How to manage autobackups for Database Instances

Reviewed on 18 December 2023 • Published on 11 May 2019

With the autobackup feature, the creation and management of your Database Instance backups is automated according to your backup schedule configuration.

Two types of autobackups are available at Scaleway: backups and snapshots.

Backups are used when your Database Instance’s storage option is a local volume. Snapshots are available for Database Instances that use Basic and Low Latency Block Storage volumes.

Important

Although they bear the same feature name, automated snapshots and automated backups are different in their design. If you have a Database Instance using Block Storage, it is only possible to use automated snapshots as autobackup.

Before you start

To complete the actions presented below, you must have:

A Scaleway account logged into the console
Owner status or IAM permissions allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization
A PostgreSQL or MySQL Database Instance

Note

The autobackup feature is enabled by default upon the creation of an Instance. Simultaneously, a schedule policy is created. The default autobackup frequency is of 1 per day with a retention period of 7 days. You can change this in the Database Instance information page after Instance creation.

By default, the Database Instance creation date is used as the base timestamp for the automated backups. When you change the schedule configuration, the moment you validated the new configuration becomes the new base timestamp. For example, if at 8 a.m. on a Thursday you update the autobackup frequency to 24h, your next autobackup will be created at 8 a.m. on a Friday.

Click PostgreSQL and MySQL under Managed Databases on the side menu. A list of your Database Instances displays.
Click the Database Instance name or «See more Icon» > More info to access the Database Instance’s Overview page.
Note
If you have a Database Instance using Block Storage, you can follow the next steps from the Snapshots tab.
Scroll down to Backup configuration and click «Edit Icon».
Note
Although autobackup is enabled by default, you can select Manual in the Choose a backup configuration step of the Database Instance creation wizard to disable the feature before you create the Instance. You can also disable it after the Database Instance is ready.
Configure the backup frequency and retention, then click «Validate Icon» to confirm.

You can follow our documentation to restore and export your backups.

For snapshots, you can follow the how to restore snapshots procedure to create a Database Instance from a snapshot.