About Backing Up Databases on MySQL Cloud Service

By backing up your MySQL Cloud Service database, you can protect the database against loss if a failure occurs. By restoring from a backup, you can restore that database to its state at the time of the backup.

MySQL Cloud Service provides a backup feature that backs up:

  • The complete contents of the MySQL data directory. For more information on the files backed up, see Files Backed Up.

To provide this backup feature, MySQL Cloud Service relies on MySQL Enterprise Backup which is installed in the database deployment.

Note:

MySQL backups are not encrypted.

Default Backup Configuration

When you create a database deployment, you choose one of the following backup destinations:

  • Both Cloud Storage and Local Storage. Backups are configured to be created automatically and stored both on local compute node storage and on an Oracle Storage Cloud Service container. You can use an existing container or create one when creating the deployment.

  • Cloud Storage Only. Backups are configured to be created automatically and stored on an Oracle Storage Cloud Service container. You can use an existing container or create one when creating the deployment.

  • None. No backup configuration is created.

The backup configuration created when you choose a destination other than None follows a set of Oracle best-practice guidelines:

  • Full backup of the contents of the database server’s data directory, followed by rolling incremental backups on a seven-day cycle.

  • Automatic backups daily, the specific time is configured in the Configure Backups dialog of the service administration page.

  • Retention period:

    • Both Cloud Storage and Local Storage: 30 days, with the 7 most recent days' backups available on local storage. This set of backups consists of one Full backup and 6 incremental backups, based on the Full backup. After 7 days, a new Full backup is created, and the preceding Full Backup, and its associated incremental backups, are deleted.

    • Cloud Storage Only: 30 days..

If the defaults do not suit your needs, you can customize the backup configuration for your database deployment. For information, see Customizing the Current Backup Configuration.

About Local Storage for Backups

When a database deployment is created on MySQL Cloud Service, Oracle Compute Cloud Service storage volumes are created and associated with the compute nodes.

You can see details about storage volumes in the Compute Cloud Service console. See Viewing a Storage Volume in Using Oracle Compute Cloud Service.

The space allocated for the local storage used for backups is twice the space allocated for data storage. For example, if you chose 100 GB for Usable Database Storage when creating the database deployment, 200 GB are allocated for backups.

When Do Backups Occur

If backups are configured for a service instance, they are scheduled to occur automatically. You can also initiate an on-demand backup immediately without having to wait for the next scheduled backup.

By default, scheduled backups occur at the following times:
  • Full backups are initiated weekly starting 12 hours after backups were enabled on a service instance, rounded to the nearest five-minute interval.

    For example, if a service instance is created with backups at 1:01 PM on a Monday, full backups are initiated at 1:00 AM on Tuesdays.

  • Incremental backups are initiated every day, except the day of a full backup, at the same time that full backups are initiated.

    For example, if a service instance is created with backups at 1:01 PM on a Monday, incremental backups are initiated at 1:00 AM every day except Tuesdays.

  • If you stop a service instance, and then restart it after the next scheduled backup, the overdue backup will be immediately.

You can change the default schedule on which automated backups are initiated.

After configuring backups for a service instance, you can also enable or disable the backup service as needed.

MySQL Cloud Service automatically disables backups on a service instance if the following conditions are true:
  • You specified a notification email address when you created the service instance.

  • Three consecutive failures of the same type occur with scheduled backups.

Both you and the account administrator will receive an email notification each time a backup fails and also when backups are automatically disabled. A reminder notification is sent every week until backups are enabled again.

Viewing Available Backups in the Console

To view the available backups in the console, do the following:

  1. Open the console.

  2. Select the service. The service overview page is displayed.

  3. Select Administration. The service administration page is displayed.

  4. Select the Backup tab to view the list of available backups.