Cloud Backup:Back up files from an on-premises NAS

Limits

• During on-premises NAS backup and restoration, the maximum length of a single file name is 248 bytes. If a file name exceeds this limit, the backup and restoration of that file fails, and the task is marked as partially completed.

• The shared directory for an on-premises NAS backup cannot end with a dollar sign ($).

Create a backup plan to periodically back up on-premises NAS files

When you create a backup plan for the first time, use the on-premises NAS backup wizard to guide you through the process. Supported NAS types include Isilon (PowerScale) and Other. This topic uses an Isilon (PowerScale) NAS as an example.

1. Log on to the Cloud Backup console.

2. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Backup > NAS Backup.

3. On the NAS Backup page, click the Local NAS tab.

4. Click NAS Backup Wizard.

5. In the Create Backup Plan panel, configure the following parameters.

   1. Configure the backup source and click Next.

      Parameter	Description
      Backup NAS Instance	Add NAS or Select Existing NAS.
      NAS Type	The supported NAS types are as follows: Isilon (PowerScale): An Isilon NAS. Other: Other types of NAS.
      NAS Instance Name	The name of the NAS instance to back up.
      NAS Management Username	The administrative username for the NAS instance. This user must have permissions to manage the NAS file system. If the user does not have access permissions, the error message "Failed to read the source path." appears.
      NAS Management Password	The administrative password for the NAS instance.
      NAS Network Address	The network address of the NAS instance. Obtain the network address from the NAS file system administrator. Examples: 47.100.XX.XX or nas.company.com.
      NAS Management Port	The administrative port of the NAS instance. The default value is 8080. If the port is changed, obtain the new port number from the NAS file system administrator.
      NAS Share Path	The path relative to the / root directory. For example, /myshare indicates that the /myshare path is shared for subsequent data backups. To query the NAS shared directory, see How do I query the NAS shared directory?. Only uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and the following special characters are supported: ,-_=/.:\. Note In most cases, the root directory of an Apsara File Storage NAS file system that uses the NFS protocol is / after it is mounted. The root directory of a file system that uses the SMB protocol is /myshare. However, the actual mount directory may vary. Perform operations based on your actual mount directory.
      Protocol Type	NFS and SMB are supported. For example, select NFS.

      (Optional) Click Advanced Settings and then click Set Mount Parameters.

      You can select multiple mount parameters when you mount a file system. The following table describes the parameters.

      Parameter	Description
      vers	File system version. vers=3: Mounts the file system using NFS v3. vers=4: Mounts the file system using NFS v4.
      nolock	Specifies whether to enable file locking.
      proto	The protocol used to mount the file system.
      rsize	Defines the size of the data block that the client uses to read data from the file system. Recommended value: 1048576 (bytes).
      wsize	Defines the size of the data block that the client uses to write data to the file system. Recommended value: 1048576 (bytes).
      hard	If the Apsara File Storage NAS file system is temporarily unavailable, local applications that use a file on the file system stop and wait until the file system is back online. We recommend that you enable this parameter.
      timeo	The time, in tenths of a second, that the NFS client waits for a response before it retries a request to the file system. Recommended value: 600 (60 seconds).
      retrans	The number of times the NFS client retries a request. Recommended value: 2

   2. Configure a client group and click Next.

      Select the client where you installed the backup client.

      You can add multiple clients to a client group to concurrently run a backup job. To create a client group, select Create Backup Client Group, enter a custom Client Group Name, and select the clients to add to the group.

      Note

      If you want to save costs by not using the Internet for backups, in the Client Settings section, set Data Network to VPC instead of Internet.

      If you have not installed a client, see Download and activate a Linux client.

   3. Configure the backup plan and click Next.

      Important

      • If the selected region supports backup policies, you must associate the backup plan with a backup policy. Cloud Backup then periodically backs up the on-premises NAS according to the policy.

      • In the navigation pane, 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.

      1. Configure the parameters in the basic settings section as described in the following table.

         Parameter	Description
         Source Paths	Enter the file directory to back up. You can specify only one directory. Wildcard characters are not supported.
         Backup Rule	The backup rule can be one of the following: Include All Files: If you select this option, all files in the selected source path are backed up. Include Files or Exclude Files: If you select either option, in the Enter Paths box, manually enter the file list. Files will be backed up according to the rule. The file list is a subpath of the source path. The matching rules for the subpath are as follows: If the subpath starts with a forward slash (/), it is matched as a full path under the source path. For example, if the source path is /ifs/dataset and the file list is /subdir/data, the files and directories under /ifs/dataset/subdir/data are backed up (or excluded). For example, if the source path is /ifs/dataset and the file list is /abc*, the files or directories that have the prefix abc under /ifs/dataset/abc are backed up (or excluded). If the subpath does not start with a forward slash (/), it is matched as a relative path under the source path. Any subpath that matches the rule is a hit. For example, if the source path is /ifs/dataset and the file list is abc*, the files or directories that have the prefix abc under /ifs/dataset are backed up (or excluded). For example, if the source path is /ifs/dataset and the file list is abc, all files or directories named abc under /ifs/dataset are backed up (or excluded).
         Backup Policy	Select a backup policy from the drop-down list. Cloud Backup automatically backs up the data source according to the backup policy you set. A backup policy defines operations such as the encryption method for the backup vault, backup interval, retention period, cross-region replication policy, automatic data archiving, and virus scan for backup points. This helps you flexibly manage your data source assets. If the default backup policy does not meet your needs, click Create Policy or Edit Policy to manage your backup policies. For more information about the parameters in a backup policy, see Policy center.

      2. (Optional) Click Advanced Settings and configure the parameters as described in the following table.

         Parameter	Description
         Switch to full backup when incremental backup fails	If you enable this option, the system automatically performs a full backup when an incremental backup fails. An incremental backup may fail for the following reasons: The include or exclude file filtering rules were modified. The data from the last backup in the backup vault has expired. The snapshot created for Isilon during the last backup was deleted.
         Backup Sub-task Slice Size	A client group can contain multiple clients to run a backup job concurrently. Setting the sub-task slice size assigns at least the specified number of files to a single client for backup.

      To create more backup plans after the first backup job is complete, go to the NAS Instance tab, find the target NAS instance, and click Create Backup Plan in the Actions column. Then, configure the parameters as described in the preceding steps.

   After a backup plan is created, its Plan Status is set to Enabled. Cloud Backup then runs NAS backup jobs according to the specified start time and backup interval.

Successful backup

• When the scheduled backup time arrives, Cloud Backup starts and runs the backup job.

  Note

  The 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.

  Note

  For 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 NAS Instance tab, click the icon next to the target NAS instance to view the backup records and the generated backup points in the Backup History section. You can then use these historical backup points to restore files from the on-premises NAS.

  

Browse and download backup files

• Browse backup files

  The Browse feature lets you browse backed-up files. If a virus scan was performed on the backup point you are browsing, Cloud Backup marks the infected files.

  1. On the NAS Instance tab, click the icon next to the target NAS file system.

  2. In the Backup History section, find the backup point from the desired point in time and click Browse in the Actions column.

  

• Download backup files

  You cannot directly download backed-up files. You can restore the files to a specified temporary NAS path, which is free of charge, and then download the files from the NAS.

Extend the retention period of a backup point

To store historical data from an on-premises NAS backup for a longer period, extend the retention period of the backup point.

1. On the NAS Instance tab, click the icon next to the target NAS file system.

2. In the Backup History section, click the retention period of the historical backup point that you want to extend. Set Specify Time or select Never Expire.

   

3. Click Save.

Virus scan

To prevent files that contain viruses from being restored to your production environment, the Cloud Backup service provides the Backup Point Virus Detection feature. This feature lets you select clean and safe backup points for data restoration. Click Virus Detection to check for viruses. For more information, see Virus scan for backup points.

Cross-region backup

To ensure business continuity in the event of a regional disaster, Cloud Backup lets you create a mirror vault in a different region for a backup vault whose Storage Vault Type is General Backup or Tablestore Backup. For a general backup vault that stores on-premises NAS files, you can create a mirror vault to implement cross-region disaster recovery. After the mirror vault is created, data from the source backup vault is automatically replicated to the mirror vault to ensure data consistency between the two regions. You can also perform cross-region data restoration from the mirror vault when needed. For more information, see Cross-region backup. In addition, on-premises NAS backup supports enterprise-level features such as cross-account backup, automatic data archiving, KMS encryption, backup lock, and virus scan for backup points.

Troubleshooting

If the Status of a backup plan or backup job is abnormal, refer to the following suggestions.

• Follow the instructions on the UI to check and correct the configuration.

• The Status of the backup job is Failed with the message: The file system failed to be mounted. Make sure that the mount configuration of the data source is correct and the mount target exists. Make sure that the mount program exists on the Cloud Backup client.

  1. Check whether the NAS shared directory is configured correctly.

  2. The backup client is not configured correctly or its dependencies are not installed. To reconfigure the backup client, see Install a backup client.

  3. If the network path for mounting an SMB NAS does not exist, obtain the specific error code from the log file. Then, refer to the Microsoft documentation center to find a solution.

     Note

     The default installation paths for the client are as follows. Use the actual installation path on your system.

     • Windows log path: Local Disk (C) > Program Files > Aliyun Hybrid Backup Service Client > logs

     • Linux log path: /opt/alibabacloud/hbrclient/logs

• The Status of the backup plan is Suspended.

  The backup plan has been paused. After a plan is paused, Cloud Backup no longer backs up the on-premises NAS. We recommend that you enable the backup plan as soon as possible.

References

• Back up a General-purpose NAS file system

• Back up an Alibaba Cloud Extreme NAS file system

• Cloud Backup provides resource plans for various backup scenarios. These plans offer discounts to help you minimize costs. For more information, see Resource plan purchase guide.

• The data synchronization feature of Cloud Backup lets you synchronize large volumes of NAS files from a source to a destination.

• What is Cloud Backup?