Back up data with Cloud Files

This article shows you how to store your own data backup in Cloud Files.

Note: For information about Cloud Backup as a service,
see Safeguard Your Business, with Automatic Cloud
Backups.

Prepare to back up your data

Before you use Cloud Files to back up your data, perform the following
steps to prepare your data:

1. Create a backup plan, identifying critical resources and the
   frequency with which you need to perform backups.

2. Collect all of the critical resources (backup data) in a secure local
   location or directory, along with any necessary subdirectories.

3. (Optional) Compress the content of the backup directory with
   security and encryption.

   This optional step reduces storage and bandwidth costs and
   increases security.

Back up your data

Use the following steps to back up your data:

1. Log in to the Cloud Control Panel.

2. In the top navigation bar, click Select a Product > Rackspace Cloud.

3. At the top of the window, click Storage > Files.

4. On the Cloud Files page, click Create Container.

5. In the popup dialog box, name the new container, select the region
   and type, and then click Create Container.

   For more information about selecting a region for your backup files,
   see Multi-region support in Cloud
   Files.

6. (Optional) If you want to create a folder to group your uploaded
   files, perform the following steps:

   1. On the Containers page, click Create Folder.

   2. In the popup dialog box, name the folder and then click Create
      Folder.

   3. To add files in the folder, click the folder name to open the
      folder before completing the following step.

7. Individually upload the backup data files that you created in the previous
   section to the container by using the following steps:

   1. On the Containers page, click Upload Files.

   2. Select the files and click Open.

Your files are uploaded to the container.

Next steps

After you've uploaded your files to the container, you should perform the
following steps:

1. Update your backup records with the current date as the date of the
   last backup.

2. Perform the next backup (that is, upload files to Cloud Files)
   according to the backup plan that you created.