This topic provides an overview of the Object Storage Service (OSS) backup feature of Cloud Backup, including the benefits, working principles, procedure, and billing of the feature.
Introduction
OSS backup is a scheduled data protection solution designed for Alibaba Cloud OSS. You can configure a backup policy to back up objects in OSS buckets to Cloud Backup on a regular basis. If your objects are accidentally deleted or tampered with, you can use Cloud Backup to restore the objects.
This feature has some limits. For more information, see Limits.
Benefits
OSS backup capability native to Alibaba Cloud
You do not need to install any backup components to protect the data in OSS buckets.
Fine-grained OSS data protection
To achieve fine-grained data protection, you can back up all objects in a bucket or objects that match specified prefixes.
Flexible data versioning
You can configure scheduled backup plans by day, week, month, and year, and specify the retention period of the backup data. This allows you to flexibly manage the versions of backup data.
Easy-to-use file recovery
You can restore one or more objects to a specified point in time in the Cloud Backup console. You do not need to run scripts or programs to check the historical versions of the objects.
Deduplication and compression
When Cloud Backup backs up data from a source OSS bucket, Cloud Backup compresses and deduplicates the data. This minimizes the storage space occupied by the backup data.
Immutable backup against accidental or malicious deletion
Cloud Backup provides the immutable backup feature based on backup vaults. Backup data cannot be deleted by any account or method before the configured retention period expires.
How it works
The OSS backup feature of Cloud Backup is seamlessly integrated with OSS. To protect OSS data, you do not need to deploy other storage services. If you need to back up more than 0.1 billion objects, we recommend that you use the OSS inventory feature.
When a backup plan is running, Cloud Backup scans the specified bucket, obtains the latest version of the data in the bucket by using the OSS inventory or the specified prefix, identifies the objects to be backed up, deduplicates, compresses, and encrypts the data, and then uploads incremental data to the backup vault. Cloud Backup uses an incremental-forever backup strategy. Except for the first full backup job, each subsequent backup job uploads only the data that has changed compared with the previous backup job. A complete full backup is synthesized to minimize storage consumption.
Differences between OSS backup and OSS versioning
OSS backup is a fine-grained backup solution based on the backup policy that you configure. This prevents the sudden increase in the number of backup versions when objects are frequently modified and minimizes storage consumption.
In the OSS versioning solution, a new version is created each time an object is modified. This solution allows you to retrieve any previous version and restore data. You can select an appropriate data protection solution based on the importance of OSS objects and your business scenarios.
Procedure
The following procedure shows how to back up objects from an OSS bucket in the Cloud Backup console.
You are not charged for activating Cloud Backup. You are charged for the storage usage of backup vaults created in Cloud Backup. For more information, see Billing methods and billable items.
When you create a backup plan, configure the backup vault, data source, backup cycle, and retention period. Cloud Backup starts the backup plan and continuously backs up objects from the specified OSS bucket.
ImportantYou can enjoy a 30-day free backup plan. You cannot edit the source path and backup cycle for a free backup plan.
If the region that you select supports backup policies, you can set a backup plan only by associating it with a backup policy. Cloud Backup periodically backs up OSS objects based on the backup policy.
To view the regions that support backup policies, click Policy Center in the left-side navigation pane of the Cloud Backup console. For more information about how to create a backup policy, see Create a backup policy.
After you create a backup plan, the first backup job performs a full backup and subsequent backup jobs perform incremental backups.
You are not charged for restoration in the same region. If a file exception occurs in an OSS bucket, you can restore all objects or some objects that meet the specified conditions based on historical backups. You can restore the objects to the source OSS bucket for free or restore the objects to a new OSS bucket for free. You are charged for the traffic and storage capacity of the remote mirror vault.
Usage notes
Before you use Cloud Backup to protect OSS objects, take note of the following information:
Cloud Backup allows you to back up and restore buckets whose storage class is Standard or IA. Cloud Backup does not support the backup and restoration of buckets whose storage class is Archive, Cold Archive, or Deep Cold Archive.
Cloud Backup allows you to back up and restore objects whose storage class is Standard or IA. Cloud Backup does not support the backup and restoration of objects whose storage class is Archive, Cold Archive, or Deep Cold Archive.
Cloud Backup does not support the backup and restoration of access control lists (ACLs) that control the read and write permissions on objects.
You are charged for OSS API operations that are called by Cloud Backup during the backup of OSS objects. OSS request fees are included in your OSS bills. For more information, see Billing overview.
When Cloud Backup reads OSS data from buckets or objects that are infrequently accessed, OSS data retrieval fees are incurred. You are charged based on the size of retrieved IA data. OSS data retrieval fees are included in your OSS bills. For more information, see Data processing fees.
If you delete an existing backup, the data integrity of subsequent backups is not affected.
The scheduled backup plan that is enabled when you create an OSS bucket is free for 30 days. When the free trial expires, the scheduled backup plan is automatically disabled. We recommend that you switch to paid usage in a timely manner.
ImportantA free-trial backup plan has limits. You cannot modify the source path and backup cycle. Each free-trial backup plan uses a separate backup vault. You cannot change the backup vault after you switch to paid usage. If you plan to back up all your data to the same backup vault in the future, do not use a free-trial backup plan.
Billing
When you use the OSS backup feature, the following fees are incurred:
Storage usage fees
Cloud Backup provides two types of backup storage: locally redundant storage (LRS) and zone-redundant storage (ZRS). You are charged based on the storage usage of the backup vaults. You can view the storage usage of backup vaults on the Overview page in the Cloud Backup console. For more information, see Pricing of Cloud Backup.
API request fees
Before each backup job starts, Cloud Backup calls the ListObject operation to obtain the list of objects to be backed up. Each ListObject request can list up to 1,000 objects.
After the object list is obtained, Cloud Backup calls the HeadObject operation to obtain the metadata of the objects to be backed up. Each HeadObject request can obtain the metadata of one object.
Cloud Backup calls the GetObject operation to back up objects. Each GetObject request can obtain the metadata of one object.
Cloud Backup calls the ListObject operation to query the backup progress and verify the objects that are backed up. Each ListObject request can verify up to 1,000 objects.
When you use the OSS inventory feature to back up data, you are not charged for the preceding ListObject requests, but you are charged for the OSS inventory feature. For more information, see Bucket inventory.
For more information about the billing rules for OSS API requests, see API operation calling fees.
OSS data retrieval fees
When Cloud Backup reads OSS data from buckets or objects that are infrequently accessed, OSS data retrieval fees are incurred. You are charged based on the size of retrieved IA data. OSS data retrieval fees are included in your OSS bills. For more information, see Data processing fees.
What to do next
Learn about how to back up OSS objects. For more information, see Back up OSS objects and Back up a large amount of OSS objects by using the OSS inventory feature.
Learn about the best practices of Cloud Backup. For more information, see Best Practices.