You have a workload running on Compute Engine that is critical to your business.
You want to ensure that the data on the boot disk of this workload is backed up regularly.
You need to be able to restore a backup as quickly as possible in case of disaster.
You also want older backups to be cleaned automatically to save on cost.
You want to follow Google-recommended practices.
What should you do?
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A. B. C. D.B.
The recommended solution to ensure that the data on the boot disk of a critical workload on Compute Engine is backed up regularly and can be restored quickly in case of a disaster, while also cleaning older backups automatically to save on cost, is to create a snapshot schedule for the disk.
Option B, "Create a snapshot schedule for the disk using the desired interval," is the correct answer.
Here's why:
A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a disk that can be used to restore the disk in case of data loss or corruption. By creating a snapshot schedule, you can automate the process of creating snapshots at regular intervals, ensuring that you always have an up-to-date backup of your data.
To create a snapshot schedule, you can use the Compute Engine Snapshots API, the Google Cloud Console, or the gcloud command-line tool.
Here are the steps you can follow:
Identify the disk that you want to back up. You can find the disk name in the Compute Engine section of the Google Cloud Console or by using the gcloud command-line tool.
Create a snapshot schedule for the disk. In the Google Cloud Console, you can do this by going to the Snapshots section of the Compute Engine page, selecting the disk you want to back up, and clicking "Create Snapshot Schedule." You can then specify the frequency and retention policy for the snapshots. Alternatively, you can use the Compute Engine Snapshots API or the gcloud command-line tool to create the snapshot schedule.
Verify that the snapshots are being created as expected. You can do this by checking the Snapshots section of the Compute Engine page in the Google Cloud Console, using the Compute Engine Snapshots API, or running the "gcloud compute snapshots list" command in the gcloud command-line tool.
(Optional) Set up automatic deletion of old snapshots to save on cost. You can specify a retention policy for the snapshots when you create the snapshot schedule, or you can use the Compute Engine Snapshots API or the gcloud command-line tool to delete old snapshots manually.
Creating a Cloud Function to create an instance template (Option A) would not help with backing up the data on the boot disk. Creating an instance template is useful for creating multiple instances with the same configuration, but it does not involve creating snapshots.
Creating a cron job to create a new disk from the disk using gcloud (Option C) would create a new disk but would not back up the data on the existing disk. Additionally, creating a new disk would not be a fast way to restore data in case of a disaster.
Creating a Cloud Task to create an image and export it to Cloud Storage (Option D) would create an image of the disk, which could be used to create a new instance with the same data as the original instance. However, creating an image would not create a snapshot of the disk, which is what is needed to back up the data on the boot disk. Additionally, exporting the image to Cloud Storage would not be necessary for restoring data in case of a disaster.