Data protection options

This document discusses the options available on Compute Engine to back up and replicate the following Compute Engine resources:

  • Persistent Disk and Google Cloud Hyperdisk volumes
  • Virtual machine (VM) and bare metal instances
  • Workloads running in Compute Engine and on-premises

To safeguard important data, Google recommends using one of the backup options discussed in this document. You can't recover a compute instance, disk, image, or snapshot if you delete it, even if the deletion was accidental.

Options

The following table compares the features you can use to back up and replicate disks and instances.

Resource to back up Feature Description Use cases
VMs, including attached disks Backup and DR Service

Managed service providing secure backups for compute instances across projects.
  • Defend against ransomware and other risks through insights into security threat events.
  • Improve cyber resilience with immutable and indelible backups.
  • Protect instances while retaining governance and oversight.
  • Comprehensive monitoring, auditing, and reporting for compliance.
VMs, including attached disks Machine images Instance backups that offer consistency at the I/O operation level or crash level.
  • Stores all the configuration, metadata, permissions, and data from one or more disks required to create an instance.
  • Long term instance backup and restore.
  • Instance cloning and replication.
Disks Standard snapshots Captures the state of your disk at a particular point in time.
  • Geo-redundant disk backups for disaster recovery.
  • Stored as differential copies for better performance and space efficiency.
Disks Archive snapshots The lowest cost geo-redundant disk backup.
  • Suited for long-term backup for data that's rarely accessed but must be retained for several months or years.
  • Offers all the same features as standard snapshots at a lower cost.
  • Best for backups needed compliance, audits, and long-term cold storage.
Disks Instant snapshots Quick local disk backup that enables rapid data restoration in case of application failure, failed upgrades, or user error.
  • A capture of a disk's contents at a particular point in time that's saved in the same zone or region as the disk.
  • Optimized for rapid data restoration, low recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO).
  • Each instant snapshot is stored as a differential copy of the disk for more efficient storage and better performance.
Disks Regional disks Offers RTO of less than 1 minute and RPO of 0.
  • Replicates data synchronously across two zones in the same region to provide high availability in the rare event of a zonal outage.
  • Not designed for data backup.
Disks Disk clones A clone is a live duplicate of the source disk that can be instantly attached to an instance.
  • Lets you quickly create staging environments from production.
  • Quickly copy a disk for backup verification or export offloading.
  • Not designed for disaster recovery.
Disks Images Use to create a copy of a disk, especially a boot disk, that can be used to create other instances.
  • Optimized for quickly creating many instances.
  • Offers instance import and fast disk creation.

Best practices for backups

Observe the following best practices when creating backups for your disks.

Avoid temporary standard snapshots

To immediately create a copy of a disk in the same zone for verification or export, use disk clones or instant snapshots instead of standard snapshots. Compared to disk clones and instant snapshots, standard snapshots have longer copy times for upload and download.

Schedule hourly standard snapshots for backup and disaster recovery

Schedule hourly standard snapshots. If you require daily snapshots, consider scheduling snapshots every 6 hours.

Use images for fast and frequent disk creation across regions

To create many disks from a single data source, use images instead of snapshots. Because Compute Engine performs local caching in target zones, disk creation from images is faster than disk creation from snapshots.

Use machine images to create backups of all disks attached to an instance

To create backups of all disks that are attached to an instance, use machine images. A machine image can be used to backup multiple disks at a time to help ensure that the data captured in the machine image is consistent across all disks. A persistent disk snapshot can only backup a single disk at a time. For more information, see When to use machine images.

Use Google Cloud Backup and DR Service to manage instance backups at scale

With Backup and DR Service, you manage backups of your instances across projects and environments by using advanced policies, centralized monitoring and backup reporting in the following way:

You can also integrate Security Command Center with Backup and DR Service to additionally:

  • Track audit logs for backup access.
  • Monitor for malicious activity on your backups.

What's next