Backup vs Snapshot: Retention policy.

[philkunz]

1. Does the Backup retention policy also apply to Snapshots?
2. Are Snapshots just additional Backups or is there anything special about them at all?
3. Why are Snapshots (if they are just Backups) not shown in the main Backup view?

[robi]

https://docs.cloudron.io/backups/#snapshot-app

[philkunz]

I've read this before.

"To take a backup of a single, click the Create Backup button in the Backups section of the app's configure UI." ... So a Snapshot is a backup? Why call it a Snapshot then?

Doesn't answer any of my other questions though... Single App Backups (or apparently snapshots) do not seem to be picked up by the global Backup retention policy... sooooo. A Snapshot isn't a backup? Why do I click on "Create Backup" then?

[girish]

@philkunz We use the term snapshot and backup interchangeably in the docs. They are one and the same. I guess snapshot is something you initiate as a user whereas backup is something the system (automatically) initiates.

Ultimately, they are both capturing the state of the app and uploading to configured backup location.

To answer the questions:

1. yes, backup policy applies to snapshots
2. correct, snapshots (which you click manually) is just in addition to backups (which are taken automatically). there is nothing special about snapshots, we don't differentiate them from the automatic backups.
3. We take snapshots/backups at the per app level. This way you can roll back a single app independent of others. To see the backups/snapshots of an app, you go to Backup section of the app. There is also a system backup (in the Backups view). A system backup is the one which you configure the schedule policy for (we don't have per app backup schedule). The system backup is essentially taking the backup of each app + backup of mail server + backup of the platform (like user information, domains etc) . It "groups" all these separate backups together and this is what is shown in the Backups view. In that sense, the Backups view is showing the "full backups". With the full backups, you can restore/migrate Cloudron to another server (so, it will be exactly the same as the current server with all the apps/domains/data/users).