Configure a Backup Compliance Policy

Prohibited Actions

If you enable a Backup Compliance Policy, no user, regardless of role, can do the following actions:

• Disable the Backup Compliance Policy without MongoDB support. To disable a Backup Compliance Policy, the security or legal representative specified for the Backup Compliance Policy must request support and complete an extensive verification process.

  Note

  The only exception applies to empty projects that contain no active or paused clusters and no retained snapshots from previously terminated clusters. If a project is empty, users with the Organization Owner role or the Project Owner role can disable the Backup Compliance Policy.

• Modify the backup policy for an individual cluster below the minimum requirements set in the Backup Compliance Policy.

• Delete a backup snapshot.

• Decrease the retention time for a snapshot after it's taken.

• Disable Cloud Backup.

• Disable Continuous Cloud Backup if the Backup Compliance Policy has the Require Point in Time Restore to all clusters option set to On without MongoDB Support. To disable Continuous Cloud Backup, the security or legal representative specified for the Backup Compliance Policy must request support and complete an extensive verification process.

• Reduce the Continuous Cloud Backup Restore Window without MongoDB Support. To reduce the Continuous Cloud Backup Restore Window, the security or legal representative specified for the Backup Compliance Policy must request support and complete an extensive verification process.

• Delete policy items specified in the Backup Compliance Policy without MongoDB Support. To delete policy items specified in the Backup Compliance Policy, the security or legal representative specified for the Backup Compliance Policy must request support and complete an extensive verification process.

• Delete the project if any snapshots exist. If you can't remove all projects, you can't delete the organization.

Considerations

After you enable a Backup Compliance Policy, the following behaviors apply:

• A Backup Compliance Policy limits your ability to reduce backup storage costs. You can't adjust the retention or delete a backup to reduce the backup storage costs. To learn more, see Manage Billing.

• All new and existing clusters have Cloud Backup automatically enabled and use the project-level Backup Compliance Policy. Atlas augments any preexisting cluster-level backup policies to meet the minimum requirements of the Backup Compliance Policy. All new clusters use the Backup Compliance Policy unless the mininum requirements of the cluster-level backup policy expand beyond the mininum requirements of the Backup Compliance Policy.

• You can modify the cluster-level backup policies at any time. If you reduce the frequency of a cluster-level backup policy, the change applies only to future backups. Any existing oplog remains for the original window. The minimum requirements of the Backup Compliance Policy apply.

• If the Backup Compliance Policy has the Keep all snapshots when removing additional snapshot regions option set to On and you enable, modify, or delete multi-region snapshots, any snapshots already taken remain.

• When you resume a cluster, Atlas automatically enables Cloud Backup. If the Backup Compliance Policy has the Require Point in Time Restore to all clusters option set to On, Atlas automatically enables Continuous Cloud Backup and adjusts the restore window according to the Backup Compliance Policy. Atlas automatically modifies the backup to meet the minimum requirements of the Backup Compliance Policy.

• If you terminate a cluster, Atlas maintains all existing snapshots after the termination according to your backup policy. Atlas retains the oplog for restoring a point in time with continuous cloud backup in a static state until Atlas can no longer use them for continuous cloud backup.

• If you terminate a cluster, you can't create another cluster with the same name because Atlas uses the name to identify snapshots.

• Whenever a user enables, modifies, or disables a Backup Compliance Policy, Atlas reflects the event in the Project Activity Feed.

Required Access

To configure a Backup Compliance Policy, you must have Project Owner access to the project. Users with Organization Owner access must add themselves as a Project Owner to the project before configuring a Backup Compliance Policy.

Prerequisites

• Only MongoDB Support can do the following actions:

  • Disable the Backup Compliance Policy.

  • Disable Continuous Cloud Backup if the Backup Compliance Policy has the Require Point in Time Restore to all clusters option set to On.

  • Reduce the Continuous Cloud Backup Restore Window.

  • Delete policy items specified in the Backup Compliance Policy.

• Only the specified security or legal representative can request support.

• You can apply a Backup Compliance Policy to M10+ dedicated clusters only.

  Note

  You can't convert a dedicated cluster to a M0 free clusters, an M2 or M5 shared cluster, or a serverless instance.

Procedure

View Projects that have a Backup Compliance Policy Enabled

View Backup Details for Dedicated Clusters

You can view backup details for all M10+ dedicated clusters including deleted clusters with retained snapshots.

To view backup details, in the Security section on the left navigation, click Backup.

Extra Snapshot Retention

When a Backup Compliance Policy is enabled for your project, you can also configure extra snapshot retention to retain snapshots beyond the Backup Compliance Policy protection period. Your snapshots remain fully protected and users can't delete them during the Backup Compliance Policy period. During the extra snapshot retention period, snapshots are unprotected again and any user with the appropriate role can delete them. When the extra snapshot retention period ends, Atlas deletes the snapshots automatically. Any changes apply to all existing and future snapshots for that frequency unit. The extra snapshot retention time remains the same even if the Backup Compliance Policy changes.

To learn more, see Configure Extra Snapshot Retention.