Configure backup policies

Switch level-1 backups from Standard Backup (at specified intervals) to High-frequency Backup to shorten the backup cycle, increase backup density, and speed up data recovery.
Enable Cross-region Backup for level-2 backups to minimize data loss from natural disasters or hardware failures and meet compliance requirements for off-site disaster recovery and long-term archiving.

Note
Only PolarDB for MySQL Enterprise Edition supports cross-region backup.

Procedure

Log on to the PolarDB console. Select the region of your cluster. On the Clusters page, click the ID of the target cluster. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Settings and Management > Backup and Restoration.
On the Backup Policy Settings page, click Edit. Available parameters vary by storage type:

Note
Parameter details: Data backup policy, Log backup policy, and General backup policy.

PSL4/PSL5

Data backups are split into level-1 and level-2 by storage location. Configure the Level-1 Backup, level-2 backup, Log Backup, and General parameters.

ESSD (PL0, PL1, PL2, PL3, and AutoPL)

Data backups are stored locally only. Configure the Data Backup, Log Backup, and General parameters.

Backup policy parameters

Data backup policy

Data backup settings vary by storage type:

PSL4/PSL5

Level-1 backup

Parameter	Description
Backup method	Automatic backup frequency. Select standard backup or High-frequency Backup. Standard Backup (at specified intervals): Default: one backup per day. Custom options: Backup cycle: specify which days of the week to run backups. Start time: specify when to start daily backups. Minimum: two backups per week. Note For Standard Backup (at specified intervals), only one backup set is retained within a 24-hour period. High-frequency Backup: Features: Shortens the backup cycle, increases backup density, and improves recovery speed. Performs a backup every 2, 3, or 4 hours within a rolling 24-hour window. Retention rules: Last 24 hours: all backup sets are retained. Older than 24 hours: only the first backup set after 00:00 each day is retained. Others are automatically deleted.
Backup cycle	Schedule for automatic data backups. Note This parameter is required only when you select standard backup.
Backup start time	Start time for automatic data backups. Note This parameter is required only when you select standard backup.
Backup frequency	Frequency of automatic data backups. Options: Every 2 hours in the last 24 hours. Every 3 hours in the last 24 hours. Every 4 hours in the last 24 hours. Note This parameter is required only when you select High-frequency Backup.
Backup retention period	Retention period for backup sets. Note Default retention: 7 days. Range: 3 to 14 days.

Level-2 backup

Parameter	Description
Backup switch	Enable or disable level-2 backup. Note Level-2 backup is disabled by default. Enabling it incurs additional fees. You cannot manually delete level-2 backups; adjust the retention period to have them automatically deleted. Low-frequency level-2 backup: the level-2 backup cycle is less frequent than level-1. For example, level-1 at five days/week and level-2 at three days/week. Low-frequency archival rule: when enabled, the earliest backup set on each selected day is archived. After enabling low-frequency level-2 backup, subsequent backup sets are archived only if they meet this rule.
Backup method	You can select Same-region Backup or Cross-region Backup. Note Same-region backup is enabled by default when you enable level-2 backup. Enabling both same-region and cross-region backup archives two backup sets. Available regions are listed in Regions that support cross-region backup.
Backup cycle	Backup cycle for level-2 backups. Note Only days scheduled for level-1 backups are selectable.
Same-region backup retention	Retention period for same-region backups. Note Range: 30 to 7,300 days. For indefinite retention, select Long-term Retain Backups before Cluster Deletion. This disables the day-based retention setting.
Cross-region backup region	Destination region for cross-region backups.
Cross-region backup retention	Retention period for cross-region backups. Note Range: 30 to 7,300 days. For indefinite retention, select Long-term Retain Backups before Cluster Deletion. This disables the day-based retention setting.

ESSD (PL0, PL1, PL2, PL3, and AutoPL)

Parameter	Description
Backup method	Automatic backup frequency. Select standard backup or High-frequency Backup. Standard Backup (at specified intervals): Default: one backup per day, Monday through Friday. Custom options: Backup cycle: specify which days of the week to run backups. Start time: specify when to start daily backups. Minimum: two backups per week. Note For Standard Backup (at specified intervals), only one backup set is retained within a 24-hour period. High-frequency Backup: Features: Shortens the backup cycle, increases backup density, and improves recovery speed. Performs a backup every 2, 3, or 4 hours within a rolling 24-hour window. Retention rules: Last 24 hours: all backup sets are retained. Older than 24 hours: only the first backup set after 00:00 each day is retained. Others are automatically deleted.
Backup cycle	Schedule for automatic data backups. Note This parameter is required only when you select Standard Backup (at specified intervals).
Backup start time	Start time for automatic data backups. Note This parameter is required only when you select Standard Backup (at specified intervals).
Backup frequency	Frequency of automatic data backups. Options: Every 2 hours in the last 24 hours. Every 3 hours in the last 24 hours. Every 4 hours in the last 24 hours. Note This parameter is required only when you select High-frequency Backup.
Backup retention period	Retention period for backup sets. Note Default retention: 7 days. Range: 3 to 730 days.

High-frequency backup example

Example: you enable High-frequency Backup at 08:00 on March 1 with a frequency of every 4 hours. The system completes the first backup within 4 hours (08:00–12:00 on March 1) and continues at 4-hour intervals.

Note

With High-frequency Backup enabled, all backups from the last 24 hours are retained. For older backups, only the first set after 00:00 each day is kept; others are deleted.

If the current time is 16:00 on March 4, the system retains the following backup sets:
- Backup sets completed within the last 24 hours (from 16:00 on March 3 to 16:00 on March 4).
- The backup set completed between 00:00 and 04:00 on March 3.
- The backup set completed between 00:00 and 04:00 on March 2.
- The backup set completed between 08:00 and 12:00 on March 1.
Four hours later, at 20:00 on March 4, the system retains the following backup sets:
- Backup sets completed within the last 24 hours (from 20:00 on March 3 to 20:00 on March 4).
- The backup set completed between 00:00 and 04:00 on March 3.
- The backup set completed between 00:00 and 04:00 on March 2.
- The backup set completed between 08:00 and 12:00 on March 1.

Log backup policy

The log backup policy saves redo log files to offline storage. Options vary by storage type:

PSL4/PSL5

Parameter	Description
Backup method	You can select Same-region Backup or Cross-region Backup. Note Same-region log backup is enabled by default and cannot be disabled. You can select cross-region backup for logs only if cross-region backup is already enabled for level-2 backups.
Same-region backup retention	Retention period for same-region log backups. Note Range: 3 to 7,300 days. Log backups cannot be deleted within the retention period. For indefinite retention, select Long-term Retain Backups before Cluster Deletion. This disables the day-based retention setting. The Long-term Retain Backups before Cluster Deletion option is available only for PolarDB for MySQL Enterprise Edition clusters.
Cross-region backup region	Uses the same region as cross-region level-2 backups. No separate configuration needed.
Cross-region backup retention	Retention period for cross-region log backups. Note Range: 3 to 7,300 days. Cross-region log backups cannot be deleted within the retention period. For indefinite retention, select Long-term Retain Backups before Cluster Deletion. This disables the day-based retention setting. The Long-term Retain Backups before Cluster Deletion option is available only for PolarDB for MySQL Enterprise Edition clusters.

ESSD (PL0, PL1, PL2, PL3, and AutoPL)

Parameter	Description
Log backup retention	Retention period for log backups. Note Range: 3 to 7,300 days. Log backups cannot be deleted within the retention period. For indefinite retention, select Long-term Retain Backups before Cluster Deletion. This disables the day-based retention setting. The Long-term Retain Backups before Cluster Deletion option is available only for PolarDB for MySQL Enterprise Edition clusters.

General backup policy

The general backup policy controls how backup sets are handled when a cluster is released.

Parameter

Description

When Cluster Is Deleted

Retention policy for backups after cluster release.

Retain all backups: all backup sets are retained indefinitely after cluster release.
Retain only the final backup: a final full backup is performed before release and retained indefinitely.
Delete all backups: When the cluster is released, all of its backup sets and logs are immediately deleted. This action is irreversible.

Note

For Retain all backups or Retain only the final backup, a final full backup is performed before releasing the PolarDB cluster to capture the latest data.
With cross-region backup configured, selecting Delete all backups also immediately and irreversibly deletes all cross-region backup sets and logs. Other policies preserve the cross-region backup expiration settings.
After release, level-1 backups are automatically converted to level-2 backups. View saved backups in the cluster recycle bin.
After release, free quotas no longer apply and retained backups may incur fees. Delete the backups of a released cluster to reduce costs.

API reference

API	Description
DescribeBackupPolicy	Queries the data backup policy of a PolarDB cluster.
ModifyBackupPolicy	Modifies the data backup policy of a PolarDB cluster.
DescribeLogBackupPolicy	Queries the log backup policy of a PolarDB cluster.
ModifyLogBackupPolicy	Modifies the log backup policy of a PolarDB cluster.