Create schedules for disk snapshots

Linux Windows

You create a snapshot schedule to regularly and automatically back upzonal and regionalPersistent Disk andGoogle Cloud Hyperdisk volumes.Use snapshot schedules as a best practice to back up your Compute Engineworkloads.

If you want to create a snapshot schedule that captures the state ofthe application data at the time of back up, also referred to as anapplication consistent,guest-flush, orVSS snapshot, seeCreate Linux application consistent disk snapshotsorCreate a Windows application consistent disk snapshot.

For more information about the snapshot schedule properties, seeSnapshot schedule properties.

Before you begin

Required roles and permissions

To get the permissions that you need to create a snapshot schedule, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on the project:

For more information about granting roles, seeManage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

These predefined roles contain the permissions required to create a snapshot schedule. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand theRequired permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to create a snapshot schedule:

  • To create a snapshot schedule: compute.resourcePolicies.create on the project or organization
  • To attach a snapshot schedule to a disk:
    • compute.disks.addResourcePolicies on the disk
    • compute.resourcePolicies.use on the resource policy
  • To create a disk with a snapshot schedule:
    • compute.disks.create on the project
    • compute.resourcePolicies.create on the project
    • compute.disks.addResourcePolicies on the disk

You might also be able to get these permissions withcustom roles or otherpredefined roles.

Overview of creating snapshot schedules

When you create a snapshot schedule, you create aresource policythat you can apply to one or more Persistent Disk or Hyperdiskvolumes.

You can create snapshot schedules in the following ways:

Using encryption with snapshot schedules

If a disk uses acustomer-managed encryption key (CMEK),when you use a snapshot schedule to create snapshots of that disk, all thecreated snapshots are automatically encrypted with the same key.

You can't use snapshot schedules with disks that use acustomer-supplied encryption key (CSEK).

Create a snapshot schedule

You can create a snapshot schedule for your disks using the Google Cloud console,Google Cloud CLI, or REST. You must create your snapshotschedule in the same region where your disk resides. For example, ifyour disk resides in zoneus-west1-a, you must create the snapshot schedulein theus-west1 region. However, you can choose to store thesnapshots generated by the snapshot schedule in a different location.

Note: If you use the gcloud CLI or the Google Cloud console, youmust always set a retention policy when creating a snapshot schedule. If youmake a request using REST, then you can omit this field and yoursnapshots will be retained indefinitely.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theVM instances page.

    Go to VM instances
    The remaining steps will appear automatically in the Google Cloud console.

  2. Select the project that contains your VM instances.
  3. In theName column, click the name of the VM that has the persistent disk to create a snapshot schedule for.
  4. InStorage, click the name of theBoot disk or theAdditional disk to create a snapshot schedule for.
  5. ClickEdit. You might need to click theMore actions menu and thenEdit.
  6. InSnapshot schedule, chooseCreate a schedule.
  7. InName, enter one of the following names for the snapshot schedule:
    • boot-disk-snapshot-schedule
    • attached-persistent-disk-snapshot-schedule

  8. In theLocation section,choose your snapshot storage location. The predefined or customized default location defined in your snapshot settings is automatically selected. Optionally, you can override the snapshot settings and store your snapshots in a custom storage location by doing the following:

    1. Choose the type of storage location that you want for your snapshot.

      • ChooseMulti-regional for higher availability at a higher cost.
      • ChooseRegional snapshots for more control over the physical location of your data at a lower cost.

    2. In theSelect location field, select the specific region or multi-region that you want to use. To use the region or multi-region that is closest to your source disk, selectBased on disk's location.

  9. To finish creating the snapshot schedule, clickCreate.
  10. To attach this snapshot schedule to the persistent disk, clickSave.

gcloud

  • To schedule globally scoped snapshots for a disk, use thegcloud compute resource-policies create snapshot-schedule command.Set your schedule frequency to hourly, daily, or weekly.

    gcloud compute resource-policies create snapshot-scheduleSCHEDULE_NAME \    --description "SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION" \    --max-retention-daysMAX_RETENTION_DAYS \    --start-timeSTART_TIME \    --hourly-scheduleSNAPSHOT_INTERVAL \    --daily-schedule \    --weekly-scheduleSNAPSHOT_INTERVAL or --weekly-schedule-from-fileFILE_NAME \    --on-source-disk-deleteDELETION_OPTION \    --storage-location=STORAGE_LOCATION

  • (Preview) To schedule regionallyscoped snapshots for a disk, use thegcloud compute resource-policies create snapshot-schedule commandand specify the snapshot region.

    gcloud beta compute resource-policies create snapshot-scheduleSCHEDULE_NAME \    --description "SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION" \    --max-retention-daysMAX_RETENTION_DAYS \    --start-timeSTART_TIME \    --hourly-scheduleSNAPSHOT_INTERVAL \    --daily-schedule \    --weekly-scheduleSNAPSHOT_INTERVAL or --weekly-schedule-from-fileFILE_NAME \    --on-source-disk-deleteDELETION_OPTION \    --storage-location=STORAGE_LOCATION \    --regionREGION \    --snapshot-regionSNAPSHOT_REGION

Replace the following:

  • SCHEDULE_NAME: the name of the snapshotschedule.
  • SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION: a description of thesnapshot schedule. Use quotes around your description.
  • REGION: the location of the snapshot schedule resource policy.
  • SNAPSHOT_REGION: the region that the scheduledsnapshot is scoped to.

  • MAX_RETENTION_DAYS: the number of days toretain the snapshot.

    For example, a value of3 means that the snapshots are retained for 3days before being deleted. You must use a value of1 or higher.

  • START_TIME: the start time in the UTC timezone. The time must start on the hour.

    For example:

    • 2:00 PM PST must be specified as22:00.
    • If you set a start time of22:13, you receive an error.

    If you use the--weekly-schedule-from-file flag and specify a starttime within the file, you don't need to include this flag.

  • SNAPSHOT_INTERVAL: the interval between creatingsuccessive snapshots. The snapshot frequency flagshourly-schedule,daily-schedule,weekly-schedule, andweekly-schedule-from-file aremutually-exclusive. You can use only one for your snapshot schedule.

    • Set a daily schedule by including the--daily-schedule flag withoutany value.
    • Set an hourly schedule with the--hourly-schedule flag set to aninteger value between 1 and 23. To generate snapshots at the sametime every day, choose an hourly number that is evenly dividedinto 24. For example, setting--hourly-schedule to12, means asnapshot is created every 12 hours.
    • Set a weekly schedule with the--weekly-schedule flag set to theday of the week on which you want the snapshot to be created.You must spell out the week day; the values are not case-sensitive.For example, to back up your disk every Friday, your command wouldinclude--weekly-schedule=friday.

    • Set an advanced weekly schedule, specifying different days of theweek and with different start times by including the--weekly-schedule-from-file flag. ReplaceFILE_NAME with the filename that containsthe weekly snapshot schedule. While you can specify different daysof the week and different start times using a file, you can't specifymultiple weekly schedules directly on the command-line. For example,your file might specify two weekly schedules, on Monday andWednesday, but you can't duplicate this setting on the command line:

      [  {"day": "MONDAY", "startTime": "04:00"},  {"day": "WEDNESDAY", "startTime": "02:00"}]

      If you include a start time in your file, you don't need to set the--start-time flag on the command line. The schedule uses the UTC time zone.

  • DELETION_OPTION: determines what happens toyour snapshots if the source disk is deleted. If you want to keep allgenerated snapshots, you can omit this flag. Otherwise, specifyapply-retention-policy to use the settings in a retention policy.

  • STORAGE_LOCATION: Optional: thestorage location. If you omit this flag, the default storage location is used.

Examples

In all the following examples:

  • The disk deletion rule is included; the--on-source-disk-delete flagis set to the default ofkeep-auto-snapshots to permanently keep allauto-generated snapshots. The alternative is to set this flag toapply-retention-policy to use your snapshot retention policy.
  • The storage location is manually set toUS, so all generated snapshotsare stored in the US multi-region.
  • The labelsenv=dev andmedia=images are applied to all generatedsnapshots.
  • The retention policy is set to 10 days.

Hourly schedule: In this example, the snapshot schedule starts at 22:00UTC (14:00 PST) and occurs every 4 hours.

  gcloud compute resource-policies create snapshot-schedule hourly-schedule1 \      --description "MY HOURLY SNAPSHOT SCHEDULE" \      --max-retention-days 10 \      --start-time 22:00 \      --hourly-schedule 4 \      --region us-west1 \      --on-source-disk-delete keep-auto-snapshots \      --snapshot-labels env=dev,media=images \      --storage-location US

Daily schedule: In this example, the snapshot schedule starts at 22:00UTC (14:00 PST) and occurs every day at the same time. The--daily-schedule flag must be present, but without an associated value.

gcloud compute resource-policies create snapshot-schedule daily-schedule2 \    --description "MY DAILY SNAPSHOT SCHEDULE" \    --max-retention-days 10 \    --start-time 22:00 \    --daily-schedule \    --region us-west1 \    --on-source-disk-delete keep-auto-snapshots \    --snapshot-labels env=dev,media=images \    --storage-location US

Weekly schedule: In this example, the snapshot schedule starts at 22:00UTC (14:00 PST) and occurs every week on Tuesday.

gcloud compute resource-policies create snapshot-schedule weekly-schedule3 \    --description "MY WEEKLY SNAPSHOT SCHEDULE" \    --max-retention-days 10 \    --start-time 22:00 \    --weekly-schedule tuesday \    --region us-west1 \    --on-source-disk-delete keep-auto-snapshots \    --snapshot-labels env=dev,media=images \    --storage-location US

Go

import("context""fmt""io"compute"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"computepb"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb""google.golang.org/protobuf/proto")// createSnapshotSchedule creates a snapshot schedule.funccreateSnapshotSchedule(wio.Writer,projectID,scheduleName,regionstring)error{// projectID := "your_project_id"// snapshotName := "your_snapshot_name"// region := "eupore-central2"ctx:=context.Background()snapshotsClient,err:=compute.NewResourcePoliciesRESTClient(ctx)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("NewResourcePoliciesRESTClient: %w",err)}defersnapshotsClient.Close()req:=&computepb.InsertResourcePolicyRequest{Project:projectID,Region:region,ResourcePolicyResource:&computepb.ResourcePolicy{Name:proto.String(scheduleName),Description:proto.String("MY DAILY SNAPSHOT SCHEDULE"),Region:proto.String("europe-central2"),SnapshotSchedulePolicy:&computepb.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicy{RetentionPolicy:&computepb.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicyRetentionPolicy{MaxRetentionDays:proto.Int32(10),// Check the OnSourceDiskDelete enum for the list of possible values.OnSourceDiskDelete:proto.String("KEEP_AUTO_SNAPSHOTS"),},Schedule:&computepb.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySchedule{DailySchedule:&computepb.ResourcePolicyDailyCycle{DaysInCycle:proto.Int32(1),StartTime:proto.String("22:00"),},},SnapshotProperties:&computepb.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySnapshotProperties{StorageLocations:[]string{"eu"},Labels:map[string]string{"env":"dev","media":"images",},},},},}op,err:=snapshotsClient.Insert(ctx,req)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to create snapshot schedule: %w",err)}iferr=op.Wait(ctx);err!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %w",err)}fmt.Fprint(w,"Snapshot schedule created\n")returnnil}

Java

importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.InsertResourcePolicyRequest;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation.Status;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResourcePoliciesClient;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResourcePolicy;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResourcePolicyHourlyCycle;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicy;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicyRetentionPolicy;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicyRetentionPolicy.OnSourceDiskDelete;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySchedule;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySnapshotProperties;importjava.io.IOException;importjava.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;importjava.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;importjava.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;publicclassCreateSnapshotSchedule{publicstaticvoidmain(String[]args)throwsIOException,ExecutionException,InterruptedException,TimeoutException{// TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.// Project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.StringprojectId="YOUR_PROJECT_ID";// Name of the region in which you want to create the snapshot schedule.Stringregion="us-central1";// Name of the snapshot schedule you want to create.StringsnapshotScheduleName="YOUR_SCHEDULE_NAME";// Description of the snapshot schedule.StringscheduleDescription="YOUR_SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION";// Maximum number of days to retain snapshots.intmaxRetentionDays=10;// Storage location for the snapshots.// More about storage locations:// https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/snapshots?authuser=0#selecting_a_storage_locationStringstorageLocation="US";createSnapshotSchedule(projectId,region,snapshotScheduleName,scheduleDescription,maxRetentionDays,storageLocation);}// Creates a snapshot schedule policy.publicstaticStatuscreateSnapshotSchedule(StringprojectId,Stringregion,StringsnapshotScheduleName,StringscheduleDescription,intmaxRetentionDays,StringstorageLocation)throwsIOException,ExecutionException,InterruptedException,TimeoutException{// Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created// once, and can be reused for multiple requests.try(ResourcePoliciesClientresourcePoliciesClient=ResourcePoliciesClient.create()){intsnapshotInterval=10;// Create a snapshot every 10 hoursStringstartTime="08:00";// Define the hourly scheduleResourcePolicyHourlyCyclehourlyCycle=ResourcePolicyHourlyCycle.newBuilder().setHoursInCycle(snapshotInterval).setStartTime(startTime).build();ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicyRetentionPolicyretentionPolicy=ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicyRetentionPolicy.newBuilder().setMaxRetentionDays(maxRetentionDays).setOnSourceDiskDelete(OnSourceDiskDelete.KEEP_AUTO_SNAPSHOTS.toString()).build();ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySnapshotPropertiessnapshotProperties=ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySnapshotProperties.newBuilder().addStorageLocations(storageLocation).build();ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicysnapshotSchedulePolicy=ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicy.newBuilder().setRetentionPolicy(retentionPolicy).setSchedule(ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySchedule.newBuilder().setHourlySchedule(hourlyCycle).build()).setSnapshotProperties(snapshotProperties).build();ResourcePolicyresourcePolicy=ResourcePolicy.newBuilder().setName(snapshotScheduleName).setDescription(scheduleDescription).setSnapshotSchedulePolicy(snapshotSchedulePolicy).build();InsertResourcePolicyRequestrequest=InsertResourcePolicyRequest.newBuilder().setProject(projectId).setRegion(region).setResourcePolicyResource(resourcePolicy).build();Operationresponse=resourcePoliciesClient.insertAsync(request).get(3,TimeUnit.MINUTES);if(response.hasError()){thrownewError("Snapshot schedule creation failed! "+response.getError());}returnresponse.getStatus();}}}

Node.js

// Import the Compute libraryconstcomputeLib=require('@google-cloud/compute');constcompute=computeLib.protos.google.cloud.compute.v1;// Instantiate a resourcePoliciesClientconstresourcePoliciesClient=newcomputeLib.ResourcePoliciesClient();// Instantiate a regionOperationsClientconstregionOperationsClient=newcomputeLib.RegionOperationsClient();/** * TODO(developer): Update/uncomment these variables before running the sample. */// The project name.constprojectId=awaitresourcePoliciesClient.getProjectId();// The location of the snapshot schedule resource policy.// region = 'us-central1';// The name of the snapshot schedule.// snapshotScheduleName = 'snapshot-schedule-name';// The description of the snapshot schedule.constsnapshotScheduleDescription='snapshot schedule description...';asyncfunctioncallCreateSnapshotSchedule(){const[response]=awaitresourcePoliciesClient.insert({project:projectId,region,resourcePolicyResource:newcompute.ResourcePolicy({name:snapshotScheduleName,description:snapshotScheduleDescription,snapshotSchedulePolicy:newcompute.ResourcePolicyInstanceSchedulePolicySchedule({retentionPolicy:newcompute.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicyRetentionPolicy({maxRetentionDays:5,}),schedule:newcompute.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySchedule({// Similarly, you can create a weekly or monthly schedule.// Review the resourcePolicies.insert method for details specific to setting a weekly or monthly schedule.// To see more details, open: `https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/scheduled-snapshots?authuser=0#create_snapshot_schedule`dailySchedule:newcompute.ResourcePolicyDailyCycle({startTime:'12:00',daysInCycle:1,}),}),snapshotProperties:newcompute.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySnapshotProperties({guestFlush:false,labels:{env:'dev',media:'images',},// OPTIONAL: the storage location. If you omit this flag, the default storage location is used.// storageLocations: 'storage-location',}),}),}),});letoperation=response.latestResponse;// Wait for the create operation to complete.while(operation.status!=='DONE'){[operation]=awaitregionOperationsClient.wait({operation:operation.name,project:projectId,region,});}console.log(`Snapshot schedule:${snapshotScheduleName} created.`);}awaitcallCreateSnapshotSchedule();

Python

from__future__importannotationsimportsysfromtypingimportAnyfromgoogle.api_core.extended_operationimportExtendedOperationfromgoogle.cloudimportcompute_v1defwait_for_extended_operation(operation:ExtendedOperation,verbose_name:str="operation",timeout:int=300)->Any:"""    Waits for the extended (long-running) operation to complete.    If the operation is successful, it will return its result.    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation    they will be printed to sys.stderr.    Args:        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,            used only during error and warning reporting.        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.            If None, wait indefinitely.    Returns:        Whatever the operation.result() returns.    Raises:        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`        set for the `operation`.        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.    """result=operation.result(timeout=timeout)ifoperation.error_code:print(f"Error during{verbose_name}: [Code:{operation.error_code}]:{operation.error_message}",file=sys.stderr,flush=True,)print(f"Operation ID:{operation.name}",file=sys.stderr,flush=True)raiseoperation.exception()orRuntimeError(operation.error_message)ifoperation.warnings:print(f"Warnings during{verbose_name}:\n",file=sys.stderr,flush=True)forwarninginoperation.warnings:print(f" -{warning.code}:{warning.message}",file=sys.stderr,flush=True)returnresultdefsnapshot_schedule_create(project_id:str,region:str,schedule_name:str,schedule_description:str,labels:dict,)->compute_v1.ResourcePolicy:"""    Creates a snapshot schedule for disks for a specified project and region.    Args:        project_id (str): The ID of the Google Cloud project.        region (str): The region where the snapshot schedule will be created.        schedule_name (str): The name of the snapshot schedule group.        schedule_description (str): The description of the snapshot schedule group.        labels (dict): The labels to apply to the snapshots. Example: {"env": "dev", "media": "images"}    Returns:        compute_v1.ResourcePolicy: The created resource policy.    """# # Every hour, starts at 12:00 AM# hourly_schedule = compute_v1.ResourcePolicyHourlyCycle(#     hours_in_cycle=1, start_time="00:00"# )## # Every Monday, starts between 12:00 AM and 1:00 AM# day = compute_v1.ResourcePolicyWeeklyCycleDayOfWeek(#     day="MONDAY", start_time="00:00"# )# weekly_schedule = compute_v1.ResourcePolicyWeeklyCycle(day_of_weeks=[day])# In this example we use daily_schedule - every day, starts between 12:00 AM and 1:00 AMdaily_schedule=compute_v1.ResourcePolicyDailyCycle(days_in_cycle=1,start_time="00:00")schedule=compute_v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySchedule()# You can change the schedule type to daily_schedule, weekly_schedule, or hourly_scheduleschedule.daily_schedule=daily_schedule# Autodelete snapshots after 5 daysretention_policy=compute_v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicyRetentionPolicy(max_retention_days=5)snapshot_properties=(compute_v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicySnapshotProperties(guest_flush=False,labels=labels))snapshot_policy=compute_v1.ResourcePolicySnapshotSchedulePolicy()snapshot_policy.schedule=schedulesnapshot_policy.retention_policy=retention_policysnapshot_policy.snapshot_properties=snapshot_propertiesresource_policy_resource=compute_v1.ResourcePolicy(name=schedule_name,description=schedule_description,snapshot_schedule_policy=snapshot_policy,)client=compute_v1.ResourcePoliciesClient()operation=client.insert(project=project_id,region=region,resource_policy_resource=resource_policy_resource,)wait_for_extended_operation(operation,"Resource Policy creation")returnclient.get(project=project_id,region=region,resource_policy=schedule_name)

REST

  • To create a snapshot schedule for globally scoped snapshots, constructaPOST request toresourcePolicies.insert.You must include the snapshot schedule name and snapshot frequency.

    You can alsomanually specify a snapshot storage locationand addresource labelsin your request.

    By default, theonSourceDiskDelete parameter is set tokeepAutoSnapshots. This means that if the source disk is deleted, theauto-generated snapshot for that disk is retained indefinitely.Alternatively, you can set the flag toapplyRetentionPolicy to applyyour retention policy.

    The following example sets a daily snapshot schedule that starts at 12:00UTC (04:00 PST) and repeats every day. The example also sets a retentionpolicy of 5 days; after 5 days, snapshots are automatically removed.

    POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/resourcePolicies    {    "name": "SCHEDULE_NAME",    "description": "SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION",    "snapshotSchedulePolicy": {      "schedule": {        "dailySchedule": {          "startTime": "12:00",          "daysInCycle": "1"        }      },      "retentionPolicy": {        "maxRetentionDays": "5"      },      "snapshotProperties": {        "guestFlush": "False",        "labels": {          "env": "dev",          "media": "images"        },        "storageLocations": "STORAGE_LOCATION"      }    }    }

  • (Preview) To create a snapshotschedule for regionally scoped snapshots, construct aPOST requesttoresourcePolicies.insertand specify the snapshot region.

    POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/resourcePolicies    {    "name": "SCHEDULE_NAME",    "description": "SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION",    "snapshotSchedulePolicy": {      "schedule": {        "dailySchedule": {          "startTime": "12:00",          "daysInCycle": "1"        }      },      "retentionPolicy": {        "maxRetentionDays": "5"      },      "snapshotProperties": {        "guestFlush": "False",        "region": "SNAPSHOT_REGION"      }    }    }

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the project name
  • REGION: the location of the snapshot schedule resource policy
  • SNAPSHOT_REGION: the region that the scheduled snapshot is scoped to
  • SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION: the description of the snapshot schedule
  • SCHEDULE_NAME: the name of the snapshot schedule
  • STORAGE_LOCATION: Optional: thestorage location. If you omit this flag, the default storage location is used.

Similarly, you can create a weekly or monthly schedule. Review theresourcePolicies.insert methodfor details specific to setting a weekly or monthly schedule.

For example, the following request creates a weekly schedule that runson Tuesday at 9:00 UTC.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/resourcePolicies{   "name": "SCHEDULE_NAME",   "description": "SCHEDULE_DESCRIPTION",   "snapshotSchedulePolicy": {      "schedule": {        "weeklySchedule": {          "dayOfWeeks": [          {            "day": "Tuesday",            "startTime": "9:00"          }          ]        }      },      "retentionPolicy": {          "maxRetentionDays": "5"      },      "snapshotProperties": {          "guestFlush": "False",          "labels": {               "production": "webserver"          },          "storageLocations":"US"      }  }}

Attach a snapshot schedule to a disk

After you create a schedule, attach it to an existing disk. Use the console,gcloud CLI, or the Compute Engine API.

Console

Attach a snapshot schedule to an existing disk.

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theDisks page.

    Go to Disks

  2. Select the name of the disk to which you want to attach a snapshotschedule. This opens theManage disk page.

  3. On theManage disk page, clickEdit.You might need to click theMore actions menufirst.

  4. Use theSnapshot schedule drop-down menu to add the scheduleto the disk. Or create a new schedule.

  5. If you created a new schedule, clickCreate.

  6. ClickSave to complete the task.

gcloud

To attach a snapshot schedule to a disk, use thegcloud disks add-resource-policies command.

gcloud compute disks add-resource-policiesDISK_NAME \    --resource-policiesSCHEDULE_NAME \    --zoneZONE

Replace the following:

  • DISK_NAME: the name of the existing disk
  • SCHEDULE_NAME: the name of the snapshot schedule
  • ZONE: the location of your disk

Go

import("context""fmt""io"compute"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"computepb"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb")// attachSnapshotSchedule attaches a snapshot schedule to disk.funcattachSnapshotSchedule(wio.Writer,projectID,scheduleName,diskName,regionstring)error{// projectID := "your_project_id"// snapshotName := "your_snapshot_name"// diskName := "your_disk_name"// region := "europe-central2"ctx:=context.Background()disksClient,err:=compute.NewRegionDisksRESTClient(ctx)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("NewDisksRESTClient: %w",err)}deferdisksClient.Close()req:=&computepb.AddResourcePoliciesRegionDiskRequest{Project:projectID,Region:region,Disk:diskName,RegionDisksAddResourcePoliciesRequestResource:&computepb.RegionDisksAddResourcePoliciesRequest{ResourcePolicies:[]string{fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/regions/%s/resourcePolicies/%s",projectID,region,scheduleName),},},}op,err:=disksClient.AddResourcePolicies(ctx,req)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to attach schedule: %w",err)}iferr=op.Wait(ctx);err!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %w",err)}fmt.Fprint(w,"Snapshot schedule attached\n")returnnil}

Java

importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.AddResourcePoliciesDiskRequest;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.DisksAddResourcePoliciesRequest;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.DisksClient;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation.Status;importjava.io.IOException;importjava.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;importjava.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;importjava.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;publicclassAttachSnapshotScheduleToDisk{publicstaticvoidmain(String[]args)throwsException{// TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.// Project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.StringprojectId="YOUR_PROJECT_ID";// Name of the zone where your disk is located.Stringzone="us-central1-a";// Name of the disk you want to attach the snapshot schedule to.StringdiskName="YOUR_DISK_NAME";// Name of the snapshot schedule you want to attach.StringsnapshotScheduleName="YOUR_SNAPSHOT_SCHEDULE_NAME";// Name of the region where your snapshot schedule is located.Stringregion="us-central1";attachSnapshotScheduleToDisk(projectId,zone,diskName,snapshotScheduleName,region);}// Attaches a snapshot schedule to a disk.publicstaticStatusattachSnapshotScheduleToDisk(StringprojectId,Stringzone,StringdiskName,StringsnapshotScheduleName,Stringregion)throwsIOException,ExecutionException,InterruptedException,TimeoutException{StringresourcePolicyLink=String.format("projects/%s/regions/%s/resourcePolicies/%s",projectId,region,snapshotScheduleName);// Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created// once, and can be reused for multiple requests.try(DisksClientdisksClient=DisksClient.create()){AddResourcePoliciesDiskRequestrequest=AddResourcePoliciesDiskRequest.newBuilder().setProject(projectId).setZone(zone).setDisk(diskName).setDisksAddResourcePoliciesRequestResource(DisksAddResourcePoliciesRequest.newBuilder().addResourcePolicies(resourcePolicyLink).build()).build();Operationresponse=disksClient.addResourcePoliciesAsync(request).get(3,TimeUnit.MINUTES);if(response.hasError()){thrownewError("Error attaching snapshot schedule to disk: "+response.getError());}returnresponse.getStatus();}}}

Python

from__future__importannotationsimportsysfromtypingimportAnyfromgoogle.api_core.extended_operationimportExtendedOperationfromgoogle.cloudimportcompute_v1defwait_for_extended_operation(operation:ExtendedOperation,verbose_name:str="operation",timeout:int=300)->Any:"""    Waits for the extended (long-running) operation to complete.    If the operation is successful, it will return its result.    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation    they will be printed to sys.stderr.    Args:        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,            used only during error and warning reporting.        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.            If None, wait indefinitely.    Returns:        Whatever the operation.result() returns.    Raises:        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`        set for the `operation`.        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.    """result=operation.result(timeout=timeout)ifoperation.error_code:print(f"Error during{verbose_name}: [Code:{operation.error_code}]:{operation.error_message}",file=sys.stderr,flush=True,)print(f"Operation ID:{operation.name}",file=sys.stderr,flush=True)raiseoperation.exception()orRuntimeError(operation.error_message)ifoperation.warnings:print(f"Warnings during{verbose_name}:\n",file=sys.stderr,flush=True)forwarninginoperation.warnings:print(f" -{warning.code}:{warning.message}",file=sys.stderr,flush=True)returnresultdefsnapshot_schedule_attach(project_id:str,zone:str,region:str,disk_name:str,schedule_name:str)->None:"""    Attaches a snapshot schedule to a specified disk.    Args:        project_id (str): The ID of the Google Cloud project.        zone (str): The zone where the disk is located.        region (str): The region where the snapshot schedule was created        disk_name (str): The name of the disk to which the snapshot schedule will be attached.        schedule_name (str): The name of the snapshot schedule that you are applying to this disk    Returns:        None    """disks_add_request=compute_v1.DisksAddResourcePoliciesRequest(resource_policies=[f"regions/{region}/resourcePolicies/{schedule_name}"])client=compute_v1.DisksClient()operation=client.add_resource_policies(project=project_id,zone=zone,disk=disk_name,disks_add_resource_policies_request_resource=disks_add_request,)wait_for_extended_operation(operation,"Attaching snapshot schedule to disk")

REST

Construct aPOST request todisks.addResourcePoliciesto attach a snapshot schedule to an existing disk.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME/addResourcePolicies{  "resourcePolicies": [    "regions/REGION/resourcePolicies/SCHEDULE_NAME"  ]}

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the project name
  • ZONE: the zone where the disk is located
  • REGION: the region where the snapshot schedulewas created
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk
  • SCHEDULE_NAME: the name of the snapshot schedule that you are applying to this disk

Create a disk with a snapshot schedule

You can use the Google Cloud console or gcloud CLI to create adisk and a snapshot schedule at the same time.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theDisks page.

    Go to Disks

  2. ClickCreate Disk.

  3. Complete the required fields to create a zonal or regional disk.

  4. Create your disk in the same region as your snapshot schedule.

  5. Populate the fields for yourSnapshot schedule.

  6. Use the drop-down menu and complete the fields to create the schedule.

  7. ClickCreate to create the schedule.

  8. ClickCreate to create the disk.

gcloud

Use thegcloud disks create commandto create a zonal or regional Persistent Disk or Hyperdiskand attach a snapshot schedule to it.

gcloud compute disks createDISK_NAME \     --resource-policiesSCHEDULE_NAME \     --zoneZONE

Replace the following:

  • DISK_NAME: the name of the new disk
  • SCHEDULE_NAME: the name of the snapshotschedule
  • ZONE: the location where you are creating thedisk. The disk must be in a zone that is in the same region as thesnapshot schedule.

Go

import("context""fmt""io"compute"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"computepb"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb""google.golang.org/protobuf/proto")// createDiskWithSnapshotSchedule creates a new empty regional disk with snapshot schedulefunccreateDiskWithSnapshotSchedule(wio.Writer,projectID,region,diskName,diskType,scheduleNamestring,replicaZones[]string,diskSizeGbint64,)error{// projectID := "your_project_id"// region := "us-west3" // should match diskType below// diskName := "your_disk_name"// diskType := "regions/us-west3/diskTypes/pd-ssd"// scheduleName := "your_schedule_name"// replicaZones := []string{"us-west3-a", "us-west3-b"}// diskSizeGb := 120// Exactly two replica zones must be specifiedreplicaZoneURLs:=[]string{fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/zones/%s",projectID,replicaZones[0]),fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/zones/%s",projectID,replicaZones[1]),}ctx:=context.Background()disksClient,err:=compute.NewRegionDisksRESTClient(ctx)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("NewRegionDisksRESTClient: %w",err)}deferdisksClient.Close()req:=&computepb.InsertRegionDiskRequest{Project:projectID,Region:region,DiskResource:&computepb.Disk{Name:proto.String(diskName),Region:proto.String(region),Type:proto.String(diskType),SizeGb:proto.Int64(diskSizeGb),ReplicaZones:replicaZoneURLs,ResourcePolicies:[]string{fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/regions/%s/resourcePolicies/%s",projectID,region,scheduleName),},},}op,err:=disksClient.Insert(ctx,req)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to create disk with schedule: %w",err)}iferr=op.Wait(ctx);err!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %w",err)}fmt.Fprintf(w,"Disk with schedule created\n")returnnil}

Java

importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Disk;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.DisksClient;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation.Status;importjava.io.IOException;importjava.util.List;importjava.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;importjava.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;importjava.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;publicclassCreateDiskWithSnapshotSchedule{publicstaticvoidmain(String[]args)throwsIOException,ExecutionException,InterruptedException,TimeoutException{// TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.// Project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.StringprojectId="YOUR_PROJECT_ID";// Name of the zone in which you want to create the disk.Stringzone="us-central1-a";// Name of the disk you want to create.StringdiskName="YOUR_DISK_NAME";// Name of the schedule you want to link to the disk.StringsnapshotScheduleName="YOUR_SCHEDULE_NAME";createDiskWithSnapshotSchedule(projectId,zone,diskName,snapshotScheduleName);}// Creates disk with linked snapshot schedule.publicstaticStatuscreateDiskWithSnapshotSchedule(StringprojectId,Stringzone,StringdiskName,StringsnapshotScheduleName)throwsIOException,ExecutionException,InterruptedException,TimeoutException{// Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created// once, and can be reused for multiple requests.try(DisksClientdisksClient=DisksClient.create()){Stringregion=zone.substring(0,zone.lastIndexOf('-'));// Get the resource policy to link to the diskStringresourcePolicyLink=String.format("projects/%s/regions/%s/resourcePolicies/%s",projectId,region,snapshotScheduleName);Diskdisk=Disk.newBuilder().setName(diskName).setZone(zone).addAllResourcePolicies(List.of(resourcePolicyLink)).build();Operationresponse=disksClient.insertAsync(projectId,zone,disk).get(3,TimeUnit.MINUTES);if(response.hasError()){thrownewError("Disk creation failed! "+response.getError());}returnresponse.getStatus();}}}

What's next

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under theApache 2.0 License. For details, see theGoogle Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2025-12-15 UTC.