kube-backup

Utility container to backup databases and files from containers in a Kubernetes cluster. Currently it can use kubectl exec to backup database and files from within containers and store the backup files in an AWS S3 bucket.

Docker images are available on Docker Hub.

Source code is available on Github. Please make comments and contribute improvements on Github.

Example use cases

These examples assume you have created a kube-backup Secret with AWS credentials and an S3 bucket name in the namespace where you are running 'kube-backup'. See the deploy directory for an example deployment.

Back up a files using tar in a container. It assumes bash, tar, and gzip is available.

kubectl run --attach --rm --restart=Never kube-backup --image whereisaaron/kube-backup:0.1.5 -- \
 --task=backup-files-exec --namespace=default --pod=my-pod --container=website --files-path=/var/www

Back up a database using mysqldump run in the MySQL container. It assumes the environment variables based on the offical MySQL container images and that gzip is available.

kubectl run --attach --rm --restart=Never kube-backup --image whereisaaron/kube-backup:0.1.5 -- \
 --task=backup-mysql-exec --namespace=default --pod=my-pod --container=mysql

You could also schedule a backup to run daily.

kubectl run --schedule='@daily' --restart=Never kube-backup --image whereisaaron/kube-backup:0.1.5 -- \
 --task=backup-files-exec --namespace=default --pod=my-pod --container=website --files-path=/var/www

Usage

The kube-backup container runs the kube-backup.sh script. You can supply any of the following arguments, or set the equivalent (but currently undocumented) environment variables.

Usage:
  kube-backup.sh --task=<task name> [options...]
  kube-backup.sh --task=backup-mysql-exec [--database=<db name>] [options...]
  kube-backup.sh --task=backup-files-exec [--files-path=<files path>] [options...]
    [--pod=<pod-name>|--selector=<selector>] [--container=<container-name>] [--secret=<secret name>]
    [--s3-bucket=<bucket name>] [--s3-prefix=<prefix>] [--aws-secret=<secret name>]
    [--use-kubeconfig-from-secret|--kubeconfig-secret=<secret name>]
    [--slack-secret=<secret name>]
    [--timestamp=<timestamp>] [--backup-name=<backup name>]
    [--dry-run]
  kube-backup.sh --help
  kube-backup.sh --version

Notes:
  --secret defaults to 'kube-backup' and is the default secret for kubeconfig, aws, and slack
  --timestamp allows two backups to share the same timestamp
  --s3-bucket if not specified, will be taken from the AWS secret
  --s3-prefix is inserted at the beginning of the S3 prefix
  --backup-name will replace e.g. the database name or file path
  --dry-run will do everything except the actual backup

Scripting

You can run or schedule backups of multi-container stateful applications using a script like below. By synchronising the timestamp for the backups, you can ensure the backup files in up in the same directory in S3.

#!/bin/bash

#
# Backup MySQL database and website files
# - Use a synchronised timestamp so backups go into the same S3 directory
# - Use randomised deployment names in case any old/stuck deployments exist
#

TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)
run_name () { 
  echo "kb-$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-z0-9' | head -c 4)" 
}
#EXTRA_OPTS='--dry-run'

CMD='kubectl run --attach --restart=Never --rm --image=whereisaaron/kube-backup:0.1.5 --namespace=kube-backup'

$CMD $(run_name) -- $EXTRA_OPTS \
  --task=backup-mysql-exec \
  --timestamp=${TIMESTAMP} \
  --namespace=default \
  --selector=app=myapp,env=dev,component=mysql 

$CMD $(run_name) -- $EXTRA_OPTS \
  --task=backup-files-exec \
  --timestamp=${TIMESTAMP} \
  --namespace=default \
  --selector=app=myapp,env=dev,component=website \
  --files-path=/var/www/assets \
  --backup-name=assets

Or below is the same thing in Powershell.

#!/bin/powershell
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
$WarningPreference = "SilentlyContinue"

#
# Backup MySQL database and website files
# - Use a synchronised timestamp so backups go into the same S3 directory
# - Use randomised deployment names in case any old/stuck deployments exist
#

$Timestamp = $(Get-Date -f yyyyMMdd-hhmm)
function Run-Name () { 
 'kb-task-' + -join (1..4 | %{ [char[]](0..127) -cmatch '[a-z0-9]' | Get-Random })
}
#$ExtraOpts = '--dry-run'

# The '--attach --rm' allows us to block until completion, you could remove that not wait for completion
$Command = 'kubectl run --attach --rm --quiet --restart=Never --image=whereisaaron/kube-backup:0.1.5 --namespace=kube-backup'

Invoke-Expression "$Command $(Run-Name) -- $ExtraOpts --task=backup-mysql-exec --timestamp=$Timestamp --namespace=default '--selector=app=myapp,env=dev,component=mysql'"
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { Exit $LASTEXITCODE }

Invoke-Expression "$Command $(Run-Name) -- $ExtraOpts --task=backup-files-exec --timestamp=$Timestamp --namespace=default '--selector=app=myapp,env=dev,component=website' --files-path=/var/www/assets --backup-name=assets"
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { Exit $LASTEXITCODE }

Create backup task using a YAML file

You could also create backup jobs using a YAML or JSON file.

kubectl create -f backup-website.yaml

backup-website.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: kb-task
  namespace: kube-backup
spec:
  containers:
  - args:
    - --task=backup-files-exec
    - --namespace=default
    - --selector=app=my-app,env=dev,component=website
    - --files-path=/var/www/assets
    - --backup-name=assets
    image: whereisaaron/kube-backup:0.1.5
    name: kb-task
  restartPolicy: Never