We’ve just added a new scheduled snapshots feature to Cloud SQL, our hassle-free MySQL cloud database service.
Cloud SQL has always supported manually taking snapshots of your SQL instances, using our graphical Brightbox Manager, our CLI or at a lower level using our API.
Now, using Brightbox Manager, you can specify a simple daily, weekly or monthly snapshot schedule, and specify what time and day it should start at.
For more advanced scheduling options, you can use our CLI to specify a schedule in crontab format. For example, to backup every 6 hours at 15 minutes past the hour:
$ brightbox sql instances update --snapshots-schedule "15 */6 * * *" dbs-w82e9
id status type db_engine zone created_on cloud_ip_ids name
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dbs-w82e9 active dbt-xm2w4 mysql-5.6 gb1-a 2016-04-04 cip-id5sn rails app db
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Snapshotting takes an instantaneous copy of all the databases on the Cloud SQL instance and stores it in Orbit, our highly-available Cloud Storage system. To restore the databases, simply create a new Cloud SQL instance from the snapshot, at any time, and remap the Cloud IP to the new instance.
Snapshots will vary in size depending on how large your databases are (and how well they compress) and storage is charged at the usual Orbit rate of £0.05 per gigabyte per month.
Each time an automated snapshot is taken, it’ll show up in your account’s activity feed.
We’ve got lots more planned for Cloud SQL so watch this space. If there’s something you’d like to see, please get in touch, we really appreciate hearing your feedback.