Backup Plans

Learn more about the Scheduled backups service.

Scheduled backups are configured using a backup plan. You can apply the plan to multiple volumes, edit it, and temporarily disable if necessary. You can also set several rules in a backup plan, for example, how often volume backups will be created and how many backups will be stored at the same time.

Creating Backup Plans in the Control Panel

One backup plan can be applied to one volume or several at once.

Any number of backup plans can be applied to each volume.

Cron Expression

The backup schedule is configured using a cron expression. The maximum frequency of creating backups is once every 6 hours in a plan rule.

The cron expression is a set of five values in a line, indicating when backups will be created:

  • minutes – from 0 to 59;
  • hours – from 0 to 24;
  • days of the month – from 1 to 31;
  • month – from 1 to 12;
  • days of the week – from 1 to 7.

For example, the 0 0,12 * * 1,5 entry means that backups will be created on Monday and Friday at 00:00 and 12:00.

Learn more about cron expressions.

Creating a Backup Plan for One Volume

To configure a backup plan for one volume, from the Control panel:

  1. Go to the Cloud platform ⟶ Volumes section (or to the Servers section and open the Network volumes tab on the server page).
  2. Open the (⋮) menu of the volume for which the backups will be configured and select Configure backups.
  3. Click Configure a backup plan in the opened tab (or window).
  4. Enter the plan name.
  5. In the Schedule (cron expression, UTC) field, enter the cron expression according to the scheme.
  6. Specify how many last backups you want to store.
  7. If necessary, add additional rules by clicking Add another rule.
  8. Click Create.

Creating a Backup Plan for Multiple Volumes

To configure a backup plan for multiple volumes at once, from the Control panel:

  1. Go to the Cloud platform ⟶ Backups section.

  2. Follow the steps depending on the number of backup plans created:

    • if you have not created any backup plans yet, click Configure a backup plan on the start screen;
    • if you have created at least one backup plan, open the Plans tab and click Create a plan.

  3. Enter the plan name.

  4. From the list, select the volumes for which you want to apply the plan.

  5. In the Schedule (cron expression, UTC) field, enter the cron expression according to the scheme.

  6. Specify how many last backups you want to store.

  7. If necessary, add additional rules by clicking Add another rule.

  8. Click Create.

After creating a backup plan, you can add other volumes to it or delete previously added ones.

Editing Rules in a Backup Plan

You can change the rules settings in the created backup plan:

  • change the schedule for creating backups;

  • change the number of backups stored at the same time in a rule. If you reduce this number, then after a new backup is automatically created, all the “oldest” backups that exceed the specified number will be deleted;

    Example: instead of storing seven backups, you’ve set to store four backups — after creating one new backup, the first four backups will be deleted.

  • add new rules;

  • delete old rules.

    If you delete a rule, then all backups created according to this rule will be saved, but new backups will not be created.

To edit a plan rule, from the Control panel:

  1. Go to the Cloud platform ⟶ Backups section.
  2. Open the Plans tab.
  3. Open the (⋮) menu of the plan for which the rules settings will be changed and select Change settings.
  4. Make changes to the rules, add a new rule, or delete an old one.
  5. Click Save.

Stopping a Plan

If you need to temporarily stop the creation of backups and at the same time save the plan settings, you can stop the plan execution.

You can re-enable the plan later on.

To stop the plan execution, from the Control panel:

  1. Go to the Cloud platform ⟶ Backups section.
  2. Open the Plans tab.
  3. Open the (⋮) menu of the plan and select Stop execution.

Enabling a Plan

To re-enable the plan, select Enable a plan from the (⋮) plan menu.

Disabling a Plan

You can disable the plan for a specific volume. If the plan has been applied to multiple volumes, then it will continue to work for the remaining ones — backups will be created for them.

After disabling a plan for a specific volume, backups for this plan will not be created. Previously created backups will be saved.

To disable the plan for a volume, from the Control panel:

  1. Go to the Cloud platform ⟶ Volumes section (or to the Servers section and open the Network volumes tab on the server page).
  2. Open the (⋮) menu of the volume and select Configure backups.
  3. Click Disable for the desired plan and confirm the action by clicking Disable a plan.

Please note that you can also disable a plan on the Plans tab in the Backups section. To do this, open the (⋮) menu of the plan, select Change settings and delete the required volume in the Volumes field.

Deleting a Plan

After deleting a plan, backups for it will not be created. If the plan was applied to multiple volumes, then backups will not be created for all volumes. Previously created backups will be saved.

To delete a plan, from the Control panel:

  1. Go to the Cloud platform ⟶ Backups section.
  2. Open the Plans tab.
  3. Open the (⋮) menu of the plan and select Delete a plan.