Backups
Note
When initiating a backup, make sure the VM or BareMetal server is running.
Backup types
- Full backup contains all the data required to recover a VM or Yandex BareMetal server. VMs and BareMetal servers recover faster from full backups than from incremental backups. However, full backups take up more storage space and take longer to create.
- Incremental backup contains only data that is different from the previous VM or BareMetal server backup. VMs and servers take longer to recover from incremental backups than from full backups because of the use of chains of incremental backups. Incremental backups are made faster and take up less space than full backups. It is not advisable to use an incremental backup if there are many differences between two consecutive backups.
Note
If you use a policy with the fastBackupEnabled option and ran an antivirus scan before creating an incremental backup, the backup time may increase significantly. For more information, see Interaction with an antivirus.
You cannot restore a VM backup to a BareMetal server or a BareMetal server backup to a VM.
Tip
To take advantage of both types, combine them. For example, create two backup policies for the same VM or BareMetal server: schedule weekly full backups in one policy and daily incremental backups in the other.
Working with LVM
Cloud Backup allows creating VM and BareMetal server backups with logical volumes managed by the subsystem LVM.
You should keep in mind the following when restoring VMs and BareMetal servers from such backups:
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To restore a backup to the VM it was created for, you do not need to take any additional actions: the structure of LVM volumes should recover correctly.
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Before restoring a backup to a different VM, make sure disk partitioning and LVM volume structure on the target VM is exactly the same as on the original one.
Warning
Restoring a backup with LVM volumes to a VM other than the original one does not guarantee successful restoration of the LVM volume structure.
- To restore a backup to the same server it was created for, you do not need to take any additional actions: the LVM volume structure should recover correctly.
- When restoring a backup to a server other than the original one, request a special bootable ISO image from support and load the target server from that image.
Storing backups
Backups created in Cloud Backup are stored in Yandex Object Storage internal buckets.
Data in Object Storage is stored securely in compliance with the international and national standards. Learn more about security in Yandex Cloud in the Compliance section of the document.
You cannot get access to backup files and buckets that store them. Cloud Backup is your only option to restore a VM or BareMetal server from a backup.
Backup archives
Backup copies are grouped into archives. A backup archive includes all backups created for one VM or BareMetal server under a single backup policy.
By using archives, you can delete backups for outdated resources more efficiently. Furthermore, deleting backups as a whole archive reduces the load on the Cloud Backup agent and is less likely to cause errors than deleting them one by one.
File-by-file recovery
With Cloud Backup, you can restore individual files and directories from a backup to any VM connected to the service. For more information, see Restoring individual directories and files on a VM or BareMetal server.
File-by-file recovery to BareMetal servers is currently not available.
Use cases
- Connecting a Yandex BareMetal server to Cloud Backup
- Associating a Yandex Cloud Backup policy to a VM automatically