Use Cloud Backup to back up all directories and files in your Object Storage Service (OSS) bucket to prevent data loss or damage caused by accidental deletion, modification, or overwriting. Cloud Backup lets you configure flexible backup policies to back up data to the cloud. You can view and restore your data at any time. This topic describes how to back up files in an OSS bucket using Cloud Backup.
Prerequisites
The Alibaba Cloud Cloud Backup service is enabled. Enabling Cloud Backup is free of charge. If you use the OSS backup feature of Cloud Backup, you are charged for Cloud Backup storage capacity fees and OSS request fees. The request fees are billed by OSS. For more information, see OSS backup fees.
An OSS bucket of the Standard or Infrequent Access (IA) storage class has been created. For more information, see Create buckets.
Usage notes
The first time you create a backup plan or attach a backup policy, Cloud Backup automatically creates a service-linked role for Cloud Backup named AliyunServiceRoleForHbrOssBackup to obtain permissions to access related resources. In the authorization dialog box that appears, grant the required permissions to the role.
Before you use Cloud Backup to protect OSS data, note the following:
Cloud Backup supports backing up and restoring buckets of the Standard and IA storage classes. It does not support backing up or restoring buckets of the Archive, Cold Archive, or Deep Cold Archive storage classes.
Cloud Backup supports backing up and restoring objects of the Standard and IA storage classes. Objects of the IA storage class are restored as objects of the Standard storage class. Cloud Backup does not support backing up or restoring objects of the Archive, Cold Archive, or Deep Cold Archive storage classes.
Cloud Backup does not support backing up or restoring the access control list (ACL) of an object.
You are charged OSS request fees for OSS API operations that Cloud Backup calls during the backup of OSS objects. These fees are charged by OSS. For more information, see Billing overview.
When Cloud Backup reads OSS data from IA buckets or objects for backup, you incur OSS data retrieval fees. You are charged based on the volume of retrieved data. These fees are charged by OSS. For more information, see Data processing fees.
Deleting an early backup version from the backup history does not affect the data integrity of other backup versions.
The scheduled backup plan that is enabled when you create an OSS bucket is a 30-day free trial. The plan is automatically disabled upon expiration. We recommend that you switch to the paid plan promptly.
ImportantThe free trial plan has limitations. You cannot edit the source path and backup cycle. Each free trial plan uses a separate backup vault. You cannot change the backup vault after you switch to the paid plan. If you plan to back up all your data to the same backup vault in the future, do not use the free trial plan.
Create a backup plan to periodically back up OSS files
After you create a backup plan, the first backup job performs a full backup. Subsequent backup jobs perform incremental backups by default.
To create an OSS backup plan, follow these steps.
Log on to the Cloud Backup console.
In the navigation pane on the left, choose .
In the top menu bar, select the region where the OSS bucket resides.
On the OSS Backup page, click Create Backup Plan.
In the Create Backup Plan panel, configure the parameters as described in the following table and click OK.
NoteYou can use a backup plan free of charge for 30 days, starting from the day the backup plan is created. For example, if you create a backup plan on February 14, 2020, you can use the backup plan free of charge until March 15, 2020.
You cannot edit the source path and backup cycle of a free trial plan. Each free trial plan uses a separate backup vault. You cannot change the backup vault after you change a free trial plan to a paid backup plan. If you plan to back up all your data to the same backup vault in the future, do not use a free trial plan.
This topic describes how to configure the parameters for a paid plan. The configuration for a free plan is similar.
Click Switch to Paid Plan.
Configure the basic settings.
ImportantIf the region that you select supports backup policies, you can set a backup plan only by attaching it to a backup policy. Cloud Backup then periodically backs up OSS data based on the backup policy.
In the navigation pane on the left of the console, click Policy Center to view the regions that support backup policies. For more information about how to create a backup policy, see Create a backup policy.
Parameter
Description
Source OSS Bucket
Select the name of the OSS bucket that you want to back up from the drop-down list. Cloud Backup automatically obtains a list of all buckets in the region within your account.
Source Path
Select a directory of the OSS bucket from the drop-down list. By default, all files in the root directory of the bucket are backed up.
Include Specified Object
Backs up only the objects that match the regular expression. If you do not specify a rule, all objects are included.
ImportantIf an object matches both an inclusion rule and an exclusion rule, the object is not backed up.
Exclude Specified Object
Excludes the objects that match the regular expression from the backup. If you do not specify a rule, no objects are excluded.
Backup Policy
Select a backup policy from the drop-down list.
Cloud Backup automatically backs up data sources based on the backup policy that you configure. A backup policy helps you flexibly manage data source assets. It includes settings such as backup vault encryption, backup interval, retention period, cross-region replication, automatic archiving, and backup point virus detection.
If the default backup policy does not meet your requirements, click Create Backup Policy or Edit Policy to manage backup policies. For more information about the parameters in a backup policy, see Policy center.
Performance Optimization
Use OSS Inventory
Specifies whether to enable the OSS inventory feature to back up data from the OSS bucket. Default value: No. We recommend that you refer to Back up a large amount of OSS objects by using the OSS inventory feature.
After the backup plan is created, its status is Running. Cloud Backup runs OSS backup jobs based on the specified start time and backup interval.
Backup is successful
When the scheduled backup time arrives, Cloud Backup starts and runs the backup job.
NoteThe backup progress percentage is a dynamic estimate that the system generates based on the current data volume and is for reference only. It may not reflect the exact completion percentage. During the backup process, the displayed total scanned size may be smaller than the actual total data size because the data scan is not yet complete. The completion of the backup job is determined by its final status.
On the Backup Jobs tab, if the Status of a backup job is Completed, the backup is successful.
View details about the backup job, such as Total Scan, Completed Backups, Written to Vault, and Backup Speed. For more information about these metrics, see the tooltips in the Cloud Backup console.
NoteFor backup jobs completed on or after June 1, 2025, statistics for both data volume and file count are displayed for Total Scanned at Source, Backup Completed, and Data Written to Vault. For backup jobs completed before this date, only data volume statistics are shown for these metrics.
On the Backup Plans tab, click the
icon next to the target bucket to view the backup records and information about the generated backup points in the Backup History section. You can then restore OSS files based on these historical backup points.
Description of the Partially Completed status
If the status of a backup job is Partially Completed, it means that data of the Archive, Cold Archive, and Deep Cold Archive storage classes was not included. This is because Cloud Backup does not support backing up data of these storage classes.
Troubleshooting
If the Status of a backup plan or backup job is abnormal, perform the following steps to resolve the issue.
Backup job Status: Failed (The OSS bucket does not exist.)
This status indicates that the OSS bucket was deleted.
If the OSS bucket was deleted as expected, ignore the backup job status. To prevent additional backup storage fees, go to the Storage Vaults page from the navigation pane on the left, and then find and delete the corresponding backup vault.
If the OSS bucket was deleted by mistake and you want to restore it, create an OSS bucket in the corresponding region. Then, use the new OSS bucket as the restore destination to restore the OSS files. For more information, see Create an OSS restore job.
Backup plan Status: Suspended
This status indicates that the backup plan is suspended. After a backup plan is suspended, Cloud Backup no longer backs up the OSS bucket. We recommend that you enable the backup plan as soon as possible.
Browse and download backup files
Browse backup files
The Browse feature lets you view backed-up files. If virus detection was performed on a backup point, Cloud Backup marks the files that are infected with a virus.
On the Backup Plans tab, click the
icon next to the target OSS bucket.In the Backup History section, find the backup point that corresponds to the desired point in time and click Browse.
Download backup files
You cannot directly download backed-up files. You can restore files to a specified temporary path in your OSS bucket and then download the files from OSS.
Extend the retention period of a backup point
To store historical data from an OSS backup for a longer period, extend the retention period of the backup point.
The retention period of a backup point can only be extended. It cannot be shortened.
The retention period of a backup point that is set to never expire cannot be extended.
On the Backup Plans tab, click the
icon next to the target OSS bucket.In the Backup History section, find the backup point whose retention period you want to extend. Set the expiration time to a specified time or select Never Expire.
Click Save.
After you extend the retention period, view the new expiration time in the Expires At column.
Virus detection
To prevent virus-infected files from being restored to your production environment, Cloud Backup provides the Backup Point Virus Detection feature. This feature helps you select a clean and safe backup point for data restoration. You can click Virus Detection to scan files for viruses. For more information, see Backup point virus detection.
Cross-region backup
To prevent regional disasters from affecting business continuity, Cloud Backup lets you create a mirror vault for a general-purpose backup vault. Data in the backup vault is automatically replicated to the mirror vault to implement cross-region geo-redundancy. You can create a mirror vault for a general-purpose backup vault that stores OSS files. For more information, see Cross-region backup.
You can create mirror vaults for general-purpose backup vaults that you create using features such as ECS file backup, SAP HANA backup, General-purpose NAS backup, on-premises NAS backup, and on-premises file backup. These vaults also support enterprise-grade features such as cross-account backup, automatic archiving, KMS encryption, and backup locking.
Related operations
You can also perform the following operations in the Actions column on the Backup Plans tab.
Operation | Description |
Backup History | View all backup records of the OSS bucket or the backup records in the last three months. |
Execute Immediately | Immediately run a backup plan. |
Edit | Modify an OSS backup plan that does not meet your requirements. |
Suspend Plan | Suspend a running backup plan. |
Resume Plan | Resume a suspended backup plan. |
Delete Plan | Delete a running backup plan. After you delete the backup plan, it no longer runs, but the backed-up data is retained. |
Alert Settings | If a backup fails or the connection to the server is lost, Cloud Backup sends alert notifications by default. For more information, see Configure an alert rule for on-premises file backup. |
Restore OSS
For more information, see Create an OSS restore job.
References
To back up many objects, use the OSS inventory feature to back up a large volume of OSS files. This method significantly improves backup efficiency and performance.
Cloud Backup provides resource plans for various backup scenarios. You can use resource plans to receive discounts and reduce costs. For more information, see Purchase resource plans.
The Cloud Backup data synchronization feature lets you synchronize many OSS files from a source to a destination.
For more information about the product, see What is Cloud Backup?.