Backup and restore types

Container Backup Support provides multiple types of backup and restore functions for your PVC and other cluster resources. You can use the IBM Spectrum® Protect Plus user interface or the Kubernetes or OpenShift® command line to initiate backup and restore operations.

Backup types

The following types of backup operations are available:

Snapshot backup of PVCs

Creates a backup of a persistent volume by using Container Storage Interface (CSI) storage plug-in snapshot capabilities. The snapshot is stored in a location that is assigned by a Kubernetes snapshot class as defined by the backup administrator. Typically, this location is the same storage site as the persistent volume that is being backed up. The snapshot class must be compatible with the storage class of the persistent volume. In other words, the snapshot class and storage class are defined and provided by the same CSI storage plug-in.

Snapshot backups are created by scheduled backup requests and on-demand backup requests.

During scheduled backups, snapshot backups are created at intervals that are defined by a service level agreement (SLA) policy.

During an on-demand backup request, a snapshot is taken immediately but no copy backup is created. After the initial snapshot backup, the volume is protected by the specified SLA policy.

Snapshot backup of namespace-scoped and cluster-scoped resources

Creates a backup of the cluster-scoped or namespace-scoped resources, which are backed up to the local MinIO in the backup as a service (BaaS) namespace. The MinIO object store that runs in the BaaS namespace claims a persistent volume to store the snapshot backups. This PVC is a single holding area for the data for all resource snapshot backups. The storage administrator must ensure that a default storage class exists in the cluster or a suitable storage class is defined by the MinIO storage class parameter when the BaaS is installed.

Snapshot backups are created by scheduled backup requests and on-demand backup requests. During scheduled backups, snapshot backups are created at intervals that are defined by a service level agreement (SLA) policy.

During an on-demand backup job, a snapshot is taken immediately but no copy backup is created. After the initial snapshot backup is finished, the volume is protected by the specified SLA policy thereafter.

Copy backup of PVCs

Copies the full persistent volume to an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vSnap server. Based on predefined SLA policies, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers longer retention of copy backups compared to snapshot backups.

During scheduled backups, snapshot and copy backups are created at intervals that are defined by the SLA policy.

Copy backup of namespace-scoped and cluster-scoped resources

Copies the namespace-scoped or cluster-scoped resources from BaaS MinIO to the vSnap server. Based on predefined SLA policies, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers longer retention of copy backups compared to snapshot backups.

During scheduled backups, snapshot and copy backups are created at intervals that are defined by the SLA policy.

Snapshot-only protection

In this configuration, Container Backup Support can be deployed as a snapshot-only solution. The installation of an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vSnap server is not required.

When you define SLA policies for containers, define the snapshot schedule but do not define a copy backup schedule. During scheduled backups, snapshots are created and stored locally but data is not copied from the cluster to the vSnap server.

With a snapshot-only deployment, data cannot be restored to another cluster.

Application-consistent PVC backup

In this configuration, Container Backup Support can be deployed in a Red Hat® OpenShift environment as a solution to ensure consistency for application-level backup operations. You define SLA policies for application namespaces, which include the corresponding volumes and resources. You must specify Velero pre-backup and post-backup hooks as pod annotations.

For example, to ensure application consistency during a PVC backup operation, a pre hook can be run automatically to suspend or quiesce an application. This action can prevent any critical I/O processes from occurring on a volume while snapshots are created sequentially. After the snapshots are completed, a post hook can be run to resume the quiesced application.

Restore types

The following types of restore operations are available:

Snapshot restore of PVCs: Restores a snapshot to a new persistent volume. This type of operation is suitable for rapidly restoring recent snapshot backups.
Snapshot restore of namespace-scoped and cluster-scoped resources: Restores a snapshot copy from the BaaS MinIO to the same namespace or cluster. Snapshot copy backups cannot be restored to another cluster; they can be restored only to the same cluster or the same namespace. This type of operation is suitable for rapidly restoring recent snapshot backups.
Copy backup restore of PVCs: Restores a copy backup to the original persistent volume or to a new persistent volume. You can select to restore to an alternate cluster or namespace. If you want to restore a copy backup to the original persistent volume, the container to which the persistent volume is attached must not be running.
This type of operation is suitable for restoring persistent volumes from copy backups that are retained for a longer period on IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
Copy backup restore of namespace-scoped and cluster-scoped resources: Restores a backup from the vSnap server to MinIO, and then to the original namespace or cluster. Alternatively, the restore operation can run to a new namespace or cluster, depending on what you specify in the restore job.
This type of restore operation is suitable for restoring resources from copy backups that are retained for a longer period on IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
Application-consistent PVC restore: Restores an application-consistent copy backup to the original or alternative namespace in an OpenShift environment. You can run application-consistent restore jobs of both PVCs and resources. If you want to restore a copy backup to the original namespace, the container to which the persistent volume is attached must not be running. You can restore resources only if the resources do not exist in the target namespace.