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Backup Overview

Last updated: 2024-07-30 15:37:58
    The backup feature can help you avoid accidental data loss in case of system hardware or instance failure. To protect your assets, TencentDB for SQL Server provides the data backup and restoration feature for you to archive data and restore data to local databases.
    This document describes the backup feature.

    Backup purposes

    You can restore data from backups after a database or table is deleted maliciously or by mistake. This helps guarantee data security and avoid data loss and corruption.

    Backup billing

    Backups include data backups and log backups. For more information on billing, see Backup Space Billing.

    Automatic backup

    TencentDB for SQL Server supports automatic backup, including non-archive backup and archive backup. Archive backup is a more flexible backup policy on the basis of non-archive automatic backup and does not need to retain additional new backups. You can set the automatic backup retention policy based on your business needs to easily manage the backup retention period and cycle. You can also flexibly set the number of retained backups for the specified cycle to implement long-term backup storage, or shorten the non-archive backup retention period to reduce storage costs.
    Non-Archive Backup: The data backup retention period is customizable between 7 and 1,830 days. The log backup retention period is the same as the data backup retention period by default. You can set the automatic backup cycle. We recommend you back up your data at least twice a week. For more information, see Setting Non-Archive Backup Retention.
    Archive Backup: The archive backup retention period is 365 days by default and customizable between 90 and 3,650 days. It can only be longer than the non-archive backup retention period. The archive backup retention frequency and start time can be customized. For more information, see Setting Archive Backup Retention.

    Manual backup

    Instance backup and multi-database backup are supported. You can manually create a backup file at any time for any created database. The larger the backup file, the slower the manual backup. Generally, it takes about 5–120 minutes to complete a manual backup. For more information, see Creating Manual Backup.

    Cross-region backup

    You can store backup files in another region, which enhances the regulatory compliance and disaster recovery capabilities and improves the data reliability. After this feature is enabled, cross-region backup will be triggered after the local default automatic backup is completed, that is, the default automatic backup will be dumped to the cross-region backup storage device. The cross-region backup retention period is customizable between 7 and 1,830 days. For more information, see Cross-Region Backup.

    Data backup

    Utilizing the manual backup feature, you have the flexibility to either back up individual or multiple databases within an instance or opt for a comprehensive backup of all databases across the entire instance. Conversely, with the automatic backup feature, you can back up the entire instance. The retention period for manually backed-up files can be aligned with the retention policy of automatic backups or can be set to be aligned with the lifecycle of the instance. By default, the retention period for automatically backed-up files is set to 7 days, with the option to customize the retention period ranging from 3 to 1830 days, after which the backup files are automatically deleted. It is recommended to promptly download any backup files you wish to retain locally.

    Log backup

    The system automatically generates log backups (log files) every 10 minutes, which are then uploaded to cloud storage. These log files are available for download. The retention period for log backups is consistent with that of data backups, ranging from 3 to 1830 days. Upon reaching the expiration date, the backup set is automatically deleted.

    Backup policy

    Backup policies include instance backup and multi-database backup. The former backs up all databases in an instance, while the latter backs up selected databases.

    Backup task settings

    You can configure the global variables of manual and scheduled backups through Backup Task Settings. You can set Upload Backup File to Archive file or Unarchived files and select the primary or replica instance for backup. For more information, see Setting Backup Task.

    Backup file format

    The Upload Backup File option allows you to specify the format of backup files (Archive file or Unarchived files). By default, backup files (i.e., .bak files) will be archived into a .tar file and then uploaded to COS. If you select "Unarchived files" as the backup file format, the .bak file of each database in the instance will be directly uploaded to COS without being archived.

    Backup task execution

    The Execute Backup Task option allows you to decide whether to back up on the primary or replica node. By default, data is backed up on the primary node.

    Viewing and downloading a backup

    For easy backup query, management, and analysis, you can view and download backups in the console. You can also query the information of all backups or backups for today, the past 7, 15, or 30 days, or a custom period, including backup start/end time, name, policy, mode, file format, size, database, and status.

    Viewing the backup space

    The backup space occupied by TencentDB for SQL Server instance backup files is allocated by region. It is equivalent to the total storage capacity used by all database backups in a region, including automatic data backups, manual data backups, and log backups. Increasing the backup retention period or frequency will use more database backup space. You can view the backup space statistics and trends of all instances in each region under your account as well as the real-time backup space statistics of each instance. For more information, see Viewing Backup Space.
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