Description
Real-Time Replica of Online Data
A snapshot is a fully available copy of a cloud disk. When a cloud disk with created snapshots encounters an issue, you can quickly restore it to the state before the issue occurred via the snapshot. We recommend that you create snapshots for the relevant cloud disks before major business operations changes. Therefore, if the change fails, data can be quickly recovered.Persistent Backup of Key Milestones
Snapshots can serve as persistent backups of business data, preserving milestone status of business data.Rapid business deployment
You can use snapshot files of your business to quickly clone multiple cloud disks for rapid server deployment.
Use Cases
Snapshot is a convenient and efficient data protection service and is recommended for the following business scenarios:
Daily Data Backup
You can use snapshots to regularly back up important business data to mitigate the risk of data loss caused by misoperation, attacks, or viruses.Quick Data Recovery
You can create one or more snapshots before performing major operations such as changing the operating system, upgrading application software, or migrating business data. If any problem occurs during the change operation, the business data can be restored in time through the created snapshot.Multi-replica Application of Production Data
You can create production data snapshots to provide near-real-time production data for applications such as data mining, report query, development and testing.Rapid Deployment Environment
You can create a snapshot of CVM and use this system snapshot to create custom images. You can create one or more instances from the created image to quickly deploy CVMs in the same environment in batches and save time on repeated configuration.
Snapshot Type
Manual Snapshot
You can manually create a snapshot of the cloud disk data at a specific point. This snapshot can be used to quickly create more cloud disks with the same data or restore the cloud disk to its state at that point in the future.Scheduled Snapshot
When your business undergoes continuous updates, you can use scheduled snapshots to provide a continuous backup feature. Simply create a backup policy and associate it with cloud disks to achieve continuous backup of cloud disk data during a certain period, significantly improving data security.
Note:
During the snapshot creation process, some application data may be saved in memory but not persisted. This phenomenon may cause the snapshot to fail to capture the latest and most complete cloud disk data.
Case Review
Case 1: No manual snapshots were created before performing high-risk operations, resulting in data loss
For example, customer A has never created snapshots for cloud disks. On a certain day in May 2019, due to the operator performing an FIO test on the cloud disk, the file system was corrupted, and the data could not be recovered.
Analysis: If customer A takes a snapshot of the CBS before testing, then after data corruption, snapshot rollback can be quickly enabled to restore business on time.
Case 2: No scheduled snapshots were created for important data disks, resulting in data loss
For example, customer B has created snapshots for multiple cloud disks. However, after January 2019, due to cost considerations, no snapshots are created for newly purchased cloud disks. On a certain day in June 2019, data on an unprotected cloud disk was accidentally deleted at the file system level and could not be recovered.
Analysis: If customer B has performed regular snapshot protection on the cloud disk, then if the data is accidentally deleted, it can be restored to the data status at the last snapshot time point to reduce losses. After the incident, customer B took the initiative to create a snapshot for the cloud disk, which fully enhanced data protection.
Case 3: Using the scheduled snapshot to roll back data and restore business after an incorrect operation
For example, customer C has implemented snapshot protection for all cloud disks. On a certain day in May 2019, an abnormal start-up occurred due to misoperation.
Analysis: Customer C promptly restored the data using the regular snapshot from 2 days ago, and the business was not affected.
The above cases are all data loss caused by operational errors. By comparison, we can find that:
- If no snapshots have been created, data recovery becomes very difficult if servers or cloud disks encounter issues, potentially causing significant losses.
- If snapshots have been created, data can generally be recovered if servers or cloud disks encounter issues, resulting in smaller losses.
It is recommended that you create snapshots periodically for different types of business to improve data security and achieve low-cost and high disaster recovery for the business.