PolarDB:Method 1 for full restoration: Restore data from a backup set

Restore data from a backup set

1. Log on to the PolarDB console. In the left navigation pane, click Clusters. Select the region where the cluster is deployed, then click the cluster ID.

2. In the left navigation pane, choose Settings and Management > Backup and Restoration.

3. Find the target backup set and start the restore:

   • Same region: Click Restore Data to New Cluster in the Actions column.

   • Cross-region: On the Backup and Restoration page, select the region where the target backup set is located. Find the backup set and click Restore Data to New Cluster in the Actions column.

   Cross-region restore is available only if cross-region backup is enabled. If cross-region backup is disabled, the destination region defaults to the source region.

4. On the clone instance page, select a Product Type:

   Product type	Description
   Subscription	Pay for compute resources in advance. Select a Duration for the subscription period.
   Pay-as-you-go	Pay for the compute resources you use, billed hourly.
   Serverless	Compute scales automatically based on workload. Billed by PolarDB Capacity Unit (PCU), where 1 PCU equals approximately 1 core and 2 GB of memory.

5. Configure the following parameters. Some parameters are inherited from the source cluster and cannot be changed. Serverless scaling (available only for Serverless clusters) For details on auto scaling behavior, see Auto scaling. For Serverless billing details, see Serverless billing. Storage class reference ESSD options, developed by Alibaba Cloud with 25 Gigabit Ethernet and Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) support: PolarStore options:

   Storage class upgrades are supported (PSL4 to PSL5), but downgrades are not. To switch from PSL5 to PSL4, purchase a new cluster and migrate data using Data Transmission Service (DTS) or the major version upgrade feature.

   Important

   When an ESSD disk's storage space is full, the disk is locked and becomes read-only. To prevent service disruption, enable automatic ESSD storage expansion.

   Restore settings

   Parameter	Description
   Clone Type	Select Restore Data from Backup Set.
   Region	Select the destination region. If cross-region backup is enabled, you can restore to either the source or the destination region.
   Backup Set	Select the backup set to restore from. The Backup Start Time of each backup set is displayed to help you identify the right one.

   Cluster settings

   Parameter	Description
   Compatibility	Inherited from the source cluster. Cannot be changed.
   Minor Version	Select 8.0.1 or 8.0.2. Available only when Compatibility is MySQL 8.0.
   Edition	Inherited from the source cluster. Cannot be changed. For details, see Enterprise Edition series.
   CPU Architecture	Inherited from the source cluster. Cannot be changed.
   Primary Zone	Select the primary zone. In regions with two or more zones, PolarDB automatically replicates data to a secondary zone for disaster recovery.
   Cluster Name	Enter a name for the cluster (2–256 characters, cannot start with http:// or https://). If left blank, the system generates a name automatically.
   Inherit Tags from Source Cluster	Specify whether to inherit tags from the source cluster.

   Compute settings

   Parameter	Description
   Database Type	Select General Specification or Dedicated Specification. Dedicated clusters exclusively use their allocated CPU resources for better performance stability. General-purpose clusters share idle CPU resources across clusters for lower cost. For a comparison, see Comparison between General-purpose and Dedicated specifications.
   Node Specification	Select a node specification. To make sure the restored cluster performs as expected, select a specification equal to or higher than the source cluster. For available specifications, see Compute node specifications for Enterprise Edition.
   Number of Nodes	For Cluster Edition: two nodes (one read/write node and one read-only node) are displayed by default. You can select two nodes (one read/write node and one read-only node) or one node (read/write only). For Multi-master Cluster (Limitless) Edition: two primary nodes are created by default.
   Database Proxy Type	Select Standard Enterprise Edition or Dedicated Enterprise Edition. Standard is used with General Specification and shares physical CPU resources. Dedicated is used with Dedicated Specification and uses CPU resources exclusively. Note PolarProxy Enterprise Edition is currently free of charge. The billing start time is yet to be determined.

   Parameter	Description
   Minimum Read-only Nodes	Minimum number of read-only nodes for auto scaling. Valid values: 0–15. Set to 1 or higher for high availability.
   Maximum Read-only Nodes	Maximum number of read-only nodes for auto scaling. Valid values: 0–15.
   Minimum PCUs Per Node	Minimum PCUs per node. Valid values: 0.25–31 PCU.
   Maximum PCUs Per Node	Maximum PCUs per node. Valid values: 1–32 PCU. The minimum scaling increment is 0.5 PCU.

   Network settings

   Parameter	Description
   Network Type	Fixed as VPC. No selection needed.
   VPC Network	Select a VPC. Use the same VPC as the source cluster so the restored cluster and your ECS instances can communicate over the internal network.
   vSwitch	Select a vSwitch within the selected VPC.

   Storage settings

   Parameter	Description
   Storage Class	Matches the source cluster's storage class. If the source cluster uses ESSD (Enterprise SSD), select ESSD. If it uses PSL4 or PSL5, select PSL4 or PSL5. See the storage class reference below.
   Storage Engine	Select InnoDB or InnoDB & X-Engine. InnoDB & X-Engine enables hybrid deployment with high-compression storage. Not available for Standard Edition. For details, see High-compression engine (X-Engine).
   Storage Billing Method	Select Pay-as-you-go or Subscription. Pay-as-you-go storage scales automatically with your data and charges for actual usage. Subscription requires purchasing storage capacity in advance (50 GB–500 TB, in 10 GB increments).
   Enable Binlog	Specify whether to enable binary logging. For details, see Enable binary logging.

   High availability settings

   Parameter	Description
   Enable Hot Standby Cluster	When enabled, a hot standby storage cluster is created in the secondary zone or a different data center in the same zone. The hot standby cluster takes over immediately if the primary zone fails. For available high availability modes, see High availability modes (hot standby clusters).
   Three-AZ Strong Consistency Deployment	Specify whether to enable three-AZ strong consistency deployment.

   Purchase settings

   Parameter	Description
   Duration	Select a subscription period. Available only for Subscription clusters.
   Quantity	Select the number of clusters to purchase.

   Storage class	Performance
   PL0 ESSD	Basic performance level
   PL1 ESSD	5x higher IOPS and ~2x higher throughput than PL0
   PL2 ESSD	~2x higher IOPS and throughput than PL1
   PL3 ESSD	Up to 10x higher IOPS and 5x higher throughput than PL2, ideal for scenarios requiring extreme concurrent I/O performance and stable low read/write latency
   ESSD AutoPL disk	Decouples IOPS from capacity, allowing flexible configuration and on-demand adjustments to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO)

   Storage class	Description	Best for
   PSL5 (PolarStore Level 5)	Default storage for clusters purchased before June 7, 2022. Higher performance, reliability, and availability.	Mission-critical systems requiring high performance, such as finance, e-commerce, and government workloads
   PSL4 (PolarStore Level 4)	Uses Alibaba Cloud's proprietary smart-SSD technology, which compresses and decompresses data at the physical SSD layer for lower storage cost.	Cost-sensitive workloads where cost-effectiveness is the priority

6. Review the cluster configuration and fees, read the service agreement, then click Buy Now.

7. Cluster creation takes 10–15 minutes. The cluster appears in the cluster list on the PolarDB console after the purchase is complete.

   The cluster is ready for use only when its status changes from Creating to Running. Make sure you have selected the correct region in the upper-left corner of the console; otherwise, the cluster will not appear in the list.

After the restore

After the cluster status is Running, complete the following tasks before directing traffic to the new cluster:

1. Reconfigure parameter settings. Parameter settings from the source cluster are not inherited by the restored cluster. Review and reapply any custom parameters under Settings and Management > Parameters.

2. Verify network access. Confirm that the restored cluster is in the same VPC as the ECS instances or applications that need to connect to it.

3. Validate the data. Run queries or application-level checks to confirm the restored data is complete and accurate before redirecting production traffic.

4. Migrate data back to the source cluster (if needed). After validation, use DTS to migrate data from the restored cluster back to the source cluster.

API reference