Creating a disk snapshot schedule

If you do not have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

1. View the description of the CLI commands for managing schedules:

   yc compute snapshot-schedule --help
   yc compute snapshot-schedule create --help
   

2. Create a schedule using a cron expression:

   yc compute snapshot-schedule create <schedule_name> \
     --expression <cron_expression>
   

   Note

   The time of snapshot creation is written in the UTC±00:00 time zone.

   If you need to configure a snapshot retention policy, add the --snapshot-count or --retention-period parameter. Here is an example:

   • --snapshot-count 5: Retain 5 latest snapshots.
   • --retention-period 72h: Retain snapshots for the last 3 days.

   To add the beginning date for a schedule, use the --start-at parameter. Here is an example:

   • --start-at "2022-12-31T16:39:00+05:00": The schedule starts on December 31, 2022 at 16:39 UTC+5.
   • --start-at "2h": The schedule starts two hours before the current time point.

   For more information about the yc compute snapshot-schedule create command, see the CLI reference.

3. To add disks to the schedule, get disk IDs:

   yc compute disk list --format yaml
   

   Result:

   - id: epdcq9g3co9s********
     folder_id: e1ea8s8l71li********
     created_at: "2022-10-13T14:37:44Z"
   ...
     instance_ids:
       - fhm1c7u23aiq********
     disk_placement_policy: {}
   

4. Add disks to the schedule:

   yc compute snapshot-schedule add-disks <name_or_ID_of_the_schedule> \
     --disk-id <ID_of_disk_1>,<ID_of_disk_2>
   

   Result:

   done (3s)
   id: fc8e52mvchb2********
   folder_id: e1ea8s8l71li********
   ...
     expression: 36 14 */1 * *
   snapshot_count: "3"
   snapshot_spec: {}
   

If you don't have Terraform, install it and configure the Yandex Cloud provider.

1. In the Terraform configuration file, describe the parameters of the resource to create:

   resource "yandex_compute_snapshot_schedule" "default" {
     name = "<schedule_name>"
   
     schedule_policy {
       expression = "<cron_expression>"
     }
   
     snapshot_count = <number_of_snapshots_per_disk>
   
     snapshot_spec {
       description = "<snapshot_description>"
       labels = {
         <snapshot_label_key> = "<snapshot_label_value>"
       }
     }
   
     disk_ids = ["<ID_of_disk_1>", "<ID_of_disk_2>"]
   }
   

   Where:

   • name: Schedule name. This is a required parameter.
   • schedule_policy: Section with schedule parameters. It contains the expression field with a cron expression. This is a required parameter.
   • snapshot_count: Maximum number of snapshots per disk. This is an optional parameter.
   • snapshot_spec: Section with additional snapshot parameters. This is an optional parameter. It may contain the following fields:
     • description: Snapshot description.
     • labels: Snapshot label in <key> = "<value>" format.
   • disk_ids: IDs of disks to create snapshots for. This is a required parameter.

   For more information about the yandex_compute_snapshot_schedule resource parameters in Terraform, see the provider documentation.

2. Create resources:

   1. In the terminal, change to the folder where you edited the configuration file.

   2. Make sure the configuration file is correct using the command:

      terraform validate
      

      If the configuration is correct, the following message is returned:

      Success! The configuration is valid.
      

   3. Run the command:

      terraform plan
      

      The terminal will display a list of resources with parameters. No changes are made at this step. If the configuration contains errors, Terraform will point them out.

   4. Apply the configuration changes:

      terraform apply
      

   5. Confirm the changes: type yes in the terminal and press Enter.

This will create a schedule in the specified folder. You can check the new schedule and its configuration using the management console or this CLI command:

yc compute snapshot-schedule get <schedule_name>

1. Get the list of disks using the list REST API method for the Disk resource or the DiskService/List gRPC API call.

   You can create snapshots of network drives, such as HDDs, SSDs, and non-replicated SSDs, as well as ultra-high performance network storages with three replicas (SSD).

   For non-replicated SSDs and ultra-high performance network storages with three replicas (SSD), the snapshot time is not determined.

   To take snapshots of local disks residing on dedicated hosts, use Yandex Cloud Backup. This service supports Ubuntu, CentOS, CentOS Stream, and Windows Server.

2. Create a snapshot schedule using the create REST API method for the SnapshotSchedule resource or the SnapshotScheduleService/Create gRPC API call.