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Overview

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Cloud Backup provides a cloud-native, scheduled data protection solution for Object Storage Service (OSS). Back up objects in OSS buckets on a regular schedule, and restore them to any recovery point when needed.

Introduction

OSS backup is a fully managed, cloud-native data protection solution for Alibaba Cloud OSS. Define a backup policy to regularly back up objects in your OSS buckets to Cloud Backup. If objects are accidentally deleted or modified, restore them from any available recovery point.

Important

OSS backup has usage limits. For details, see Limits.

Benefits

  • Native OSS integration

    Protect data in OSS buckets without installing any backup agents or components.

  • Fine-grained data protection

    Back up an entire bucket or only objects that match specified prefixes for targeted protection.

  • Flexible versioning

    Schedule backup plans to run daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly, and set a retention period for each backup version.

  • Simple point-in-time recovery

    Restore one or more objects to a specific recovery point directly from the Cloud Backup console, with no scripts or custom code required.

  • Deduplication and compression

    Cloud Backup automatically deduplicates and compresses data during backup to minimize storage consumption.

  • Immutable backups

    Enable backup vault locking to prevent backup data from being deleted, whether accidentally or maliciously, until the retention period expires.

How it works

OSS backup is natively integrated with OSS and requires no additional service deployment. For buckets that contain more than 100 million objects, use the OSS inventory feature to accelerate backup scans.

When a backup job runs, Cloud Backup scans the target bucket and retrieves the latest object versions through the OSS inventory or the specified prefix filter. Changed objects are identified, deduplicated, compressed, and encrypted before the incremental data is uploaded to the backup vault. Cloud Backup uses an incremental-forever strategy: only the first job performs a full backup, and each subsequent job uploads only the changed data and then synthesizes a full recovery point. This approach keeps storage consumption low.

OSS backup vs. OSS versioning

  • OSS backup creates recovery points based on a schedule (hourly, daily, weekly, or other intervals). This approach controls the number of backup versions and keeps storage costs predictable, even when objects change frequently.

  • OSS versioning creates a new version every time an object is modified, enabling retrieval of any historical version. Choose the approach that best fits your data criticality and recovery requirements.

Procedure

Follow these steps to back up OSS objects in the Cloud Backup console.

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  1. Activate Cloud Backup

    Activating Cloud Backup is free. You are charged for backup vault storage in Cloud Backup. For more information, see Billing methods and billable items.

  2. Back up OSS objects

    Create a backup plan to configure the backup vault, data source, backup cycle, and retention period. Cloud Backup then continuously backs up objects from the specified OSS bucket.

    Important

    • A 30-day free backup plan is available. The source path and backup cycle cannot be edited for free plans.

    • In regions that support backup policies, you must associate a backup plan with a policy. Cloud Backup then backs up OSS objects on the policy schedule.

    • To check which regions support backup policies, click Policy Center in the left-side navigation pane of the Cloud Backup console. For more information about how to create a backup policy, see Create a backup policy.

    • The first backup job is a full backup. Subsequent jobs are incremental.

  3. Restore an OSS bucket

    Same-region restoration is free. If a file exception occurs in an OSS bucket, you can restore all objects or objects that meet specified conditions from historical backups. You can restore objects to the source OSS bucket for free or restore objects to a new OSS bucket for free. Cross-region restoration incurs traffic and remote mirror vault storage costs.

Usage notes

  • When you create a backup plan or assign a backup policy for the first time, Cloud Backup automatically creates a service-linked role named AliyunServiceRoleForHbrOssBackup to access the required resources. An authorization dialog box appears. Grant permissions as prompted.

  • When using Cloud Backup to back up OSS data, note the following:

    • Cloud Backup only backs up and restores Standard and Infrequent Access (IA) buckets. Archive, Cold Archive, and Deep Cold Archive buckets are not supported.

    • Cloud Backup backs up and restores Standard and Infrequent Access (IA) objects. When you restore an IA object, it is restored as a Standard object. Objects of the Archive, Cold Archive, and Deep Cold Archive storage classes cannot be backed up or restored.

    • Cloud Backup does not back up or restore object access control lists (ACLs).

  • Deleting a backup version from the backup history does not affect the integrity of other backup versions.

  • The Scheduled Backup plan enabled when you create a bucket in the OSS console is a 30-day free trial that is automatically disabled upon expiration. This backup plan is also visible and manageable in the Cloud Backup console. We recommend switching to a paid plan before the trial ends to ensure continuous protection.

    Important

    The free trial plan has limitations: you cannot edit the backup path or backup schedule. Each free backup plan uses an isolated backup vault, and you cannot change the backup vault after you switch to a paid plan. If you plan to back up all your data to the same backup vault, do not use the free trial plan.

  • Billing

    • Backing up OSS data incurs OSS request fees. These fees are charged by OSS. For more information, see Billing overview.

    • When Cloud Backup reads data from an IA bucket or object for backup, OSS data retrieval fees are generated. These fees are charged by OSS based on the amount of data retrieved. For more information, see Data processing fees.

Billing

OSS backup incurs the following fees:

  • Storage usage fees

    Cloud Backup offers two storage redundancy types: locally redundant storage (LRS) and zone-redundant storage (ZRS). Fees are based on the actual storage consumption of your backup vaults. View vault storage usage on the Overview page in the Cloud Backup console. For pricing details, see Pricing.

  • API request fees

    • Before each backup job, Cloud Backup calls the ListObject operation to retrieve the object list. Each request lists up to 1,000 objects.

    • Cloud Backup then calls the HeadObject operation to retrieve metadata for each object, generating one request per object.

    • Cloud Backup calls the GetObject operation to download each object for backup, generating one request per object.

    • Cloud Backup calls the ListObject operation to track backup progress and verify backed-up objects. Each request covers up to 1,000 objects.

    • If the OSS inventory feature is enabled, the ListObject requests above are not charged. Instead, OSS inventory fees apply. For details, see Bucket inventory.

    For OSS API request billing rules, see API operation calling fees.

  • OSS data retrieval fees

    When Cloud Backup reads data from Infrequent Access (IA) buckets or objects for backup, data retrieval fees apply. OSS charges these fees based on the volume of retrieved data. For details, see Data processing fees.

Certain configurations or operations incur additional fees. For example, cross-region backup generates storage capacity fees for the destination backup vault and cross-region replication traffic fees. For the full fee breakdown, see Billing methods and billable items.

What to do next

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