# Configuring Multi-Region Backups for Amazon EC2 Instances

The most cost-effective way to protect Amazon EC2 instances that reside in multiple regions is to create a multi-region backup plan, assign the backup plan to your VM groups, and then block cross-region backups for your hypervisors. With this configuration, if the Commvault software detects that a backup job will incur egress charges (by moving data from one region to another), the backup job fails.

## Prerequisites

- Each AWS Region that you add to the multi-region backup plan must have an access node configured in it.

  To view the access nodes that are associated with a region, from the Command Center navigation pane, go to Manage > Regions, and then click the Server tab.

- Before configuring multi-region backups and before disabling multi-region backups, verify that each snapshot backup for each affected hypervisor has a corresponding backup copy.

  To verify that each snapshot backup has a backup copy, on the Jobs tab for each hypervisor, click All to display all jobs, and then filter the Operation column to display only VM Admin Job(Snap Backup) jobs. If a snap backup job has N/A for Backup copy job ID, then that snapshot backup does not have a corresponding backup copy.

## Step 1: Create a Multi-Region Backup Plan

Create a backup plan that includes all the regions that your VMs reside in.

### Start the Create Backup Plan Wizard

1. From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Manage > Plans.

   The Plans page appears.

2. Click Create plan, and then select Backup.

   The Create backup plan wizard appears.

3. Specify whether to create a new backup plan or to use an existing base plan.

4. In Plan name, enter a name for the backup plan.

5. Click Next.

   The Backup destinations page appears.

### Specify Backup Copies, Storage, and Retention for the First Region

1. Click Add copy.

   The Add copy dialog box appears.

2. In Name, enter a name for the primary copy of the backups for the first region.

3. From the Storage list, select the storage for the backups.

   You can use the Air Gap Protect cool storage class for creating secondary copies, but not for creating primary copies.

4. For Retention rules, specify the amount of time to retain the backups.

5. To specify additional backups for the primary copy of the backups, such as weekly full backups, move the Extended retention rules toggle key to the right, and then add rules.

6. Click Save.

7. If necessary, specify a backup copy and a snapshot copy.

   Note

   If you want all the VMs in a VM group to be retained and pruned according to the same settings, specify the same retention rules for each type of copy that you specify. In other words, consider the following:

   - All primary copies associated with the backup plan must have the same retention rules.

   - All backup copies associated with the backup plan must have the same retention rules.

   - All snapshot copies associated with the backup plan must have the same retention rules.

8. Move the Multi-region toggle key to the right.

9. From the Region list, select the region.

### Specify Backup Copies, Storage, and Retention for the Other Regions

1. Click Add destinations for another region.

2. Specify backup copies, storage, and retention for the other regions, using the same steps as for the first region.

## Step 2: Assign the Multi-Region Backup Plan to Your VM Groups

For each VM group that contains VMs that you want to protect, use the following steps to assign the multi-region backup plan.

1. From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtual machines.

   The Overview page appears.

2. On the VM groups tab, click the VM group.

   The VM group page appears.

3. In the Summary section, for Plan, click the edit button, select the multi-region backup plan, and then click Submit.

## Step 3: Block Cross-Region Backups for Your Hypervisors

For each hypervisor, use the following steps to block cross-region backups.

1. From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtual machines.

   The Overview page appears.

2. On the Hypervisor tab, click the hypervisor.

   The hypervisor page appears.

3. On the Configuration tab, move the Restrict cross-region backups toggle key to the right.

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