CDP Backup

CDP Backup, short for Continuous Data Protection, is E2E’s backup service for nodes. Once you turn it on for a node, CDP Backup backs up the files and folders on the node and its attached volumes on a schedule. Each backup is kept as a recovery point on E2E’s backup servers. When a file is deleted or changed by mistake, you browse a recovery point from before the change and restore only what you need.

Backup is off by default. Turn it on for every node that holds data you cannot recreate, and for every production node in particular.

What you can do

• Turn on CDP Backup for a node, with a schedule plan, compression, optional encryption, and paths to leave out.
• Change the backup schedule of a node that is already backed up.
• Back up a database on a node: MySQL on Linux, or SQL Server on Windows.
• Run a backup now before a risky change, and check that the node’s backup agent is connected.
• Restore files from a recovery point to the same node or to another node.
• Lock a recovery point to keep it past the plan’s retention.
• View backup history and usage, with a usage report to download.
• Keep backups after deleting a node, and restore its files later.
• Deactivate CDP Backup for a node.

To turn backup on for a new node, check Enable Backup. on the create-node form; see Enable backups on a node.

How backups work

A backup runs every four, six, or 10 hours, on the schedule your plan sets. Each run adds a recovery point. Each recovery point holds all the node’s backed-up data at that moment. You can restore from any one of them on its own. The plan keeps a set number of recent, daily, weekly, and monthly recovery points, and on some plans yearly ones. It merges older ones away. See Recovery points and retention.

A restore brings back the files and folders you select, rather than the whole disk. By default it writes them into a new restore folder on the node, and you move them into place.

You can encrypt a node’s backups with your own passphrase when you turn backup on. E2E has no copy of the passphrase. A lost passphrase means the backups cannot be restored. See Backup encryption.

Where to start

To back up your first node, follow Get started with CDP Backup.

If a backup fails or will not turn on, see Troubleshooting CDP Backup. For short answers, including how backup is billed, see the CDP Backup FAQ.