Application Level Backup and Restore MariaDB database using KubeStash

KubeStash offers application-level backup and restore functionality for MariaDB databases. It captures both manifest and data backups of any MariaDB database in a single snapshot. During the restore process, KubeStash first applies the MariaDB manifest to the cluster and then restores the data into it.

This guide will give you an overview how you can take application-level backup and restore your MariaDB databases using Kubestash.

Before You Begin

At first, you need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using Minikube or Kind.
Install KubeDB in your cluster following the steps here.
Install KubeStash in your cluster following the steps here.
Install KubeStash kubectl plugin following the steps here.
If you are not familiar with how KubeStash backup and restore MariaDB databases, please check the following guide here.

You should be familiar with the following KubeStash concepts:

To keep everything isolated, we are going to use a separate namespace called demo throughout this tutorial.

$ kubectl create ns demo
namespace/demo created

Note: YAML files used in this tutorial are stored in docs/guides/mariadb/backup/kubestash/application-level/examples directory of kubedb/docs repository.

Backup MariaDB

KubeStash supports backups for MariaDB instances across different configurations, including Standalone and Galera Cluster setups. In this demonstration, we’ll focus on a MariaDB database using Galera cluster configuration. The backup and restore process is similar for Standalone configuration.

This section will demonstrate how to take application-level backup of a MariaDB database. Here, we are going to deploy a MariaDB database using KubeDB. Then, we are going to back up the database at the application level to a GCS bucket. Finally, we will restore the entire MariaDB database.

Deploy Sample MariaDB Database

Let’s deploy a sample MariaDB database and insert some data into it.

Create MariaDB CR:

Below is the YAML of a sample MariaDB CR that we are going to create for this tutorial:

apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1
kind: MariaDB
metadata:
  name: sample-mariadb
  namespace: demo
spec:
  version: 11.1.3
  replicas: 3
  storageType: Durable
  storage:
    accessModes:
      - ReadWriteOnce
    resources:
      requests:
        storage: 1Gi
  deletionPolicy: WipeOut

Create the above MariaDB CR,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2024.12.18/docs/guides/mariadb/backup/kubestash/application-level/examples/sample-mariadb.yaml
mariadb.kubedb.com/sample-mariadb created

KubeDB will deploy a MariaDB database according to the above specification. It will also create the necessary Secrets and Services to access the database.

Let’s check if the database is ready to use,

$ kubectl get md -n demo sample-mariadb
NAME              VERSION   STATUS   AGE
sample-mariadb    11.1.3    Ready    5m1s

The database is Ready. Verify that KubeDB has created a Secret and a Service for this database using the following commands,

$ kubectl get secret -n demo 
NAME                          TYPE                       DATA   AGE
sample-mariadb-auth           kubernetes.io/basic-auth   2      5m49s

$ kubectl get service -n demo -l=app.kubernetes.io/instance=sample-mariadb
NAME                  TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)         AGE
sample-mariadb        ClusterIP   10.128.92.155   <none>        3306/TCP        62s
sample-mariadb-pods   ClusterIP   None            <none>        3306/TCP        62s

Here, we have to use service sample-mariadb and secret sample-mariadb-auth to connect with the database. KubeDB creates an AppBinding CR that holds the necessary information to connect with the database.

Verify AppBinding:

Verify that the AppBinding has been created successfully using the following command,

$ kubectl get appbindings -n demo
NAME                      TYPE                  VERSION   AGE
sample-mariadb            kubedb.com/mariadb    11.1.3    6m14s

Let’s check the YAML of the above AppBinding,

$ kubectl get appbindings -n demo sample-mariadb -o yaml

apiVersion: v1
items:
  - apiVersion: appcatalog.appscode.com/v1alpha1
    kind: AppBinding
    metadata:
      annotations:
        kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration: |
          {"apiVersion":"kubedb.com/v1","kind":"MariaDB","metadata":{"annotations":{},"name":"sample-mariadb","namespace":"demo"},"spec":{"deletionPolicy":"WipeOut","replicas":3,"storage":{"accessModes":["ReadWriteOnce"],"resources":{"requests":{"storage":"1Gi"}}},"storageType":"Durable","version":"11.1.3"}}          
      creationTimestamp: "2024-09-18T08:31:32Z"
      generation: 1
      labels:
        app.kubernetes.io/component: database
        app.kubernetes.io/instance: sample-mariadb
        app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kubedb.com
        app.kubernetes.io/name: mariadbs.kubedb.com
      name: sample-mariadb
      namespace: demo
      ownerReferences:
        - apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1
          blockOwnerDeletion: true
          controller: true
          kind: MariaDB
          name: sample-mariadb
          uid: 35400a0b-97b1-4437-a3b9-416678b71adf
      resourceVersion: "1728063"
      uid: 8ebec467-32d5-416a-975a-67e890a4efe6
    spec:
      appRef:
        apiGroup: kubedb.com
        kind: MariaDB
        name: sample-mariadb
        namespace: demo
      clientConfig:
        service:
          name: sample-mariadb
          port: 3306
          scheme: tcp
        url: tcp(sample-mariadb.demo.svc:3306)/
      parameters:
        address: gcomm://sample-mariadb-0.sample-mariadb-pods.demo,sample-mariadb-1.sample-mariadb-pods.demo,sample-mariadb-2.sample-mariadb-pods.demo
        apiVersion: config.kubedb.com/v1alpha1
        group: sample-mariadb
        kind: GaleraArbitratorConfiguration
        sstMethod: xtrabackup-v2
        stash:
          addon:
            backupTask:
              name: mariadb-backup-10.5.8
            restoreTask:
              name: mariadb-restore-10.5.8
      secret:
        name: sample-mariadb-auth
      type: kubedb.com/mariadb
      version: 11.1.3
kind: List
metadata:
  resourceVersion: ""

KubeStash uses the AppBinding CR to connect with the target database. It requires the following two fields to set in AppBinding’s .spec section.

Here,

.spec.clientConfig.service.name specifies the name of the Service that connects to the database.
.spec.secret specifies the name of the Secret that holds necessary credentials to access the database.
.spec.type specifies the types of the app that this AppBinding is pointing to. KubeDB generated AppBinding follows the following format: <app group>/<app resource type>.

Insert Sample Data:

Now, we are going to exec into one of the database pod and create some sample data. At first, find out the database Pod using the following command,

$ kubectl get pods -n demo --selector="app.kubernetes.io/instance=sample-mariadb" 
NAME               READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
sample-mariadb-0   2/2     Running   0          8m4s
sample-mariadb-1   2/2     Running   0          8m3s
sample-mariadb-2   2/2     Running   0          8m3s

Now, let’s exec into the pod and create a table,

$ kubectl exec -it -n demo  mariadb-0 -- bash

bash-4.4$ mariadb -uroot -p$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD

MariaDB> create database hello;

MariaDB> use hello;

MariaDB [hello]> CREATE TABLE `demo_table`(
    ->     `id` BIGINT(20) NOT NULL,
    ->     `name` VARCHAR(255) DEFAULT NULL,
    ->     PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
    -> );

MariaDB [hello]> INSERT INTO `demo_table` (`id`, `name`)
    -> VALUES
    ->     (1, 'John'),
    ->     (2, 'Jane'),
    ->     (3, 'Bob'),
    ->     (4, 'Alice'),
    ->     (5, 'Charlie'),
    ->     (6, 'Diana'),
    ->     (7, 'Eve'),
    ->     (8, 'Frank'),
    ->     (9, 'Grace'),
    ->     (10, 'Henry');
    
MariaDB [hello]> select count(*) from demo_table;
+----------+
| count(*) |
+----------+
|       10 |
+----------+

Now, we are ready to backup the database.

Prepare Backend

We are going to store our backup data into a GCS bucket. We have to create a Secret with necessary credentials and a BackupStorage CR to use this backend. If you want to use a different backend, please read the respective backend configuration doc from here.

Create Secret:

Let’s create a secret called gcs-secret with access credentials to our desired GCS bucket,

$ echo -n '<your-project-id>' > GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID
$ cat /path/to/downloaded-sa-key.json > GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON_KEY
$ kubectl create secret generic -n demo gcs-secret \
    --from-file=./GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID \
    --from-file=./GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON_KEY
secret/gcs-secret created

Create BackupStorage:

Now, create a BackupStorage using this secret. Below is the YAML of BackupStorage CR we are going to create,

apiVersion: storage.kubestash.com/v1alpha1
kind: BackupStorage
metadata:
  name: gcs-storage
  namespace: demo
spec:
  storage:
    provider: gcs
    gcs:
      bucket: kubestash-qa
      prefix: demo
      secretName: gcs-secret
  usagePolicy:
    allowedNamespaces:
      from: All
  default: true
  deletionPolicy: Delete

Let’s create the BackupStorage we have shown above,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2024.12.18/docs/guides/mariadb/backup/kubestash/logical/examples/backupstorage.yaml
backupstorage.storage.kubestash.com/gcs-storage created

Now, we are ready to backup our database to our desired backend.

Create RetentionPolicy:

Now, let’s create a RetentionPolicy to specify how the old Snapshots should be cleaned up.

Below is the YAML of the RetentionPolicy object that we are going to create,

apiVersion: storage.kubestash.com/v1alpha1
kind: RetentionPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-retention
  namespace: demo
spec:
  default: true
  failedSnapshots:
    last: 2
  maxRetentionPeriod: 2mo
  successfulSnapshots:
    last: 5
  usagePolicy:
    allowedNamespaces:
      from: All

Let’s create the above RetentionPolicy,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2024.12.18/docs/guides/mariadb/backup/kubestash/logical/examples/retentionpolicy.yaml
retentionpolicy.storage.kubestash.com/demo-retention created

Backup

We have to create a BackupConfiguration targeting respective sample-mariadb MariaDB database. Then, KubeStash will create a CronJob for each session to take periodic backup of that database.

At first, we need to create a secret with a Restic password for backup data encryption.

Create Secret:

Let’s create a secret called encrypt-secret with the Restic password,

$ echo -n 'changeit' > RESTIC_PASSWORD
$ kubectl create secret generic -n demo encrypt-secret \
    --from-file=./RESTIC_PASSWORD \
secret "encrypt-secret" created

Create BackupConfiguration:

Below is the YAML for BackupConfiguration CR to take application-level backup of the sample-mariadb database that we have deployed earlier,

apiVersion: core.kubestash.com/v1alpha1
kind: BackupConfiguration
metadata:
  name: sample-mariadb-backup
  namespace: demo
spec:
  target:
    apiGroup: kubedb.com
    kind: MariaDB
    namespace: demo
    name: sample-mariadb
  backends:
    - name: gcs-backend
      storageRef:
        namespace: demo
        name: gcs-storage
      retentionPolicy:
        name: demo-retention
        namespace: demo
  sessions:
    - name: frequent-backup
      scheduler:
        schedule: "*/5 * * * *"
        jobTemplate:
          backoffLimit: 1
      repositories:
        - name: gcs-mariadb-repo
          backend: gcs-backend
          directory: /mariadb
          encryptionSecret:
            name: encrypt-secret
            namespace: demo
      addon:
        name: mariadb-addon
        tasks:
          - name: manifest-backup
          - name: logical-backup

.spec.sessions[*].schedule specifies that we want to backup at 5 minutes interval.
.spec.target refers to the targeted sample-mariadb MariaDB database that we created earlier.
.spec.sessions[*].addon.tasks[*].name[*] specifies that both the manifest-backup and logical-backup tasks will be executed.

Let’s create the BackupConfiguration CR that we have shown above,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2024.12.18/docs/guides/mariadb/kubestash/application-level/examples/backupconfiguration.yaml
backupconfiguration.core.kubestash.com/sample-mariadb-backup created

Verify Backup Setup Successful

If everything goes well, the phase of the BackupConfiguration should be Ready. The Ready phase indicates that the backup setup is successful. Let’s verify the Phase of the BackupConfiguration,

$ kubectl get backupconfiguration -n demo
NAME                     PHASE   PAUSED   AGE
sample-mariadb-backup   Ready            2m50s

Additionally, we can verify that the Repository specified in the BackupConfiguration has been created using the following command,

$ kubectl get repo -n demo
NAME                  INTEGRITY   SNAPSHOT-COUNT   SIZE     PHASE   LAST-SUCCESSFUL-BACKUP   AGE
gcs-mariadb-repo                 0                0 B      Ready                            3m

KubeStash keeps the backup for Repository YAMLs. If we navigate to the GCS bucket, we will see the Repository YAML stored in the demo/mariadb directory.

Verify CronJob:

It will also create a CronJob with the schedule specified in spec.sessions[*].scheduler.schedule field of BackupConfiguration CR.

Verify that the CronJob has been created using the following command,

$ kubectl get cronjob -n demo
NAME                                             SCHEDULE      SUSPEND   ACTIVE   LAST SCHEDULE   AGE
trigger-sample-mariadb-backup-frequent-backup   */5 * * * *             0        2m45s           3m25s

Verify BackupSession:

KubeStash triggers an instant backup as soon as the BackupConfiguration is ready. After that, backups are scheduled according to the specified schedule.

$ kubectl get backupsession -n demo -w
NAME                                                INVOKER-TYPE          INVOKER-NAME              PHASE       DURATION   AGE
sample-mariadb-backup-frequent-backup-1726651003   BackupConfiguration   sample-mariadb-backup    Succeeded              7m22s

We can see from the above output that the backup session has succeeded. Now, we are going to verify whether the backup data has been stored in the backend.

Verify Backup:

Once a backup is complete, KubeStash will update the respective Repository CR to reflect the backup. Check that the repository sample-mariadb-backup has been updated by the following command,

$ kubectl get repository -n demo gcs-mariadb-repo
NAME                       INTEGRITY   SNAPSHOT-COUNT   SIZE    PHASE   LAST-SUCCESSFUL-BACKUP   AGE
gcs-mariadb-repo           true        1                806 B   Ready   8m27s                    9m18s

At this moment we have one Snapshot. Run the following command to check the respective Snapshot which represents the state of a backup run for an application.

$ kubectl get snapshots.storage.kubestash.com -n demo -l=kubestash.com/repo-name=gcs-mariadb-repo
NAME                                                                  REPOSITORY          SESSION           SNAPSHOT-TIME          DELETION-POLICY   PHASE       AGE
gcs-mariadb-repo-sample-mariadb-ckup-frequent-backup-1726651003       gcs-mariadb-repo   frequent-backup   2024-01-23T13:10:54Z   Delete            Succeeded   16h

Note: KubeStash creates a Snapshot with the following labels:
kubestash.com/app-ref-kind: <target-kind>
kubestash.com/app-ref-name: <target-name>
kubestash.com/app-ref-namespace: <target-namespace>
kubestash.com/repo-name: <repository-name>
These labels can be used to watch only the Snapshots related to our target Database or Repository.

If we check the YAML of the Snapshot, we can find the information about the backup components of the Database.

$ kubectl get snapshots -n demo gcs-mariadb-repo-sample-mariadb-backup-frequent-backup-1725449400 -oyaml

apiVersion: storage.kubestash.com/v1alpha1
kind: Snapshot
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: "2024-09-18T09:16:53Z"
  finalizers:
    - kubestash.com/cleanup
  generation: 1
  labels:
    kubestash.com/app-ref-kind: MariaDB
    kubestash.com/app-ref-name: sample-mariadb
    kubestash.com/app-ref-namespace: demo
    kubestash.com/repo-name: gcs-mariadb-repo
  annotations:
    kubedb.com/db-version: 11.1.3
  name: gcs-mariadb-repo-sample-mariadb-ckup-frequent-backup-1726651003
  namespace: demo
  ownerReferences:
    - apiVersion: storage.kubestash.com/v1alpha1
      blockOwnerDeletion: true
      controller: true
      kind: Repository
      name: gcs-mariadb-repo
      uid: 82a72ef1-1071-49df-b44f-d1f395017262
  resourceVersion: "1734435"
  uid: b96499b6-f882-43e8-ba2a-badb54f96bb8
spec:
  appRef:
    apiGroup: kubedb.com
    kind: MariaDB
    name: sample-mariadb
    namespace: demo
  backupSession: sample-mariadb-backup-frequent-backup-1726651003
  deletionPolicy: Delete
  repository: gcs-mariadb-repo
  session: frequent-backup
  snapshotID: 01J826Q68983K50JRZV2AX1QZF
  type: FullBackup
  version: v1
status:
  components:
    dump:
      driver: Restic
      duration: 2.291630733s
      integrity: true
      path: repository/v1/frequent-backup/dump
      phase: Succeeded
      resticStats:
        - hostPath: dumpfile.sql
          id: 6a9b3e0ccd380f93ff414157156f4ac9d144fa15c5c3adeea2faa09cf44fb175
          size: 3.139 KiB
          uploaded: 3.431 KiB
      size: 1.277 KiB
    manifest:
      driver: Restic
      duration: 2.613551084s
      integrity: true
      path: repository/v1/frequent-backup/manifest
      phase: Succeeded
      resticStats:
        - hostPath: /kubestash-tmp/manifest
          id: 47d89d4149cd59bfc8e701b8171a864d0259486820c477a9c2b3a8c0d80de237
          size: 2.507 KiB
          uploaded: 3.939 KiB
      size: 1.913 KiB
  conditions:
    - lastTransitionTime: "2024-09-18T09:16:53Z"
      message: Recent snapshot list updated successfully
      reason: SuccessfullyUpdatedRecentSnapshotList
      status: "True"
      type: RecentSnapshotListUpdated
    - lastTransitionTime: "2024-09-18T09:17:18Z"
      message: Metadata uploaded to backend successfully
      reason: SuccessfullyUploadedSnapshotMetadata
      status: "True"
      type: SnapshotMetadataUploaded
  integrity: true
  phase: Succeeded
  size: 3.188 KiB
  snapshotTime: "2024-09-18T09:16:53Z"
  totalComponents: 2

KubeStash uses mariadb-dump to perform backups of target MariaDB databases. Therefore, the component name for logical backups is set as dump.

KubeStash set component name as manifest for the manifest backup of MariaDB databases.

Now, if we navigate to the GCS bucket, we will see the backup data stored in the demo/mariadb/repository/v1/frequent-backup/dump directory. KubeStash also keeps the backup for Snapshot YAMLs, which can be found in the demo/mariadb/snapshots directory.

Note: KubeStash stores all dumped data encrypted in the backup directory, meaning it remains unreadable until decrypted.

Restore

In this section, we are going to restore the entire database from the backup that we have taken in the previous section.

For this tutorial, we will restore the database in a separate namespace called dev.

First, create the namespace by running the following command:

$ kubectl create ns dev
namespace/dev created

Create RestoreSession:

We need to create a RestoreSession CR.

Below, is the contents of YAML file of the RestoreSession CR that we are going to create to restore the entire database.

apiVersion: core.kubestash.com/v1alpha1
kind: RestoreSession
metadata:
  name: restore-sample-mariadb
  namespace: demo
spec:
  manifestOptions:
    mariaDB:
      db: true
      restoreNamespace: dev
  dataSource:
    repository: gcs-mariadb-repo
    snapshot: latest
    encryptionSecret:
      name: encrypt-secret
      namespace: demo
  addon:
    name: mariadb-addon
    tasks:
      - name: logical-backup-restore
      - name: manifest-restore

Here,

.spec.manifestOptions.mariadb.db specifies whether to restore the DB manifest or not.
.spec.dataSource.repository specifies the Repository object that holds the backup data.
.spec.dataSource.snapshot specifies to restore from latest Snapshot.
.spec.addon.tasks[*] specifies that both the manifest-restore and logical-backup-restore tasks.

Let’s create the RestoreSession CR object we have shown above,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2024.12.18/docs/guides/mariadb/backup/kubestash/application-level/examples/restoresession.yaml
restoresession.core.kubestash.com/restore-sample-mariadb created

Once, you have created the RestoreSession object, KubeStash will create restore Job. Run the following command to watch the phase of the RestoreSession object,

$ watch kubectl get restoresession -n demo
Every 2.0s: kubectl get restores... AppsCode-PC-03: Wed Aug 21 10:44:05 2024
NAME                      REPOSITORY            FAILURE-POLICY   PHASE       DURATION   AGE
restore-sample-mariadb   gcs-mariadb-repo                      Succeeded   3s         53s

The Succeeded phase means that the restore process has been completed successfully.

Verify Restored MariaDB Manifest:

In this section, we will verify whether the desired MariaDB database manifest has been successfully applied to the cluster.

$ kubectl get mariadb -n dev 
NAME              VERSION   STATUS   AGE
sample-mariadb    11.1.3    Ready    5m18s

The output confirms that the MariaDB database has been successfully created with the same configuration as it had at the time of backup.

Verify Restored Data:

In this section, we are going to verify whether the desired data has been restored successfully. We are going to connect to the database server and check whether the database and the table we created earlier in the original database are restored.

At first, check if the database has gone into Ready state by the following command,

$ kubectl get mariadb -n dev sample-mariadb
NAME              VERSION   STATUS   AGE
sample-mariadb    11.1.3    Ready    5m18s

Now, find out the database Pod by the following command,

$ kubectl get pods -n dev --selector="app.kubernetes.io/instance=sample-mariadb"
NAME                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
sample-mariadb-0   2/2     Running   0          12m
sample-mariadb-1   2/2     Running   0          12m
sample-mariadb-2   2/2     Running   0          12m

Now, lets exec one of the Pod and verify restored data.

$ kubectl exec -it -n dev sample-mariadb-0 -- bash
mysql@restored-mariadb-0:/$ mariadb -uroot -p$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD

MariaDB> use hello;

MariaDB [hello]> select count(*) from demo_table;
+----------+
| count(*) |
+----------+
|       10 |
+----------+

So, from the above output, we can see the hello database we had created in the original database sample-mariadb has been restored successfully.

Cleanup

To cleanup the Kubernetes resources created by this tutorial, run:

kubectl delete backupconfigurations.core.kubestash.com  -n demo sample-mariadb-backup
kubectl delete retentionpolicies.storage.kubestash.com -n demo demo-retention
kubectl delete restoresessions.core.kubestash.com -n demo restore-sample-mariadb
kubectl delete backupstorage -n demo gcs-storage
kubectl delete secret -n demo gcs-secret
kubectl delete secret -n demo encrypt-secret
kubectl delete mariadb -n demo sample-mariadb
kubectl delete mariadb -n dev sample-mariadb

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