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Getting started with Yandex Cloud Backup on a new VM

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Updated at November 11, 2025

Before you get started with Cloud Backup, make sure you have a linked billing account and its status is ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE.

In this scenario, you will create a Linux VM and connect it to Cloud Backup. If you do not need to create a new VM and want to use an existing VM for connecting to Cloud Backup, follow this guide.

The cost of VM backup resources includes:

To get started with Cloud Backup:

  1. Set up the infrastructure.
  2. Activate Cloud Backup.
  3. Create your VM.
  4. Link your VM to a backup policy.

If you no longer need the resources you created, delete them.

Set up the infrastructure

  1. If you do not have a cloud network yet, create one.

  2. If your cloud network has no subnets, create one:

  3. In a cloud network, create a security group with the following rules for outgoing traffic:

    Port range Protocol Destination name CIDR blocks
    80 TCP CIDR 213.180.193.0/24
    80 TCP CIDR 213.180.204.0/24
    443 TCP CIDR 84.47.172.0/24
    443 TCP CIDR 84.201.181.0/24
    443 TCP CIDR 178.176.128.0/24
    443 TCP CIDR 213.180.193.0/24
    443 TCP CIDR 213.180.204.0/24
    7770-7800 TCP CIDR 84.47.172.0/24
    8443 TCP CIDR 84.47.172.0/24
    44445 TCP CIDR 51.250.1.0/24

    Tip

    When installing the Cloud Backup agent on your VM or BareMetal server, you might need to install missing software components from the internet. To do this, add the following outgoing traffic rule to the security group:

    • Port range: 0-65535.
    • Protocol: Any.
    • Destination name: CIDR.
    • CIDR blocks: 0.0.0.0/0.

    Once the Cloud Backup agent is installed, you can delete this rule.

  4. Create a service account and assign the backup.editor role to it.

Activate Cloud Backup

To activate the service, you need at least the backup.editor role for the folder in which you want to create backups of VMs or BareMetal servers.

When you enable the service, the backup provider starts. For more information about the backup provider and data sent to it, see Service activation and backup provider.

  1. In the management console, select the folder where you want to connect a VM to Cloud Backup.

  2. In the list of services, select Cloud Backup.

  3. If you have not activated Cloud Backup yet, click Activate.

    If there is no Activate button, and you can create a VM connected to Cloud Backup, Cloud Backup has already been activated. Proceed to the next step.

Create a VM

  1. In the management console, select the folder where you want to create a VM connected to Cloud Backup.

  2. In the list of services, select Compute Cloud.

  3. In the left-hand panel, select Virtual machines.

  4. Click Create virtual machine.

  5. Select Advanced setup.

  6. Under Boot disk image, select an image with a supported OS, e.g., Ubuntu 20.04.

  7. Under Location, select the availability zone where your VM will reside.

  8. Under Disks and file storages and Computing resources, set the preferred VM parameters.

    The minimum VM and BareMetal server specification to install and correctly run the Cloud Backup agent is as follows:

    • Free disk space:

      • For Linux-based VMs: 2 GB.
      • For Windows-based VMs: 1.2 GB.

    • RAM: For backups, 1 GB of RAM is required per 1 TB of backup. The RAM requirement depends on the amount and type of data processed by the Cloud Backup agent.

    For faster data backup and recovery, the Cloud Backup agent can consume significant amounts of RAM of the backed up resource, i.e., virtual machine or BareMetal server. The agent can even use up all the available RAM, which in some cases may disrupt the resource's other services and make it impossible to complete the backup or recovery process.

    To prevent such issues, limit the amount of data the agent caches in RAM.

    Note

    Limiting the Cloud Backup agent's use of RAM may slow down the backup and recovery operations.

  9. Under Network settings:

    1. In the Subnet field, select the subnet you prepared earlier.

    2. In the Public IP address field, select Auto.

      Instead of assigning a public IP address to your VM, you can associate the subnet hosting this VM with a route table allowing internet access via a NAT gateway or a custom router.

    3. In the Security groups field, select the security group you configured earlier.

  10. Under Access, select SSH key and specify the VM access credentials:

    • In the Login field, enter the username.
    • In the SSH key field, select the SSH key saved in your organization user profile.

    If your profile has no SSH keys, click Add key to add a new key.

  11. Under General information, enter a name for your VM:

    • It must be from 2 to 63 characters long.
    • It can only contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
    • It must start with a letter and cannot end with a hyphen.

  12. Under Additional:

    1. Select the service account you created earlier.
    2. Enable Cloud Backup.

  13. Click Create VM.

For more information on how to create a VM, see Creating a VM.

Link your VM to a backup policy

When the VM switches to the Running status, the Cloud Backup agent will start installing on it. This may take from 5 to 10 minutes.

Once you install the agent, the VM will be added to Cloud Backup in the Virtual machines tab and you will be able to associate it with a Cloud Backup policy.

  1. Make sure the Cloud Backup agent has been installed:

    1. In the management console, select the folder where the service is activated.
    2. In the list of services, select Compute Cloud.
    3. Select the VM.
    4. Check that the value of the Backups field in the Cloud Backup section is No backup policy.

  2. Link your VM to a backup policy:

    1. In the management console, select the folder with the activated service and VM you need.
    2. In the list of services, select Cloud Backup.
    3. In the left-hand panel, select Backup policies.
    4. Select one of the policies created by default. Click Create policy to create a new policy, if required.
    5. Under Attached resources on the Virtual machines tab, click Attach a VM.
    6. In the window that opens, select the VM from the list and click Attach.

    As a result, the VM will be associated with the backup policy and the system will start taking its backups according to the policy schedule.

How to delete the resources you created

To stop paying for the resources you created:

  1. Delete VM backups, if any.
  2. Delete the VM from Cloud Backup.
  3. Delete the VM from Compute Cloud.

What's next

See also

Previous
Overview
Next
Getting started with Cloud Backup on an existing VM