Backup Restore Kubernetes Cluster

[rjshrjndrn]

For disaster recovery or any such reason, it's a good practice to have backups.
We'll check how to do backup restore in AKS clusters using an open source tool called Velero.

Steps

1. Install velero cli utility
   Reference: https://velero.io/docs/v1.5/basic-install/#install-the-cli
2. Set the correct kubernetes context
   export KUBECONFIG=</path/to/kubeconfig>
3. Install Velero in kubernetes cluster
   Create installaton script install.sh
   Paste the content below in the script

   #!/bin/bash
   
   # Blob in which configs have to be updated
   # !! Make sure you've created this container with private access type
   export BLOB_CONTAINER=velero
   
   # From which subscription the AKS cluster is running.
   export AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
   export AZURE_TENANT_ID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
   
   # Service Principal ID/password for authentication.
   # Can use the same which aks has, if that's a contributor access, which should have write access to blob.
   export AZURE_CLIENT_ID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
   export AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
   
   # Name of the aks created resource group where all the aks resources like vms lbs and all are.
   # !! This is the resource group aks creates. Usually, it'll be MC_cluster_name_location
   export AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP=myakscluster-k8s-1
   
   # Name of the resource group where blob storage resides.
   export AZURE_BACKUP_RESOURCE_GROUP=myaksclusterbackup
   export AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_ID=velerobackup
   
   # SubscriptionId of the backup storage account, if that's in a different subscription, else can use the same one as AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID.
   export AZURE_BACKUP_SUBSCRIPTION_ID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
   
   cat << EOF  > ./credentials-velero
   AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID=${AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID}
   AZURE_TENANT_ID=${AZURE_TENANT_ID}
   AZURE_CLIENT_ID=${AZURE_CLIENT_ID}
   AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=${AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET}
   AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP=${AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP}
   AZURE_CLOUD_NAME=AzurePublicCloud
   EOF
   
   # Ref: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/velero-plugin-for-microsoft-azure/blob/main/volumesnapshotlocation.md
   velero install \
       --provider azure \
       --plugins velero/velero-plugin-for-microsoft-azure:v1.1.0 \
       --bucket $BLOB_CONTAINER \
       --secret-file ./credentials-velero \
       --backup-location-config resourceGroup=$AZURE_BACKUP_RESOURCE_GROUP,storageAccount=$AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_ID,subscriptionId=$AZURE_BACKUP_SUBSCRIPTION_ID \
       --snapshot-location-config apiTimeout=10m,resourceGroup=$AZURE_BACKUP_RESOURCE_GROUP,subscriptionId=$AZURE_BACKUP_SUBSCRIPTION_ID \
    --velero-pod-mem-limit 2000Mi \
    --velero-pod-mem-request 1000Mi \
    --wait  
     # --dry-run -o yaml > velero.yaml

4. Install velero bash -x install.sh
5. Taking the backup of the cluster
   velero backup create myakscluster-backup --include-namespaces myakscluster,monitoring,logging --wait
6. List all backups
   velero get backups
7. Restore backup
   Prior doing restore, repeat step 1-3
   Don't have to change the installation script.
   velero restore create --from-backup myakscluster-backup --wait

Nodeports may change, as while restoring the nodeports are dynamically generated.
There is one PR merged for --preserve-nodeports which will get released on 1.6.0
vmware-tanzu/velero#3095

That's it. Now you've backed up and restore the cluster