selected region and is not transferred to, backed up to, or processed by another region's computing infrastructure.	Attested to in the SOC 2 Type II report.
Will client data be accessed from outside of the selected region?	Yes. Client data may be accessed from outside the selected region for support, maintenance, client services, troubleshooting, and sub-processing required to deliver the contracted services.	Attested to in the SOC 2 Type II report. For details, see Absorb Sub-Processors.
Where is client data accessed from?	Absorb currently has support personnel located in Canada, Ireland, the UK, Australia, and the USA. Access to client LMS data is limited to authorized personnel based on their job duties, and access is logged and monitored at all times.	Attested to in the SOC 2 Type II report. For a list of sub-processors, purposes of processing, and data processing locations, see Absorb Sub-Processors.
Can a client host data in more than one region?	No. All client data, including backups, remains within one client-selected region. A client that must host data in two separate regions requires two separate LMS Portals.	Contact the Sales team for subscription details and pricing.
Is Absorb hosted as an AWS common or shared service?	The Absorb LMS is a multi-tenant Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering hosted on AWS using shared infrastructure.	Attested to in the SOC 2 Type II report.
Is a download required, or is Absorb on-premises?	No. The Absorb LMS is a cloud-hosted SaaS application hosted on AWS. No download or installation is required.	Attested to in the SOC 2 Type II report.
How are backups handled?	Absorb LMS client data is fully backed up weekly, with daily differential backups. Database replication between the primary and secondary database environments is immediate. Backups are stored and maintained within AWS, auto-purged every 30 days, and held in AES-256 encrypted AWS storage volumes.	Attested to in the SOC 2 Type II report.
Can a client request to move data from one region to another?	Yes, by submitting a request to the Professional Services (PS) team. Moving a Portal between regions requires substantial effort, and additional fees (PS hours) may apply.	Contact the Professional Services team for more information.
Can a client host data in AWS GovCloud?	No. The LMS is not deployed in any AWS GovCloud data centers. Clients must choose one of the five global hosting regions described above.
How long is data retained?	Absorb LMS client data is retained for the life of an active service agreement. Upon termination, clients can export their data to import into another application. Following service termination and a written client request, LMS client data can be deleted within 30 days, and all data backups are deleted after 30 days.	Additional details are available in Absorb's Terms and Conditions and the service agreement (for active clients).