Backing up and restoring Kubernetes clusters

To protect persistent volumes and other Kubernetes resources that are attached to clusters, you can create service level agreement (SLA) polices and create jobs for backup and restore operations in the IBM Spectrum® Protect Plus user interface.

Ensure that your Kubernetes environment meets the system requirements that are outlined in Container Backup Support requirements.

To protect cluster-scoped and namespace-scoped resources in your Kubernetes container workloads, ensure that the Velero tool is installed. For instructions, see For Kubernetes: Installing Velero to protect resources.

The following table shows the icon and naming convention for each type of resource that is displayed in the Kubernetes Backup pane, as well as a description of each type of resource:

Table 1. Kubernetes resource types
Icon and naming convention Resource type Description
Cluster clustername Cluster A Kubernetes cluster.
Cluster resources clustername:resources Cluster resources Cluster-scoped resources such as persistent volumes, cluster roles, storage classes, CSI drivers, volume snapshot classes, and custom resource definitions.
Namespace namespace Namespace A namespace in the cluster.
Namespace resources clustername:namespace:resources Namespace resources Namespace-scoped resources such as persistent volume claims, pods, containers, configuration maps, secrets, services, and deployments.
PVC clustername:namespace:pvcname Persistent volume claim (PVC) PVCs in a namespace.