Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Backing Up 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 Overview of 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 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 may 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.

Required IAM Policy

To use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, you must be granted security access in a policy  by an 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 your administrator what type of access you have and which compartment  to work 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 Getting Started with Policies 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.

Using the Console

  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes. In the Block Storage menu on the sidebar, click Boot Volumes.
  2. Click the boot volume that you want to create a backup for.
  3. Click Create Manual 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. 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. Click Create Backup.

    The backup is completed when its icon no longer lists it as CREATING in the Boot Volume Backup list.