Cloud Backup FAQ

Backups are stored in Cloud Files. The user ID associated with a Cloud Backup agent must have permissions to write bundles to Cloud Files in order to store the backup data for a snapshot.

When you demote a user ID from primary, it typically loses the permissions required to write to a Cloud Files bucket and delete from it.

You can use two methods to fix this problem. If it is not feasible to change permissions on a demoted user ID, there is no choice but to re-register the agent on the affected machine and migrate the old snapshots. If the permissions can change on the demoted user ID, you must make a request to support to add the needed permissions to store bundles in Cloud Files.

When you use the API endpoint to migrate an existing vault to a new agent, you should not configure the new agent with any new backup configurations of its own.

You also cannot migrate an encrypted vault.

See the Migrate Vault API call for a description.

The Cloud Files container named **z_DO_NOT_DELETE_CloudBackup** is required for Rackspace Cloud Backup to work properly. If you delete this container, you receive the error `Container does not exist.Invalid snapshot id and engine, and check config_backup.json id` when you attempt to do a backup.

This error can have the following causes:

1. The Cloud Files container where your backups are stored has been deleted.
2. Clicking View Configuration does not display the JSON configuration. This issue commonly occurs when you have corrupted backup configurations.

To resolve this error, ensure that you do not delete the **z_DO_NOT_DELETE_CloudBackup** container in your Cloud Files account because backups use it. If you accidentally delete this container, contact Rackspace Support.

Even though the cloud is engineered to prevent data loss, maintaining recent backups of your important data is still considered a fundamental best practice. Cloud Backup is a file-based backup solution that uses compression, encryption, and deduplication to ensure your data is protected and recoverable.

Cloud Backup should not be confused with the ability to image your servers, which is a strategy for horizontal scalability and not recommended for backup.

Cloud Backup is a service that enables you to select and back up specific files and folders from your Cloud Server. You can schedule any number of backup jobs and restore to the same system or a different one, giving you the flexibility and power to work with your schedule and data.

Cloud Backup has the following key features:

• Select the files and folders that you want to back up from your cloud server.

• Run your backups manually or on a schedule that works for you.

• See the activity from all your backups, both current and previous.

• Use AES-256 encryption with a private encryption key known only to you.

• Restore individual files and folders from a particular date.

• Save space with incremental backups that only save the changed portions of files.

• Create unlimited backups.

  For information on getting started with Cloud Backup, see our Introduction to Cloud Backup.

If you choose to keep offsite copies of backup containers, it provides an extra layer of protection from bad actors who might obtain your Rackspace account credentials from you and delete all your cloud assets.

To protect these offsite copies from the bad actor, they must reside on media that is *not* accessible by using the stolen credentials. Otherwise, the bad actor can delete them, too.

Yes. Some machines running the Ubuntu® operating system have older agents installed. To communicate properly with your system, you might need to overwrite the configuration file with a current version.

Cloud Backup double-checks to make sure files get written properly when they are backed up and restored. However, if an uploaded file is corrupt, it is backed up and restored as corrupted. The backup and restore processes themselves should never corrupt files. If file corruption occurs in Cloud Files itself, it might render the backup unusable.

Rackspace does not store customer encryption keys. Only you know and can access your encryption passphrase. If you forget your passphrase, you are not able to restore data from your backups.

For more information, see the section on Setting up encryption on your Cloud Backup system in the list of Cloud Backup actions.

If you want to create your own encrypted key and bypass the default client-side encryption, see Generate your encrypted key in Cloud Backup.

All of your Cloud Backups are stored in your Cloud Files account.

When you establish your Cloud account, a Cloud Files account is set up as well. You are not charged storage fees for your Cloud Files account until you begin storing things in it.

You can create any number of backup jobs for each of your servers, and you can include a nearly unlimited number of files in each job.

For more information, see Creating a Backup

Our block-level deduplication backs up only those portions of files that have changed since the previous backup, so you don't needlessly backup the same unchanged data again and again. This increases efficiency by reducing the amount of data transferred for each backup and reduces your storage space by not storing duplicate data. As an added benefit, this capability enables you to retrieve previous versions of your files (up to the limits specified in your data retention settings).

See the section on Scheduling and Deduplication in the list of Cloud Backup actions.

You can use Cloud Backup on Linux and Windows in the Rackspace Cloud. Some exceptions are FreeBSD® 9, Debian® 5, and Windows® 2003.

You can also use Cloud Backup on Linux and Windows servers external to Rackspace Cloud, including most servers connected to the public internet, such as personal laptops, servers located on your company's premeses, and servers hosted by other cloud providers.

Note: If you have servers that are not in the Rackspace Cloud but run operating systems supported by Rackspace, see the following installer links for more details.

Before you can use Cloud Backup, you must have the backup agent installed and running on your cloud server. Cloud servers with a Managed Operations service level should have this additional piece of software installed by default. If it is not installed, contact your Account Representative to get started.

If you have an infrastructure-only account, you must manually install the agent by following these instructions for Linux® or Windows.

For more information, see the Rackspace Cloud Backup introduction.

You choose how long your backups are saved: 30 days, 60 days, or indefinitely. See the section on Retaining your Backup in the list of Cloud Backup actions.

You set up your backups in the Rackspace Cloud Control Panel. In the top navigation bar, click **Select a Product > Rackspace Cloud**, then select **Backups**.If you need to create a new backup, click the **System** that you want to back up, and then click **Create Backup**. If you already have a backup and want to reconfigure it, click the gear icon next to the backup name and select **Configure Backup**. See Configuring a Backup through Backup Actions for more information.

You can set backups to run hourly, daily, weekly, or on-demand (manually). Read more about Scheduling your Backup in the list of Cloud Backup actions.

No, 32-bit servers and agents on Linux are not supported.

Issue

I am registered as a sub-user and am authorized for Cloud Backup and not for Cloud Files access. When I attempt to do a backup, all requests to Cloud Files return a 403 error. In this case, I attempt to authenticate again, but the new authentication token is the same as the old one.

Solution

Account administrators can manage permission levels in the **User Management** section of the Cloud Control Panel. Submit a request to your account administrator for **Full** access to your account or **Administrative** access to Cloud Files for your sub-user account.

With advanced deduplication and compression capabilities built-in, Cloud Backup can save you money by using less storage. Standard rates for Cloud Files storage fees apply. For current storage fees, see the Cloud Files storage fees.

The following three types of files change as Cloud Backup backs them up:

1. Files that are overwritten or deleted as we back them up.
2. Files such as logs that get appended to as we back them up.
3. Files such as databases that might have random updates to any part of them as we back them up.

If the backup modifies these files, the process might handle them in the following ways:

1. Overwritten or deleted: These files are not guaranteed to be included in the backup.
2. Appended: We make a best effort to back these up, and we expect to restore a reasonable and usable form of these files.
3. Randomly updated: We do not guarantee that these files are restorable, and even if we can restore them, we do not guarantee that the restored content is not corrupt.

These file types either change too rapidly (databases, logs, caches) or don't exist long enough to be backed up (session files). You should avoid session files entirely. If the information is valuable to your business, log files should track it. You should also avoid caches because their data is meant to be discarded.

If you do need to back up these files, we suggest the following workarounds:

• For databases: Take a snapshot of the database (a database dump) and back up the dump. See Rackspace Cloud Backup - Backing up Databases for full instructions.
• For log files: Take snapshots of your log files and back them up. To avoid running out of disk space, rotate your log files periodically.

No. The agent only makes outgoing Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connections to our API server on port 443.

This functionality is not officially supported, but it is physically possible to do it. See cross-DC restore hacks for more information.

For Linux, find them here:

• Configuration files: /etc/driveclient

• Logs: /var/log (This value might be different on your server, depending on your settings in the log4cxx.xml file.)

• Startup script: /etc/init.d or /etc/systemd/system

• Application: /usr/local/bin

• Process Identification (PID) file for running the agent: /var/run/driveclient.pid

• Database: Search for a *.db file under /var/cache/driveclient.

  For Windows, typically find them here:

• Configuration files: %ProgramData%\Driveclient

• Logs: %ProgramData%\Driveclient\logs (This value might be different on your server depending on your settings in the log4cxx.xml file under Configuration files.)

• Application: %ProgramFiles%\Driveclient

• Database: Search for a *.db file under %ProgramData%\Driveclient.