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Updated on 2024-09-25 GMT+08:00
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Creating a Server Backup

Scenarios

This section describes how to quickly purchase a server backup vault and perform backup. Backing up a server does not impact the server performance.

The backup process for BMSs is the same as that for ECSs.

If you do not need an ECS for the moment, you can back up the ECS and then delete it. When you want an ECS later, you can create an image from the ECS backup and use the image to create ECSs.

Operation Process

Table 1 Operation process of creating a cloud server backup

Step

Description

Making preparations

Register with Huawei Cloud, complete real-name authentication, and top up your account.

Purchasing a server backup vault

Purchase a server backup vault to store server backups.

Associating servers

Associate your servers with a vault to back up and replicate data.

Creating a cloud server backup

Create server backups to protect data.

Making Preparations

  1. Sign up forHuawei Cloud.
  2. Top up your account.

Purchasing a Server Backup Vault

Before backing up data, you need to purchase a server backup vault.

  1. Go to the Buy Server Backup Vault page.
  2. Set mandatory parameters for the server backup vault based on the parameter description table. For parameters not included in this table, retain the default values.

    Complete Basic Settings and select a Protection Type.

    Parameter

    Example Value

    Description

    Billing Mode

    Pay-per-use
    • Pay-per-use is a postpaid billing mode. You are billed based on your resource usage and you can increase or delete resources anytime. Fees are deducted from your account balance.
    • Yearly/monthly is a prepaid billing mode. You are billed based on the subscription duration you specify. This mode is ideal when the resource use duration is predictable. A longer subscription often means a lower cost.

    Region

    CN-Hong Kong

    Resources in different regions cannot communicate with each other over an intranet. Select the region closest to you to enjoy low latency.

    Once the vault is created, its region cannot be changed.

    Protection Type

    Backup
    • Backup: A server backup vault stores server backups.
    • Replication (cross-region): A server replication vault stores replicas of server backups. If you select Replication, you do not need to select a server.

    For example, if you want to back up a server, select Backup for the vault protection type. If you want to replicate backups of a server from one region to another, select Replication for the vault in this other region.

    Backup Data Redundancy

    Single-AZ
    • Single-AZ: Backup data is stored in a single AZ, with lower costs.
    • Multi-AZ: Backup data is stored in multiple AZs to achieve higher reliability.

    The backup data redundancy policy cannot be changed after a vault is purchased. Plan and select a policy that best suits your service needs.

    Configure Resources to Back Up, Backup Capacity, and Backup Policy.

    Parameter

    Example Value

    Description

    Resources to Back Up

    Skip
    • Configure: Select the servers to be associated.
    • Skip: If no server is available, you can purchase the vault first and associate servers later.

    Backup Capacity

    100 GB

    Specify the vault capacity. The capacity ranges from 10 GB to 10485760 GB.

    Properly plan the vault capacity, which must be at least the same as the size of the servers you want to back up. Also, if automatic association is enabled and a backup policy is applied to the vault, more capacity is required.

    As the vault's used space grows, you can expand the vault capacity if it becomes insufficient.

    Auto Backup

    Skip
    • Configure: A backup policy can be applied to this vault. Resources associated with this vault will be automatically backed up based on the policy. You can select an existing backup policy or create a new one.
    • Skip: Resources associated with this vault will not be automatically backed up until you apply a backup policy to the vault. If you need to automatically back up data periodically, you can create a policy and apply it to the vault. For details, see Policy Management.

    Automatic Association

    Skip
    • If you select Configure, in the next backup period, CBR will automatically scan all unprotected servers, associate them with the vault, and then perform backups.
    • If you select Skip and need to enable automatic association later, see Associating Resources to a Vault.

    Configure Enterprise Project and Advanced Settings.

    Parameter

    Example Value

    Description

    Enterprise Project

    default

    Add the vault to an existing enterprise project.

    This parameter is displayed only for enterprise users who have enabled enterprise project management.

    NOTE:

    If the CBR FullAccess permissions have been assigned to IAM users, enterprise projects will not be displayed for you to choose from when you create a vault. Go to the Enterprise Project Management console and assign the CBR FullAccess permissions to the target user group.

    Vault Name

    vault-317a

    Name of the vault to be created.

    A name must contain 1 to 64 characters including digits, letters, underscores (_), or hyphens (-). You can also use the default name vault_xxxx.

  3. Click Next.
  4. Click Submit. Confirm the order details and complete the payment.
  5. Go back to the Cloud Server Backups page. You can view the created vault in the vault list. The vault is in the Available state.

Associating Servers with the Vault

After purchasing a vault, you need to associate resources with the vault.

The selected servers must have not been associated with any vault and must be in the Running or Stopped state.

  1. On the Cloud Server Backus page, locate the target vault and click Associate Server in the Operation column.
  2. In the resource list, select the resources you want to associate with the vault. After resources are selected, they are added to the list of selected resources.

    • If a new disk is attached to an associated server, CBR automatically identifies the new disk and includes the new disk in subsequent backup tasks.
    • To avoid data inconsistency after restoration, you are advised to back up the entire server.

      If you want to back up only some of the disks to reduce costs, ensure that data on the backed up disks does not depend on the disks that are not backed up. Or, data inconsistency may occur.

      For example, the data of an Oracle database is scattered across different disks. If only some of the disks are backed up, restoration restores only the data of the disks that have been backed up, with data on the rest of the disks unchanged. As a result, the data may be inconsistent and the Oracle database may fail to start.

  3. Click OK. Then on the Associated Servers tab page, you can view resources that have been associated.

For details about automatic association, see Associating Resources to a Vault.

Creating a Server Backup

After resources are associated, CBR will automatically back up your data, or you can back up data manually. Only servers in the Running or Stopped state can be backed up.

  1. On the Cloud Server Backups page, click the Vaults tab and find the vault to which the server is associated.
  2. Click Perform Backup in the Operation column. In the server list, select the server you want to back up. After a server is selected, it is added to the list of selected servers.

  3. Set Name and Description for the backup. For details, see #cbr_02_0028/table4829135361311.

    Parameter

    Example Value

    Description

    Name

    manualbk_d819

    Name of the backup you are creating.

    A name must contain 1 to 64 characters including digits, letters, underscores (_), or hyphens (-).

    NOTE:

    You can also use the default name manualbk_xxxx.

    If multiple servers are to be backed up, the system automatically adds suffixes to their backup names, for example, backup-0001 and backup-0002.

    Description

    -

    Description of the backup.

    It cannot exceed 255 characters.

  4. Choose whether to enable full backup. If full backup is enabled, CBR performs a full backup on every associated server, which requires a larger capacity compared to an incremental backup.

    By default, the first backup is a full backup, and subsequent backups are incremental backups.

    To ensure data security, when you perform manual backups, a full backup is performed after 100 incremental backups by default.

    For details, see What Are Full Backup and Incremental Backup?

  5. Click OK. CBR automatically creates a backup for the server.

    On the Backups tab page, if the status of the backup is Available, the backup task is successful.

    • A server can be restarted if the backup progress exceeds 10%. However, to ensure data integrity, restart it after the backup is complete.

Related Information

  • After the backup is complete, you can use the backup to restore server data. For details, see Restoring from a Cloud Server Backup.
  • You can replicate the new vault or expand the vault capacity. For details, see Vault Management.
  • If you need to automatically back up data periodically, you can create a policy and apply it to the vault. For details, see Policy Management.
  • If you need to back up database servers, change the specifications of the target vault from server backup to application-consistent backup.
  • You can create an image from a server backup. For details, see Creating an Image from a Cloud Server Backup.