You can use Hybrid Backup Recovery (HBR) to back up files from Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances and restore the files as needed. This topic describes how to prepare for data backup.

Usage notes

  • To optimize the backup speed, we recommend that you run a backup client on an ECS instance that has the following configurations: 64-bit processors, two or more CPU cores, and more than 8 GB of available memory.
  • The volume of data that can be backed up depends on the available memory. If a backup client has 4 GB of available memory, up to one million files or 8 TB of data can be backed up. If you want to back up tens of millions of files, we recommend that you configure 16 GB of available memory for the backup client.

Step 1: Create and assign the AliyunServiceRoleForHbrEcsBackup role

Before you use HBR to back up files from ECS, you must create the AliyunServiceRoleForHbrEcsBackup role and assign the role to HBR. To create and assign the role, perform the following steps:

  1. Log on to the HBR console.
  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Backup > ECS File Backup.
    In the dialog box that appears, create and assign the role as prompted.
  3. In the Hybrid Cloud Backup Service Authorization dialog box, click Confirm Authorization.
    For more information, see Service-linked roles.

Step 2: Install Cloud Assistant

An HBR backup client for ECS must be used together with Cloud Assistant.

  • If the ECS instance that you need to back up was purchased before December 1, 2017, you must install the Cloud Assistant client. For more information, see Install the Cloud Assistant client.
  • If the ECS instance that you need to back up was purchased on or after December 1, 2017, the Cloud Assistant client is pre-installed.