Delete EBS Snapshots Enhancements
Skeddly includes an action called “Delete EBS Snapshots” which can be used to remove old EBS snapshots based on matching criteria and minimum age. It can also ensure that a minimum number of EBS snapshots are preserved.
Today, we’ve made two new enhancements to this action available:
- We have improved the user interface for this action so that it is clearer as to what will be happening.
- We have added a new delete scheme called “Grandfather-Father-Son” which is a more advanced selection process for deciding which snapshots will be preserved.
UI Improvements
Under the new user interface, it’s clearer regarding which EBS snapshots are being selected for possible deletion. We have incorporated our standard “Snapshot Identification Method” UI elements so it is consistent with other actions.
Here, we are selecting all snapshots as possible candidates for removal.
And here, we are limiting possible snapshots to those that have a resource tag named “Environment” whose value contains the string “Development”.
Once EBS snapshots have been identified as candidates for removal, the choice of delete scheme is used to choose which of those EBS snapshots will be preserved and which will be removed.
In this example, we’ve selected the “Simple, Oldest First” delete scheme. We have indicated that only snapshots older than 7 days should be deleted, and that we should preserved a minimum of 2 snapshots.
The “Simple, Oldest First” delete scheme is equivalent to how the action worked previously. You can also think of these scheme as “First in, first out”, meaning that newer snapshots are preserved while older snapshots are removed.
Grandfather-Father-Son Delete Scheme
This is our new delete scheme. It mirrors the Backup Rotation Scheme of the same name.
Under this delete scheme, you can specify the number of daily, weekly, monthly, and/or yearly snapshots to preserve.
For example, you can choose to preserve:
- 1 daily snapshot, over 7 days
- 1 weekly snapshot, over 5 weeks
- 1 monthly snapshot, over 12 months
- 1 yearly snapshot without any time limit
The configuration is quite flexible, so you can:
- Include daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly snapshots only if you want
- Choose the number of snapshots to preserve
- Choose the time range
This new delete scheme should be flexible enough for most enterprise-level backup policies.
As always, you can use the action’s “Test Mode” to determine which snapshots will be removed, without worrying about removing the wrong snapshots. After executing, examine the logs to verify and when satisfied, simply remove “Test Mode”.
These changes are available today at no extra charge.
Try It Today
Use Skeddly today to manage your snapshots. Sign-up for our 30 day free trial or sign-in to your Skeddly account to get started.