How Backup Works

Veeam Backup for Google Cloud does not install agent software inside instances to retrieve data. To back up both VM instances and Cloud SQL instances, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud uses native Google Cloud capabilities. During every backup session, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud creates a cloud-native snapshot for each instance added to a backup policy. The cloud-native snapshot is further used to create an image-level backup of the instance.

VM Instance Backup

Veeam Backup for Google Cloud performs VM instance backup in the following way:

1. Creates snapshots of persistent disks that are attached to the processed VM instance.

PD snapshots are assigned resource labels upon creation. Keys and values of resource labels contain encrypted metadata that helps Veeam Backup for Google Cloud identify the related PD snapshots and treat them as a single unit — a cloud-native snapshot.

2. If you enable image-level backup for the backup policy, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud performs the following operations:

1. Deploys a worker instance within the worker project in the Google Cloud region in which the processed VM instance resides.

By default, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud deploys worker instances with the same network configurations (network and subnetwork names) as those specified for the processed VM instances. You can also add specific worker configurations manually. For more information, see Managing Workers.

2. Re-creates the persistent disks from the cloud-native snapshot created at step 1 and attaches them to the worker instance.

Note that the cloud-native snapshot used as a source for image-level backup is not a temporary snapshot — when the backup session completes, this snapshot remains in the snapshot chain and is deleted later according to the specified policy scheduling settings.

3. Reads data from the persistent disks on the worker instance, transfers the data to the target standard or nearline repository, and stores it in the native Veeam format.

Veeam Backup for Google Cloud encrypts and compresses data saved to storage buckets. For more information, see Enabling Data Encryption.

4. Removes the worker instance when the backup session completes.

3. If you enable the backup archiving mechanism, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud performs the following operations:

1. Deploys a worker instance within the worker project in the Google Cloud region in which the processed VM instance resides.

For more information on how to specify a project for worker instances, see Managing Worker Configurations.

2. Retrieves data from the target standard or nearline repository, and transfers it to the target archive repository.
3. Removes the worker instance when the archive session completes.

Cloud SQL Instance Backup

When processing a Cloud SQL instance added to a backup policy, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud can create a restore point of the instance and transfer the point directly to a backup repository, or can copy the instance to a staging server first, create a restore point and then transfer it to a repository.

Veeam Backup for Google Cloud performs SQL instance backup in the following way:

1. Creates a cloud-native snapshot of the processed Cloud SQL instance.
2. If you enable image-level backup for the backup policy, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud performs the following operations:

1. If you choose to perform backup using a staging server:

1. Launches a staging server instance in a Google Cloud region in which the source Cloud SQL instance resides.
2. Reverts the staging server instance to the cloud-native snapshot created at step 1.

Note that the cloud-native snapshot used as a source for image-level backup is not a temporary snapshot — when the backup session completes, this snapshot remains in the snapshot chain and is deleted later according to the specified policy scheduling settings.

2. [Applies only to MySQL instances] Uses native Google Cloud capabilities to export databases of the processed Cloud SQL instance to a SQL dump file in the Temp subdirectory of the storage bucket where the target standard or nearline repository is located.

For more information on SQL dump files, see Google Cloud documentation.

3. Deploys a worker instance within the worker project in the Google Cloud region in which the target backup repository is located (for MySQL instances), or in the Google Cloud region in which the processed Cloud SQL instance resides (for PostgreSQL instances).

By default, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud deploys worker instances with the same network configurations as those specified for the processed Cloud SQL instances. However, you can add specific worker configurations. For more information, see Managing Workers.

4. [Applies only to MySQL instances] Uses the worker instance to export triggers, stored procedures and users of the processed Cloud SQL instance to a file in the Temp subdirectory of the storage bucket.
5. [Applies only to PostgreSQL instances] Uses the worker instance to retrieve databases, triggers, stored procedures and users of the processed Cloud SQL instance, transfers the retrieved data to the target backup repository and stores the data in the native Veeam format.
6. Removes the staging server instance (if launched at step 2a).
7. [Applies only to MySQL instances] Uses the worker instance to read data from the SQL dump file, transfers the data to the target backup repository and stores it in the native Veeam format.
8. When the backup session completes:

1. Removes the worker instance from Google Cloud.
2. [Applies only to MySQL instances] Removes the files from the Temp subdirectory of the storage bucket.

3. If you enable the backup archiving mechanism, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud performs the following operations:

1. Deploys a worker instance within the worker project in the Google Cloud region in which the target standard or nearline repository is located.

For more information on how to specify a project for worker instances, see Managing Worker Configurations.

2. Retrieves data from the target standard or nearline repository, and transfers it to the target archive repository.
3. Removes the worker instance when the archive session completes.

Related Topics

• Snapshot Chain
• Backup Chain
• Retention Policy