Discover and protect Compute Engine instances

This page explains how to discover and protect Compute Engine instances.

The Compute Engine onboarding wizard lets you do the following:

• Enable backups for Compute Engine instance

• Add a Compute Engine instance to a logical group

• Add a Compute Engine instance as unmanaged

• Add a Compute Engine instance as ignored

To onboard a Compute Engine instance to Backup and DR Service, first you need to select a cloud credential to list the projects accessible with the credential and then select the appliance if the credential is available on multiple appliances. Next, choose a project, zone, and then select the VM instances you want to enable backups, add to a logical group, add as unmanaged, or mark as ignored. The project ID, zone, and instances are displayed based on the selected credential. You can change the zone defined in the credential.

For a large instance list, use the following options to filter instances:

• New: This shows instances that have not yet been discovered on the management console. By default only new instances are shown.
• Unmanaged: This shows instances that were previously discovered but not managed by applying a backup plan.
• Managed: This shows instances that were previously discovered and are managed by applying a backup plan.
• Ignored: This shows the instances that have been already discovered but marked as ignored.

Note: If you have discovered an instance into Backup and DR Service, and then in Google Cloud console you create a copy of the instance from the source instance (using either Create Machine Image or Create Similar), then labels from the source instance are copied to the copy instance. The labels from the copy instance may not be read correctly in the management console. Remove any labels before onboarding the new instance.

For the selected instances, you can apply a backup plan, add to a logical group, add as unmanaged, or mark as ignored. After onboarding the Compute Engine instances, go to the App Manager then Applications page to find the discovered instances.

Enable backups for Compute Engine instances

To enable backups for Compute Engine instances, you need to discover instances in a project and assign a backup plan to the discovered instances that you want to backup. Backup plans are the rules that the management console uses to define how often to backup application data, how long to retain the backups, and where and how to replicate the backup data.

Use the backup plans to create policy templates that each backup/recovery appliance uses to manage data. See create a template for instructions on how to create a template.

Prerequisites

The following are prerequisites that you must have to enable backups for Compute Engine instance:

• Default cloud credential if it exists or create a new credential.
• Assigned IAM roles and permissions to the service account of the backup/recovery appliance.
• Backup template to define the backup policy.

Use the following instructions to enable backups for Compute Engine instances:

1. Open the wizard using one of following methods:

   • Click Back up & Recover and select Back up from the drop-down menu.
   • From App Manager, select Applications, and click Add Application.

2. Select Compute Engine.

3. Select a Cloud Credential.

4. Select an appliance from the Appliance drop-down, if the credential is created on multiple appliances, and click Next.

5. Select the Project ID and Zone then click Search to list the instances available in the project and zone. If you cannot find your project in the Project ID drop-down, click Don't see your project ID here and it lists the missing permissions required for the project.

6. Add the listed missing permissions or roles to the service account of the backup/recovery appliance, or add the relevant service account to the relevant project with the correct IAM role.

7. Use the checkbox to select the Compute Engine instances to be added as unmanaged. You can select for each VM whether to protect all disks or just the boot volume. Click Next.

   If no instances appear, then ensure that the zone selected matches with the zone where your Compute Engine instances are located and running. Only new instances are displayed by default. You can change the options from the drop-down to see previously discovered instances.

8. Select an instance and select Apply a backup plan from the drop-down.

9. Select a backup template from the Choose backup plan drop-down and click Ok. If a backup template was not created previously, see create a template for instructions on how to create a template.

10. Click Next.

11. Review the summary screen. If everything is correct, select Finish to enable a backup plan for Compute Engine instances. The selected Compute Engine instances are backed up with the selected backup template.

12. Click Finish in the confirm finish dialog.

13. After the onboarding is complete, a dialog appears. Click Finish again.

    After the backup plans are applied to Compute Engine instances, the status changes to a green check mark. The green check indicates that your instance is onboarded successfully. You can view your onboarded Compute Engine instance from App Manager > Applications to page. If you want to run the job immediately, see Run on-demand job.

Add a Compute Engine instance to logical groups

A logical group is a grouping of applications from one appliance used for ease of management to apply a common backup plan to all the group's applications. Mount, clone, and restore operations are performed on the images of each application in the group individually. Although you apply a backup plan against a logical group, management of the data capture is performed one-by-one to the individual applications and there is no association among the applications in the group.

To add the instance to a logical group, you must create a logical group and then protect the logical group. The newly added logical groups and backup plans applied to logical groups are displayed after selecting the instances in the onboarding section.

Prerequisites

The following are prerequisites that you must have to add a Compute Engine instance to a logical group:

• Default cloud credential if it exists or create a new credential using the instructions in the Cloud credentials topic.
• Assigned IAM roles and permissions to the service account of the backup/recovery appliance.
• Created a logical group and then protect it with a backup template.

Use the following instructions to add a Compute Engine instance to a logical group:

1. Open the wizard using one of following methods:

   • Click Back up & Recover and select Back up from the drop-down menu.
   • From App Manager, select Applications, and then click Add Application.

2. Select Compute Engine.

3. Select a Cloud Credential.

4. Select an appliance from the Appliance drop-down, if the credential is created on multiple appliances, and click Next.

5. Select the Project ID and Zone then click Search to list the instances available in the project and zone. If you cannot find your project in the Project ID drop-down, click Don't see your project ID here and it lists the missing permissions required for the project.

6. Add the listed missing permissions or roles to the service account of the backup/recovery appliance, or add the relevant service account to the relevant project with the correct IAM role.

7. Use the checkbox to select the Compute Engine instances to be added as unmanaged. You can select for each VM whether to protect all disks or just the boot volume. Click Next.

   If no instances appear, then ensure that the zone selected matches with the zone where your Compute Engine instances are located and running. Only new instances are displayed by default. You can change the options from the drop-down to see previously discovered instances.

8. Select an instance and select Add to logical group from the drop-down.

9. Select a logical group from the Choose group drop-down and click Ok, if the logical group was not created previously, see create a logical group.

10. Click Next.

11. Review the summary screen. If everything is correct, select Finish to add instances to a logical group.

12. Click Finish in the confirm finish dialog.

    After the Compute Engine instances are added as logical groups, the status changes to a green check mark. The green check indicates that your instance is onboarded successfully. You can view your onboarded Compute Engine instance from the Applications page.

Add a Compute Engine instance as unmanaged

If you don't want to protect the instance at the time of discovery, you can add them as unmanaged and apply the protection from the Application page whenever needed. After onboarding the instance, in the Application page, use the Unmanaged filter to list the unmanaged instances.

Prerequisites

The following are prerequisites that you must have to add a Compute Engine instance as unmanaged:

• Default cloud credential if it exists or create a new credential using the instructions in the Cloud credentials topic.
• Assigned IAM roles and permissions to the service account of the backup/recovery appliance.
• Backup template to define the backup policy.

Use the following instructions to add Compute Engine instance as unmanaged:

1. Open the wizard using one of following methods:

   • Click Back up & Recover and select Back up from the drop-down menu.
   • From App Manager, select Applications and then click Add Application.

2. Select Compute Engine.

3. Select a Cloud Credential.

4. Select an appliance from the Appliance drop-down, if the credential is created on multiple appliances, and click Next.

5. Select the Project ID and Zone then click Search to list the instances available in the project and zone. If you cannot find your project in the Project ID drop-down, click Don't see your project ID here and it lists the missing permissions required for the project.

6. Add the listed missing permissions or roles to the service account of the backup/recovery appliance, or add the relevant service account to the relevant project with the correct IAM role.

7. Use the checkbox to select the Compute Engine instances to be added as unmanaged. You can select for each VM whether to protect all disks or just the boot volume. Click Next.

   If no instances appear, then ensure that the zone selected matches with the zone where your Compute Engine instances are located and running. Only new instances are displayed by default. You can change the options from the drop=down to see previously discovered instances.

8. Select an instance and select Add as Unmanaged from the drop-down and click Ok.

9. Click Next.

10. Review the summary screen. If everything is correct, select Finish to add instances as unmanaged.

11. Click Finish in the confirm finish dialog.

    After the Compute Engine instances are added as unmanaged, the status changes to a green check mark. The green check indicates that your instance is onboarded successfully. You can view your onboarded Compute Engine instance from the Applications page.

Apply backup plan for unmanaged instances

If at any time you want to apply backup plan for the unmanaged instance, follow these instructions:

1. From the Applications page, apply Unmanaged filter.
2. Right-click the unmanaged application and select Manage Backup Plan.
3. Choose Template and Profile. Profiles are automatically created for Compute Engine instances, so select the profile that starts with the credentials name you selected for onboarding instance. In the Profile drop-down, the profile displays with credentials name followed by profile. For example, Credential_profile.
4. Click Apply Backup Plan. After the job is completed, you can see the instance as protected in the Applications page.

Add a Compute Engine instance as ignored

If you don't want to protect the instance at the time of discovery or no plans to protect it, you can add it as ignored. After onboarding the instance, in the Application page, use the filter Ignored to list the ignored instances. To apply a backup plan for an ignored instance, change the instance state to Unignored and then apply a backup plan.

Prerequisites

The following are prerequisites that you must have to add a Compute Engine instance as ignored:

• Default cloud credential if it exists or create a new credential using the instructions in the Cloud credentials topic.
• Assigned IAM roles and permissions to the service account of the backup/recovery appliance.
• Backup template to define the backup policy.

Use the following instructions to add Compute Engine instance as ignored:

1. Open the wizard using one of following methods:

   • Click Back up & Recover and select Back up from the drop-down menu.
   • From App Manager, select Applications and then click Add Application.

2. Select Compute Engine.

3. Select a Cloud Credential.

4. Select an appliance from the Appliance drop-down, if the credential is created on multiple appliances, and click Next.

5. Select the Project ID and Zone then click Search to list the instances available in the project and zone. If you cannot find your project in the Project ID drop-down, click Don't see your project ID here and it lists the missing permissions required for the project.

6. Add the listed missing permissions or roles to the service account of the backup/recovery appliance, or add the relevant service account to the relevant project with the correct IAM role.

7. Use the checkbox to select the Compute Engine instances to be added as ignored and then click Next.

   If no instances appear, then ensure that the zone selected matches with the zone where your Compute Engine instances are located and running. Only new instances are displayed by default. You can change the options from the drop-down to see previously discovered instances.

8. Select an instance and select Mark as Ignored from the drop-down, and click Ok.

9. Click Next.

10. Review the summary screen. If everything is correct, select Finish to add instances as ignored.

11. Click Finish in the confirm finish dialog. After the Compute Engine instances are marked as ignored, the status changes to a green check mark. The green check indicates that your instance is onboarded successfully. You can view your onboarded Compute Engine instance from the Applications page. To see the ignored applications, navigate to App Manager then Applications and apply the Ignored filter from the left panel.

Apply a backup plan for ignored instances

If at any time you want to apply backup plan for the ignored instance, use the following instructions:

1. From the Applications page, right-click the instance and select Unignore application.
2. Click Confirm.
3. Right-click the instance and select Manage Backup Plan.
4. Choose Template and Profile. Profile is automatically created for Compute Engine instances, so select the profile that starts with credentials name. For example, Credential_profile.
5. Click Apply Backup Plan. After the job is completed, you see the instance as protected in the Applications page.

The Backup and DR Service Compute Engine guide

• Check for the cloud credentials
• Discover and protect Compute Engine instances
• Mount backup images of Compute Engine instances
• Restore a Compute Engine instance
• Import Persistent Disk snapshot images