Backup a ZooKeeper Cluster

This guide demonstrates how to create backups for ZooKeeper clusters managed by KubeBlocks using the zoocreeper backup method.

Backup Method

KubeBlocks ZooKeeper uses zoocreeper for full backups:

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, verify your environment meets these requirements:

• A functional Kubernetes cluster (v1.21+ recommended)
• kubectl v1.21+ installed and configured with cluster access
• Helm installed (installation guide)
• KubeBlocks installed (installation guide)
• ZooKeeper Add-on installed and a ZooKeeper cluster running (see Quickstart)

• A BackupRepo configured and in Ready state. See Create a BackupRepo for setup instructions.

Verify Backup Configuration

Check BackupRepo

kubectl get backuprepo

NAME         STATUS   STORAGEPROVIDER   ACCESSMETHOD   DEFAULT   AGE
minio-repo   Ready    minio             Tool           true      6h

Check BackupPolicy

KubeBlocks automatically generates a BackupPolicy for each ZooKeeper cluster:

kubectl get backuppolicy -n demo -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=zookeeper-cluster

NAME                                            STATUS      AGE
zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-backup-policy       Available   6h

View the available backup methods:

kubectl get backuppolicy zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-backup-policy -n demo -oyaml \
  | grep -A2 "backupMethods:"

ZooKeeper supports one backup method: zoocreeper.

Create an On-Demand Backup

apiVersion: dataprotection.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: Backup
metadata:
  name: zk-cluster-backup
  namespace: demo
spec:
  # Backup method: zoocreeper
  backupMethod: zoocreeper
  backupPolicyName: zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-backup-policy
  # `Retain`: backup data is kept when the Backup CR is deleted
  # `Delete`: backup data is removed when the Backup CR is deleted
  deletionPolicy: Delete

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apecloud/kubeblocks-addons/refs/heads/main/examples/zookeeper/backup.yaml

apiVersion: operations.kubeblocks.io/v1alpha1
kind: OpsRequest
metadata:
  name: zk-cluster-backup-ops
  namespace: demo
spec:
  clusterName: zookeeper-cluster
  type: Backup
  backup:
    backupPolicyName: zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-backup-policy
    backupMethod: zoocreeper
    deletionPolicy: Delete
    retentionPeriod: 7d

Monitor Backup Progress

kubectl get backup zk-cluster-backup -n demo -w

NAME                POLICY                                      METHOD       REPO         STATUS      TOTAL-SIZE   DURATION   DELETION-POLICY   CREATION-TIME          COMPLETION-TIME
zk-cluster-backup   zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-backup-policy   zoocreeper   minio-repo   Running     0            0s         Delete            2026-04-03T12:37:31Z
zk-cluster-backup   zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-backup-policy   zoocreeper   minio-repo   Completed   588          17s        Delete            2026-04-03T12:37:31Z   2026-04-03T12:37:47Z

A Completed status means the backup succeeded.

Configure Scheduled Backups

Enable automatic scheduled backups by updating the BackupSchedule:

kubectl patch backupschedule zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-backup-schedule -n demo \
  --type merge \
  -p '{"spec":{"schedules":[{"backupMethod":"zoocreeper","cronExpression":"0 2 * * *","enabled":true,"retentionPeriod":"7d"}]}}'

This schedules a daily backup at 2:00 AM with a 7-day retention period.

Verify:

kubectl get backupschedule zookeeper-cluster-zookeeper-backup-schedule -n demo -oyaml \
  | grep -A5 "schedules:"

  schedules:
  - backupMethod: zoocreeper
    cronExpression: 0 2 * * *
    enabled: true
    retentionPeriod: 7d

Troubleshooting

If a backup fails or stays in Running state:

1. Check the Backup resource for errors:

   kubectl describe backup zk-cluster-backup -n demo
   

2. Check the backup job:

   kubectl get job -n demo -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=zookeeper-cluster,app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=kubeblocks-dataprotection
   

3. Check job pod logs:

   kubectl logs -n demo -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=zookeeper-cluster,app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=kubeblocks-dataprotection
   

Cleanup

kubectl delete backup zk-cluster-backup -n demo
kubectl delete cluster zookeeper-cluster -n demo
kubectl delete ns demo