This topic describes the terms that are used in Cloud Backup. We recommend that you get familiar with the following terms: backup source, client, region, backup plan, restore job, backup vault, automatic archiving, cross-account backup, cross-region backup, mirror vault, cross-region replication, special retention period, Key Management Service (KMS)-based encryption, immutable backup, full backup, incremental backup, and incremental-forever backup.
backup source
The data to be backed up. The data is generally stored on servers, virtual machines (VMs), or Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances.
client
The client that you install on a source server or VM to back up and restore data. You must install an appropriate client for different backup sources.
Each client supports timed retry to guarantee backup stability. This way, data can be backed up even when temporary network jitter occurs.
region
The physical location of an Alibaba Cloud data center. After a resource is created, you cannot change the region of the resource. For more information about the regions that are supported by Cloud Backup, see Supported regions.
data backup
Cloud Backup allows you to back up ECS instances, ECS-hosted databases, Object Storage Service (OSS) objects, File Storage NAS (NAS) file systems, Tablestore tables, ECS files, on-premises files, and on-premises databases. Cloud Backup provides backup vaults for you to store backup data on the cloud. You can restore data from a backup vault on the cloud to the backup source as required.
backup vault
A backup vault is used to store your backup data. It is divided into the Standard tier and the Archive tier. After data is backed up, the backup data is first stored in the Standard tier. If you enable the automatic archiving feature, the backup data is forwarded to the Archive tier based on the specified archiving policy for long-term storage at low costs.
To maximize the redundancy of your backup data, Cloud Backup uses zone-redundant storage (ZRS)-enabled backup vaults by default in regions that support ZRS-enabled backup vaults. For regions that support only locally redundant storage (LRS)-enabled backup vaults, Cloud Backup uses LRS-enabled backup vaults. You do not need to manually select a backup vault type.
ZRS-enabled backup vaults are supported in the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), China (Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), Singapore, Indonesia (Jakarta), and Germany (Frankfurt).
general-purpose backup vault
General-purpose backup vaults are used to store the backup data of the following data sources: ECS files, OSS buckets, on-premises NAS file systems, File Storage NAS (NAS) file systems, large-scale file systems, on-premises files, SAP HANA databases, and VMware VMs.
database backup vault
Database backup vaults are used to store the backup data of MySQL, Oracle, and SQL Server databases.
OSS backup vault
OSS backup vaults are used to store the backup data of OSS buckets that have a 30-day free trial period. After you switch to paid usage for a backup plan, the backup vault type changes to general-purpose backup vault.
Like a general-purpose backup vault, an OSS backup vault stores backup data only for the specified retention period. The backup data is automatically deleted after the retention period is reached.
If you do not switch to paid usage for a backup plan, the backup vault is retained for another 30 days after the 30-day free trial period expires. If you do not switch to paid usage within 30 days, the backup vault is deleted.
NAS backup vault
NAS backup vaults are used to store the backup data of File Storage NAS file systems that have a 30-day free trial period. After you switch to paid usage for a backup plan, the backup vault type changes to general-purpose backup vault.
Like a general-purpose backup vault, a NAS backup vault stores backup data only for the specified retention period. The backup data is automatically deleted after the retention period is reached.
If you do not switch to paid usage for a backup plan, the backup vault is retained for another 30 days after the 30-day free trial period expires. If you do not switch to paid usage within 30 days, the backup vault is deleted.
tablestore backup vault
Tablestore backup vaults are used to store the backup data of Tablestore databases.
container backup vault
Container backup vaults are used to store the backup data of Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) clusters.
data archiving
Cloud Backup allows you to archive on-premises NAS file systems, Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) file systems, and S3-Compatible Storage buckets to archive vaults on the cloud based on specified archiving policies. Cloud Backup allows you to graphically analyze, search and archive a large amount of data, and retrieve data as required.
LRS-enabled archive vault
The vault that is used to store archive data when you use the automatic archiving feature or archive on-premises data to the cloud.
You must restore archive data before you can access the data. The data restoration takes about 5 minutes, and you are charged for the data retrieval. LRS-enabled archive vaults are suitable for data that needs to be stored for a long period of time, such as archival data, medical images, scientific materials, and video footage.
LRS-enabled cold archive vault
The vault that is used to store cold archive data when you archive on-premises data to the cloud.
A cold archive vault provides data storage with the lowest storage costs among all storage vault types. You must restore archive data before you can access the data. The time required to restore archive data depends on the data size and the restoration mode. You are charged for the data retrieval. LRS-enabled cold archive vaults are ideal for storing cold data over an ultra-long period of time. Such data includes the data that must be retained for an extended period of time due to compliance requirements, raw data that is accumulated over an extended period of time in the big data and AI fields, retained media resources in the film and television industries, and archived videos in the online education industry.
backup plan
The plan that can be executed periodically or on schedule for a backup source. You must configure parameters for a backup plan, including the backup source, source path, backup start time, backup interval, and retention period.
restore job
The job that is used to restore data in a backup vault to the backup source or another destination. You must configure parameters for a restore job, including the recovery item, recovery destination, and recovery path.
backup start time
The time when Cloud Backup starts to perform a backup.
backup interval
The interval at which a backup is performed, such as daily, weekly, and monthly.
retention period
The time period for retaining data in a backup vault. The backup data is deleted after the retention period which starts from the time when the backup is complete.
automatic archiving
If you need to retain backup data for a long period of time and the backup data is rarely accessed, you can use the automatic archiving feature to transfer recovery points from the Standard tier to the Archive tier. This feature allows you to reduce data protection costs.
For more information about how to enable automatic archiving, see Automatic archiving.
cross-account backup
Cloud Backup allows you to back up and restore data across Alibaba Cloud accounts. The cross-account backup feature ensures that enterprises with multiple branches can centrally configure and manage backup jobs. For example, an enterprise has two independent Alibaba Cloud accounts: Account A and Account B. The enterprise needs to use Account A to back up and restore the data of Account B.
For more information, see Cross-account backup.
cross-region backup
To implement cross-region backup, you can create a remote mirror vault for a backup vault. Data in the backup vault is automatically replicated to the mirror vault. You can create a remote mirror vault for a backup vault in the following scenarios: OSS backup, NAS backup, Tablestore backup, on-premises file backup, and VMware VM backup. The capacity of the mirror vault is the same as that of the source backup vault. You are charged for the storage capacity and cross-region replication traffic.
For more information, see Cross-region backup.
mirror vault
A mirror vault is a remote repository that stores the same data as a backup vault. A mirror vault is used to implement cross-region backup.
For more information, see Cross-region backup.
cross-region replication
To implement cross-region replication for ECS instance backup, you must configure backup policies. To implement cross-region replication for other backup scenarios, you must create a remote mirror vault for a backup vault.
In ECS instance backup, you can directly replicate ECS snapshots to another region, without the need for a backup vault. In other backup scenarios, you can back up data across regions by creating a remote mirror vault for a backup vault. Data in the backup vault is automatically replicated to the mirror vault.
For more information, see Cross-region backup.
special retention period
Special retention periods are specified in a backup policy for the first backups that are generated every week, every month, and every year. Special retention periods help you implement sparse backup, reduce the number of backup copies, and meet compliance requirements for data security.
For more information about how to configure special retention periods, see Special retention periods.
KMS-based encryption
Cloud Backup provides the KMS-based encryption feature. KMS allows you to manage encryption keys on your own. You can use KMS to encrypt the data stored in backup vaults. The KMS-based encryption feature helps you meet security compliance requirements by preventing malicious data theft or unauthorized backup or restoration operations.
For more information about how to enable KMS-based encryption for a backup vault, see KMS-based encryption.
immutable backup
Cloud Backup provides the immutable backup feature. After the immutable backup feature is enabled, it cannot be disabled. The immutable backup feature is developed based on the write once, read many (WORM) technology. If you enable this feature for a backup vault, data can be written to the backup vault only once and read from the backup vault multiple times. The feature provides additional protection for your backup vaults.
For more information, see Immutable backup.
full backup
A backup strategy that backs up all data in a specified dataset. A full backup reads all the data of the dataset and stores a complete copy. The backup takes a long time and consumes a large amount of storage space. However, a complete dataset ensures faster data recovery. Note that Cloud Backup implements deduplication to ensure that the consumption of storage space is controllable.
incremental backup
A backup strategy that identifies and backs up only the data that has changed compared with the previous backup job. Changes include add, modify, and delete operations. Generally, an incremental backup takes less time than a full backup and has higher backup efficiency. However, during restoration, the system needs to trace back the backup chain to find the corresponding files, which is slow.
incremental-forever backup
A backup strategy that combines the data integrity and restoration efficiency of the full backup method, and the backup efficiency of the incremental backup method. Except for the first full backup job, each subsequent backup job backs up only the data that has changed compared with the previous backup job. After each incremental backup, Cloud Backup merges the previous backup copy and the current incremental backup data into a full copy to ensure the recovery speed. Cloud Backup uses the incremental-forever backup strategy for on-premises file backup, NAS backup, OSS backup, and ECS instance backup (based on snapshots).
restoration logic
To restore the source data, Cloud Backup reads the data at a specified backup point from the backup vault, decrypts and decompresses the data, and then writes the data back to the source system.