EBS backups

Clumio supports Amazon EBS volume SecureVault backups and EBS AWS snapshots. EBS backups and snapshots are configured using the Create Policy wizard on the Policies page. For more information, see Policies.

EBS SecureVault backups

EBS SecureVault backups represent full, standalone copies of your EBS volumes. Each backup is saved remotely to Clumio and retained for the length of time set by the Clumio unified policy. During the retention period, you can restore an EBS volume from any unexpired EBS backup. After the retention period expires, the backup is destroyed. Clumio offers two tiers of SecureVault Backup: Standard and Lite. Lite tier backups provide the same air-gap ransomware protection as the Standard tier, but must be retained for a minimum of 30 days. For a comparison of the two tiers, refer to the following table:

For more information about backup tier options, see SecureVault Backup Tier Options.

There are two ways to generate EBS SecureVault backups:

• Recurring: Configure a Clumio policy to automatically generate recurring backups at the configured intervals and keep those backups for the configured retention periods. When an EBS volume is protected, Clumio starts the backup seeding process to synchronize the data between the resource and Clumio. The initial backup seeding process creates a full backup of the EBS volume and saves it to Clumio. After that, backups are generated based on the policy’s configured schedule.
  Up to five recurring backup frequencies can be configured. See Clumio Backup for more information about backup frequencies and backup windows. If you select the SecureVault Lite tier to store your backups, a daily backup with a 30 day retention (the retention period is editable), is automatically added to the policy as this is a requirement for the SecureVault Lite tier.
• On-demand: On-demand backups represent single backups that are manually generated at any point in time and retained in Clumio. Each on-demand SecureVault Backup is retained for 7 days if you select the Standard Tier and for 30 days if you select the Lite Tier. For more information see On-demand Backup.

EBS AWS snapshot

EBS AWS snapshots capture instantaneous pictures of your EBS data at a certain point in time. Each snapshot is stored in the same location as the EBS volume–that is your AWS account–and retained for the length of time set by the Clumio unified policy. During the retention period, the EBS volume file and folders can be restored from any unexpired EBS AWS snapshot. After the retention period expires, the snapshot is destroyed.

There are two ways to generate EBS AWS snapshots:

• Recurring: Snapshots can be scheduled to occur at various frequencies throughout the year. Snapshots generated on a yearly basis can be retained for up to 7 years. During the retention period, you can restore an EBS volume from any unexpired EBS AWS snapshot. If multiple snapshots are generated on the same day, only one copy is retained. For example, if monthly and yearly snapshots are generated on January 1st, only one copy is saved. The snapshot scheduling and retention behavior is similar to SecureVault backup scheduling and retention behavior.
• On-demand: Snapshots represent single EBS AWS snapshots that are manually generated at any point in time. Each on-demand snapshot can be retained for up to 1 year. By default, on-demand snapshots are retained for 7 days.

Note: Additionally, if you have existing EBS AWS snapshots in your AWS accounts that you must retain for long-term compliance, we can move a copy of those snapshots to our SecureVault storage, allowing for faster and easier recovery, at a lower cost. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Protect EBS volumes

After you have created an EBS backup policy, you are ready to protect your EBS volumes. You can use Clumio's AWS protection rules to automate policy application for your EBS volumes and start backing up your EBS volumes. See Create an EBS policy for steps to start backing up your EBS volumes.

Refer to Managing protection rules for a detailed description of how to create and apply protection rules.

An EBS volume can only be protected by one policy at a time.

Generate an EBS volume backup on demand

1. Select AWS > Protect > [Account] > EBS Volumes. The Active EBS Volumes window appears with a list of EBS volumes that have been inventoried into Clumio.
2. Click the volume ID of the EBS volume you want to back up on demand. A calendar view of the current month displays along with a detailed view of the volume.
3. In the upper right corner of the details screen, click Take Backup and select a backup option, either SecureVault backup or Clumio-managed AWS snapshot.
4. If you selected SecureVault backup, select a backup tier to store the backup and then select a retention period—-the default is 7 days if you select Standard and 30 days if you select Lite.
5. Select a destination to save the backup, the default is In-region.
6. If you selected Clumio-managed AWS snapshot, select a retention period—the default is 7 days.
7. Click Take Backup. Clumio starts the EBS On-Demand Backup task. When the task is complete, the backup appears in the protection history calendar of the EBS volume, ready to be restored at any time.

For more information about retention periods for on-demand backups, see on-demand frequency and retention.

EC2 instances and EBS volumes

Protecting an EC2 instance protects all of the underlying EBS volumes that are attached to the instance, so when you generate an EC2 backup or snapshot, the attached EBS volumes are included in the respective backup or snapshot.

If an EBS volume is attached to an EC2 instance, you can protect just the EBS volume, just the EC2 instance (which protects all of its attached EBS volumes), or both the EBS volume and the EC2 instance. If both the EBS volume and its EC2 instance are protected, the EBS volume is protected as part of the EBS policy and the EC2 policy, respectively.

Note: File Level Indexing (FLI) for EBS backups does not fully support international character sets for POSIX file systems (ext4/ext3/btrfs/xfs). This may result in a garbled display of some characters while browsing file indexes.