Overview

Vinchin Backup & Recovery is a dedicated backup platform for virtual machines that protects ALYPOD CPU Pods without installing an agent inside the guest OS. It performs image-level backups, supports incremental and deduplicated storage, and can restore a whole Pod or individual files. It is a good fit when you want scheduled, verifiable backups of entire servers rather than copying files.

Vinchin is licensed and enabled per environment. Check availability and licensing for your Pod from the ALYPOD Console or by contacting ALYPOD support through account.alypod.com.

Before you begin

• One or more CPU Pods you want to protect.
• Vinchin access details (management URL and credentials) provided with your service.
• A backup repository — local storage, a Storage Box, or an S3 bucket.

Key concepts

• Backup policy — a schedule (for example daily full + hourly incremental).
• Backup repository — where restore points are stored.
• Restore point — a recoverable snapshot in time.
• Instant recovery — start a Pod directly from a backup while it fully restores.

Steps

1. Log in to the Vinchin management console and open Resources. Add your ALYPOD Pod by host or use the platform integration so Pods appear automatically.
2. Create a Backup Repository: choose a Storage Box (NFS/SMB/SSH) or an S3 bucket, and set a retention period.
3. Create a Backup Policy: select the Pods, a schedule (e.g. weekly full, daily incremental), compression and encryption options, and the repository.
4. Run the policy once manually and confirm a restore point appears with a "success" status.
5. Test a restore into an isolated Pod, or use instant recovery, to verify the backup is usable.
6. Enable notifications (email) so failed jobs alert you.

Troubleshooting

• Problem: Pod does not appear in Vinchin. Solution: Verify the Pod's network reachability and that the management host can authenticate to the platform.
• Problem: Backup window too short. Solution: Switch to incremental backups and enable deduplication to cut the data transferred.
• Problem: Restore fails for a large VM. Solution: Use instant recovery to bring the Pod online immediately, then complete the full restore in the background.

Related articles

• [Restoring data from a backup]
• [Using snapshots for quick recovery]
• [Backup best practices (the 3-2-1 rule)]