Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Manually Backing Up a Boot Volume

Learn how create a backup for a boot volume.

You can create a backup of a boot volume using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Block Volume service. Boot volume backups are point-in-time snapshots of a boot volume. For more information about boot volume backups, see Boot Volume Backups.This topic describes how to create a manual boot volume backup.

You can also configure a backup policy that creates backups automatically based on a specified schedule and retention policy. This works the same as block volumes. See Policy-Based Backups (Backup Policies) for more information.

For information to help you decide whether to create a backup or a clone of a boot volume, see Differences Between Boot Volume Backups and Clones.

Note

Boot volume backup size might be larger than the source boot volume size. See Boot Volume Backup Size for more information. See also Boot volume backup size larger than expected.

Boot Volume Backup Size

Boot volume backup size may be larger than the source boot volume size. Some of the reasons for this could include the following:

  • Any part of the boot volume that has been written to is considered initialized, so will always be part of the boot volume backup.

  • Many operating systems write or zero out the content, which results in these blocks marked as used. The Block Volume service considers these blocks updated and includes them in the volume backup.

  • Boot volume backups also include metadata, which can be up to 1 GB in additional data. For example, in a full backup of a 256 GB Windows boot disk, you may see a backup size of 257 GB, which includes an additional 1 GB of metadata.

Required IAM Policy

To use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, an administrator must be a member of a group granted security access in a policy  by a tenancy administrator. This access is required whether you're using the Console or the REST API with an SDK, CLI, or other tool. If you get a message that you don't have permission or are unauthorized, verify with the tenancy administrator what type of access you have and which compartment  your access works in.

Tip

When users create a backup from a volume or restore a volume from a backup, the volume and backup don't have to be in the same compartment . However, users must have access to both compartments.
If you're new to policies, see Managing Identity Domains and Common Policies. For reference material about writing policies for instances, cloud networks, or other Core Services API resources, see Details for the Core Services.
    1. In the Boot Volumes list page, select the boot volume you want to work with. If you need help finding the list page or the boot volume, see Listing Boot Volumes.
    2. Select Backups.
    3. Select Create Boot Volume Backup.

    4. Enter a name for the backup. Avoid entering confidential information.

    5. Select the backup type, either incremental or full. See Boot Volume Backup Types for information about backup types.

    6. (Optional) Show tagging options to add tags to the volume. If you have permissions to create a resource, then you also have permissions to apply free-form tags to that resource. To apply a defined tag, you must have permissions to use the tag namespace. For more information about tagging, see Resource Tags. If you're not sure whether to apply tags, skip this option or ask an administrator. You can apply tags later.

    7. Select Create boot volume backup.

      The backup is completed when it is no longer listed as CREATING in the State column on Boot Volume Backups list page.

  • Use the oci bv boot-volume-backup create command and specify the --boot-volume-id parameter to create a new boot volume backup:

    oci bv boot-volume-backup create --boot-volume-id <boot_volume_id>

    For a complete list of parameters and values for CLI commands, see the CLI Command Reference.

  • Run the CreateBootVolumeBackup operation and specify the bootVolumeId attribute in the CreateBootVolumeBackupDetails resource to create a boot volume backup.