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Configuring the OpenShift API for Data Protection with OpenShift Data Foundation

You install the OpenShift API for Data Protection (OADP) with OpenShift Data Foundation by installing the OADP Operator and configuring a backup location and a snapshot location. Then, you install the Data Protection Application.

Starting from OADP 1.0.4, all OADP 1.0.z versions can only be used as a dependency of the Migration Toolkit for Containers Operator and are not available as a standalone Operator.

You can configure Multicloud Object Gateway or any AWS S3-compatible object storage as a backup location.

The CloudStorage API, which automates the creation of a bucket for object storage, is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

You create a Secret for the backup location and then you install the Data Protection Application. For more details, see Installing the OADP Operator.

To install the OADP Operator in a restricted network environment, you must first disable the default OperatorHub sources and mirror the Operator catalog. For details, see Using Operator Lifecycle Manager on restricted networks.

About backup and snapshot locations and their secrets

You specify backup and snapshot locations and their secrets in the DataProtectionApplication custom resource (CR).

Backup locations

You specify AWS S3-compatible object storage as a backup location, such as Multicloud Object Gateway; Red Hat Container Storage; Ceph RADOS Gateway, also known as Ceph Object Gateway; Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation; or MinIO.

Velero backs up OKD resources, Kubernetes objects, and internal images as an archive file on object storage.

Snapshot locations

If you use your cloud provider’s native snapshot API to back up persistent volumes, you must specify the cloud provider as the snapshot location.

If you use Container Storage Interface (CSI) snapshots, you do not need to specify a snapshot location because you will create a VolumeSnapshotClass CR to register the CSI driver.

If you use File System Backup (FSB), you do not need to specify a snapshot location because FSB backs up the file system on object storage.

Secrets

If the backup and snapshot locations use the same credentials or if you do not require a snapshot location, you create a default Secret.

If the backup and snapshot locations use different credentials, you create two secret objects:

  • Custom Secret for the backup location, which you specify in the DataProtectionApplication CR.

  • Default Secret for the snapshot location, which is not referenced in the DataProtectionApplication CR.

The Data Protection Application requires a default Secret. Otherwise, the installation will fail.

If you do not want to specify backup or snapshot locations during the installation, you can create a default Secret with an empty credentials-velero file.
Additional resources

Creating a default Secret

You create a default Secret if your backup and snapshot locations use the same credentials or if you do not require a snapshot location.

The default name of the Secret is cloud-credentials, unless your backup storage provider has a default plugin, such as aws, azure, or gcp. In that case, the default name is specified in the provider-specific OADP installation procedure.

The DataProtectionApplication custom resource (CR) requires a default Secret. Otherwise, the installation will fail. If the name of the backup location Secret is not specified, the default name is used.

If you do not want to use the backup location credentials during the installation, you can create a Secret with the default name by using an empty credentials-velero file.
Prerequisites

  • Your object storage and cloud storage, if any, must use the same credentials.

  • You must configure object storage for Velero.

  • You must create a credentials-velero file for the object storage in the appropriate format.

Procedure

  • Create a Secret with the default name:

    $ oc create secret generic cloud-credentials -n openshift-adp --from-file cloud=credentials-velero

The Secret is referenced in the spec.backupLocations.credential block of the DataProtectionApplication CR when you install the Data Protection Application.

Creating secrets for different credentials

If your backup and snapshot locations use different credentials, you must create two Secret objects:

  • Backup location Secret with a custom name. The custom name is specified in the spec.backupLocations block of the DataProtectionApplication custom resource (CR).

  • Snapshot location Secret with the default name, cloud-credentials. This Secret is not specified in the DataProtectionApplication CR.

Procedure

  1. Create a credentials-velero file for the snapshot location in the appropriate format for your cloud provider.

  2. Create a Secret for the snapshot location with the default name:

    $ oc create secret generic cloud-credentials -n openshift-adp --from-file cloud=credentials-velero

  3. Create a credentials-velero file for the backup location in the appropriate format for your object storage.

  4. Create a Secret for the backup location with a custom name:

    $ oc create secret generic <custom_secret> -n openshift-adp --from-file cloud=credentials-velero

  5. Add the Secret with the custom name to the DataProtectionApplication CR, as in the following example:

    apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: DataProtectionApplication
metadata:
  name: <dpa_sample>
  namespace: openshift-adp
spec:
...
  backupLocations:
    - velero:
        provider: <provider>
        default: true
        credential:
          key: cloud
          name: <custom_secret> (1)
        objectStorage:
          bucket: <bucket_name>
          prefix: <prefix>
    1 Backup location Secret with custom name.

Configuring the Data Protection Application

You can configure the Data Protection Application by setting Velero resource allocations or enabling self-signed CA certificates.

Setting Velero CPU and memory resource allocations

You set the CPU and memory resource allocations for the Velero pod by editing the DataProtectionApplication custom resource (CR) manifest.

Prerequisites

  • You must have the OpenShift API for Data Protection (OADP) Operator installed.

Procedure

  • Edit the values in the spec.configuration.velero.podConfig.ResourceAllocations block of the DataProtectionApplication CR manifest, as in the following example:

    apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: DataProtectionApplication
metadata:
  name: <dpa_sample>
spec:
# ...
  configuration:
    velero:
      podConfig:
        nodeSelector: <node_selector> (1)
        resourceAllocations: (2)
          limits:
            cpu: "1"
            memory: 1024Mi
          requests:
            cpu: 200m
            memory: 256Mi
    1 Specify the node selector to be supplied to Velero podSpec.
    2 The resourceAllocations listed are for average usage.

Kopia is an option in OADP 1.3 and later releases. You can use Kopia for file system backups, and Kopia is your only option for Data Mover cases with the built-in Data Mover.

Kopia is more resource intensive than Restic, and you might need to adjust the CPU and memory requirements accordingly.

Use the nodeSelector field to select which nodes can run the node agent. The nodeSelector field is the simplest recommended form of node selection constraint. Any label specified must match the labels on each node.

For more details, see Configuring node agents and node labels.

Adjusting Ceph CPU and memory requirements based on collected data

The following recommendations are based on observations of performance made in the scale and performance lab. The changes are specifically related to Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation (ODF). If working with ODF, consult the appropriate tuning guides for official recommendations.

CPU and memory requirement for configurations

Backup and restore operations require large amounts of CephFS PersistentVolumes (PVs). To avoid Ceph MDS pods restarting with an out-of-memory (OOM) error, the following configuration is suggested:

Configuration types Request Max limit

CPU

Request changed to 3

Max limit to 3

Memory

Request changed to 8 Gi

Max limit to 128 Gi

Enabling self-signed CA certificates

You must enable a self-signed CA certificate for object storage by editing the DataProtectionApplication custom resource (CR) manifest to prevent a certificate signed by unknown authority error.

Prerequisites

  • You must have the OpenShift API for Data Protection (OADP) Operator installed.

Procedure

  • Edit the spec.backupLocations.velero.objectStorage.caCert parameter and spec.backupLocations.velero.config parameters of the DataProtectionApplication CR manifest:

    apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: DataProtectionApplication
metadata:
  name: <dpa_sample>
spec:
# ...
  backupLocations:
    - name: default
      velero:
        provider: aws
        default: true
        objectStorage:
          bucket: <bucket>
          prefix: <prefix>
          caCert: <base64_encoded_cert_string> (1)
        config:
          insecureSkipTLSVerify: "false" (2)
# ...
    1 Specify the Base64-encoded CA certificate string.
    2 The insecureSkipTLSVerify configuration can be set to either "true" or "false". If set to "true", SSL/TLS security is disabled. If set to "false", SSL/TLS security is enabled.

Using CA certificates with the velero command aliased for Velero deployment

You might want to use the Velero CLI without installing it locally on your system by creating an alias for it.

Prerequisites

  • You must be logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.

  • You must have the OpenShift CLI (oc) installed.

    1. To use an aliased Velero command, run the following command:

      $ alias velero='oc -n openshift-adp exec deployment/velero -c velero -it -- ./velero'

    2. Check that the alias is working by running the following command:

      Example
      $ velero version
Client:
	Version: v1.12.1-OADP
	Git commit: -
Server:
	Version: v1.12.1-OADP

    3. To use a CA certificate with this command, you can add a certificate to the Velero deployment by running the following commands:

      $ CA_CERT=$(oc -n openshift-adp get dataprotectionapplications.oadp.openshift.io <dpa-name> -o jsonpath='{.spec.backupLocations[0].velero.objectStorage.caCert}')

$ [[ -n $CA_CERT ]] && echo "$CA_CERT" | base64 -d | oc exec -n openshift-adp -i deploy/velero -c velero -- bash -c "cat > /tmp/your-cacert.txt" || echo "DPA BSL has no caCert"
      $ velero describe backup <backup_name> --details --cacert /tmp/<your_cacert>.txt

    4. To fetch the backup logs, run the following command:

      $ velero backup logs  <backup_name>  --cacert /tmp/<your_cacert.txt>

      You can use these logs to view failures and warnings for the resources that you cannot back up.

    5. If the Velero pod restarts, the /tmp/your-cacert.txt file disappears, and you must re-create the /tmp/your-cacert.txt file by re-running the commands from the previous step.

    6. You can check if the /tmp/your-cacert.txt file still exists, in the file location where you stored it, by running the following command:

      $ oc exec -n openshift-adp -i deploy/velero -c velero -- bash -c "ls /tmp/your-cacert.txt"
/tmp/your-cacert.txt

In a future release of OpenShift API for Data Protection (OADP), we plan to mount the certificate to the Velero pod so that this step is not required.

Installing the Data Protection Application

You install the Data Protection Application (DPA) by creating an instance of the DataProtectionApplication API.

Prerequisites

  • You must install the OADP Operator.

  • You must configure object storage as a backup location.

  • If you use snapshots to back up PVs, your cloud provider must support either a native snapshot API or Container Storage Interface (CSI) snapshots.

  • If the backup and snapshot locations use the same credentials, you must create a Secret with the default name, cloud-credentials.

  • If the backup and snapshot locations use different credentials, you must create two Secrets:

    • Secret with a custom name for the backup location. You add this Secret to the DataProtectionApplication CR.

    • Secret with another custom name for the snapshot location. You add this Secret to the DataProtectionApplication CR.

    If you do not want to specify backup or snapshot locations during the installation, you can create a default Secret with an empty credentials-velero file. If there is no default Secret, the installation will fail.
Procedure

  1. Click Operators → Installed Operators and select the OADP Operator.

  2. Under Provided APIs, click Create instance in the DataProtectionApplication box.

  3. Click YAML View and update the parameters of the DataProtectionApplication manifest:

    apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: DataProtectionApplication
metadata:
  name: <dpa_sample>
  namespace: openshift-adp (1)
spec:
  configuration:
    velero:
      defaultPlugins:
        - aws (2)
        - kubevirt (3)
        - csi (4)
        - openshift (5)
      resourceTimeout: 10m (6)
    nodeAgent: (7)
      enable: true (8)
      uploaderType: kopia (9)
      podConfig:
        nodeSelector: <node_selector> (10)
  backupLocations:
    - velero:
        provider: gcp (11)
        default: true
        credential:
          key: cloud
          name: <default_secret> (12)
        objectStorage:
          bucket: <bucket_name> (13)
          prefix: <prefix> (14)
    1 The default namespace for OADP is openshift-adp. The namespace is a variable and is configurable.
    2 An object store plugin corresponding to your storage locations is required. For all S3 providers, the required plugin is aws. For Azure and GCP object stores, the azure or gcp plugin is required.
    3 Optional: The kubevirt plugin is used with OKD Virtualization.
    4 Specify the csi default plugin if you use CSI snapshots to back up PVs. The csi plugin uses the Velero CSI beta snapshot APIs. You do not need to configure a snapshot location.
    5 The openshift plugin is mandatory.
    6 Specify how many minutes to wait for several Velero resources before timeout occurs, such as Velero CRD availability, volumeSnapshot deletion, and backup repository availability. The default is 10m.
    7 The administrative agent that routes the administrative requests to servers.
    8 Set this value to true if you want to enable nodeAgent and perform File System Backup.
    9 Enter kopia or restic as your uploader. You cannot change the selection after the installation. For the Built-in DataMover you must use Kopia. The nodeAgent deploys a daemon set, which means that the nodeAgent pods run on each working node. You can configure File System Backup by adding spec.defaultVolumesToFsBackup: true to the Backup CR.
    10 Specify the nodes on which Kopia or Restic are available. By default, Kopia or Restic run on all nodes.
    11 Specify the backup provider.
    12 Specify the correct default name for the Secret, for example, cloud-credentials-gcp, if you use a default plugin for the backup provider. If specifying a custom name, then the custom name is used for the backup location. If you do not specify a Secret name, the default name is used.
    13 Specify a bucket as the backup storage location. If the bucket is not a dedicated bucket for Velero backups, you must specify a prefix.
    14 Specify a prefix for Velero backups, for example, velero, if the bucket is used for multiple purposes.

  4. Click Create.

Verification

  1. Verify the installation by viewing the OpenShift API for Data Protection (OADP) resources by running the following command:

    $ oc get all -n openshift-adp
    Example output
    NAME                                                     READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/oadp-operator-controller-manager-67d9494d47-6l8z8    2/2     Running   0          2m8s
pod/node-agent-9cq4q                                     1/1     Running   0          94s
pod/node-agent-m4lts                                     1/1     Running   0          94s
pod/node-agent-pv4kr                                     1/1     Running   0          95s
pod/velero-588db7f655-n842v                              1/1     Running   0          95s

NAME                                                       TYPE        CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
service/oadp-operator-controller-manager-metrics-service   ClusterIP   172.30.70.140    <none>        8443/TCP   2m8s
service/openshift-adp-velero-metrics-svc                   ClusterIP   172.30.10.0      <none>        8085/TCP   8h

NAME                        DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   NODE SELECTOR   AGE
daemonset.apps/node-agent    3         3         3       3            3           <none>          96s

NAME                                                READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
deployment.apps/oadp-operator-controller-manager    1/1     1            1           2m9s
deployment.apps/velero                              1/1     1            1           96s

NAME                                                           DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
replicaset.apps/oadp-operator-controller-manager-67d9494d47    1         1         1       2m9s
replicaset.apps/velero-588db7f655                              1         1         1       96s

  2. Verify that the DataProtectionApplication (DPA) is reconciled by running the following command:

    $ oc get dpa dpa-sample -n openshift-adp -o jsonpath='{.status}'
    Example output
    {"conditions":[{"lastTransitionTime":"2023-10-27T01:23:57Z","message":"Reconcile complete","reason":"Complete","status":"True","type":"Reconciled"}]}

  3. Verify the type is set to Reconciled.

  4. Verify the backup storage location and confirm that the PHASE is Available by running the following command:

    $ oc get backupStorageLocation -n openshift-adp
    Example output
    NAME           PHASE       LAST VALIDATED   AGE     DEFAULT
dpa-sample-1   Available   1s               3d16h   true

Configuring the DPA with client burst and QPS settings

The burst setting determines how many requests can be sent to the velero server before the limit is applied. After the burst limit is reached, the queries per second (QPS) setting determines how many additional requests can be sent per second.

You can set the burst and QPS values of the velero server by configuring the Data Protection Application (DPA) with the burst and QPS values. You can use the dpa.configuration.velero.client-burst and dpa.configuration.velero.client-qps fields of the DPA to set the burst and QPS values.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the OADP Operator.

Procedure

  • Configure the client-burst and the client-qps fields in the DPA as shown in the following example:

    Example Data Protection Application
    apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: DataProtectionApplication
metadata:
  name: test-dpa
  namespace: openshift-adp
spec:
  backupLocations:
    - name: default
      velero:
        config:
          insecureSkipTLSVerify: "true"
          profile: "default"
          region: <bucket_region>
          s3ForcePathStyle: "true"
          s3Url: <bucket_url>
        credential:
          key: cloud
          name: cloud-credentials
        default: true
        objectStorage:
          bucket: <bucket_name>
          prefix: velero
        provider: aws
  configuration:
    nodeAgent:
      enable: true
      uploaderType: restic
    velero:
      client-burst: 500 (1)
      client-qps: 300 (2)
      defaultPlugins:
        - openshift
        - aws
        - kubevirt
    1 Specify the client-burst value. In this example, the client-burst field is set to 500.
    2 Specify the client-qps value. In this example, the client-qps field is set to 300.

Configuring node agents and node labels

The DPA of OADP uses the nodeSelector field to select which nodes can run the node agent. The nodeSelector field is the simplest recommended form of node selection constraint.

Any label specified must match the labels on each node.

The correct way to run the node agent on any node you choose is for you to label the nodes with a custom label:

$ oc label node/<node_name> node-role.kubernetes.io/nodeAgent=""

Use the same custom label in the DPA.spec.configuration.nodeAgent.podConfig.nodeSelector, which you used for labeling nodes. For example:

configuration:
  nodeAgent:
    enable: true
    podConfig:
      nodeSelector:
        node-role.kubernetes.io/nodeAgent: ""

The following example is an anti-pattern of nodeSelector and does not work unless both labels, 'node-role.kubernetes.io/infra: ""' and 'node-role.kubernetes.io/worker: ""', are on the node:

    configuration:
      nodeAgent:
        enable: true
        podConfig:
          nodeSelector:
            node-role.kubernetes.io/infra: ""
            node-role.kubernetes.io/worker: ""

Creating an Object Bucket Claim for disaster recovery on OpenShift Data Foundation

If you use cluster storage for your Multicloud Object Gateway (MCG) bucket backupStorageLocation on OpenShift Data Foundation, create an Object Bucket Claim (OBC) using the OpenShift Web Console.

Failure to configure an Object Bucket Claim (OBC) might lead to backups not being available.

Unless specified otherwise, "NooBaa" refers to the open source project that provides lightweight object storage, while "Multicloud Object Gateway (MCG)" refers to the Red Hat distribution of NooBaa.

For more information on the MCG, see Accessing the Multicloud Object Gateway with your applications.
Procedure

Enabling CSI in the DataProtectionApplication CR

You enable the Container Storage Interface (CSI) in the DataProtectionApplication custom resource (CR) in order to back up persistent volumes with CSI snapshots.

Prerequisites

  • The cloud provider must support CSI snapshots.

Procedure

  • Edit the DataProtectionApplication CR, as in the following example:

    apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: DataProtectionApplication
...
spec:
  configuration:
    velero:
      defaultPlugins:
      - openshift
      - csi (1)
    1 Add the csi default plugin.

Disabling the node agent in DataProtectionApplication

If you are not using Restic, Kopia, or DataMover for your backups, you can disable the nodeAgent field in the DataProtectionApplication custom resource (CR). Before you disable nodeAgent, ensure the OADP Operator is idle and not running any backups.

Procedure

  1. To disable the nodeAgent, set the enable flag to false. See the following example:

    Example DataProtectionApplication CR
    # ...
configuration:
  nodeAgent:
    enable: false  (1)
    uploaderType: kopia
# ...
    1 Disables the node agent.

  2. To enable the nodeAgent, set the enable flag to true. See the following example:

    Example DataProtectionApplication CR
    # ...
configuration:
  nodeAgent:
    enable: true  (1)
    uploaderType: kopia
# ...
    1 Enables the node agent.

You can set up a job to enable and disable the nodeAgent field in the DataProtectionApplication CR. For more information, see "Running tasks in pods using jobs".

Additional resources