Velero

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Velero backs up and restores Kubernetes clusters. It captures both Kubernetes resource definitions (deployments, services, configmaps, secrets, CRDs) and persistent volume data, stores them in object storage (S3, GCS, Azure Blob), and can restore them to the same cluster or a different one. The primary use cases are disaster recovery, cluster migration, and namespace cloning.

How it works

Velero runs as a controller in the cluster. A Backup CR triggers a snapshot of selected resources:

apiVersion: velero.io/v1
kind: Backup
metadata:
 name: daily-backup
 namespace: velero
spec:
 includedNamespaces:
 - production
 storageLocation: default
 ttl: 720h  # 30 days

Persistent volume data is handled via storage provider snapshots (CSI snapshots, AWS EBS snapshots) or a file-system-level backup using the node-agent daemonset (formerly Restic). CSI snapshot integration is the preferred modern approach.

Scheduled backups run via a Schedule CR:

apiVersion: velero.io/v1
kind: Schedule
metadata:
 name: daily
 namespace: velero
spec:
 schedule: "0 2 * * *"
 template:
 includedNamespaces:
 - production
 ttl: 720h

Restore

Restoring is a Restore CR pointing at a backup:

velero restore create --from-backup daily-backup

Velero recreates the Kubernetes objects and restores volume data. Namespaces can be remapped on restore — useful for cloning production to staging.

Cluster migration

The standard migration pattern: back up from the source cluster, configure the destination cluster to point at the same object storage bucket, restore. Velero handles the resource recreation; DNS cutover is a separate step.

Backup on Backend Engineering Strategy Tools

Velero

How it works

Restore

Cluster migration

Resources