Note
This page documents features, usage patterns, and DR planning considerations for Google Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR).
What is CDP (Continuous Data Protection)?
Continuous Data Protection (CDP) is a data backup technique that continuously captures and replicates every change made to your data, almost in real time. Unlike traditional backups that occur on a scheduled basis (e.g., hourly or daily), CDP records every version of the data, allowing you to restore to any previous point in time.
Quote
CDP is sometimes called “real-time backup” or “instant recovery,” especially in enterprise environments.
Benefits of CDP in Disaster Recovery
- Low RPO (Recovery Point Objective): Since data changes are continuously replicated, the risk of data loss is minimal.
- Granular Recovery: You can roll back to a specific second before data corruption or deletion occurred.
- Automation: It reduces the need for manual snapshot scheduling.
CDP in Google Cloud Backup and DR
Google Cloud’s implementation of CDP involves block-level replication—capturing data changes at the storage layer and replicating them to a secure backup repository. This ensures that your most recent data is always available for recovery, minimizing downtime (low RTO) and data loss (low RPO).
Google Cloud Backup and DR
Google Cloud Backup and DR is a managed backup and disaster recovery solution that helps you protect data and workloads across Google Cloud and hybrid environments. It supports centralized backup, application-aware backups, point-in-time recovery, regional replication, immutable backups, test/dev cloning, and detailed analytics.
Key Features
- Centralized Management: Manage backups for various Google Cloud and hybrid workloads.
- Application-Aware Backups: Capture application state and data at specific times.
- Point-in-Time Recovery: Restore to any past moment.
- Automated Replication: Enable multi-region replication for failover and performance.
- Immutable Backups: Prevent deletion or corruption.
- Test/Dev Clones: Use clones for testing without impacting production.
- Analytics & Reporting: Troubleshoot and monitor backup activities.
Example Scenario
A security team uses Google Cloud Backup and DR to maintain business continuity (BC) for a customer database hosted in the cloud. Backups are regularly taken. In a failure event, the system restores operations by switching to a secondary server until the primary is restored.
Backup and Recovery Workflow
Management Console
The management console allows configuration and monitoring of backup/restore tasks via backup/recovery appliances—data movers that manage backup lifecycles.
Creating a Backup Template
- Go to
Backup Plans > Templates. - Click
+ Create Template. - Provide a name and description.
- Add a
Production to Snapshotpolicy:- Name the policy.
- Schedule: Continuous, every 2 hours.
- Create and save the policy.
Backing Up a VM
- Go to
Back Up & Recover > Back Up. - Select
Compute Engine. - Choose a service account.
- Filter and select
lab-vm. - Apply
vm-backuptemplate. - Confirm status.
Recovering a VM
- Go to
Back Up & Recover > Recover. - Select the VM and snapshot.
- Mount as a new GCE instance.
- Configure as per lab requirements.
- Wait for completion and validate recovery.
Disaster Recovery Patterns
Tip
Understand site preparedness levels when designing DR strategies.
Site Types (NIST):
- Cold Site: Physical infrastructure only; requires setup.
- Warm Site: Partially equipped with IT resources.
- Hot Site: Fully operational offsite data center.
Clothing Analogy
- Cold: Delayed readiness (clothes far away and unclean).
- Warm: Moderate readiness (clothes available but unclean).
- Hot: Full readiness (clean, duplicate clothes available).
Aligning DR Patterns with RPO and RTO
| Level | Tooling & Strategy | DR Type |
|---|---|---|
| Low RPO/RTO | CDP & multi-region replication via Google Backup and DR | Hot |
| Medium RPO/RTO | Daily Cloud Storage backups, restorable within hours | Warm |
| High RPO/RTO | Weekly Cloud Storage backups restored to a cold site | Cold |
Example
Use CDP for mission-critical databases, daily backups for internal systems, and cold DR for archival or infrequently used data.
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