PowerProtect Data Manager 19.10 Kubernetes User Guide

Add a protection policy for Kubernetes namespace protection

A Kubernetes protection policy enables you to select namespaces in the Kubernetes cluster that you want to back up. Use the PowerProtect Data Manager UI to create a Kubernetes namespace protection policy.

1. From the left navigation pane, select Protection > Protection Policies.
2. In the Protection Policies window, click Add.
   The Add Policy wizard appears.
3. On the Type page, specify the following fields, and then click Next:
   • Name—Type a descriptive name for the protection policy.
   • Description—Type a description for the policy.
   • Type—For the policy type, select Kubernetes.
4. On the Purpose page, select from the following options to indicate the purpose of the new protection policy group, and then click Next:
   • Crash Consistent—Select this type for point-in-time backup of namespaces.
   • Exclusion—Select this type if there are assets within the protection policy that you plan to exclude from data protection operations.
5. In the Assets page, select one or more unprotected namespaces that you want to back up as part of this protection policy.
   If the namespace that you want to protect is not listed, perform one of the following:

   • Click Find More Assets to perform an updated discovery of the Kubernetes cluster.
   • Use the Search box to search by asset name.
6. (Optional) For the selected namespaces, click the link in the PVCs Excluded column, if available, to clear any PVCs that you want to exclude from the backup. By default, all PVCs are selected for inclusion.
7. Click Next.
   The Objectives page appears.
8. On the Objectives page, select a policy-level Service Level Agreement (SLA) from the Set Policy Level SLA list, or select Add to open the Add Service Level Agreement wizard and create a policy-level SLA.
   Add a service-level agreement provides instructions.
9. Click Add under Primary Backup.
   The Add Primary Backup dialog appears.
10. On the Schedules pane of the Add Primary Backup dialog:
    1. Specify the following fields to schedule the synthetic full backup of this protection policy:
       • Create a Synthetic Full...—Specify how often to create a synthetic full backup. For Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs) on VMware first class disks (FCDs), a Synthetic Full backs up only the changed blocks since last backup to create a new full backup. Also, namespace metadata is backed up in full upon every backup.
       • Retain For—Specify the retention period for the synthetic full backup.

         You can extend the retention period for the latest primary backup copy by adding an Extend Retention backup. For example, your regular schedule for daily backups can use a retention period of 30 days, but you can apply extended retention backups to keep the full backups taken on Mondays for 10 weeks. Step 13 provides instructions.

         NOTE For database backups, PowerProtect Data Manager chains the dependent backups together. For example, the synthetic full or transaction log backups are chained to their base full backup. The backups do not expire until the last backup in the chain expires. Backup chaining ensures that all synthetic full and transaction log backups are recoverable until they have all expired.
       • Start and End—For the activity window, specify a time of day to start the synthetic full backup, and a time of day after which backups cannot be started.
         NOTE Any backups started before the End Time occurs continue until completion.
       • Click Save to save and collapse the backup schedule.
    2. Click Add Backup to periodically force a full (level 0) backup, and then specify the following fields to schedule the full backup of this protection policy:
       NOTE When you select this option, the backup chain is reset.

       • Create a Full...—Specify whether you want to create a weekly or monthly full backup.
       • Repeat on—Depending on the frequency of the full backup schedule, specify the day of the week or date of the month to perform the full backup.
       • Retain For—Specify the retention period for the full backup. This can be the same value as the synthetic full backup schedule, or a different value.
       • Start and End—For the activity window, specify a time of day to start the full backup, and a time of day after which backups cannot be started.
         NOTE Any backups started before the End Time occurs continue until completion.
       • Click Save to save and collapse the backup schedule.
11. On the Target pane of the Add Primary Backup dialog, specify the following fields:
    1. Storage Name—Select a backup destination from the list of existing protection storage systems, or select Add to add a system and complete the details in the Storage Target window.
       NOTE The Space field indicates the total amount of space, and the percentage of available space, on the protection storage system.
    2. Storage Unit—Select whether this protection policy should use a New storage unit on the selected protection storage system, or select an existing storage unit from the list. Hover over a storage unit to view the full name and statistics for available capacity and total capacity, for example, testvmplc-ppdm-daily-123ab (300 GB/1 TB)
       When you select New, a new storage unit in the format policy name host name unique identifier is created in the storage system upon policy completion. For example, testvmplc-ppdm-daily-123cd.
    3. Network Interface—Select a network interface from the list, if applicable.
    4. Retention Lock—Move the Retention Lock slider to the right to enable retention locking for these backups on the selected system. PowerProtect Data Manager uses Governance mode for retention locking, which means that the lock can be reverted at any time if necessary. Moving the Retention Lock slider on or off applies to the current backup copy only, and does not impact the retention lock setting for existing backup copies.
       NOTE Primary backups are assigned a default retention lock period of 14 days. Replicated backups, however, are not assigned a default retention lock period. If you enable Retention Lock for a replicated backup, ensure that you set the Retain For field in the Add Replication backup schedule dialog to a minimum number of 14 days so that the replicated backup does not expire before the primary backup.
    5. SLA—Select an existing service level agreement that you want to apply to this schedule from the list, or select Add to create an SLA within the Add Service Level Agreement wizard.
       Add a service-level agreement provides instructions.
12. Click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.

    The Objectives page updates to display the name and location of the target storage system under Primary Backup.

    NOTE After completing a backup schedule, you can change any schedule details by clicking Edit next to the schedule.
13. Optionally, extend the retention period for the latest primary backup copy:
    Extended retention provides more information about Extend Retention functionality.
    1. Click Extend Retention next to Primary Backup. An entry for Extend Retention is created below Primary Backup.
    2. Under Extend Retention, click Add. The Add Extended Retention dialog appears.
    3. Retain the next scheduled full copy every...—Specify a weekly, monthly, or yearly recurrence for the extended retention backup schedule.
    4. Repeat on—Depending on the frequency of the full backup schedule, specify the day of the week, the date of the month, or the date of the year to perform the extended retention backup.
    5. Retain For—Specify the retention period for the backup. You can retain an extended retention backup for a maximum of 70 years.
    6. Click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.
14. Optionally, replicate these backups to a remote storage system:
    1. Click Replicate next to Primary Backup or Extend Retention. An entry for Replicate is created to the right of the primary or extended retention backup.
       NOTE PowerProtect Data Manager supports replicating an extended retention backup only if the primary backup already has one or more replication stages. Also, for replication of an extended retention backup, you can only select the protection storage systems that the replication stages use, based on the primary stage.

       For example, if there are 6 protection storage systems available (DD001-DD006), and the primary backup is on DD0001:

       • Replicate1 based on the primary backup is replicated to DD002
       • Replicate2 based on the primary backup is replicated to DD003
       • Extended retention backup is backed up to DD001
       • Replicate3 based on the extended retention backup must be replicated to DD002 or DD003.
    2. Under Replicate, click Add. The Add Replication dialog appears.
       NOTE To enable replication, ensure that you add remote protection storage as the replication location. Add protection storage provides detailed instructions about adding remote protection storage.
    3. Complete the schedule details in the Add Replication dialog, and then click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.
       The schedule frequency can be every day, week, month, or x hours for replication of the primary backup, and every day, week, month, year, or x hours for replication of the extended retention backup. For daily, weekly, and monthly schedules, the numeric value cannot be modified. For hourly, however, you can edit the numeric value. For example, if you set Create a Full backup every 4 hours, you can set a value of anywhere 1 to 12 hours.

       All replication copies of the primary backup schedule will use the same retention period, and by default, this retention period is inherited from the Retain For value of the synthetic full backup schedule. To specify a different retention period for all of the replication copies of this primary backup schedule, click Edit, change the value in the Retain For field, and then click Save. This retention period will be applied to all of the replicated copies (synthetic full and full) of this primary backup schedule.

       When creating multiple replication copies of the same protection policy, Dell Technologies recommends selecting a different storage system for each copy.

15. Optionally, to move backups from DD storage to Cloud Tier, add a Cloud stage for the primary, replication, or extended retention schedule:
    1. Click Cloud Tier next to Primary Backup or Extend Retention or, if adding a Cloud stage for a replication schedule that you have added, click Cloud Tier under Replicate. An entry for Cloud Tier is created to the right of the primary or extended retention backup schedule, or below the replication schedule.
    2. Under the entry for Cloud Tier, click Add.
       The Add Cloud Tier Backup dialog appears, with summary schedule information for the parent node to indicate whether you are adding this Cloud Tier stage for the primary backup schedule, the extended retention backup schedule, or the replication schedule.
    3. Complete the schedule details in the Add Cloud Tier Backup dialog, and then click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.
       Add a Cloud Tier schedule to a protection policy provides detailed instructions for adding a Cloud stage for a primary, replication, or extended retention schedule.
    NOTE In order to move a backup or replica to Cloud Tier, schedules must have a retention time of 14 days or more. Also, discovery of protection storage that is configured with a Cloud unit is required.
16. Click Next.
    The Summary page appears.
17. Review the protection policy group configuration details, and then click Finish. Except for the protection policy type, you can click Edit next to any details to change the policy information.

    An informational message appears to confirm that PowerProtect Data Manager has saved the protection policy.

    When the new protection policy is created and assets are added to the protection policy, PowerProtect Data Manager performs backups according to the backup schedule.

18. Click OK to exit the window, or click Go to Jobs to open the Jobs window.

    From the Jobs window, you can monitor the progress of the new Kubernetes cluster protection policy backup and associated tasks. You can also cancel any in-progress or queued job or task.

    NOTE If a Kubernetes cluster is running on vSphere and using vSphere CSI storage, the job details indicate that the optimized data path is being used for the backup.