Use an external storage provider

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

ℹ️

AWS S3 is currently the only supported external backup store that MKE 4 supports.

Configuration

Copy the credentials information from the AWS console to create an IAM credentials file.
Edit the storage_provider section of the MKE configuration file to point to the file, including the profile name.
Create an S3 bucket and point the configuration to the bucket and region.

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"

Once you have configured the AWS backup storage and the MKE configuration file has been applied, verify the existence of the BackupStorageLocation custom resource.

kubectl get backupstoragelocation -n mke

After you run mkectl apply the output may require a few minutes to display.

Example output:

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

Create backups and perform restores

With configuration complete, you can now create backups and perform restores from those backups. After you have run a restore operation from a backup, the Kubernetes cluster state should resemble what it was at the time you created that backup.

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 the mkectl backup list command:

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>

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>

From your AWS console, you can see that both the backup and restore are created in the S3 bucket:

Use the in-cluster storage provider