Create a BackupRepo for KubeBlocks

This guide walks you through creating and configuring a BackupRepo in KubeBlocks using an S3 bucket for storing backup data.

Prerequisites

• AWS CLI configured with appropriate permissions to create S3 buckets.
• kubectl access to your Kubernetes cluster.
• KubeBlocks installed (installation guide) and running in the kb-system namespace.

Step 1: Create S3 Bucket

Use the AWS CLI to create an S3 bucket in your desired region. Replace <your-region> with your target AWS region (e.g., us-east-1, ap-southeast-1).

 aws s3api create-bucket --bucket kubeblocks-backup-repo --region <your-region> --create-bucket-configuration LocationConstraint=<your-region>

Example (for us-west-1):

aws s3api create-bucket \
  --bucket kubeblocks-backup-repo \
  --region us-west-1 \
  --create-bucket-configuration LocationConstraint=us-west-1

Example Output:

{
"Location": "http://kubeblocks-backup-repo.s3.amazonaws.com/"
}

Verification: Confirm the bucket was created by listing its contents (it will be empty initially):

aws s3 ls s3://kubeblocks-backup-repo

Step 2: Create a Kubernetes Secret for AWS Credentials

Store your AWS credentials securely in a Kubernetes Secret. Replace <ACCESS_KEY> and <SECRET_KEY> with your actual AWS credentials:

# Create a secret to save the access key
kubectl create secret generic s3-credential-for-backuprepo \
  --from-literal=accessKeyId=<ACCESS KEY> \
  --from-literal=secretAccessKey=<SECRET KEY> \
  -n kb-system

Step 3: Configure Backup Repository

A BackupRepo is a custom resource that defines a storage repository for backups. In this step, you'll integrate your S3 bucket with KubeBlocks by creating a BackupRepo resource.

Apply the following YAML to create the BackupRepo. Replace fields(e.g., bucket name, region) with your specific settings.

apiVersion: dataprotection.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: BackupRepo
metadata:
  name: s3-repo
  annotations:
    # mark this backuprepo as default one
    dataprotection.kubeblocks.io/is-default-repo: 'true'
spec:
  # Currently, KubeBlocks supports configuring various object storage services as backup repositories
  # - s3 (Amazon Simple Storage Service)
  # - oss (Alibaba Cloud Object Storage Service)
  # - cos (Tencent Cloud Object Storage)
  # - gcs (Google Cloud Storage)
  # - obs (Huawei Cloud Object Storage)
  # - minio, and other S3-compatible services.
  storageProviderRef: s3
  # Specifies the access method of the backup repository.
  # - Tool
  # - Mount
  accessMethod: Tool
  # Specifies reclaim policy of the PV created by this backup repository.
  pvReclaimPolicy: Retain
  # Specifies the capacity of the PVC created by this backup repository.
  volumeCapacity: 100Gi
  # Stores the non-secret configuration parameters for the StorageProvider.
  config:
    bucket: kubeblocks-backup-repo
    endpoint: ''
    mountOptions: --memory-limit 1000 --dir-mode 0777 --file-mode 0666
    region: us-west-1
  # References to the secret that holds the credentials for the StorageProvider.
  credential:
    # name is unique within a namespace to reference a secret resource.
    name: s3-credential-for-backuprepo
    # namespace defines the space within which the secret name must be unique.
    namespace: kb-system

Step 4: Verify Backup Repository Status

Check the status of the BackupRepo to ensure it is correctly initialized:

kubectl get backuprepo s3-repo -w

Expected Status Flow:

NAME      STATUS        STORAGEPROVIDER   ACCESSMETHOD   DEFAULT   AGE
s3-repo   PreChecking   s3                Tool           true      5s
s3-repo   Ready         s3                Tool           true      35s

Troubleshooting

When creating a new BackupRepo, KubeBlocks runs a precheck job to test the connection and read/write capabilities. If the BackupRepo status shows Failed, follow these troubleshooting steps:

1. Check the BackupRepo status and error details:

   kubectl describe backuprepo <BACKUP_REPO_NAME>
   

2. Verify your configuration:

   • Confirm the bucket name and region match your S3 settings
   • Double-check that the AWS credentials in the Secret are valid
   • Ensure there is network connectivity between KubeBlocks and AWS S3

The precheck job must complete successfully for the BackupRepo to become Ready for use.

How to configure a BackupRepo for other storage providers

KubeBlocks supports the following storage providers as backup repositories:

To get the full list of StorageProviders installed:

kubectl get storageproviders.dataprotection.kubeblocks.io

For detailed instructions on configuring a BackupRepo for other storage providers, please refer to the BackupRepo Introduction.