Part 3 – AWS Backup with CPM – Creating a Backup Schedule and Policy

In this post, we’re still looking at backing up AWS EC2 instances using N2WS Cloud Protection Manager (CPM).  Posts #1 and 2 covered deploying and initializing the appliance.  Here we dig into the CPM interface to configure backups for EC2 instances.

Creating a Backup Schedule and Policy

A backup schedule sets the start time and frequency of backups whereas a backup policy is used to specify what is actually backed up.  Both must be created for backups to take place.

1. To create a new backup schedule, click Schedules | New Schedule

2. On the Schedule window, enter a schedule name, time interval (repeat every xx), Start Time, and which days to run. Click Apply.  The schedule shown below will run every day at 8pm.

3. To create a new backup policy, click Policies | New Policy
4. On the Policy window, specify the following and click Apply:

• Name             WindowsInstances (name cannot contain spaces)
• Account   Backup (the CPM “backup service account” created earlier)
• Auto Target Removal No
• Generations to Save 30 (in essence, save 30 days of backups)
• Status Enabled
• Schedule OnceDaily
• Description policy description

5. With the policy created, click Backup Targets to select EC2 instances and/or AWS services to backup.

6. On the Backup Targets page, notice you can backup individual volumes, RDS databases, Aurora, and Redshift clusters. To backup EC2 instance, click Add Instances.

7. On the Add Instances page, select the EC2 instances to backup and then click Add Selected. When you have finished selecting all EC2 instances you wish to backup, click Close.

8. With the preferred backup targets selected, click back to policies.

9. To perform a manual test backup, click run ASAP under the Operations heading.

10. When prompted to confirm running the policy ASAP, click OK.

11. While the policy is running, the Status will read In Progress.

12. When the policy completes successfully, the Status will read Backup Successful. You can get more detailed information from the log but clicking Open under the Log heading.

Previous series posts:

Part 1 – Backup AWS Resources N2WS Cloud Protection Manager (CPM)

Part 2 – AWS Backup with CPM – Initializing the Appliance