You can associate existing automatic snapshot policies with cloud disks. After you associate an automatic snapshot policy with a cloud disk, snapshots are automatically created for the disk based on the policy to back up the data stored on the disk.
Associate an automatic snapshot policy with multiple cloud disks
On the Snapshots page of the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) console, you can associate an automatic snapshot policy with multiple system disks or data disks.
Log on to the ECS console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group to which the resource belongs.
On the Snapshots page, click the Automatic Snapshot Policies tab.
On the Automatic Snapshot Policies tab, find the automatic snapshot policy that you want to manage and click Associate Cloud Disks in the Actions column.
In the Associate Cloud Disks dialog box, select the cloud disks with which you want to associate the automatic snapshot policy.
Select one or more cloud disks in the Unselected Disks section and click the
icon to move the disks to the Selected Disks section. Click Associate.
To disassociate the automatic snapshot policy from one or more cloud disks, select the cloud disks in the Selected Disks section and click the 
icon to move the disks to the Unselected Disks section.
Associate an automatic snapshot policy when you create an ECS instance
You can associate automatic snapshot policies with the system disk or data disks when you create an ECS instance.
Log on to the ECS console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group to which the resource belongs.
On the Instance page, click Create Instance.
In the Snapshot parameter of the Storage section, select an automatic snapshot policy for the system disk or a data disk.
If no automatic snapshot policies are available, click Create Automatic Snapshot Policy to go to the Automatic Snapshot Policies tab of the Snapshots page and create automatic snapshot policies. For more information, see Create an automatic snapshot policy.
For information about the other parameters and the steps for creating an ECS instance, see Create an instance on the Custom Launch tab.
Associate an automatic snapshot policy with a single cloud disk
On the Block Storage page of the ECS console, you can associate an automatic snapshot policy with a single system disk or data disk.
Log on to the ECS console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group to which the resource belongs.
On the Block Storage page, find the cloud disk that you want to manage and click Configure Automatic Snapshot Policy in the Actions column.
NoteIf the cloud disk is in the Unattached state and is not previously attached to instances, the data stored on the disk remains unchanged. In this case, you do not need to create snapshots for the disk and cannot configure an automatic snapshot policy for the disk.
In the Configure Automatic Snapshot Policy dialog box, associate an automatic snapshot policy with the cloud disk.
An automatic snapshot policy exists and is already associated with the cloud disk
If an automatic snapshot policy exists in the current region and is already associated with the cloud disk, you can change or disassociate the policy for the disk.
Change the automatic snapshot policy that is associated with the disk.
Select a different policy or Create Automatic Snapshot Policy from the Automatic Snapshot Policy drop-down list.
Click Enable Automatic Snapshot Policy.
Disassociate the automatic snapshot policy from the disk.
Turn off
. Click Disable Automatic Snapshot Policy.
Automatic snapshot policies exist but are not associated with the cloud disk
If automatic snapshot policies exist in the current region but no automatic snapshot policy is associated with the cloud disk, you can associate an automatic snapshot policy with the disk.
Select a policy from the Automatic Snapshot Policy drop-down list.
Click Enable Automatic Snapshot Policy.
No automatic snapshot policies exist
If no automatic snapshot policies exist in the current region, you can create an automatic snapshot policy for the cloud disk based on your business requirements.
Set the Automatic Snapshot Policy parameter to Back Up Every Day, Back Up Every Week, or Use Custom Policy.
Select Create Automatic Snapshot Policy or the default policy default_policy from the Policy Details drop-down list and configure the other parameters for the policy.
Click Enable Automatic Snapshot Policy.
What to do next
View the number of cloud disks that are associated with an automatic snapshot policy
Go to the Snapshots page in the ECS console, click the Automatic Snapshot Policies tab, and then check the number in the Associated Disks column corresponding to an automatic snapshot policy. The number indicates the cloud disks associated with the policy.
You can click the number to go to the Block Storage page and view the details of the cloud disks.
View created automatic snapshots
When a point in time specified in an automatic snapshot policy is reached, a snapshot whose name starts with auto2.0 is automatically created for each cloud disk that is associated with the policy. On the Disk Snapshots tab of the Snapshots page, Automatic Creation is displayed in the Creation Method column corresponding to the snapshot.
If a snapshot is being manually or automatically created for a cloud disk when the point in time specified in the associated automatic snapshot policy is reached, the automatic snapshot cannot be created based on the policy at the point in time. An automatic snapshot is created for the disk at the next point in time specified in the automatic snapshot policy.
If an automatic snapshot is being created for a cloud disk, you cannot create a manual snapshot for the disk. Wait until the automatic snapshot is created.
All snapshots that are created based on automatic snapshot policies are named in the auto2.0_yyyyMMdd_SnapshotPolicyId format.
auto2.0: the automatic snapshot.
yyyyMMdd: the date on which the snapshot is created. yyyy indicates the year, MM indicates the month, and dd indicates the day.
SnapshotPolicyId: the ID of the automatic snapshot policy based on which the snapshot is created.
For example, auto2.0_20221019_sp-bp10ecsbl64i827e***** indicates that an automatic snapshot is created on October 19, 2022 based on the automatic snapshot policy whose ID is sp-bp10ecsbl64i827e*****.