Scheduling backups

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This tutorial shows you how to schedule backups for Basic HDD and Basic SSD tier Filestore instances using Cloud Scheduler and Cloud Functions.

Objectives

• Create a client service account for Cloud Scheduler that has the credentials needed to invoke a Cloud Functions function.
• Create a client service account for use by Cloud Functions that has the credentials to call the Filestore endpoint.
• Create a Cloud Functions function that creates (or deletes) a backup of a file share.
• Create a Cloud Scheduler job that runs the create backups (or delete backups) function at regular intervals.

Costs

This tutorial uses the following billable components of Google Cloud:

• Cloud Scheduler
• Cloud Functions
• Filestore backups

To generate a cost estimate based on your projected usage, use the pricing calculator. New Google Cloud users might be eligible for a free trial.

Before you begin

1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

3. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Cloud project. Learn how to check if billing is enabled on a project.

4. Enable the Cloud Scheduler, Cloud Functions, and Filestore APIs.

   Enable the APIs

5. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

6. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

   gcloud init

7. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

8. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Cloud project. Learn how to check if billing is enabled on a project.

9. Enable the Cloud Scheduler, Cloud Functions, and Filestore APIs.

   Enable the APIs

10. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

11. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

    gcloud init

12. If you do not have a Filestore instance in your project, you must first create one.

Create client service accounts for Cloud Scheduler and Cloud Functions

1. Create a client service account that Cloud Scheduler runs as to invoke a Cloud Functions function. For this example, use the iam service-accounts create command to name the account schedulerunner and set the display name to "Service Account for FS Backups-Scheduler":

   gcloud iam service-accounts create schedulerunner \
       --display-name="Service Account for FS Backups-Scheduler"
   

2. Create a client service account that Cloud Functions runs as to call the Filestore endpoint. For this example, we name the account backupagent and set the display name to "Service Account for FS Backups-GCF":

   gcloud iam service-accounts create backupagent \
       --display-name="Service Account for FS Backups-GCF"
   

   You can check whether the service account is created by running the iam service-accounts list command:

   gcloud iam service-accounts list
   

   The command returns something like this:

   NAME                                         EMAIL                                                   DISABLED
   Service Account for FS Backups-GCF           backupagent@$PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com         False
   Service Account for FS Backups-Scheduler     schedulerunner@$PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com      False
   

Set up environment variables

Set up the following environment variables in your local environment:

• Google Cloud project ID and project:

  export PROJECT_ID=`gcloud config get-value core/project`
  export PROJECT_NUMBER=`gcloud projects describe $PROJECT_ID --format='value(projectNumber)'`
  

• The Cloud Scheduler service agent and the client service accounts for Cloud Scheduler and Cloud Functions:

  export SCHEDULER_SA=service-$[e-mail]
  export SCHEDULER_CLIENT_SA=schedulerunner@$PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com
  export GCF_CLIENT_SA=backupagent@$PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com
  

• Your Filestore instance:

  export FS_ZONE=zone
  export INSTANCE_NAME=instance-id
  export SHARE_NAME=datafile-share-name
  

  Replace the following:

  • zone with the zone where the Filestore instance resides.
  • instance-id with the instance ID of the Filestore instance.
  • file-share-name with the name you specify for the NFS file share that is served from the instance.

• Set up environment variables for your Filestore backup:

  export FS_BACKUP_LOCATION=region
  

  Replace region with the region where you want to store the backup.

Create a function that creates a backup

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Cloud Functions page.

   Go to the Cloud Functions page

2. Click Create Function and configure the function as follows:

   • Basics:
     • Function Name: For this example, we name the function fsbackup.
     • Region: For this example, we use us-central1.
   • Trigger:
     • Trigger type: HTTP.
     • Authentication: Require authentication.
   • Runtime, build and connection settings:
     • Runtime service account: Service Account for FS Backups-GCF (backupagent@$PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com).
     • Ingress settings: Allow all traffic.
   • Source code: Inline editor.
   • Runtime: Python 3.7.
   • Entry point: create_backup.

   • In requirements.txt, add the following dependencies:

     google-auth==1.19.2
     requests==2.24.0
     

   • Copy the following Python code sample into the main.py inline editor:

     Create backups

     This code sample creates a backup named mybackup- appended with the creation time.

     PROJECT_ID = 'project-id'
     SOURCE_INSTANCE_ZONE = 'filestore-zone'
     SOURCE_INSTANCE_NAME = 'filestore-name'
     SOURCE_FILE_SHARE_NAME = 'file-share-name'
     BACKUP_REGION = 'backup-region'
     
     import google.auth
     import google.auth.transport.requests
     from google.auth.transport.requests import AuthorizedSession
     import time
     import requests
     import json
     
     credentials, project = google.auth.default()
     request = google.auth.transport.requests.Request()
     credentials.refresh(request)
     authed_session = AuthorizedSession(credentials)
     
     def get_backup_id():
         return "mybackup-" + time.strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
     
     def create_backup(request):
         trigger_run_url = "https://file.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/{}/locations/{}/backups?backupId={}".format(PROJECT_ID, BACKUP_REGION, get_backup_id())
         headers = {
           'Content-Type': 'application/json'
         }
         post_data = {
           "description": "my new backup",
           "source_instance": "projects/{}/locations/{}/instances/{}".format(PROJECT_ID, SOURCE_INSTANCE_ZONE, SOURCE_INSTANCE_NAME),
           "source_file_share": "{}".format(SOURCE_FILE_SHARE_NAME)
         }
         print("Making a request to " + trigger_run_url)
         r = authed_session.post(url=trigger_run_url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(post_data))
         data = r.json()
         print(data)
         if r.status_code == requests.codes.ok:
           print(str(r.status_code) + ": The backup is uploading in the background.")
         else:
           raise RuntimeError(data['error'])
     

     Replace the following:

     • project-id with the Google Cloud project ID of the source Filestore instance.
     • filestore-zone with the zone of the source Filestore instance.
     • filestore-name with the name of the source Filestore instance.
     • file-share-name with the name of the file share.
     • backup-region with the region to store the backup.

     Delete backups

     This code sample deletes backups older than a predefined period.

     Caution: This code sample is for illustrative purposes only. It does not differentiate between automatically created backups and manually created backups and can delete backups that are not related to this tutorial. In your implementation, you should filter out manually created backups so that they don't get deleted. You might also want to restrict the script to delete backups of only specific Filestore instances.

     Configure this function in the same way as the create backups function, except the following:

     • Function name: deletefsbackups.
     • Entry point: delete_backup.

     PROJECT_ID = 'project-id'
     BACKUP_REGION = 'region'
     BACKUP_RETENTION_TIME_HRS = hours
     
     import google.auth
     import google.auth.transport.requests
     from google.auth.transport.requests import AuthorizedSession
     import time
     import requests
     import json
     
     credentials, project = google.auth.default()
     request = google.auth.transport.requests.Request()
     credentials.refresh(request)
     authed_session = AuthorizedSession(credentials)
     
     now = time.time()
     retention_seconds = BACKUP_RETENTION_TIME_HRS * 60 * 60
     
     def delete_backup(request):
         list = []
         trigger_run_url = "https://file.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/{}/locations/{}/backups".format(PROJECT_ID, BACKUP_REGION)
         r = authed_session.get(trigger_run_url)
         data = r.json()
         if not data:
             print("No backups to delete.")
         else:
             list.extend(data['backups'])
             while 'nextPageToken' in data.keys():
                 nextPageToken = data['nextPageToken']
                 trigger_run_url_next = "https://file.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/{}/locations/{}/backups?pageToken={}".format(PROJECT_ID, BACKUP_REGION, nextPageToken)
                 r = authed_session.get(trigger_run_url_next)
                 data = r.json()
                 list.extend(data['backups'])
         for i in list:
             backup_time = i['createTime']
             backup_time = backup_time[:-4]
             backup_time = float(time.mktime(time.strptime(backup_time, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f")))
             if now - backup_time > retention_seconds:
                 print("Deleting " + i['name'] + " in the background.")
                 r = authed_session.delete("https://file.googleapis.com/v1beta1/{}".format(i['name']))
                 data = r.json()
                 print(data)
                 if r.status_code == requests.codes.ok:
                   print(str(r.status_code) + ": Deleting " + i['name'] + " in the background.")
                 else:
                   raise RuntimeError(data['error'])
     

     Replace the following:

     • project-id with the Google Cloud project ID of the backup.
     • region with the region the backups reside in.
     • hours with the number of hours to retain backups. For example, if you want to retain backups for 10 days, input 240.

Assign IAM roles to the client service accounts

1. Add the Cloud Scheduler service agent to the IAM policy of the Cloud Scheduler client service account with the role of roles/cloudscheduler.serviceAgent. This allows the service agent to impersonate the client service account in order to invoke the function that creates a backup. Run the iam service-accounts add-iam-policy-binding command:

   gcloud iam service-accounts add-iam-policy-binding $SCHEDULER_CLIENT_SA \
       --member=serviceAccount:$SCHEDULER_SA \
       --role=roles/cloudscheduler.serviceAgent
   

2. Give the client service account of Cloud Functions the roles/file.editor role so that it can make calls to the Filestore endpoint. Run the projects add-iam-policy-binding command:

   gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
       --member=serviceAccount:$GCF_CLIENT_SA \
       --role=roles/file.editor
   

3. Grant the client service account of Cloud Scheduler the role of roles/cloudfunctions.invoker for the fsbackup function. Run the following functions add-iam-policy-binding command:

   gcloud functions add-iam-policy-binding fsbackup \
       --member serviceAccount:$SCHEDULER_CLIENT_SA \
       --role roles/cloudfunctions.invoker
   

   Now, only the client service account of Cloud Scheduler can invoke fsbackup.

Create a Cloud Scheduler job that triggers the fsbackup function on a specified schedule

1. In our example for this tutorial, if you wanted to schedule a backup every weekday at 10 pm, you would use the scheduler jobs create http command:

   gcloud beta scheduler jobs create http fsbackupschedule \
       --schedule "0 22 * * 1-5" \
       --http-method=GET \
       --uri=https://us-central1-$PROJECT_ID.cloudfunctions.net/fsbackup \
       --oidc-service-account-email=$SCHEDULER_CLIENT_SA    \
       --oidc-token-audience=https://us-central1-$PROJECT_ID.cloudfunctions.net/fsbackup
   

   The --schedule flag is where you specify the frequency in which the job runs using unix-cron formatting. For details, see Configuring cron job schedules.

   Note: You can create a maximum of six backups per hour.

2. Start the Cloud Scheduler job created in the previous step. In our example, use the scheduler jobs runs command:

   gcloud scheduler jobs run fsbackupschedule
   

   The fsbackupschedule job invokes the 'fsbackups' function immediately once you execute the command and then invokes it again every weekday at 10 pm until the job is paused.

3. Check the logs for the fsbackups function to see if the function executes properly and returns a status 200.

4. Check if the backup is created using the backups list command:

   gcloud beta filestore backups list
   

   The command returns something similar to:

   NAME                      LOCATION     SRC_INSTANCE                        SRC_FILE_SHARE  STATE
   mybackup-20201123-184500  us-central1  us-central1-c/instances/nfs-server  vol1            READY
   

Low quota alerts for backups

If your implementation of scheduling backups puts you at risk of running out of backups quota, we recommend that you set up low backups quota alerts. This way, you are notified when backups quota runs low.

Clean up

After you finish the tutorial, you can clean up the resources that you created so that they stop using quota and incurring charges. The following sections describe how to delete or turn off these resources.

Deleting the project

The easiest way to eliminate billing is to delete the project that you created for the tutorial.

To delete the project:

Caution: Deleting a project has the following effects:

• Everything in the project is deleted. If you used an existing project for this tutorial, when you delete it, you also delete any other work you've done in the project.
• Custom project IDs are lost. When you created this project, you might have created a custom project ID that you want to use in the future. To preserve the URLs that use the project ID, such as an appspot.com URL, delete selected resources inside the project instead of deleting the whole project.

If you plan to explore multiple tutorials and quickstarts, reusing projects can help you avoid exceeding project quota limits.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Manage resources page.

   Go to Manage resources

2. In the project list, select the project that you want to delete, and then click Delete.
3. In the dialog, type the project ID, and then click Shut down to delete the project.

What's next

• Learn about Filestore snapshots.
• Learn more about Filestore backups.
• Learn how to Schedule Filestore Enterprise snapshots.