Backing up instances

With HYCU for Google Cloud, you can back up your instances in a fast and efficient way.

Prerequisites when planning to restore individual files or folders

  • For instances running Microsoft Windows: The following prerequisites are fulfilled:

    • In the Google Cloud Console, there is a network firewall rule applied to the instances—either to the entire network or to individual instances through the use of network tags. For each instance, the rule must allow ingress network traffic through a TCP port configured for WinRM communication (by default, 5986) from the entire subnetwork that the instance belongs to.

      Optionally, you can make the network firewall rule more restrictive so that it allows network traffic only from legitimate sources and to legitimate targets. To do so, add hycu-network-tag to the network firewall rule.

      For instructions on how to configure and apply the network firewall rule, see Google Cloud documentation.

    • On the instances that you plan to protect, WinRM is configured to use a TCP port (by default, 5986) for HTTPS or HTTP communication. The firewall is configured to enable inbound network traffic through this port.

  • The restore of individual files or folders is enabled for the instance. For instructions on how to enable the restore of individual files or folders, see “Configuring instance backup options”.

  • Only if you want to use custom credentials for the restore. The correct credential group is assigned to the original instance, and the corresponding credentials belong to a user account with sufficient privileges. For instructions on how to assign access credentials, see “Enabling access to data”.

Prerequisites when planning to use pre‑snapshot or post‑snapshot scripts

  • In the Google Cloud Console, there is a network firewall rule applied to the instances—either to the entire network or to individual instances through the use of network tags. For each target instance, the rule must allow ingress network traffic through a specific TCP port from the entire subnetwork that the instance belongs to. The port number depends on the guest operating system of the instance and connection server configuration:

    • GNU/Linux: TCP port 22 (or a different port if configured for SSH communication)

    • Microsoft Windows: TCP port 5986 (or a different port if configured for WinRM communication)

    Optionally, you can make the network firewall rule more restrictive so that it allows network traffic only from legitimate sources and to legitimate targets. To do so, add hycu-network-tag to the network firewall rule.

    For instructions on how to configure and apply the network firewall rule, see Google Cloud documentation.

  • For instances running GNU/Linux: On the instances that you plan to protect, an SSH server is installed and configured to use a TCP port (by default, 22) for SSH communication. The firewall is configured to enable inbound network traffic through this port.

  • For instances running Microsoft Windows: On the instances that you plan to protect, WinRM is configured to use a TCP port (by default, 5986) for HTTPS or HTTP communication. The firewall is configured to enable inbound network traffic through this port.

  • For instances running Microsoft Windows, and for instances running GNU/Linux with non‑default configuration of SSH server or if you want to use custom user accounts for running the script: The correct credential group is assigned to the instance and the corresponding credentials belong to a user account with sufficient privileges. For instructions on how to assign access credentials, see “Enabling access to data”.

Consideration

When backing up an instance with multiple disks, HYCU for Google Cloud performs a parallel backup. In the Tasks panel, you can view details on the backup progress, including the progress of backing up each individual disk.

To access the Instances panel, in the navigation pane, click  Instances. Alternatively, in the Dashboard panel, click the Instances widget.

Procedure

  1. Select the instances that you want to back up. You can update the instance list by clicking  Synchronize. In a protection set with a large number of projects, the update may take a while.

    To narrow down the list of displayed instances, use the filtering options as described in “Filtering and sorting data in panels”.

  2. Click  Policies. The Policies dialog box opens.

  3. From the list of available policies, select the desired policy.

  4. Click Assign to assign the policy to the selected instances.

When you assign a policy to an instance, a backup task starts immediately. Subsequent backups are scheduled according to the values defined in the policy.

n Note  The first backup task may be delayed if a backup image of the instance already exists.

You can also perform a manual backup of individual instances at any time. For details, see “Performing manual backups”.