Backing up and restoring Cloud Pak for Data

IBM Cloud Pak for Data supports online and offline backup and restore.

Online backups
During an online backup, normal runtime operations in the Cloud Pak for Data cluster continue while the backup is taken. Container Storage Interface (CSI) volume snapshots of Kubernetes metadata and volume data are taken with minimal disruption.
Offline backups
During an offline backup, Cloud Pak for Data services are quiesced to bring them to a consistent state. At the beginning of the backup process, each service stops using its data volumes until the backup is completed. External operations for services that participate in the backup are interrupted for the entire duration of the quiesce, backup, and unquiesce steps.

You can create offline backups in the following ways:

  • Create CSI volume snapshots of Kubernetes metadata and volume data.
  • Create Restic backups on an S3-compatible object store of Kubernetes metadata and volume data.
  • If you are using Portworx storage, create snapshots of volume data.
  • Create backups of volume data on a separate Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) or S3-compatible object store.

Because large volumes of data result in significant down time during offline backup and restore, it is recommended that you do online backup and restore.

Deprecation notice: Except for the following storage types, offline backup and restore will no longer be supported in a future release.
NFS
Offline backup and restore to the same cluster or to a different cluster by using Restic backups will continue to be supported.
Amazon Elastic Block Store
Offline backup and restore to the same cluster by using Restic backups will continue to be supported.
Amazon Elastic File System
Offline backup and restore to the same cluster by using Restic backups will continue to be supported.

Deciding how to back up and restore your data

Use the following questions to help you decide which approach to take to back up and restore your Cloud Pak for Data services and data.

Question What to do
What backup and restore options are available? See Supported backup and restore scenarios to find out the different ways that you can back up and restore Cloud Pak for Data.
What storage type are you using? Review Supported storage types to find out what backup and restore options are available for the storage type that you are using.
Do the services that I am using support backup and restore? See Services that support backup and restore to find out if the services that you installed support backup and restore.
What if I only want to back up and restore a specific service? Some services support exporting data from one Cloud Pak for Data installation and importing the data in another installation.

Supported backup and restore scenarios

The following backup and restore scenarios are supported.

Online backup and restore
  • Back up and restore a Cloud Pak for Data instance project (namespace) on the same cluster by using CSI snapshots
  • Back up and restore a Cloud Pak for Data deployment (IBM Cloud Pak foundational services and IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform operator project, Cloud Pak for Data instance project) to a different cluster by using CSI snapshots
Offline backup and restore
  • Back up and restore a Cloud Pak for Data instance project on the same cluster by using CSI snapshots or Restic backups
  • Back up and restore a Cloud Pak for Data deployment (IBM Cloud Pak foundational services and IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform operator project, Cloud Pak for Data instance project) to a different cluster by using Restic backups
  • Back up and restore a Cloud Pak for Data instance project's volume data to the same instance on the same cluster by using volume snapshots or backups

Supported storage types

The following table shows the storage types that Cloud Pak for Data supports that are also supported by each backup and restore method. Columns are organized by the products that you can use to back up and restore Cloud Pak for Data:

  • The Cloud Pak for Data OpenShift® APIs for Data Protection (OADP) backup and restore utility
  • IBM Storage Fusion
  • Portworx
  • NetApp Astra Control Center
Storage
OADP
Offline backup and restore to same cluster
OADP
Offline backup and restore to different cluster
Online backup and restore to the same cluster
Online backup and restore to different cluster
Disaster recovery
Red Hat® OpenShift Data Foundation
with
  • OADP
  • IBM Storage Fusion

with IBM Storage Fusion

 
IBM Storage Fusion Data Foundation    
with
  • OADP
  • IBM Storage Fusion

with IBM Storage Fusion

 
IBM Storage Fusion Global Data Platform    
with
  • OADP
  • IBM Storage Fusion

with IBM Storage Fusion

 
IBM Storage Scale Container Native (with IBM Storage Scale Container Storage Interface)    
with
  • OADP
  • IBM Storage Fusion

with IBM Storage Fusion

 
Portworx    
with
  • OADP
  • Portworx backup and restore (requires Portworx v2.12.2 or higher

with Portworx disaster recovery (asynchronous data replication)

with Portworx disaster recovery (asynchronous data replication)

NetApp Trident    
with
  • OADP
  • NetApp Astra Control Center

with NetApp Astra Control Center

 
NFS

Restic backups only

Restic backups only

     
Amazon Elastic File System

Restic backups only

       
Amazon Elastic File System and Amazon Elastic Block Store

Restic backups only

       
Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP    
with
  • OADP
  • NetApp Astra Control Center

with NetApp Astra Control Center

 

Backing up and restoring service data

You can also back up and restore the data for a specific service by exporting a service's data and metadata from one Cloud Pak for Data installation and importing the data to another Cloud Pak for Data installation. For more information, see Migrating data between Cloud Pak for Data installations.