Configure backups¶

Use this path when you are ready to set up backups and restores. To learn more about backup types, storage, or whether you need point-in-time recovery, start with Backup and restore.

Before you begin¶

The cluster is running.
You can create Kubernetes Secrets in the cluster namespace, or your platform provides identity-based access to the storage. See Choose how to authenticate.

Important

Two of the steps below cannot be applied retroactively. Point-in-time recovery and server-side encryption affect only the backups taken after you enable them. If you skip step 2 and enable it months later, the backups you already have still cannot be used to recover to an arbitrary moment, and they are still unencrypted.

Export your namespace so the commands on this page can use it:
```
export NAMESPACE=<namespace>
```

1. Configure storage¶

Configure storage — required for every backup type. PVC snapshots still need object storage for backup metadata, even though they do not upload database files there.

Need more than one bucket? See Multiple storages for backups.

2. Enable capabilities that must come first¶

Decide these now, before you take backups you may later depend on:

Enable point-in-time recovery — lets you recover to any moment, not just to a backup.
Encrypt backups — has the storage encrypt backup data as it is written.

3. Choose how to back up¶

On a schedule — the usual choice for production.
On demand — before a risky change, or to test the setup.
PVC snapshots — storage-level copies instead of uploading to object storage. Set them up with Configure PVC snapshots.

4. Verify the backup works¶

A backup you have never checked is a guess. Confirm the backup object reaches the ready state:

kubectl get psmdb-backup -n $NAMESPACE

A backup in error never completed. running or waiting means it is not finished yet. Only ready is restorable. If it does not get there, see Troubleshoot backups and restores.

5. Restore¶

On the same cluster, or on a new cluster.
Restore to a point in time — roll the database back to a specific moment.
Restore from a PVC snapshot.
Restore a collection under a different name.
Restore to a new cluster with different replica set names.

Practise a restore before you need one. Restores are the only proof that backups work.

6. Manage retention and delete backups¶

Manage retention and delete backups — control how many backups you keep and remove the ones you no longer need.

Next steps¶

Configure storage for backups