CBR Basic Concepts

Vault

CBR uses vaults to store backups of resources. Backup vaults are classified into the following types:

• Server backup vaults: They include those that only store backups of common servers and those that store backups of database servers. You can associate servers with a server backup vault and apply a backup policy to the vault. You can also replicate backups from a vault in one region to a replication vault in another region. Server backups can be used to restore server data.
• Disk backup vaults: store only disk backups. You can associate disks with a disk backup vault and apply a backup policy to the vault.
• SFS Turbo backup vaults: store only backups of SFS Turbo file systems. You can associate file systems with an SFS Turbo backup vault and apply a backup policy to the vault.

Backup

A backup is a copy of a particular chunk of data and is usually stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original data in the event of data loss. It can be generated either manually by a one-off backup task or automatically by a periodic task.

CBR supports one-off backup and periodic backup. A one-off backup task is manually created by users and is executed only once. Periodic backup tasks are automatically executed based on a user-defined backup policy.

• The name of a one-off backup is manualbk_xxxx. It can be user- or system-defined.
• The name of a periodic backup is autobk_xxxx, which is assigned automatically by the system.

Backup Policy

A backup policy is a set of rules for backing up data, including the policy name, policy status, execution time of backup tasks, backup frequency, and retention rule. A retention rule specifies for how long backups are retained or the number of backups that are retained. Automatic backups can be performed by applying a backup policy to a backup vault.

Application-Consistent Backup

There are three backup types in terms of backup consistency:

• Inconsistent backup: Files in an inconsistent backup contain data taken from different points in time. This typically occurs if changes are made to your files or the data on your disks while backup is running.
• Crash-consistent backup: A crash-consistent backup captures data that exists on disks as of the backup time, without backing up memory data or quiescing application systems. Backup consistency of application systems is not ensured. To complete this, disks are checked upon operating system restart to restore damaged data, for example, by using chkdsk, and log rollback is performed on databases to keep data consistent.
• Application-consistent backup: An application-consistent backup is a backup of application data that allows applications to achieve a quiescent and consistent state. This type of backup captures the contents of the memory and any pending writes that occurred during the backup process.

CBR cloud server backup supports both crash-consistent backup and application-consistent backup (also called database server backup). Install the Agent before enabling application-consistent backup to prevent the database server backup from failing.