This topic describes the features of Cloud Backup for ECS database backup, including its benefits, how it works, procedures, fees, and supported database versions.
Introduction
The Database Backup feature for ECS is a data protection solution from Alibaba Cloud Cloud Backup for self-managed databases on ECS instances. This feature backs up database data to a Cloud Backup backup vault in a simple, secure, and reliable way. This ensures that you can fully recover data from the Cloud Backup backup vault if your database system or its ECS instance fails, a logic error occurs, or your database is infected by a virus.
Cloud Backup does not support backing up databases that are deployed in containers.
The MySQL backup feature does not support backing up multiple MySQL instances on a single machine, such as a local server or an ECS instance.
Key benefits
Low cost
Cloud Backup does not charge fees for instance configuration. You are charged only for backup storage based on the capacity used after deduplication and compression.
Excellent performance
Backup jobs consume minimal resources, typically less than 0.5 CPU cores and 100 MB of memory. The feature provides excellent backup performance and offers near-zero recovery point objective (RPO) real-time backups for MySQL and Oracle.
Wide support
It supports major versions of MySQL, Oracle, and SQL Server.
Simple configuration
After you grant permissions, Cloud Backup automatically detects databases on your ECS instances and then pushes and installs the backup client.
Automatic alerts
You can configure alerts for failed jobs in the Cloud Backup console. Alerts can be sent by email, text message, or phone call.
Backup lock to prevent accidental deletion
Cloud Backup provides a backup lock feature for backup vaults. This feature prevents backup data from being deleted by any account or method before the specified retention period expires.
How it works
You can specify the ECS instances that you want to back up in the Cloud Backup console. Cloud Backup automatically pushes the backup client to the ECS instances. Ensure that Cloud Assistant is installed on the ECS instances. The backup client backs up the specified databases on the ECS instances based on the backup plan.
When a backup job runs, the Cloud Backup client uses the native backup component of the database to run backup instructions on the specified database instance. The client reads the backup data, deduplicates and compresses it, and then uploads it to a Cloud Backup backup vault to complete the backup.
Procedure
The following procedure shows how to back up an ECS-hosted database in the Cloud Backup console.
The procedures for backing up MySQL, Oracle, and SQL Server databases that are hosted on ECS instances are basically the same. In this example, a MySQL database is backed up.
Cloud Backup registers databases based on username and password. To back up a MySQL or SQL Server database, you must obtain the username and password from the database administrator. Oracle databases can be registered without passwords.
You are not charged for activating Cloud Backup. You are charged for the rental and storage usage of backup vaults. You are not charged for using a vault in the first 30 days. You are charged after the free-trial period ends. You are charged for the backup storage based on the storage space occupied by the data that is deduplicated and compressed. A free capacity of 100 GB is provided for each backup vault per month. After the free quota is used up, you are charged based on tiered pricing. For more information, see Billing methods and billable items.
Register a database in the Cloud Backup console. Cloud Backup automatically installs a backup client on the ECS instance that hosts the database. Cloud Backup can discover the database that you want to back up only after you register the database. You are not charged for using Cloud Backup if you only register a database in the Cloud Backup console.
To ensure that your database can be backed up as expected, Cloud Backup provides the precheck feature to identify issues that may cause backup failure.
When you create a backup plan, configure the backup vault, data source, backup cycle, retention period, and backup policies (such as full backup and incremental backup). Cloud Backup starts the backup plan and continuously backs up data from the specified database.
You are not charged for restoring a database. If a database exception occurs, you can restore the data of the database to the source database or another registered database within the same account in the same region based on recovery points.
Fees
Cloud Backup for ECS databases incurs the following two types of fees:
Database backup vault fees
You must create backup vaults for your databases. Multiple databases in a region can share a backup vault. Each backup vault includes a specific amount of free capacity. For pricing details, see Pricing details.
Database backup storage fees
Each database backup vault includes 100 GB of free capacity. You are charged for storage usage that exceeds this free quota. This charge is based on the storage space that the deduplicated and compressed data occupies. For pricing details, see Pricing Details.
In addition, Cloud Backup charges the following fees for specific configurations or operations:
Geo-redundancy fees: If you use the mirror vault feature to replicate data from a backup vault in one Alibaba Cloud region to another region for geo-redundancy, you are charged storage fees for the mirror vault and cross-region data replication traffic fees. The storage capacity and pricing of the mirror vault are the same as those of the source backup vault.
What to do next
To learn how to back up ECS databases, see Register a MySQL database (ECS), Register an Oracle database (ECS), and Register a SQL Server database (ECS).
See the FAQ for answers to common questions.
Learn about the best practices of Cloud Backup. For more information, see Best practices.