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Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes Instant Recovery with Veeam Backup & Replication vPower NFS datastore

Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes Instant Recovery with Veeam Backup & Replication vPower NFS datastore

KB ID:	4627
Product:	Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes
Published:	2024-06-17
Last Modified:	2024-06-17

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Purpose

K10 Instant Recovery uses the Veeam Backup and Replication vPower NFS datastore to provide vSphere First Class Disks for storage. This feature enables "instant" recovery of workloads with Kubernetes.

Solution

The vPower NFS datastore is a fully functional datastore in the vSphere cluster. However, it is not intended for long-term usage and should only be used for volumes that have been restored from Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR) before they have been migrated or removed. The vSphere CSI driver will automatically select a datastore when creating new storage, and it's important to prevent new storage from being provisioned in the vPower datastore because it is difficult to move the newly created volumes.

Update storageClasses

Before using Instant Recovery, storageClasses need to be adjusted so that volumes will not be created in the vPower NFS datastore.

There are two ways to control where the vSphere CSI driver will create volumes:

Named datastores in the storageClass
Use a SPBM policy that will exclude the vPower NFS Datastore

Below steps for updating the storageClass is applicable for cluster with TKG versions 2.4+.
Older version of TKG cluster doesn't allow modification of the default storageClass in anyway. In such cases, a new storageClass with a different name can be created and used for the PVCs.

Named Datastore storageClass

If there are one or more vSphere datastores that Kubernetes volumes will be allocated in, create storageClasses that name those datastores. This is the simplest way to limit where volumes will be created.

This is a sample storageClass:

allowVolumeExpansion: true
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
    name: default
parameters:
  datastoreurl: ds:///vmfs/volumes/vsan:5292cceaadc3cad8-ef4e5a808d92e8f7/
provisioner: csi.vsphere.vmware.com
reclaimPolicy: Delete
volumeBindingMode: Immediate

The key change is the addition of the datastoreurl parameter. URL of a datastore can be found by navigating to the datastore within the vCenter UI, as shown in the following screenshot.

SPBM Policy

If it's a complex environment, creating an SPBM policy that does not apply to the vPower NFS Datastore might be a better option.

allowVolumeExpansion: true
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
    name: default
parameters:
  storagepolicyname: "vSAN Default Storage Policy" #Optional Parameter
provisioner: csi.vsphere.vmware.com
reclaimPolicy: Delete
volumeBindingMode: Immediate

Applying a new StorageClass

Once the changes to the storageClass are crafted, they will need to be applied. Depending on the configuration, there are different paths, as shown below.

Regular Kubernetes on vSphere installations

On Kubernetes clusters on vSphere that use the regular CSI driver (not "vSphere with Tanzu" Guest Cluster), update storageClasses using kubectl.

In Kubernetes, a StorageClass is an immutable object once it has been created - therefore, it is not possible to patch or add custom parameters to an existing StorageClass object. In order to update a StorageClass, you need to delete it first and recreate it with the desired changes.

Download the storageClass using kubectl:

kubectl get sc <storageClassName> -o yaml > <file name>
                
            

Edit the storageClass file with your favorite editor and add the datastoreurl parameter or storagepolicyname as shown above
Delete the original storageClass

kubectl delete sc <storageClassName>

Recreate the storageClass

kubectl create -f <file name>

vSphere with Tanzu installations

Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes Instant Recovery is not supported for vSphere with Tanzu installations at this time.

Recovering From Disks in the vPower NFS Datastore

With K10 versions 6.5.9+, We have a mandatory FCD migration step for the Instant recovery process.

If disks are created by accident in the vPower NFS datastore, they will need to be removed from the datastore. The easiest solution is to simply delete the volumes in question. It is possible to backup and restore applications that have been placed on the vPower NFS Datastore using K10. Before deleting the application namespace, export the backup and remove the snapshots.

Another option is to use vSphere Storage vMotion to move the virtual disks. In order to do this, Kubernetes PVs need to be mapped to their paths in vSphere. Then, determine the VMs that the volumes are attached to. Then use Storage vMotion to move the VMs to the correct datastore.

Make sure to report any accidental volume leaks in vPower NFS datastore by opening a case with Veeam Kasten support.

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