Backup and Restore Operator

Latest release

Description

• This operator provides ability to backup and restore Kubernetes applications (metadata) running on any cluster. It accepts a list of resources that need to be backed up for a particular application. It then gathers these resources by querying the Kubernetes API server, packages all the resources to create a tarball file and pushes it to the configured backup storage location. Since it gathers resources by querying the API server, it can back up applications from any type of Kubernetes cluster.
• The operator preserves the ownerReferences on all resources, hence maintaining dependencies between objects.
• It also provides encryption support, to encrypt user specified resources before saving them in the backup file. It uses the same encryption configuration that is used to enable Kubernetes Encryption at Rest. Follow the steps in this section to configure this.

Branches and Releases

• the tag v3.x.x is cut from the release/v3.0 branch for Rancher v2.7.x line
• the tag v2.x.x is cut from the release/v2.0 branch for Rancher v2.6.x line
• the tag v1.x.x is cut from the release/v1.0 branch for Rancher v2.5.x line

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Quickstart

If Rancher v2.5+ is installed, you can install the backup-restore-operator, from the Cluster Explorer UI. Otherwise, you can install the charts via helm repo by executing the commands below.

First, add our charts repository.

helm repo add rancher-charts https://charts.rancher.io
helm repo update

Then, install both charts. Ensure that the CRD chart is installed first.

helm install --wait \
    --create-namespace -n cattle-resources-system \
    rancher-backup-crd rancher-charts/rancher-backup-crd
helm install --wait \
    -n cattle-resources-system \
    rancher-backup rancher-charts/rancher-backup

If you are using S3, you can configure the s3.credentialSecretNamespace to determine where the Backup and Restore Operator will look for the S3 backup secret. For more information on configuring backups, see the backup documentation.

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Uninstallation

If you are uninstalling and want to keep backup(s), ensure that you have created Backup CR(s) and that your backups are stored in a safe location. Execute the following commands to uninstall:

helm uninstall -n cattle-resources-system rancher-backup
helm uninstall -n cattle-resources-system rancher-backup-crd
kubectl delete namespace cattle-resources-system

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CRDs

It installs the following cluster-scoped CRDs:

Backup

A backup can be performed by creating an instance of the Backup CRD. It can be configured to perform a one-time backup, or to schedule recurring backups. For help configuring backups, see this documentation.

Restore

Creating an instance of the Restore CRD lets you restore from a backup file. For help configuring restores, see this documentation.

ResourceSet

ResourceSet specifies the Kubernetes core resources and CRDs that need to be backed up. This chart comes with a predetermined ResourceSet to be used for backing up Rancher application

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User flow

1. Create a ResourceSet, that targets all the resources you want to backup. The ResourceSet required for backing up Rancher will be provided and installed by the chart. Refer to the default rancher-resourceset as an example for creating resourceSets
2. Performing a backup: To take a backup, user has to create an instance of the Backup CRD (create a Backup CR). Each Backup CR must reference a ResourceSet. A Backup CR can be used to perform a one-time backup or recurring backups. Refer examples folder for sample manifests
3. Restoring from a backup: To restore from a backup, user has to create an instance of the Restore CRD (create a Restore CR). A Restore CR must contain the exact Backup filename. Refer to the examples folder for sample manifests.

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Storage Location

For help configuring the storage location, see this documentation.

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S3 Credentials

If you are using S3 to store your backups, the Backup custom resource can reference an S3 credential secret in any namespace. The credentialSecretNamespace directive tells the backup application where to look for the secret:

s3:
  bucketName: ''
  credentialSecretName: ''
  credentialSecretNamespace: ''
  enabled: false
  endpoint: ''
  endpointCA: ''
  folder: ''
  insecureTLSSkipVerify: false
  region: ''

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Developer Documentation

Refer to DEVELOPING.md for developer tips, tricks, and workflows when working with the backup-restore-operator.

Troubleshooting

Refer to troubleshooting.md for troubleshooting commands.