Help Center/ GeminiDB/ GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible API/ Working with GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible API/ Data Backup/ Overview
Updated on 2026-07-10 GMT+08:00
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Overview

You can back up GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible instances to ensure data reliability.

Usage Notes

  • Backup data cannot be downloaded or exported.
  • You can back up data of instances that are in the Available state.
  • Backing up data consumes a few CPUs. Uploading backup files to OBS occupies bandwidth of compute nodes, causing slight latency and jitter.
  • After an instance is deleted, the manual backups are retained until you manually delete them.
  • After an instance is deleted:
    • If the instance has automated full backups, the system keeps the most recent automated full backup of the previous day. If there is no automated full backup generated on that day, it retains the latest available one and moves it to the recycle bin.
    • If there are fewer than 100 backups in the recycle bin, the system will create a full backup and move it to the recycle bin.
    • If any backups in the recycle bin exceed the retention period set in the recycling policy, the system automatically deletes them. If you delete an instance, its automated backups that are not in the recycle bin will also be deleted.

Backup Methods

GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible instances support both automatic and manual backups.

Table 1 Comparison between automated backup and manual backup

Backup Method

Description

Automated backup

You can modify the automated backup policy on the GeminiDB console. The system automatically backs up instance data based on the configured time window and backup cycle, and retains the backups for the specified duration.

Automated backups cannot be manually deleted. You can adjust their retention period by following the instructions provided in Modifying an Automated Backup Policy. Expired backups will be automatically deleted.

Manual backup

Manual backups are user-initiated full backups of DB instances and can be retained until you manually delete them. You can trigger a manual backup at any time to meet your service requirements.

You are advised to back up your DB instance regularly. If the DB instance fails or data is corrupted, you can restore data from backups.

Cross-region and table-level backups are supported based on application scenarios.

Table 2 Application scenarios

Method

Scenario

Managing Cross-Region Backups of a GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible Instance

Backups can be stored in the destination region. Then for disaster recovery, you can restore the backups to a new instance in another region. Only an automated full backup is supported.

Managing Table-level Backups of a GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible Instance

If a database or table is deleted maliciously or accidentally, backups can help restore your data. Manual and automated backups are supported.

Both full and incremental backups are supported for various data sizes.

Table 3 Comparison between full and incremental backups

Backup Type

Full backup

Incremental backup

Description

All data in an instance is backed up.

Only data that has changed within a certain period is backed up.

Enabled by Default

Yes

Yes

Retention Duration
  • You can specify how many days automated backups can be retained for. If you shorten the retention duration, the new backup policy takes effect for existing backups.
  • Manual backups are always retained even though a GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible instance is deleted. They can only be deleted manually.

Incremental backups will be deleted along with automated full backups.

Feature
  • All data of your instance is backed up in the current point of time.
  • You can use a full backup to restore all data generated when its backup was created.
  • Full backups can be created automatically or manually.
  • Incremental data in your instance is backed up since the last full backup.
  • When you use an incremental backup for restoration, the last full backup data and the incremental data generated since then are downloaded.
  • Incremental backups can be created automatically only.

How to View

Click an instance name. On the Backups & Restorations page, click the Instance-level Backups and Table-level Backups tabs to view the backup size.

Click an instance name. On the Backups & Restorations page, click the Incremental Backup tab to view the backup size.

How Data Is Backed Up

A dedicated node (seed node) is used for backup management of GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible instances. The seed node backs up data of GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible cluster instances. The node takes snapshots in seconds and then stores them as compressed backups in OBS buckets, without occupying storage of your instance. CPU usage may increase by 5% to 15% due to the additional resource consumption during backup upload.

Figure 1 Backup process

Backup Storage

Storing backup data of GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible instances in Object Storage Service (OBS) improves the DR capability and reduces storage usage.

After you purchase an instance, GeminiDB DynamoDB-Compatible API provides additional backup storage equal in size to the purchased storage, free of charge. For example, if you purchase an instance with 100 GB of storage, you will get an additional 100 GB of backup storage at no extra cost. If backup data stays within 100 GB, it is stored in OBS free of charge. If it exceeds 100 GB, you will be billed for the additional space at standard OBS rates. For details, see OBS Pricing Details.

Parent Topic: Data Backup