Backing up instances

With HYCU for AWS, you can back up your instances in a fast and efficient way.

Prerequisite

For instances running Microsoft Windows: If you want HYCU for AWS to create a Windows VSS snapshot for the instance to ensure application consistency of backup data, you must create an IAM role for VSS-enabled snapshots and attach it to the instance as described in AWS documentation.

n Note  You can check if VSS snapshots were successfully configured for the instance in the backup task summary and report.

Prerequisites when planning to restore individual files or folders

  • The security group that the instance belongs to must have an inbound rule for the following ports:

    • WinRM: TCP port 5986 (or a different port if configured for SSH communication)
    • GNU/Linux: TCP port 22 (or a different port if configured for SSH communication)

    For instructions on how to configure and apply the network firewall rule, see AWS documentation.

  • On the instances that you plan to protect, WinRM is configured to use a TCP port (by default, 5986) for HTTPS or HTTP communication. The firewall is configured to enable inbound network traffic through this port.

  • The restore of individual files or folders is enabled for the instance. For instructions on how to enable the restore of individual files or folders, see “Configuring instance backup options”.

  • The correct credential group is assigned to the original instance, and the corresponding credentials belong to a user account with sufficient privileges. For instructions on how to assign access credentials, see “Enabling access to data”.

Prerequisites when planning to use pre‑snapshot or post‑snapshot scripts

  • The security group that the instance belongs to must have an inbound rule for the following ports:

    • WinRM: TCP port 5986 (or a different port if configured for SSH communication)
    • GNU/Linux: TCP port 22 (or a different port if configured for SSH communication)

    For instructions on how to configure and apply the network firewall rule, see AWS documentation.

  • For instances running GNU/Linux: On the instances that you plan to protect, an SSH server is installed and configured to use a TCP port (by default, 22) for SSH communication. The firewall is configured to enable inbound network traffic through this port.

  • For instances running Microsoft Windows: On the instances that you plan to protect, WinRM is configured to use a TCP port (by default, 5986) for HTTPS or HTTP communication. The firewall is configured to enable inbound network traffic through this port.

  • For instances running Microsoft Windows, and for instances running GNU/Linux with non‑default configuration of SSH server or if you want to use custom user accounts for running the script: The correct credential group is assigned to the instance and the corresponding credentials belong to a user account with sufficient privileges. For instructions on how to assign access credentials, see “Enabling access to data”.

To access the Instances panel, in the navigation pane, click  Instances. Alternatively, in the Dashboard panel, click the Instances widget.

Procedure

  1. Select the instances that you want to back up. You can update the instance list by clicking  Synchronize. In a protection set with a large number of accounts, the update may take a while.

    To narrow down the list of displayed instances, use the filtering options as described in “Filtering and sorting data in panels”.

  2. Click  Policies. The Policies dialog box opens.

  3. From the list of available policies, select the desired policy.

  4. Click Assign to assign the policy to the selected instances.

When you assign a policy to an instance, a backup task starts immediately. Subsequent backups are scheduled according to the values defined in the policy.

n Note  The first backup task may be delayed if a backup image of the instance already exists.

You can also perform a manual backup of individual instances at any time. For details, see “Performing manual backups”.