About Backup and DR Service backup plans

This document provides an overview about how to back up Compute Engine instances using backup plans in Backup and DR Service.

Use Backup and DR Service backup plans to create rule-based and indelible backups of your Compute Engine instances and then store those backups in a secure and isolated storage locations.

To back up your instances for system maintenance or instance cloning, then use machine images instead. Learn more about choosing the correct data protection option for your use case.

Limitations

  • You can use only those backup plans that are in the same region as the instance.

  • Backup and DR Service doesn't support backing up Compute Engine instances to a backup vault if the instance uses any of the following configurations:

    • Instances with Extreme Persistent Disk volumes attached.
    • Instances with any Hyperdisk Extreme volumes attached.
    • Instances that use a C3D, H3, A3, A4, or Z3 machine type.
    • Instances with customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) or customer-supplied encryption keys (CSEK).
    • Instances without any attached disks.
    • Instances larger than 200 tebibytes (TiB).

What are Backup and DR backup plans for?

Backup and DR backup plans provide enhanced protection against cyberattacks by storing immutable and indelible backups of your Compute Engine instances. You also get an out-of-the-box backup solution with access to seamless backup management across projects.

Backup and DR backup plans let you define advanced backup strategies to store your Compute Engine instances in secure storage locations called backup vaults. You can configure backup rules such as the following:

  • How often to back up your instance resources
  • How long to retain the backups
  • Where and how to replicate the backed up data

You first define your backup rules in the backup plan configuration. By doing so, you can configure how frequently you want to schedule backups for your Compute Engine instance. You then apply that plan to your instances. The Backup and DR then automatically backs up your instance resources and retains those backups based on these rules.

After you apply a backup plan to an instance, you can also use the backup plan to create on-demand backups of that instance.

To learn more about backup plans and backup vaults, see Backup and DR overview in the Backup and DR Service documentation.

To learn how use your instance's backup plan to schedule or create a backup in a backup vault, see Back up Compute Engine instances to a backup vault.

What are the ways to apply backup plans to instances?

You can apply backup plans to both new and existing instances, as follows:

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