Overview of backup operations

This page provides an overview of backup operations for Google Cloud resources using Backup and DR in the Google Cloud console.

With Google-managed backups, you can protect workloads by sending backups directly to an immutable backup vault. Storing backups in a backup vault provides enforced retention and protection against accidental or malicious deletion.

Core components of backup operations

Before you can perform backup operations, you must configure the following core components:

  • Backup vault: a backup vault is a centralized storage container where backup sets are stored. backup vaults provide immutability and enforced retention periods. You can configure a vault to store backups in a single region or across multiple regions. For more information, see Create a backup vault.

  • Backup plan: a backup plan defines automated backup strategies for your resources. Each backup plan contains one or more backup rules that specify:

    • The backup frequency (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly).

    • The retention period for captured backups.

    • The target backup vault where backups are stored.

    • A backup window defining the specific timeframe when backup jobs can start (minimum of six hours in 24-hour clock format).

    • You can create a backup plan with the following settings:

  • Customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK): you can optionally use CMEK to encrypt backups stored in a backup vault with keys managed in Cloud Key Management Service. For more information, see Use customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK).

Backup operations

You can back up supported workloads to a backup vault using two primary methods:

  • Scheduled backups: when you assign a backup plan to a protected resource, Backup and DR automatically captures and retains backups according to the backup rules defined in the plan.

  • On-demand backups: you can trigger an immediate, on-demand backup at any time. On-demand backups are ideal for capturing a known good recovery point before making major infrastructure or database changes, or for ad hoc data protection.

Types of backup operations

Depending on your resource protection requirements, you can perform different types of backup operations:

  • Full virtual machine (VM) backup: protects a Compute Engine instance and includes all attached boot and non-boot disks in the backup.

  • Selective disk backup: lets you configure criteria in a backup plan (using boot-disk-only or label exclusion properties disk-exclusion-labels) to exclude specific attached non-boot disks from Compute Engine instance backups. When you restore an instance from a selective disk backup, only the protected disks are restored. See Selective disk backup for Compute Engine instances.

  • Independent disk backup: backs up individual Persistent Disk volumes directly without backing up an entire Compute Engine instance. See Back up disks to a backup vault.

  • Database and file share backup: captures automated enhanced backups for Cloud SQL instances, AlloyDB for PostgreSQL clusters, and Filestore file shares.

Supported workloads for backup

You can configure scheduled and on-demand backups in the Google Cloud console for the following Google Cloud resources:

Ongoing management of backups and protected data sources

For ongoing management of backups and protected data sources, see Manage backups in a backup vault and Manage data sources.

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