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Creating a volume backup

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Discover how to back up your Block Storage volume in the OVHcloud Console

Objective

If you value the data stored in your Block Storage volumes, it is worth organising the backup of this data to prevent the potential impact of any issue on this data, whether it is a human error or a cluster incident.

A volume snapshot is a recovery point stored within the same storage cluster as the original volume. Operations will be fast, but in case of an incident on the cluster, both volume and volume snapshot might be unavailable. Volume snapshot creation does not require the volume to be detached from the instance.

A volume backup is an image created out of your volume, which is stored in the Object Storage cluster where the original volume is located. The level of resiliency is ideal and will allow you to quickly react to any incident on your volume, creating another volume from the backup. Volume backup creation requires the volume to be detached from the instance.

Both volume snapshot and volume backup allow you to:

  • Create backups of your volume with a few clicks and keep them for as long as you need.
  • Use the backups to restore your volume state.
  • Use the backups as a template to create identical volumes.

This guide explains how to create a backup of your Block Storage volume in the OVHcloud Console.

Requirements

Limitations

Backups of encrypted LUKS volume types can only be restored to the same encrypted LUKS volume type.

OVHcloud Console Access

  • Direct link:
  • Navigation path: Public Cloud > Select your project > Storage > Block Storage

Instructions

In the left-hand menu of your Public Cloud project, click Block Storage under Storage. In the row of the volume concerned, click the ... button, then select Create a backup.

Info

To create a backup, the volume must first be detached from its instance.

Enter a name for the backup, take note of the pricing information, then click Create.

You can also create a backup from the Volume Backup page: in the left-hand menu, click Volume Backup under Storage, then Create a volume backup. Select the Volume to back up, enter the backup name and click Create. If the volume is attached to an instance, you are first asked to detach it (Detach your volume).

To create a volume snapshot instead, follow the guide Creating a volume snapshot.

The backup creation, be it a volume snapshot or a volume backup, may take several hours, depending on the amount of data present on the volume, as well as the instance resource utilisation for the volume snapshot and other host-specific factors.

We therefore recommend that you perform your snapshots outside of your production hours.

Other best practices include:

  • Avoid creating snapshots and backups during peak hours (04:00 AM - 10:00 PM Paris time).
  • Regularly validate that you are able to get your data back from your volume snapshot or volume backup.
  • Install the qemu-guest agent if it is not installed, or try to disable it if necessary.
  • Even if not mandatory, prefer to detach your volume when creating a volume snapshot.

Since a volume snapshot / volume backup is a clone of the entire disk, it will have the maximum size of the original volume, regardless of the actual disk space allocation.

You will find the list of your volume snapshots on the Volume Snapshot page, under Storage in the left-hand menu. After the snapshot is created, it will be added to this table.

You will find the list of your volume backups on the Volume Backup page, under Storage in the left-hand menu. As soon as the volume backup creation is requested, it will be added to this table.

Click the ... button to Delete or to Create a volume based on the respective volume snapshot or volume backup. For a volume backup, you can also select Restore a volume. You can find further information in this guide.

Go further

Creating a volume from a volume snapshot

Creating and configuring an additional disk on an instance

Increasing the size of an additional disk

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