Create a Snapshot Schedule

You should create a snapshot schedule in scenarios where you want automatic, consistent backups of your disk data without manual intervention. Here are some common use cases:

When to Use a Snapshot Schedule

1. Critical systems with frequent data changes For databases, applications, or services that constantly update data, scheduled snapshots ensure you always have up-to-date restore points.

2. Compliance or audit requirements Some industries require regular, time-stamped backups to meet regulatory standards.

3. Disaster recovery preparedness In case of unexpected failures, cyberattacks, or data corruption, scheduled snapshots make it easy to quickly restore to a recent state.

4. Long-term projects or production systems For systems running 24/7, where manual backups are impractical or easy to forget.

5. Reducing manual workload Automating snapshots lowers operational overhead and reduces the risk of human error.

Procedures

1. Go to Snapshot Schedule > Create Snapshot Schedule.

   
2. Label your snapshot schedule, and a default name will be applied if you do not enter one.

3. Select where you want to create your automatic snapshot.

4. Configure the schedule frequency. Choose how often the snapshot will be created. Available values: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

5. Select the start time (UTC+0). Choose backup time (in UTC+0) when the automatic snapshot should be created. Available values: every hour on the hour from 00:00 to 23:00.

6. Configure the retention policy.

   Choose how long to keep snapshots:

   • Indefinite – snapshots are kept until manually or automatically deleted.

   • Custom – define an expiration period (e.g., keep for 7 days, 30 days, etc.).

   If using Custom, enter the number of days in the Expires in field.

7. Optional settings.

   Click More Settings (Resource Management & Tag Management) if you need to:

   • Add resource groups.

   • Apply snapshot tags for identification or automation.

8. Review your settings, then save to create the schedule.

Note

Each disk can store up to 1000 automatic snapshots. When the limit is reached, the oldest snapshot will be deleted automatically.

Result

You can view your snapshot schedule on the snapshot schedule list page.

Once created, snapshots will be generated automatically on the snapshot list page based on the frequency and retention rules you defined.

What to Do Next

After creating a snapshot schedule, you're advised to attach the schedule to one or more source disks. See Attach to Disk for details.

More Actions

In Actions and on the Details page, you can perform the following actions:

Attach to Disk

After creating a snapshot schedule, it should be attached to a disk in order to automatically create snapshots of the corresponding source disk.

1. Go to Actions > Attach to Disk, and select the desired disks.

   
2. View the attached disks on the Details page. You can also attach or detach a disk here.

   

Change a Schedule

You can change the schedule frequency, start time and retention in Actions > Change Schedule.

Edit Tags

Tags are key-value metadata assigned to cloud resources to organize, track, and manage them for purposes like cost allocation, access control, and automation.

View Tag Management for more details.

Delete a Schedule

If you don't need a snapshot schedule anymore, you can delete it. Please note that the snapshot schedule deletion is irreversible. Please proceed with caution. Multi deletion is also supported.