Automatic backups for AWS Lightsail

Video Instructions Automatic backups for AWS Lightsail

This script for the AWS Lambda NodeJS is to automate the backup process for your AWS Lightsail instances easily.

The AWS Lightsail is an excellent hosting service to start with it. The Lightsail backups are a no-brainer to use. They are very powerful and incremental. You pay only for the differences in your files. It means you can create a lot of backups without spending a fortune on them. It keeps your work safe. But sorrowfully you cannot set up automatic backups from the console of the service. Now you can solve this problem easily with the help of this manual.

Benefits

Free of charge!
Once set up, no need to worry
Daily, weekly and monthly backups

Follow the instructions here for the setup. It is easy! We will use the AWS Lambda.

Setup

We need to set up some permissions, so that our Lambda function has enough rights to do the job.

ATTENTION! The script will remove all snapshots you created if they are out of range. To keep them you need modify the script. I plan to change it to keep all manually created backups. But now be careful!

Step 1. Create the IAM policy

Sign up to the AWS console here https://aws.amazon.com
Put IAM in the search field or go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/
Open the link POLICIES from the menu at the left and push the CREATE POLICY button.
Go to the JSON tab. And put this text there


    {
            "Version": "2012-10-17",
            "Statement": [
                {
                    "Sid": "Stmt1510233220000",
                    "Effect": "Allow",
                    "Action": [
                        "lightsail:CreateInstanceSnapshot",
                        "lightsail:DeleteInstanceSnapshot",
                        "lightsail:GetInstanceSnapshot",
                        "lightsail:GetInstanceSnapshots",
                        "lightsail:GetInstances"
                    ],
                    "Resource": [
                        "*"
                    ]
                }
            ]
    }

Push the REVIEW POLICY button. Give it the name lightsail_snapshots to it, put lightsail backups in the description and push the CREATE POLICY button.

Step 2. Create the IAM role

Click on the link ROLES in the menu at the left in the console
Push the button CREATE ROLE
Use preselected AWS Service tab and click on the link LAMBDA in the services list.
Push the button NEXT: PERMISSIONS
In the search field type AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole and check the box for it, then type lightsail_snapshots and check the box for it too. Push the button NEXT: REVIEW
Give the role name LightsailsnapshotsRole push the button CREATE ROLE

Step 3. Create Lambda function

Go to the https://aws.amazon.com again
Put the Lambda in the search field
Push the button CREATE FUNCTION
Use the preselected AUTHOR FROM SCRATCH tab, give the name for the function LightSailBackup
Use the "Node.js 6.10" for Runtime and "Choose an existing role" for the Role. Choose the LightsailsnapshotsRole role you created in the step 2. Push the button CREATE FUNCTION
In the panel Add triggers at the left click the CLOUD WATCH EVENTS link. In the 'Rule' section select 'Create a new rule'. Give the name daily in the 'Schedule expression' section put rate(1 day) and push the ADD button.
Click on the block "LightSailBackup" again and paste in the 'Function Code' field the code from here (the index.js contents in this repository) https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vidanov/lambda-nodejs-lightsail-backup/master/index.js Change the name of the instanceName in the function and set up the frequency of the backups.


        
        const backupDaysMax = 7; // keep at least 7 daily backups 
        
        const backupWeeksMax = 4; // keep at least 4  weekly  backups
        
        const backupMonthsMax = 3; // keep at least 3  monthly  backups

Set the region accordingly to your settings in the line


      AWS.config.update({ region: 'eu-central-1' });

Your instance name and region can be found here (see image): http://take.ms/3KOAo

Set timeout to 1 minute in Basic Settings for your Lambda function http://take.ms/yRMxp
Push SAVE button at the top right.

Step 4. Test the function

Select 'Configure test events' in the drop down left from the TEST button on the top of the window. Use preselected values.
Give the name to the event TestMyFunction and push the CREATE button
Push the TEST button
The new snapshot will be created for your instance.

The script will remove old backups, that are not in the range of dates you set. The Lightsail backups are incremental and they are very economical to use for you.

JFYI: Weekly and monthly backups will be saved on Sundays. You need at least 7 daily backups for weekly and monthly backups work correctly.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. A copy of the License is located at

http://aws.amazon.com/apache2.0/

LICENSE

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.