Create backups of cloud server network volumes

Last update: September 09 2026Open in Markdown

You can create a backup manually or configure scheduled automatic backups.

Learn more about full and incremental backups in the network volume Backups.

Backups do not have an automatic integrity or functionality check. We recommend that you periodically restore from backups to verify that the restoration works correctly.

Create a manual backup

1. In the Control panel, from the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.

2. Go to the Volumes.

3. In the menu of the volume, select Create backup.

4. If you are creating a backup in the ru-3 or ru-7 pool, select a location to store the backup.

   If you selected a local data center, the backups will be stored in the same location as the volumes. This storage method enables fast data recovery.

   If you selected a remote data center, the backups will be stored in external storage in a different location from the volumes. This storage method ensures infrastructure disaster recovery.

5. Click Create backup.

Configure scheduled backups

Volume backup settings can be defined in a backup plan:

• which volumes to apply the plan to — for which volumes backups will be created according to this plan;
• backup type — full or incremental;
• schedule — when volume backups will be created;
• how many recent full backups to store — learn more about backup storage.

A single backup plan can be applied to one volume or several at once — you do not need to configure a backup schedule for each volume separately. Any number of plans can be applied to one volume.

You can add plans to be applied to a volume.

If you need to change backup settings, you can edit the plan or disable the plan.

Create plan

1. In the Control panel, on the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.

2. Go to the Backups section.

3. Open the Plans tab.

4. Click Create plan.

5. Enter the plan name.

6. Select the location where the volume is located.

7. Select the volumes to which the plan will be applied.

8. Select the backup type: full or incremental.

9. Set up the backup creation schedule.

   By day of the week

   To set up backup creation by days of the week, select the required days and enter the time in the ЧЧ:ММ format in your time zone when backups will be created.

   If you chose incremental backup, the first backup created is a full backup. It is created once a week. On other days, incremental backups are created.

   Cron expression

   To configure backup creation via a cron expression, enter a cron expression in UTC+0.

   A cron expression consists of five values in order; they set the specific times when backups will be created:

   • minutes — from 0 to 59;
   • hours — from 0 to 24;
   • days of the month — from 1 to 31;
   • month — from 1 to 12;
   • days of the week — from 0 to 7. For Sunday, you can use the values 0 and 7.

   Any of the values can be replaced with the * symbol — it means every possible value.

   For example, the entry 0 0,12 * * 1,5 will create backups on Monday and Friday at 00:00 and 12:00.

   To create cron expressions, you can use online editors — for example, crontab guru.

10. Choose which backups to store — all or the latest ones.

11. If you chose to store the latest backups, specify the number of recent full backups to keep. The minimum number of full backups to store is:

    • for full backups — one;
    • for incremental backups — two. Incremental backups are stored in chains of seven backups — one full and six subsequent incremental backups. For example, if you specify to store three full backups in the plan settings, the three most recent chains will be stored.

    The number of backups that can be created within one plan is unlimited.

12. Click Create plan.

Edit plan

The backup type in a plan cannot be changed.

1. In the Control panel, on the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to Backups.
3. Open the Plans.
4. In the plan menu, select Change settings.
5. Optional: change the volumes the plan applies to. If you remove the plan from a volume, the backups created for it will be preserved.
6. Optional: change the backup schedule.
7. Optional: if you are storing the latest backups, change the number of backups to keep. If you decrease this number, then after new backups are automatically created, the previous backups that no longer fit the new limit will be deleted. For example, if you change the storage setting from seven backups to four, after one new backup is created, the first four backups will be deleted (the one new backup and the three previous ones will remain).
8. Click Save.

Add plan to volume

You can add any number of existing or new plans to a volume according to which backups will be created.

1. In the Control panel, on the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to Disks.
3. In the disk menu, select Configure backup plan.
4. Select plans or create a new one.
5. Click Add plan.

Remove plan from volume

You can remove a plan from a specific volume; backups will no longer be created for it. Previously created backups will be preserved. The plan can be re-enabled later.

If a plan is enabled for multiple volumes and you remove the plan from one of them, the plan will continue to work for the remaining volumes.

1. In the Control panel, on the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to Disks.
3. Open the disk page → Backup Plans.
4. In the plan menu, select Disable plan.
5. Click Disable plan.