Quick answer: To protect unprotected cloud resources in N2W v5.0, open the Unprotected Resources panel from the dashboard, filter by cloud, user, location or resource type, select the resources, and add them to a new or existing backup policy. Protected resources turn green immediately. N2W rescans your environment every night to confirm coverage.
N2W v5.0 scans your entire cloud account on a nightly basis and lets you find every unprotected resource and immediately add it to a backup policy in a few clicks, without leaving the dashboard.
Cloud elasticity is awesome. But the downside is that it’s easy to lose track of what gets spun up, and just as easy for those resources to keep running without protection. Modern enterprises need a reliable way to know what is actually protected versus what they assume is protected.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the new Unprotected Resources panel to see your protection gaps, close them, and prove they’re closed.
What are unprotected cloud resources?
Unprotected cloud resources are instances, volumes and other assets running in your cloud accounts that no active backup policy covers. They usually appear when teams spin up resources quickly and never attach them to a backup schedule. If one fails or is deleted, there’s no recovery point to restore from.
N2W also flags “almost” protected resources: resources assigned to a backup policy that is disabled or has no schedule. They look covered, but no backups actually run.
N2W Resource Protection Dashboard
N2W’s resource protection dashboard widget scans your entire account and shows, in near real time, what you have protected and what you don’t. You can see resource counts at a glance: how many instances are backed up, how many aren’t, and the same for volumes.
The widget is an overlay showing counts and sizes of protected versus unprotected resources. It tells you there is a gap, as well as an additional full panel that lets you drill into the gap:
- See every unprotected and “almost” protected resource, and which policies (if any) it belongs to
- Fix gaps on the spot by adding resources to a new or existing policy
- Remove resources from policies just as easily
- Export the list as a table, without waiting for the nightly report
- Search with regex and wildcards
What does the Unprotected Resources panel show?
The panel lists every resource from the most recent scan that isn’t fully protected, color-coded so you can triage fast.
| Color | Status | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| White | Unprotected | The resource isn’t attached to any policy. |
| Orange | “Almost” protected | The resource belongs to a policy, but that policy is disabled or has no schedule, so no backups run. |
| Green | Protected | You just added the resource to an enabled, scheduled policy. |
Yellow resources are the sneaky ones. They look covered because they sit in a policy, but nothing is actually backing them up.
Resources that already belong to an enabled policy with a schedule don’t appear in the panel at all.
How often does N2W scan for unprotected resources?
N2W scans your environment automatically once a day. The panel reflects that scan, so a resource appears only if it was unprotected at scan time.
When you fix a resource, it turns green right away but stays in the list until the next nightly scan confirms it’s protected.
How to protect unprotected resources in N2W v5.0: step by step
Step 1: Review your scan settings
Click Configure in the panel. This opens the scan screen, which lists your scan tags and, once a scan has run, the Unprotected Resources scan.
These are two separate scans shown together on one screen.
Step 2: Open the full list
Open the list of all unprotected resources. Results are paginated (for example, “15 of 15 items”), so larger environments can page through every record.
Step 3: Filter to what matters
Narrow the list by cloud, user, location and resource type. For example, show only unprotected EC2 instances in one region.
Step 4: Select resources to protect
Tick the resources you want to add to a policy.
Step 5: Add them to a policy
Click Add to policy. You can choose an existing policy or create a new one. In this example, we’ll create a new policy.
Once the policy exists, select it and add your resources.
Choose this policy and add your resources.
Step 6: Confirm protection
Your resources now show green, meaning they’re protected. Each row also shows which policy or policies it was added to.
Step 7 (optional): Remove resources from a policy
Made a mistake, or reorganizing policies? Select the resources, click Remove from policy, and choose the policy to remove them from.
Step 8: Export the list
Export the list to a table. It’s an on-the-spot alternative to the Unprotected Resources report, so you don’t have to wait for the nightly scan report to share status with your team or auditors.
How to search cloud resources with regex and wildcards
The search box supports both regex and wildcard patterns. Use it to match resources by naming convention, such as every resource whose name starts with prod-.
How to check unprotected resource scan results
The scan has its own Unprotected Resources log. Check it to see how the latest scan went, what it did, and whether it hit any errors.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find unprotected resources in N2W?
Open the Unprotected Resources panel from the N2W dashboard. It lists every resource from the latest nightly scan that isn’t covered by an enabled, scheduled backup policy.
What does “almost protected” mean in N2W?
An “almost protected” resource belongs to a backup policy that is disabled or has no schedule. N2W highlights these in yellow because no backups actually run for them.
How often does N2W scan for unprotected resources?
N2W runs the unprotected resources scan automatically once a day.
Why does a resource still appear after I added it to a policy?
The panel reflects the last nightly scan. The resource turns green right away and drops off the list after the next scan confirms it’s protected.
Can I export a list of unprotected resources?
Yes. Export the panel to a table at any time, without waiting for the nightly Unprotected Resources report.
Which N2W version includes the Unprotected Resources panel?
The panel was introduced in N2W v5.0. Earlier versions, such as v4.6, showed only protected and unprotected counts and sizes.
Close the gap between assumed and actual protection
With N2W v5.0, you no longer have to guess what’s covered. N2W shows you exactly which resources are exposed, including the “almost” protected ones hiding in disabled or unscheduled policies, and lets you fix them in a few clicks.
Ready to try it? Be sure to contact us for a demo.