Manage volume snapshots

A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a volume’s data. We automatically take daily snapshots of all Fly Volumes. We store snapshots for 5 days by default, but you can set volume snapshot retention from 1 to 60 days.

If the data stored on your volume updates frequently, then you should have other methods to back up or replicate your data in addition to daily snapshots. If you only have a single copy of your data on a single volume, and the host fails, then any data stored between the time when the snapshot was taken and the time when the failure occurred will be lost.

You can use a volume snapshot to restore the data into a new volume. You can even use the same process to restore data from a deleted volume.

Set or change the snapshot retention period

Snapshot retention is the length of time (in days) that we store a volume snapshot. The default is 5 days.

Set snapshot retention when you create a volume:

fly volumes create <my_volume_name> --snapshot-retention <retention in days>

You can also update the snapshot retention for a volume. The new retention period is applied to new snapshots; it won’t affect existing snapshots.

Update snapshot retention for an existing volume:

fly volumes update <volume id> --snapshot-retention <retention in days>

For Fly Launch apps, you can add snapshot retention to the [mounts] section of your app’s fly.toml file. Any new Fly Volumes fly deploy creates will have the new retention period. This example sets the snapshot retention period to 14 days:

[mounts]
source = "myapp_data"
destination = "/data"
snapshot_retention = 14

Create a volume snapshot

We automatically take daily snapshots of your volume and keep them for 5 days by default. You can also create a snapshot of a volume on demand:

  1. Run fly volumes list and copy the ID of the volume to create a snapshot from.

  2. Create a snapshot of the volume:

    fly volumes snapshots create <volume id>

    Scheduled to snapshot volume <volume id>

    The snapshot might take a few seconds or longer to complete, depending on the volume size.

  3. List the volume’s snapshots:

    fly volumes snapshots list <volume id>

    Example output:

    Snapshots
ID                              STATUS  SIZE        CREATED AT
vs_yAJylAAN83ZFna0A2yRA3J       created 76082175    3 hours ago
vs_3NlZ9NNmpvoSP4yv3Om1gPm      created 76082175    1 day ago
vs_Y49bw44Z6OocN8j4oXq6ww       created 76082175    2 days ago
vs_gwMAXwwLjOVu1vPQVMN2w3N      created 76082175    3 days ago
vs_Ql8xbllZOYDSmlKB0jxYVpg      created 76082175    4 days ago
vs_plNk4llRGexSL22MOJYRpp       created 76082175    5 days ago
vs_O9jqw997yvOuzyg1NVmmmjxhJ    running 0

The state of the new snapshot will go from waiting to running to created.

For options, refer to the fly volumes snapshots docs or run fly volumes snapshots --help.

Restore a volume from a snapshot

The procedure to restore data from a deleted volume is very similar, see Restore a deleted volume.

Restore the data from a volume by creating a new volume from a snapshot:

  1. Run fly volumes list and copy the ID of the volume to restore.

  2. List the volume’s snapshots:

    fly volumes snapshots list <volume id>

    Example output:

    Snapshots
ID                  SIZE        CREATED AT
vs_1KRgwpDqZ2ll5tx  17649006    1 day ago
vs_nymJyYMwXpjxqTzJ 17677766    2 days ago
vs_R3OPAz5jBqzogF16 17689473    3 days ago
vs_pZlGZvq3gkAlAcaZ 17655830    4 days ago
vs_A9k6age3bQov6twj 17631880    5 days ago

  3. Restore data from the volume snapshot into a new volume of equal or greater size:

    fly volumes create <volume name> --snapshot-id <snapshot id> -s <volume size in GB>

    Example output: 

    ? Select region: Sydney, Australia (syd)
        ID: vol_mjn924o9l3q403lq
      Name: pg_data
      App: my-app-name
    Region: syd
      Zone: 180d
  Size GB: 3
Encrypted: true
Created at: 02 Aug 22 21:27 UTC

For options, refer to the fly volumes create docs or run fly volumes create --help.

Disable automatic daily snapshots

Automatic daily snapshots are enabled by default. To disable automatic snapshots, use the --scheduled-snapshots=false flag.

Disable automatic snapshots when you create a volume:

fly volumes create <my_volume_name> --scheduled-snapshots=false

Disable automatic snapshots for an existing volume:

fly volumes update <volume id> --scheduled-snapshots=false

Disabling automatic snapshots will not remove any existing snapshots for the volume; snapshots are only removed at the end of their retention periods.

For Fly Launch apps, you can disable automatic snapshots in the [mounts] section of your app’s fly.toml file. Any new Fly Volumes fly deploy creates will have automatic snapshots disabled:

[mounts]
source = "myapp_cache"
destination = "/cache"
scheduled_snapshots = false

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