Snapshot is a frequently used feature for data backup and disaster recovery purposes. You are charged snapshot storage fees based on the size of the snapshots. This topic describes how to reduce snapshot fees based on the number of snapshots.
Maintain an appropriate number of snapshots
You are charged snapshot storage fees based on the size of the snapshots. More snapshots require more storage space and result in higher snapshot fees. We recommend that you maintain an appropriate number of snapshots based on your business requirements. The following table describes how often snapshots are created in different scenarios and recommends retention periods for the scenarios.
| Scenario | How often snapshots are created | Retention period | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core application | Once every day or every other day | Several months or longer | We recommend that you create and store snapshots based on the importance of the data. |
| Non-core application | Once every week or every other week | Several days or weeks | We recommend that you create and store snapshots based on the importance of the data. |
| System disk | Whenever needed | One or two snapshots | We recommend that you do not store critical application data in the system disk. |
| Software upgrade | Delete snapshots immediately after they are used. | We recommend that you delete snapshots immediately after they are used to reduce fees. | |
| Modification of critical files | |||
| Migration of application data | |||
| Test environment |
Delete snapshots
When you want to free up space or when the maximum number of snapshots has been reached, you can delete snapshots that are no longer needed. For more information, see Delete a snapshot.
Disable unnecessary automatic snapshot policies
You can disable snapshot policies that are no longer needed to prevent redundant snapshots and reduce the amount of storage space used by snapshots. This reduces snapshot fees. For more information, see Enable or disable an automatic snapshot policy.
Note To improve fault tolerance, we recommend that you retain at least one snapshot policy for core services.
We recommend that you purchase Storage capacity units to offset the storage fees of snapshots.
For information about snapshot billing, see Snapshots.