KubeBlocks
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Overview
Quickstart

Operations

Lifecycle Management
Vertical Scaling
Horizontal Scaling
Volume Expansion
Manage PostgreSQL Services
Minor Version Upgrade
Modify PostgreSQL Parameters
PostgreSQL Switchover
Decommission PostgreSQL Replica
Recovering PostgreSQL Replica

Backup And Restores

Create BackupRepo
Create Full Backup
Scheduled Backups
Scheduled Continuous Backup
Restore PostgreSQL Cluster
Restore with PITR

Custom Secret

Custom Password

TLS

PostgreSQL Cluster with TLS
PostgreSQL Cluster with Custom TLS

Monitoring

Observability for PostgreSQL Clusters

tpl

  1. Prerequisites
  2. Deploy a PostgreSQL Cluster
  3. Verifying the Deployment
  4. Prerequisites for Backup
  5. Configure Scheduled Backups
  6. Monitoring and Managing Backups
  7. Cleanup
  8. Summary

Setting Up a PostgreSQL Cluster with Scheduled Backups in KubeBlocks

This guide demonstrates how to deploy a PostgreSQL cluster using KubeBlocks and configure scheduled backups with retention in an S3 repository.

Prerequisites

    Before proceeding, ensure the following:

    • Environment Setup:
      • A Kubernetes cluster is up and running.
      • The kubectl CLI tool is configured to communicate with your cluster.
      • KubeBlocks CLI and KubeBlocks Operator are installed. Follow the installation instructions here.
    • Namespace Preparation: To keep resources isolated, create a dedicated namespace for this tutorial:
    kubectl create ns demo namespace/demo created

    Deploy a PostgreSQL Cluster

      KubeBlocks uses a declarative approach for managing PostgreSQL clusters. Below is an example configuration for deploying a PostgreSQL cluster with 2 replicas (1 primary, 1 replicas).

      Apply the following YAML configuration to deploy the cluster:

      apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1 kind: Cluster metadata: name: pg-cluster namespace: demo spec: terminationPolicy: Delete clusterDef: postgresql topology: replication componentSpecs: - name: postgresql serviceVersion: 16.4.0 labels: apps.kubeblocks.postgres.patroni/scope: pg-cluster-postgresql disableExporter: true replicas: 2 resources: limits: cpu: "0.5" memory: "0.5Gi" requests: cpu: "0.5" memory: "0.5Gi" volumeClaimTemplates: - name: data spec: accessModes: - ReadWriteOnce resources: requests: storage: 20Gi

      Verifying the Deployment

        Monitor the cluster status until it transitions to the Running state:

        kubectl get cluster pg-cluster -n demo -w

        Expected Output:

        NAME CLUSTER-DEFINITION TERMINATION-POLICY STATUS AGE pg-cluster postgresql Delete Creating 50s pg-cluster postgresql Delete Running 4m2s

        Once the cluster status becomes Running, your PostgreSQL cluster is ready for use.

        TIP

        If you are creating the cluster for the very first time, it may take some time to pull images before running.

        Prerequisites for Backup

        1. Backup Repository Configured:

          • Configured BackupRepo
          • Network connectivity between cluster and repo, BackupRepo status is Ready
        2. Cluster is Running:

          • Cluster must be in Running state
          • No ongoing operations (scaling, upgrades etc.)

        Configure Scheduled Backups

        KubeBlocks automatically creates a BackupSchedule resource when the cluster is created. Follow these steps to enable and configure scheduled backups:

        1. Verify the default backup schedule configuration:
        kubectl get backupschedule pg-cluster-postgresql-backup-schedule -n demo -oyaml

        Example Output:

        apiVersion: dataprotection.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1 kind: BackupSchedule spec: backupPolicyName: pg-cluster-postgresql-backup-policy schedules: - backupMethod: pg-basebackup # ┌───────────── minute (0-59) # │ ┌───────────── hour (0-23) # │ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31) # │ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12) # │ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-6) (Sunday=0) # │ │ │ │ │ # 0 18 * * * # schedule this job every day at 6:00 PM (18:00). cronExpression: 0 18 * * * # update the cronExpression to your need enabled: false # set to `true` to schedule base backup periodically retentionPeriod: 7d # set the retention period to your need
        1. Enable and customize the backup schedule:
        kubectl edit backupschedule pg-cluster-postgresql-backup-schedule -n demo

        Update these key parameters:

        • enabled: Set to true to activate scheduled backups
        • cronExpression: Configure backup frequency using cron syntax
        • retentionPeriod: Set how long to keep backups (e.g., 7d, 1mo)

        Example configuration for daily backups at 6PM UTC with 7-day retention:

        schedules: - backupMethod: pg-basebackup enabled: true cronExpression: "0 18 * * *" retentionPeriod: 7d
        1. Verify the schedule configuration:
        # Check schedule status kubectl get backupschedule pg-cluster-postgresql-backup-schedule -n demo -w # View detailed configuration kubectl describe backupschedule pg-cluster-postgresql-backup-schedule -n demo

        Monitoring and Managing Backups

        After enabling scheduled backups, monitor their execution and manage backup retention:

        1. View all backups:
        kubectl get backup -n demo -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=pg-cluster
        1. Inspect backup details:
        kubectl describe backup <backup-name> -n demo
        1. Verify backup artifacts:
        • Status should show "Completed"
        • Check backup size matches expectations
        • Confirm retention period is being applied
        • Validate backup files exist in repository
        1. Manage backup retention:
        • To manually delete old backups:
        kubectl delete backup <backup-name> -n demo
        • To modify retention period:
        kubectl edit backupschedule pg-cluster-postgresql-backup-schedule -n demo

        Cleanup

        To remove all created resources, delete the PostgreSQL cluster along with its namespace:

        kubectl delete cluster pg-cluster -n demo kubectl delete ns demo

        Summary

        This guide demonstrated:

        1. Configuration of automated PostgreSQL backups
        2. Schedule customization using cron syntax
        3. Retention policy management
        4. Backup verification procedures

        Your PostgreSQL cluster now has:

        • Regular automated backups
        • Configurable retention policies
        • Complete backup history tracking

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