This topic describes how to create an automatic snapshot policy in the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) console.
Prerequisites
The snapshot service is activated. For more information, see Activate ECS Snapshot.
Procedure
Log on to the ECS console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
In the upper-left corner of the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Snapshots page, click the Automatic Snapshot Policies tab.
On the Automatic Snapshot Policies tab, click Create Automatic Snapshot Policy.
In the Create Automatic Snapshot Policy dialog box, configure the parameters described in the following table.
Parameter
Description
Policy Name
The name of the automatic snapshot policy.
Execution Frequency
The days of the week on which to create automatic snapshots. You can select one or more days from Monday to Sunday.
Execution Time
The on-the-hour points in time at which to create automatic snapshots. You can select one or more on-the-hour points in time from 00:00 to 23:00.
NoteAutomatic snapshots are created within one hour after the points in time specified by Execution Time.
When a snapshot is being created for an Elastic Block Storage (EBS) device, the I/O performance of the device degrades by up to 10%. This can result in a transient I/O speed decrease. We recommend that you create automatic snapshots during off-peak hours.
Retention Period
The retention period of automatic snapshots. Default value: Until Deleted. You can also specify a custom retention period. After the retention period of an automatic snapshot ends, the system automatically deletes the snapshot.
Custom Period: Specify a retention period. Unit: day. Valid values: 1 to 65535.
Until Deleted: Created automatic snapshots are retained based on the number of automatic snapshots. After the maximum number of automatic snapshots is reached, the oldest snapshot is automatically deleted when a new snapshot is created.
NoteIf the snapshot is three days away from being released, Released After {days} Days is displayed in the Retention Period column corresponding to the snapshot on the Disk Snapshots tab.
After an automatic snapshot is created, you can click the icon in the Retention Period column corresponding to the snapshot or choose > Extend Retention Period in the Actions column to extend the retention period based on your business requirements.
If you modify the Retention Period parameter when you modify the automatic snapshot policy, the new retention period takes effect only for new automatic snapshots. For information about how to modify an automatic snapshot policy, see Modify an automatic snapshot policy. For example, after you change the Retention Period value from 20 days to 10 days, new snapshots that will be created based on the policy will be retained for 10 days, whereas existing snapshots that were created based on the policy are still retained for 20 days.
Tag
The tags of the automatic snapshot policy. Automatic snapshots created based on the automatic snapshot policy have the specified tags added. Select existing tag keys and values, or enter new tag keys and values. For more information about tags, see Overview.
You can modify the tags of an automatic snapshot policy after the policy is created. For more information, see Edit the tags of an automatic snapshot policy.
Resource Group
The resource group to which the automatic snapshot policy belongs. For more information about resource groups, see Resource groups.
Cross-region Snapshot Replication
After you select Enable, you must specify the Destination Region and Retention Period of Snapshot Copies parameters.
If you enable cross-region snapshot replication, automatic snapshots that are created based on the automatic snapshot policy are automatically copied to the destination region. You are charged for the data transfers for copying the snapshots. For information about how to copy snapshots, see Copy a snapshot. For information about snapshot billing, see Snapshots.
NoteThe cross-region snapshot replication feature cannot be used to create encrypted snapshot copies in the destination region. If you want to copy encrypted snapshots across regions, we recommend that you copy automatic snapshots to the destination region and select Copy and Encrypt to encrypt snapshot copies. For more information, see Copy a snapshot.
Destination Region
The region to which you want to copy the snapshots.
Retention Period of Snapshot Copies
The retention period of snapshot copies in the destination region.
Custom Period: Specify a retention period for the snapshot copies. Unit: day. Valid values: 1 to 65535.
Until Deleted: Snapshot copies are retained based on the number of snapshots. After the maximum number is reached, the oldest snapshot is automatically deleted once a new snapshot is created.
Click OK.
What to do next
We recommend that you specify disks to enable an automatic snapshot policy immediately after the policy is created. For more information, see Enable or disable an automatic snapshot policy.
You can modify the automatic snapshot policy based on your business requirements. For more information, see Modify an automatic snapshot policy.