This topic describes how to use Cloud Backup to back up the data of an Apsara File Storage NAS file system. After you back up the data, you can restore the data at the earliest opportunity if the data is lost or damaged.
Prerequisites
Apsara File Storage NAS file system is created. For more information, see Create a General-purpose NAS file system.
Background information
Unless otherwise specified, NAS in this topic refers to Apsara File Storage NAS.
Cloud Backup allows you to back up NFS and SMB file shares regardless of whether NAS file systems are mounted. Cloud Backup uses an efficient backup mechanism that scans files in NAS file systems. This eliminates the need to create snapshots for NAS file systems.
NAS backup does not support the access control list (ACL) feature of NAS SMB file systems. For more information about the ACL feature, see Overview of the SMB ACL feature.
If you do not have the required permissions to back up an NAS SMB file system by using Cloud Backup, the backup operation fails. In this case, we recommend that you grant Cloud Backup the required permissions on an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance. For more information, see Grant the Cloud Backup client the permissions to read data from an SMB file system in NAS.
You can also back up NAS file systems by using an Cloud Backup client for ECS file backup. For more information, see Overview (Back up NFS NAS file systems using ECS file backup).
Create a backup plan
We recommend that you include no more than 50 million files in each NAS backup job and no more than 8 million files and subdirectories in each directory.
To back up files in a NAS file system to a backup vault in the same region as the file system, perform the following steps:
Log on to the Cloud Backup console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Alibaba NAS tab, click Create Backup Plan.
In the Create Backup Plan panel, configure the parameters and then click OK.
NoteThe first time you use Cloud Backup, you can apply for a 30-day free trial of backup plans. The free trial period starts from the day when a backup plan is created. Free backup plans do not support backup policies. Only paid backup plans support backup policies.
Configure the basic parameters described in the following table.
Parameter
Description
File System
The NAS file system that you want to back up.
Pay After Trial Ends
Specifies whether to pay for the backup plan after the free trial ends.
Click Switch to Paid Plan to configure the advanced parameters. The following table describes the advanced parameters.
ImportantIf the selected region supports backup policies, you can set a backup plan only by associating it with a backup policy. Cloud Backup periodically backs up the NAS file system based on the backup policy.
To view the regions that support backup policies, click Policy Center in the left-side navigation pane of the Cloud Backup console. For more information about how to create a backup policy, see Create a backup policy.
Parameter
Description
Backup Vault
The backup vault to which you want to store the backup data. Valid values:
Create Vault: If you select this option, specify a name for the backup vault in the Vault Name field. If you do not configure this parameter, a random name is specified.
Select Vault: If you select this option, select a backup vault from the Vault Name drop-down list.
ImportantAfter you create a backup vault and store backup data, you are charged for the usage of the backup vault. For more information, see Billing methods and billable items.
To maximize the redundancy of your backup data, Cloud Backup uses ZRS-enabled backup vaults by default in regions that support ZRS-enabled backup vaults. If only LRS-enabled backup vaults are available in the region where the backup vaults are located, Cloud Backup uses LRS-enabled backup vaults. You do not need to manually select a backup vault type.
Vault Name
The name of the backup vault.
Vault Resource Group
This parameter is required only if the Backup Vault parameter is set to Create Vault. This parameter specifies the resource group to which the backup vault belongs.
You can use resource groups to manage resources owned by your Alibaba Cloud account. Resource groups help you simplify the resource and permission management of your Alibaba Cloud account. For more information, see Create a resource group.
Backup Vault Encryption Method
This parameter is required only if the Backup Vault parameter is set to Create Vault. This parameter specifies the method that is used to encrypt the data in the backup vault.
Cloud Backup-managed (default): You can use the default encryption method of Cloud Backup.
KMS: You can use Key Management Service (KMS) to encrypt the data that is stored in the backup vault. If you select this option, you must specify the KMS KeyId parameter.
ImportantIf you enable KMS-based encryption, you cannot modify a KMS key.
Before you can use the KMS key to encrypt the data in the backup vault, you must create a key ID in the KMS console. For more information, see Create a CMK.
Plan Name
The name of the backup plan. If you do not configure this parameter, a random name is specified.
Source Paths
The path to the folder that you want to back up, for example,
/nas/folder
.Start Time
The time at which the backup plan starts. The time is accurate to seconds.
Backup Interval
The interval at which Cloud Backup performs incremental backups. Units: days or weeks.
Retention Policy
The retention policy for the backup data. Valid values:
Limited (default): The backup data is retained for a specified period of time. If you select Limited, you must configure the Retention Period parameter.
Permanent: The backup data is permanently retained.
Retention Period
This parameter is required only if the Retention Policy parameter is set to Limited. This parameter specifies the period of time for which the backup data is retained. By default, the backup data is retained for 1 week. Unit: days, weeks, months, or years.
Keep At Least One Backup Version
We recommend that you turn on the switch. If you turn on the switch, the latest backup version generated by the backup plan is not deleted due to the expiration of the retention period or accidental operations. This prevents the risk that no backup version is available for restoration due to reasons such as improper backup plan settings. For more information, see Keep at least one backup version.
After you create a backup plan, Cloud Backup backs up files in the source NAS file system from the specified start time at the specified interval.
You can perform the following operations in the Actions column on the Backup Plans tab:
Backup History: View all the backup records of the file system or the backup records in the recent three months.
: Immediately start a backup job.
: Suspend a running backup job. To resume a suspended backup job, choose .
: Modify a backup plan.
: Delete a backup plan. After you delete the backup plan, Cloud Backup no longer runs backup jobs for the backup plan but retains the backup data.
:
Alert Notification Method
Description
Disabled
If you select this option, Cloud Backup does not send alert notifications.
Same as Backup Vault
If you select this option, Cloud Backup sends alert notifications by using the same method configured for the backup vault.
Notify Alibaba Cloud Account
Cloud Backup sends alert notifications to the owner of the Alibaba Cloud account by using emails.
Custom
If you select this option, you must select one or more alert contacts or alert contact groups. Cloud Backup sends alert notifications to the alert contacts and alert contact groups that you select.
NoteYou can view the progress of each backup job on the backUpTask tab. After a backup job is completed, you can restore the backup data of the source NAS file system to the same or a different NAS file system.
Create a restore job
To restore a NAS file system within the same region, perform the following steps:
On the Restore Jobs tab, click Create Restore Job.
In the Create Restore Job panel, configure the following parameters.
Select the backup that you want to restore, and click Next.
Parameter
Description
Source Vault
The backup vault where the backup data that you want to restore is stored.
Source File System
The source NAS file system. Select a NAS file system that has been backed up by using Cloud Backup.
Backup
Select the backup that you want to restore.
In the Select Restore Items step, configure the Restore Items parameter and click Next.
Parameter
Description
Restore Items
Select the files or directories that you want to restore. Valid values:
Include All Files: Cloud Backup restores all backup files from the source NAS file system.
Include Files: Select the files or folders that you want to restore. You can also click Enter Paths to specify the files that you want to restore.
Exclude Files: Select the files or folders that you do not want to restore. You can also click Enter Paths to specify the files that you do not want to restore.
Enter one path in each line and make sure that each path starts with the lowest-level directory in the source path. For example, to restore the file.txt file and the abc folder in the /test/data directory, enter the following paths:
/data/file.txt /data/abc
In the Restore Destination step, select a File System in the specified region and click Next.
In the Destination Path step, specify the recovery path and click Create.
Parameter
Description
Restore Path Type
The type of the recovery path.
Specify Path: Specify a new path and restore the file system to the path.
Origin Path: Restore the file system to the original path.
Destination Path
This parameter is required only if the Restore Path Type parameter is set to Specify Path. This parameter specifies the path to which the file system is restored. For example, you can restore the file system to /nas/abc.
File Conflict Policy
Skip This File
Overwrite The File
Keep Latest File
After the restore job is created, you can view the progress of the restore job in the Status column on the Restore Jobs tab.
Create a remote mirror vault for the backup vault
A backup vault is a repository that Cloud Backup uses to store backup data in the cloud. To implement disaster recovery, you can create a remote mirror vault for a backup vault and back up data from the backup vault to the mirror vault.
To back up data to a mirror vault, perform the following steps:
Log on to the Cloud Backup console.
In the left-side navigation panel, click Overview. On the Overview page, select a region, for example, China (Hangzhou). Find the backup vault for which you want to create a mirror vault and click Cross-Region Backup in the upper-right corner of the backup vault section.
In the Create Mirror Vault panel, configure the parameters and then click Create. The following table describes the parameters.
NoteYou can create only one mirror vault for each backup vault.
You can back up data to a remote mirror vault and restore backup data from the mirror vault. However, you cannot create backup plans for the mirror vault. The historical backup data stored in the source backup vault is synchronized to a mirror vault 90 minutes after the mirror vault is created.
When a mirror vault is created, the mirror vault contains all the backup data that is stored in the source backup vault.
Parameter
Description
Region
The region where the mirror vault resides.
Vault Name
The name of the mirror vault.
Description
The description of the mirror vault.
After you create a mirror vault, you can view the progress of data synchronization. After the data is synchronized, you can restore the data in a NAS file system from the mirror vault.
Restore data from a remote mirror vault
A backup vault is a repository that Cloud Backup uses to store backup data in the cloud. To implement disaster recovery, you can restore data from a remote mirror vault to a NAS file system. Perform the following steps:
On the NAS Backup page, select the region where the mirror vault resides and select a file system.
Click the Restore Jobs tab. Then, click Create Restore Job.
In the Select Backup step of the Create Restore Job panel, configure the parameters.
You must select the mirror vault from the Source Vault drop-down list. The name of a mirror vault is prefixed by [COPY]. When you configure other parameters, you can follow the requirements for the parameters that you configured for the Backup Vault in the Create a restore job step.
What to do next
On the Backup Plans tab, click Manage Mounts. In the Manage Mounts panel, you can perform the following operations:
View all the file systems for which you have created backup plans in the selected region: You can click a file system to view the information of the NAS file system. The information includes the protocol type and the number of mount targets.
Remove Mount Target: After you create a backup plan for a NAS file system, Cloud Backup creates a mount target for the file system. You cannot directly delete the mount target in the console because it is created by using an internal service of Alibaba Cloud. If you want to delete a mount target, find the file system in the Manage Mounts panel and click Remove Mount Target in the Actions column. After the mount target is deleted, the backup jobs that are running fail. Before you delete the mount target, make sure that all backup plans are deleted and no backup jobs or restore jobs of the file system are running.