Cloud Backup:Overview

Introduction

On-premises NAS backup is a high-efficiency and low-cost data protection solution provided by Cloud Backup for on-premises NAS file systems. Cloud Backup supports common file storage protocols such as Network File System (NFS), Common Internet File System (CIFS), and Server Message Block (SMB). Cloud Backup provides advanced data protection capabilities such as multi-node concurrent scanning, storage API integration, and deduplication and compression. Cloud Backup allows you to efficiently back up a large number of on-premises NAS files to the cloud. To back up data, you only need to perform a few operations in the Cloud Backup console. The backup solution offers high performance and low costs. In the Cloud Backup console, you can restore data that is accidentally deleted from your on-premises NAS file system. This ensures data security.

Benefits

• Simple configurations

  You can deploy lightweight backup clients on virtual machines or physical machines in an on-premises data center without specific hardware. You can configure scheduled backup plans in the Cloud Backup console.

• High backup performance

  Cloud Backup allows multiple clients to concurrently back up a NAS file system. This greatly improves backup efficiency. For Isilon (Power Scale), a distributed storage solution of Dell EMC, Cloud Backup integrates storage-native APIs to greatly reduce the performance overhead caused by the backup client.

• Deduplication and compression

  When Cloud Backup backs up data from a source NAS file system, the Cloud Backup client compresses and deduplicates the data. This minimizes the bandwidth of backing up data to the cloud and 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.

• Geo-redundancy

  If you need to back up data to a remote location, you can create a mirror vault for a backup vault to quickly protect critical data.

How it works

You need to perform the following steps:

1. Install and activate the Cloud Backup client on virtual machines or physical machines in your on-premises data center.

2. Log on to the Cloud Backup console to add a NAS data source.

3. Use the installed Cloud Backup client to back up the specified files on the NAS file system.

When a backup plan is running, the Cloud Backup client scans the specified folders to identify the NAS files to be backed up, compresses and deduplicates the source data, and then uploads incremental data to the cloud. If multiple clients are installed, you can back up NAS data in parallel to improve backup performance.

Cloud Backup uses a permanent incremental backup mechanism. 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 on the cloud to minimize network and storage consumption.

Cloud Backup allows you to back up data to Alibaba Cloud over the Internet, virtual private networks (VPNs), or Express Connect circuits. If you back up data over the Internet, you must make sure that the server on which the Cloud Backup client is installed can access the Internet. You do not need to expose the IP address of the server to the Internet.

Procedure

The following procedure shows how to back up on-premises NAS files in the Cloud Backup console.

1. Activate Cloud Backup

   You are not charged for activating Cloud Backup. You are charged for the Cloud Backup client that you use to back up files and the storage usage of backup vaults. For more information, see Billing methods and billable items.

2. Install the Cloud Backup client

   A backup client is used to establish communication and control services between your on-premises server and Cloud Backup.

3. Back up on-premises NAS files

   When you create a backup plan, configure the backup vault, source path, backup cycle, and retention period. Cloud Backup starts the backup plan and continuously backs up files from the specified NAS file system.

   Important

   • After you create a backup plan, the first backup job performs a full backup and subsequent backup jobs perform incremental backups.

   • 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 on-premises NAS files 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.

4. Restore files to an on-premises NAS file system

   If an exception occurs in an on-premises NAS file system, you can restore files to the source NAS file system or a new on-premises NAS file system based on the backup points that are created and the time when the backup points are created. You can view backed-up files at any time.

Billing

You are charged for the backup of on-premises NAS files based on the following billable items:

Storage usage: 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.

Traffic fees are calculated based on the data volume.

What to do next

• Learn about how to back up on-premises NAS files. For more information, see Back up files from an on-premises NAS file system.

• View answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQ). For more information, see On-premises backup FAQ.

• Learn about the best practices of Cloud Backup. For more information, see Best Practices.