Getting Started with Backup & Recovery

This guide provides an overview of the Backup & Recovery service and explains the steps you need to take to ensure your application's persistent data is protected.

How Backups Work

The platform uses a centralized Velero instance to perform regular, automated backups of your applications. This process captures two distinct types of data:

1. Kubernetes Resources (Backed Up by Default): The service automatically discovers and backs up the Kubernetes resources in your namespace. This includes your Deployments, StatefulSets, ConfigMaps, Secrets, Services, and other manifests. This ensures the entire declarative configuration of your application is saved.

2. Persistent Volume Data (Opt-In Required): The data stored inside your PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) is not backed up by default. You must explicitly opt-in to have your persistent data included in the backup.

How to Back Up Persistent Volume Data

To enable backups for your application's persistent data, you must add a specific annotation to your Deployment or StatefulSet's pod template.

• Annotation: backup.velero.io/backup-volumes: <pvc-name>

This annotation tells Velero which specific PVCs attached to your pod should be included in the file-system level backups.

For a detailed, in-context example of how to apply this annotation to a StatefulSet, including the correct syntax for single or multiple volumes, please see the "Backing Up Persistent Volumes" section in our comprehensive guide:

Guide: Running Stateful Applications

How to Restore from a Backup

Restores are managed by the platform team to ensure they are performed safely and correctly.

To request a restore of your application or its data from a backup, please contact the platform team with the following information:

• The name of your namespace and application.
• The desired date and approximate time you wish to restore to.

Our team will then coordinate with you to execute the restoration process.