open-consul/website/content/docs/enterprise/backups.mdx

---
layout: docs
page_title: Automated Backups (Enterprise)
description: >-
  Learn about launching the snapshot agent to automatically backup files to a cloud storage provider so that you can restore Consul servers. Supported providers include Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Azure Blob Storage. 
---

# Automated Backups

<EnterpriseAlert>
  This feature requires
  HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) or self-managed Consul Enterprise.
  Refer to the{' '}
  <a href="/docs/enterprise#consul-enterprise-feature-availability">enterprise feature matrix</a>
  {' '}for additional information.
</EnterpriseAlert>

Consul Enterprise enables you to run
the snapshot agent within your environment as a service (Systemd as an example)
or scheduled through other means. Once running, the snapshot agent service operates as a highly
available process that integrates with the snapshot API to automatically manage
taking snapshots, backup rotation, and sending backup files offsite to Amazon S3
(or another S3-compatible endpoint), Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob Storage.

This capability provides an enterprise solution for backup and restoring the state of Consul servers
within an environment in an automated manner. These snapshots are atomic and point-in-time. Consul
datacenter backups include (but are not limited to):

- Key/Value Store Entries
- Service Catalog Registrations
- Prepared Queries
- Sessions
- Access Control Lists (ACLs)
- Namespaces

For more experience leveraging Consul's snapshot functionality, complete the [Datacenter Backups in Consul](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/consul/backup-and-restore?utm_source=docs) tutorial.
For detailed configuration information on configuring the Consul Enterprise's snapshot agent, review the
[Consul Snapshot Agent documentation](/commands/snapshot/agent).