Restore clusters with snapshots

This page describes the process to create and use snapshots, which are backup files for restoring Consul servers to a previous state.

HCP Consul Central provides a dedicated workflow for snapshot operations. You can also access a HCP Consul Dedicated cluster to interact with the /snapshot HTTP API endpoint or the consul snapshot CLI command. Snapshots of HCP Consul Dedicated clusters created using the API and CLI appear in HCP Consul alongside manually created snapshots.

Create a snapshot on HCP Consul

To create a snapshot of a cluster, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to the HCP Portal.
2. Select the organization or project where you created the cluster.
3. Click Consul.
4. From the Consul Overview, click the cluster ID you want to create a snapshot for.
5. Click Snapshots and then Create snapshot.
6. Enter a name for the snapshot. Then, click Create snapshot.

The time it takes to create the snapshot depends on the size of the cluster. When the process is complete, the snapshot's status changes to Ready.

Restore a cluster on HCP Consul Central

To restore a cluster's Consul servers from a snapshot, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to the HCP Portal.
2. Select the organization or project where you created the cluster.
3. Click Consul.
4. From the Consul Overview, click the cluster ID you want to use to restore the cluster's state.
5. Click Snapshots.
6. Next to the snapshot you want to use to restore the cluster, click More (three horizontal dots) and then Restore.
7. Type RESTORE in the text box to confirm. Then, click Restore snapshot.

By default, HCP creates a snapshot of the cluster before restoring it to a previous version. If you do not want a snapshot of the cluster in this state, uncheck the box before you confirm the restore.

Rename a snapshot

You can edit the name of a snapshot that appears in the list of snapshots in HCP Consul Central. However, renaming a snapshot does not change the underlying UUID that was assigned to the snapshot on its creation.

To rename a snapshot, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to the HCP Portal.
2. Select the organization or project where you created the cluster.
3. Click Consul.
4. From the Consul Overview, click the cluster ID where you took the snapshot.
5. Click Snapshots.
6. Next to the snapshot you want to rename, click More (three horizontal dots) and then Rename.
7. Enter a new name for the snapshot. Then, click Rename snapshot.

Delete a snapshot

To delete a snapshot, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to the HCP Portal.
2. Select the organization or project where you created the cluster.
3. Click Consul.
4. From the Consul Overview, click the cluster ID where you took the snapshot.
5. Click Snapshots.
6. Next to the snapshot you want to delete, click More (three horizontal dots) and then Delete.
7. Type DELETE in the text box to confirm. Then, click Delete snapshot.