A snapshot is a backup of a disk that you can use to restore data. Before you perform critical operations that may affect the stability of a cloud computer, such as modifying the registry or critical system files, create a snapshot. If a system failure occurs, you can use the snapshot to restore data.
Background information
A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a cloud disk used for data backup and recovery.
The snapshot feature is in public preview and is free to use. Charges will apply after the public preview ends. Billing details will be announced in advance.
You can create snapshots manually or automatically:
Manual: You can create a snapshot at a specific point in time and specify the disk range to back up. If you grant local administrator permissions to an end user, the end user can create, restore, and delete snapshots in the client interface.
Automatic: By default, the system creates snapshots for the system disk and data disk of each cloud computer. These snapshots are deleted after 3 days. You can also configure an automatic snapshot policy. The system creates snapshots in the following scenarios:
ImportantIf you do not configure a custom automatic snapshot policy and use only the default EDS snapshot policy, system-generated snapshots are deleted when the cloud computer is released and cannot be recovered.
If a cloud computer is associated with an automatic snapshot policy, the system creates snapshots at the time specified in the policy.
Before an administrator upgrades a cloud computer or a custom image, the system creates a snapshot. If the upgrade fails, the system performs a rollback. If the upgrade succeeds, the system disk snapshot of the original cloud computer is deleted, but the data disk snapshot is retained.
If you change the image of a cloud computer that was created from a now-deleted custom image, the system creates a snapshot before the change. After the image change succeeds, the system deletes the snapshot.
Before an end user upgrades a cloud computer from the client, the system creates a snapshot to prevent upgrade failures. In this case, a cloud computer can have a maximum of three snapshots, which are deleted after 3 days.
The schedule for automatic snapshot creation is as follows:
If no automatic snapshot policy is associated:
For cloud computers in all regions created at or after 12:00 (UTC+8) on August 19, 2024: daily from 22:00 to 06:00 (the next day).
For cloud computers in the China (Hangzhou) region created after 17:42 on June 7, 2024 (UTC+8) and before 12:00 on August 19, 2024 (UTC+8): 02:00 every day.
For all other cloud computers: daily at 01:00.
To stop automatic snapshot creation, turn off the System Snapshot switch on the Snapshot Management tab of the Snapshots page.
If an automatic snapshot policy is associated: The system creates snapshots at the time specified in the policy.
Prerequisites
Before you create a snapshot, the cloud computer must be in the Running or Stopped state.
Before you restore data from a snapshot, the cloud computer must be in the Stopped state.
Manually create a snapshot
Log on to the EDS enterprise console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Resources > Cloud Computers.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Cloud Computers page, find the cloud computer and create a snapshot using one of the following methods:
In the Actions column, click More and select Create Snapshot.
Click the cloud computer ID to go to its details page. Then, click the Snapshots tab and click Create Snapshot.
In the Create Snapshot panel, set the following parameters and click Create Snapshot.
Parameter
Description
Disk scope
Select the disks to back up. Valid values: System Disk and Data Disk, Only System Disk, and Only Data Disk.
Restore point name
The name must be 2 to 128 characters in length. It must start with a letter or a Chinese character and cannot start with
http://,https://, orauto. The name can contain digits, colons (:), underscores (_), periods (.), and hyphens (-).System disk snapshot name
The name must be 2 to 127 characters in length and cannot start with
auto.System disk description
The description can be up to 128 characters in length.
Data disk snapshot name
The name must be 2 to 127 characters in length and cannot start with
auto.Data disk description
The description can be up to 128 characters in length.
On the Snapshot List tab, you can view the snapshot creation progress. The snapshot is created when its status changes from In Progress to Succeeded.
Create and associate an automatic snapshot policy
After you create an automatic snapshot policy, you can associate it with specific cloud computers. The system then creates snapshots based on the schedule you set.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Snapshots page, click the Automatic Snapshot Policy tab and click Create Policy.
In the Create Policy panel, set the following parameters and click OK.
Parameter
Description
Automatic snapshot policy name
Enter a name for the policy.
Disk scope
System and Data Disks
System Disk Only
Data Disk Only
Repeat
Select the days of the week to create snapshots.
Creation time
Enter or select the time of day (UTC+8) to create snapshots.
Retention period
Enter the retention period for automatic snapshots. The value can range from 1 to 180 days.
When the number of automatic snapshots for a cloud computer reaches the limit of 30, the system deletes the earliest snapshot.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Resources > Cloud Computers.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Cloud Computers page, find the target cloud computer. In the Actions column, click More and select Change Automatic Snapshot Policy.
In the Change Automatic Snapshot Policy panel, turn on the Automatic Snapshot Policy switch, select the policy that you created, and click Change.
In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.
After you associate an automatic snapshot policy with a cloud computer, you can click the cloud computer ID and view the associated automatic snapshot policy on the Cloud Computer Details tab.
Restore data
If a system failure or an operational error causes data loss, you can use a snapshot to restore the disk to its state at the time of the snapshot.
If a cloud computer fails to start due to software or driver issues and remains in the Waiting or Starting state, you can restore the cloud computer by rolling back to a snapshot.
End users can also restore snapshots from the Alibaba Cloud Workspace client.
You cannot restore a newly created cloud computer by rolling back to a snapshot if no snapshot exists. In this case, you can reset the cloud computer by changing its image.
Restoring data from a snapshot is irreversible. The disk reverts to its state when the snapshot was created, and any data written after that is lost. Back up important data before you proceed. You can create a new snapshot or manually copy data to another disk before restoring.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Resources > Cloud Computers.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Cloud Computers page, find the cloud computer that you want to restore and click its ID.
On the Snapshots tab, find the snapshot to restore from and click Restore Cloud Computer in the Actions column.
If the cloud computer is running, a message appears. Click Confirm. After the cloud computer is stopped, you can proceed to the next step.
In the Restore Cloud Computer panel, confirm the snapshot information and then click Restore Cloud Computer.
ImportantYou can restore only one disk at a time. Do not perform other operations on the disk during the restoration process. After you restore a disk, the entire disk is reverted to its state at the time of the snapshot, not the state of a specific partition or directory.
After the disk data is restored, a confirmation message appears on the page. You can then check the data to verify the result.
Delete a snapshot
You can manually delete any snapshot that is no longer needed. An automatically created snapshot is deleted when its specified retention period ends.
After you delete a snapshot, you can no longer restore data to the state captured by that snapshot. Check each region for snapshots to delete.
Delete a snapshot by using one of the following methods.
Delete a snapshot from the Cloud Computers page
On the Cloud Computers page, find the cloud computer and click its ID.
On the Snapshots tab, find the snapshot that you want to delete. In the Actions column, click Delete, and then click Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
Delete a snapshot from the Snapshots page
On the Snapshots tab of the Snapshots page, find the snapshot to delete. In the Actions column, click Delete, and then click Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
What to do next
You can use a system disk snapshot to create a custom image. For more information, see Create a custom image.