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Creating backups of Instances via the Scaleway API

Reviewed on 28 May 2025 • Published on 26 May 2021

The Backup feature is used to back up your Instance data. It creates an image of a snapshot that contains all your volumes. You can create backups of your Instances using either the

Scaleway CLI tool or theInstances API.

Before you startLink to this anchor

To complete the actions presented below, you must have:

A Scaleway account logged into theconsole
Owner status orIAM permissions allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization
A validAPI key
A running Instance

Creating a backupLink to this anchor

Use the following commands to create a backup of your Instance using the

Scaleway CLI.

scw instance server backup server-id zone=fr-par-1

Note

Replace server-id with the unique identifier of the Instance.
Replace fr-par-1 with the Availability Zone your Instance is deployed in.

Tip

By default, the name of the image is built according to the name of the server and the date. You can specify a name for the image in the request:

scw instance server backup <server-id> zone=fr-par-1 name=<my-image-name>

A backup request will create an image object. You can view it using:

scw instance image get <image-uid> zone=fr-par-1

An image contains one snapshot for each volume of the Instance. These snapshots are visible within the image response as root_volume and extra_volumes fields.

A backup is created using the

Instances APIwith the following command:

POST https://api.scaleway.com/instance/v1/zones/<region>/servers/<uid>/action
{"action":"backup"}

Replace <region> with the geographical region of the Instance. For Instances located in Paris, for example, this value would be fr-par-1. Replace <uid> with the unique identifier of the Instance. By default, the name of the image is built according to the name of the server and the date:

image_<servername>_YYYY-MM-DD_hh-mm.

Alternatively, you can specify a name for the image in the request:

POST https://api.scaleway.com/instance/v1/zones/<region>/servers/<id>/action
{ "action":"backup", "name":"myimagename" }

A backup request will create an image object (visible in the href_result: /images/<image_uuid>)

GET https://api.scaleway.com/instance/v1/zones/<region>/images/<image_uid>

An image contains one snapshot for each volume of the Instance. These snapshots are visible within the image response, as root_volume and extra_volumes fields.

Deleting a BackupLink to this anchor

To delete a backup, run the following command:

scw instance image delete <image-uid> zone=fr-par1

It is also recommended to remove every snapshot related to the image by running the following command for each snapshot that is no longer needed:

scw block snapshot delete <snapshot-uid> zone=fr-par-1

Run the following call to delete the image that contains a backup:

curl -X DELETE \
  -H "X-Auth-Token: $SCW_SECRET_KEY" \
  "https://api.scaleway.com/instance/v1/zones/{zone}/images/{image_id}"

It is also recommended to remove every snapshot related to the image by running the following API call for each snapshot that is no longer needed:

curl -X DELETE \
  -H "X-Auth-Token: $SCW_SECRET_KEY" \
  "https://api.scaleway.com/block/v1/zones/{zone}/snapshots/{snapshot_id}"

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