View or reduce data backups - Data Management - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Backup costs in Data Disaster Recovery (DBS) are driven by how much data you back up each month. This page shows you how to check your current backup usage and reduce it through five actionable methods.

Backup data size = Full backup data size + Incremental backup data size

If your total backup data size stays within the monthly free quota, no additional backup fees apply. Any usage beyond the quota is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. If you use Data Disaster Recovery built-in storage pools, storage fees apply. For pricing details, see Pricing.

Important

Backup data size is the cumulative traffic generated by each backup run in the current month. Even if a backup set is deleted because the amount of backup data reaches the upper limit, the actual backup data size is not reduced.

View backup data size

Log on to the Data Management (DMS) console V5.0.
In the top navigation bar, choose Security and Specifications (DBS) > Disaster Recovery for Data (DBS) > Backup Plan.

Note
In simple mode, move the pointer over the icon in the upper-left corner and choose All Features > Security and Specifications (DBS) > Disaster Recovery for Data (DBS) > Backup Plan.
Click the name of the backup schedule to open the Configure Task page.
In the Billing Information section, check the full backup data size and the incremental backup data size.
Note
- If incremental backup data size shows 0, the likely causes are:
  - Incremental backup has always been disabled. To enable it, see Enable or disable incremental log backup.
  - Incremental backup is enabled, but no incremental data has been generated and historical incremental data has been cleared.

Reduce backup data size

Reducing backup data size lowers costs, but may affect the continuity or integrity of your backup data. To maintain reliable restore coverage, keep full backups at a frequency appropriate to your recovery needs.

Important

These methods apply only to backup schedules created in the Data Disaster Recovery console and those auto-generated for ApsaraDB RDS instances connected to the console. They do not apply to backup schedules generated for cross-region ApsaraDB RDS backups. For details, see the FAQ about Data Disaster Recovery.

The following methods reduce backup data size. You can combine multiple approaches for greater savings:

Method	How it reduces size	Restore impact
Delete a full backup set manually	Removes one specific backup set immediately	Loses restore points covered by that set
Shorten the retention period	Older backup sets are deleted automatically when they expire	Loses restore points older than the new period
Reduce full backup frequency	Fewer backup runs per month means less total traffic	Wider gaps between restore points
Remove data before a full backup	Excluded data is not captured in the next full backup run	No direct impact on existing restore points
Disable incremental backup	Stops incremental traffic; historical incremental data is cleared after the retention period expires	Point-in-time restore is no longer available between full backups

Delete a full backup set manually

Remove a specific full backup set to free up storage.

Log on to the Data Management (DMS) console V5.0.
In the top navigation bar, choose Security and Specifications (DBS) > Disaster Recovery for Data (DBS) > Backup Plan.

Note
In simple mode, move the pointer over the icon in the upper-left corner and choose All Features > Security and Specifications (DBS) > Disaster Recovery for Data (DBS) > Backup Plan.
Click the name of the backup schedule.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Backup Tasks > Full Data.
Find the full backup set and click Delete Backup Set in the Actions column. For details, see Delete a backup set.

Shorten the retention period

Backup sets are automatically deleted when their retention period expires. Setting a shorter period reduces long-term storage accumulation.

Warning

Reducing the retention period removes restore points older than the new period. Backup sets that fall outside the new retention window are deleted automatically.

Log on to the Data Management (DMS) console V5.0.
In the top navigation bar, choose Security and Specifications (DBS) > Disaster Recovery for Data (DBS) > Backup Plan.

Note
In simple mode, move the pointer over the icon in the upper-left corner and choose All Features > Security and Specifications (DBS) > Disaster Recovery for Data (DBS) > Backup Plan.
Click the name of the backup schedule to open the Configure Task page.
In the Lifecycle Information section, click Edit Lifecycle and set a retention period between 7 and 3,650 days.

Reduce full backup frequency

Fewer full backup runs per month means less total backup traffic.

Log on to the Data Management (DMS) console V5.0.
In the top navigation bar, choose Security and Specifications (DBS) > Disaster Recovery for Data (DBS) > Backup Plan.

Note
In simple mode, move the pointer over the icon in the upper-left corner and choose All Features > Security and Specifications (DBS) > Disaster Recovery for Data (DBS) > Backup Plan.
Click the name of the backup schedule to open the Configure Task page.
In the Basic Information section, click Backup Time and Advanced Settings and reduce the full backup frequency based on your business requirements.

Remove data before a full backup

Delete or migrate data that does not need to be backed up before triggering a full backup. That data is excluded from the backup run and does not count toward your backup data size.

Disable incremental backup

Disabling incremental backup stops new incremental data from accumulating. The system automatically clears historical incremental data after the retention period expires.