Kubernetes Applications Backup and Restoration using Velero and MinIO

You can check MinIO deployment – https://kdinesh.in/minio/

Velero: –

Velero is an open-source tool to safely backup and restore, perform disaster recovery, and migrate Kubernetes cluster resources and persistent volumes.

Kubernetes Cluster : –

You can check below my old posts links to deploy Kubernetes Clusters –

vSphere Tanzu Deployment using Ha proxy – https://kdinesh.in/vmwaretkgs/

vSphere Tanzu Deployment using AVI Load Balancer – https://kdinesh.in/vratkgs/

Redhat OpenShift Deployment – https://kdinesh.in/ocp/

Opensource Kubernetes – https://kdinesh.in/kubernetes/

MinIO Configuration

Create a bucket in MinIO.

Create an Access key. Copy the secret key.

Velero Installation

I am using Tanzu Kubernetes Cluster. I am accessing the TKG Cluster using the Linux Jump box.

Download the Velero tar file.

$ wget https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/velero/releases/download/v1.12.0/velero-v1.12.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Extract tar file

$ tar zxf velero-v1.12.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Move the Velero file to /usr/local/bin.

$ mv velero-v1.12.0-linux-amd64/velero /usr/local/bin/

Check Velero version

Velero deployment on Kubernetes cluster, testing backup and restoration: –

You can download the following file using the below link

Link – https://github.com/Dineshk1205/postgredbbackup

Create a postgres directory. Copy postgres and minio.credentials file.

(Note: – Update minio.credentials file with the above-created minio access key and secret minio aws_access_key_id(mini access key) and aws_secret_access_key(minio secret))

For testing purposes, deploy the PostgreSQL database with PVC (vSphere CSI used)

Create a namespace postgres

$ kubectl create ns postgres

kubectl create secret generic “secret name” –from-literal=POSTGRE_USER=” username” –from-literal=POSTGRES_PASSWORD=” password” -n namespacename

$ kubectl create secret generic postgres –from-literal=POSTGRE_USER=” backuptest” –from-literal=POSTGRES_PASSWORD=” Backup@123” -n postgres

Next, deploy Postgres DB.

Switch to postgres dir

$ kubectl apply -f .

The postgres pod is running. You can check the PVC volume in vSphere.

Before taking a backup. Login to postgres pod and create a database.

Login to the postgres pod

$ kubectl exec -it postgres-869b5dbd8-6snvg -n postgres — psql -h localhost -U backuptest –password -p 5432 posgredb

(Note: – In the above command, replace the pod name, dbuser and password with your pod, dbuser and password)

Create a new DB.

CREATE DATABASE database name;

$ CREATE DATABASE velerotest;

Exit database

$ \q

Deploy Velero in Kubernetes cluster: –

velero install –provider aws –plugins velero/velero-plugin-for-aws:main –bucket “”bucket name” –secret-file “minio-credentailes_file” –use-volume-snapshots=true –uploader-type Restic/Kopia –snapshot-location-config region=minio –use-node-agent –backup-location-config region=minio,s3ForcePathStyle=”true”,s3Url=”MinioURL”

Upload type chosen based on your requirements – Restic/kolpia

You can check a comparison between Restic/kolpia – https://velero.io/docs/v1.12/performance-guidance/

I am using Restic.

$ velero install –provider aws –plugins velero/velero-plugin-for-aws:main –bucket k8s –secret-file ./minio.credentials –use-volume-snapshots=true –uploader-type restic –snapshot-location-config region=minio –use-node-agent –backup-location-config region=minio,s3ForcePathStyle=”true”,s3Url=http://172.16.0.6:9000

Check Velero pod status.

For taking a pod with PVC, backup annotation is required. Add annotation to the postgres pod.

kubectl -n “namespace” annotate pod/” podname” backup.velero.io/backup-volumes=volumename1, volumename2…

$ kubectl -n postgres annotate pod/postgres-869b5dbd8-6snvg backup.velero.io/backup-volumes=postgredb

Taking a Postgres DB Backup

velero backup create “backupname” –include-namespaces “namespace”

$ velero backup create postgres-backup –include-namespaces postgres

You can check the backup status.

velero backup describe “backup name”

$ velero backup describe postgres-backup

The backup was completed successfully.

Check in the MinIO Dashboard. In Bucket, backup files are created.

For testing the backup. Delete postgres deployment.

Switch to postgres

$ kubectl delete -f .

Postgres and PVC terminated.

Check vSphere – postgres PVC deleted.

Restoring postgres DB Backup: –

velero restore create –from-backup “backup name”

$ velero restore create –from-backup postgres-backup

You can also schedule backup using the following command – velero schedule create “backup name” –schedule=”@daily” –selector app=” label”

Check restore status

The restoration was completed successfully.

Postgres pods were restored successfully.

Check vSphere – PVC restored successfully.

Verify Postgres db data. Data also restored (velerotest db is present in DB)