Excessive Automated Backup Retention in Cloud SQL

Hierony Manurung

CER:

GCP-Databases-8435

Service Category

Databases

Cloud Provider

GCP

Service Name

Cloud SQL

Inefficiency Type

Excessive Data Retention

Explanation

This inefficiency occurs when automated Cloud SQL backups are retained longer than required by recovery objectives or governance needs. Because backups accumulate over the retention window (and can grow quickly for high-change databases), excessive retention drives ongoing backup storage charges without improving practical recoverability.

Relevant Billing Model

Cloud SQL bills for backup storage (“Backups (used)”) based on stored backup data over time. Longer retention increases stored backup volume and cost.

Detection

Review whether automated backup retention periods exceed documented recovery requirements
Assess whether the retained window provides meaningful operational recovery value versus “just in case” storage
Identify databases with high change rates where extended retention materially increases stored backup volume

Remediation

Reduce automated backup retention to the minimum that meets recovery and governance requirements
Use a separate long-term retention approach for audit/compliance needs instead of extending operational backup retention indefinitely

Relevant Documentation

https://cloud.google.com/sql/pricing

https://docs.cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/backup-recovery/backups

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