Back up using an external storage provider

You can configure MKE 4k to externally store backups and restores, for example, in object storage provided by a public cloud provider.

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AWS S3 is currently the only external backup storage supported by MKE 4k.

Configure an external storage provider

Copy the credentials information from the AWS console to create an IAM credentials file.

Edit the storage_provider section of the mke4.yaml configuration file to point to the IAM credentials file, including the profile name.

Example configuration:

  storage_provider:
    type: External
    external_options:
      provider: aws
      bucket: bucket_name
      region: us-west-2
      credentials_file_path: "/path/to/iamcredentials"
      credentials_file_profile: "386383511305_docker-testing"

Create an S3 bucket.
Point the configuration to the S3 bucket and region.

Verify the existence of the BackupStorageLocation custom resource:

kubectl --kubeconfig <path-to-kubeconfig> get backupstoragelocation -n mke

Apply the configuration:

 mkectl apply

Example output:

NAME      PHASE       LAST VALIDATED   AGE   DEFAULT
default   Available   20s              32s   true

The output may require a few minutes to display.

Create an external backup

To create a backup, run:

mkectl backup create --name aws-backup

Example output:

INFO[0000] Creating backup aws-backup...
Backup request "aws-backup" submitted successfully.
Run `velero backup describe aws-backup` or `velero backup logs aws-backup` for more details.
INFO[0000] Waiting for backup aws-backup to complete...
INFO[0003] Waiting for backup to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0006] Waiting for backup to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0009] Waiting for backup to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0012] Waiting for backup to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0015] Waiting for backup to complete. Current phase: Completed
INFO[0015] Backup aws-backup completed successfully

To list the backups, run:

mkectl backup list

Example output:

NAME         STATUS      ERRORS   WARNINGS   CREATED                         EXPIRES   STORAGE LOCATION   SELECTOR
aws-backup   Completed   0        0          2024-05-08 16:17:18 -0400 EDT   29d       default            <none>

Restore from an external backup

A restore operation returns the Kubernetes cluster to the state it was in at the time the backup you select was created.

To perform a restore using an external backup, run:

mkectl restore create --name aws-backup

Example output:

INFO[0000] Waiting for restore aws-backup-20240508161811 to complete...
INFO[0000] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0003] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0006] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0009] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0012] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0015] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0018] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0021] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: InProgress
INFO[0024] Waiting for restore to complete. Current phase: Completed
INFO[0024] Restore aws-backup-20240508161811 completed successfully

To list the restores, run:

mkectl restore list

Example output:

NAME                        BACKUP       STATUS      STARTED                         COMPLETED                       ERRORS   WARNINGS   CREATED                         SELECTOR
aws-backup-20240508161811   aws-backup   Completed   2024-05-08 16:18:11 -0400 EDT   2024-05-08 16:18:34 -0400 EDT   0        108        2024-05-08 16:18:11 -0400 EDT   <none>

Verify backups and restores

Using your AWS console, you can verify the presence of your backups and restores in the S3 bucket.

Last updated on May 5, 2025

Back up with an in-cluster storage provider