You can apply automatic snapshot policies to cloud disks. When the policy is applied, snapshots are created based on the settings of the automatic snapshot policy.

Prerequisites

You have created at least one automatic snapshot policy. For more information, see Create an automatic snapshot policy.

Method 1: Apply or disable an automatic snapshot policy on the Snapshots page

On the Snapshots page of the ECS console, you can apply or disable an automatic snapshot policy on the system disk or a data disk.

  1. Log on to the ECS console.
  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Storage & Snapshots > Snapshots.
  3. In the top navigation bar, select a region.
  4. On the Snapshots page, click the Automatic Snapshot Policies tab.
  5. On the Automatic Snapshot Policies page, find the automatic snapshot policy to be applied and click Apply Policy in the Actions column.
  6. On the Create Automatic Snapshot Policy page, click the Disks without Policy Applied tab.
    • The procedure to apply an automatic snapshot policy: Click the Disks without Policy Applied tab. Find the disk to which you want to apply the automatic snapshot policy and click Apply Policy. Alternatively, select multiple disks and click Apply Policy at the bottom of the page.
      Apply an automatic snapshot policy
    • The procedure to disable an automatic snapshot policy: Click the Disks with Policy Applied tab. Find the disk to which the automatic snapshot policy is applied and click Disable Policy. Alternatively, select multiple disks and click Disable Policy at the bottom of the page.
      Disable an automatic snapshot policy
  7. In the upper-right corner of the Create Automatic Snapshot Policy page, click the Cancel icon to finish this process.

Method 2: Apply an automatic snapshot policy when creating an instance

When creating an ECS instance, you can apply an existing automatic snapshot policy to the system disk or a data disk.

  1. Log on to the ECS console.
  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Instances & Images > Instances.
  3. In the upper-right corner of the Instances page, click Create Instance. For more information about how to create an ECS instance, see Create an instance by using the wizard.
    In the Storage section of the Basic Configurations page, select Apply Automatic Snapshot Policy for the system disk or a data disk and then select an automatic snapshot policy.

Method 3: Apply an automatic snapshot policy when creating a cloud disk

You can apply an automatic snapshot policy to a cloud disk when the disk is being created.

  1. Log on to the ECS console.
  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Storage & Snapshots > Disks.
  3. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Create Disk. For more information about how to create a cloud disk, see Create a Pay-As-You-Go cloud disk or Create a Subscription cloud disk.
    Select Apply Automatic Snapshot Policy and then an automatic snapshot policy.

Method 4: Apply or disable an automatic snapshot policy on the Disks page

On the Disks page of the ECS console, you can apply or disable an automatic snapshot policy on the system disk or a data disk.

  1. Log on to the ECS console.
  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Storage & Snapshots > Disks.
  3. In the top navigation bar, select a region.
  4. Find the automatic snapshot policy to be applied or disabled and click Create Automatic Snapshot Policy in the Actions column.
  5. On the Create Automatic Snapshot Policy dialog box that appears, turn on or off the Automatic Snapshot Policy switch.
  6. Click OK.

Result

After you apply or disable an automatic snapshot policy on the system disk or a data disk, you can view the changed number in the Applied Disks column on the Automatic Snapshot Policies page.

At the scheduled creation time, a snapshot with the auto2.0 prefix will be added. Snapshots created with automatic snapshot policies use a uniform auto2.0_yyyyMMdd_SnapshotPolicyId naming format. For example, the auto2.0_20170731_sp-m5e2w2jutw8bv31***** name indicates that the automatic snapshot was created on July 31, 2017.
  • auto2.0: indicates an automatic snapshot.
  • yyyyMMdd: the date when the snapshot is created. yyyy stands for year, MM for month, and dd for day.
  • SnapshotPolicyId: the ID of the automatic snapshot policy used.