Kasten Disaster Recovery

Kasten Disaster Recovery (DR) aims to protect Kasten from the underlying infrastructure failures. In particular, this feature provides the ability to recover the Kasten platform from a variety of disasters, such as the accidental deletion of Kasten, the failure of the underlying storage that Kasten uses for its catalog, or even the accidental destruction of the Kubernetes cluster on which Kasten is deployed.

Overview

Kasten enables Disaster Recovery with the help of an internal policy to back up its data stores, storing them in either an object storage bucket or an NFS file storage location configured through a Location Profile.

External Storage Configuration

To enable Kasten Disaster Recovery, a Location Profile needs to be configured. This profile will use an object storage bucket or an NFS file storage location to store data from Kasten's internal data stores. The cluster must have write permissions for this location.

Note

A VBR location profile cannot be used as a destination for DR backups.

Enabling Kasten Disaster Recovery

Note

Kasten Quick Disaster Recovery can be enabled for faster Kasten Disaster Recovery.

The Kasten Disaster Recovery settings are accessible via the Disaster Recovery page under the Settings menu in the navigation sidebar. For new installations, these settings are also accessible using the link located within the alerts panel.

Select the Disaster Recovery page under the Settings menu in the navigation sidebar.

Enabling Kasten Disaster Recovery requires selecting a Location Profile for the exported Kasten Disaster Recovery backups and providing a passphrase for encrypting the snapshot data.

The passphrase can be provided as a raw string or as reference to a secret in HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager.

Enable Disaster Recovery by selecting a valid location profile and providing either a raw passphrase or secret management credentials, then clicking the Enable Kasten DR button.

Note

If providing a raw passphrase, save it securely outside the cluster.

Note

Using HashiCorp Vault requires that Kasten is configured to access Vault.

Note

Using AWS Secrets Manager requires that an AWS Infrastructure Profile exists with the adequate permissions

Cluster ID

A confirmation message with the cluster ID will be displayed when Disaster Recovery is enabled. This ID is used as a prefix to the object storage or NFS file storage location where Kasten's data store saves its exported backups.

Note

Save the cluster ID safely, it is required to recover Kasten from a disaster.

The cluster ID value can also be accessed by using the following kubectl command.

# Extract UUID of the `default` namespace
$ kubectl get namespace default -o jsonpath="{.metadata.uid}{'\n'}"

Kasten Disaster Recovery Policy

A policy called k10-disaster-recovery-policy that implements Kasten Disaster Recovery will automatically be created when Disaster Recovery is enabled. This policy can be viewed through the Policies page in the navigation sidebar.

Click Run Once on the k10-disaster-recovery-policy to start a backup. The data exported by Kasten for Disaster Recovery purposes will be encrypted via AES-256-GCM.

Warning

After enabling Kasten Disaster Recovery, it is essential

to copy and save the following to successfully recover Kasten from a disaster:

1. The cluster ID displayed on the disaster recovery page

2. The Disaster Recovery passphrase provided above

3. The credentials and object storage bucket or the NFS file storage information (used in the Location Profile configuration above)

Without this information, Kasten Disaster Recovery will not be possible.

Kasten Quick Disaster Recovery

Kasten Quick Disaster Recovery aims to improve the K10 Disaster Recovery workflow. The necessary metadata is extracted and backed up to facilitate faster recovery in the event of a disaster. To enable this feature, install or upgrade Kasten with the --set kastenDisasterRecovery.quickMode.enabled=true helm value.

Advantages of Kasten Quick Disaster Recovery

• Metadata backup instead of full Catalog backup.

• The backed up metadata includes Kasten resources and data necessary to restore all exported restore points of applications. In addition to these, other Kasten resources, such as policies and profiles, are also included.

• When a disaster occurs, in most cases, application's local restore points are lost along with the Kubernetes cluster. This workflow provides a path for reliable recovery by restoring the exported application restore points.

Limitation

• Application's local restore points are not backed up.

Disabling Kasten Disaster Recovery

Kasten Disaster Recovery can be disabled by clicking the Disable Kasten DR button on the Setup Kasten DR page, which is found under the Settings menu in the navigation sidebar.

Recovering Kasten from a Disaster via UI

To recover from a Kasten backup using the UI, follow these steps:

1. On a new cluster, install a fresh Kasten instance in the same namespace as the original Kasten instance.

2. On the new cluster, create a location profile by providing the bucket information and credentials for the object storage location or NFS file storage location where previous Kasten backups are stored.

3. On the new cluster, navigate to the Restore Kasten page under the Settings menu in the navigation sidebar.

4. In the Profile drop-down, select the location profile created in step 3.

5. For Cluster ID, provide the ID of the original cluster with Kasten Disaster Recovery enabled. This ID can be found on the Setup Kasten DR page of the original cluster that currently has Kasten Disaster Recovery enabled.

• Raw passphrase: Provide the passphrase used when enabling Disaster Recovery.

• HashiCorp Vault: Provide the Key Value Secrets Engine Version, Mount, Path, and Passphrase Key stored in a HashiCorp Vault secret.

• AWS Secrets Manager: Provide the secret name, its associated region, and the key.

Note

For immutable location profiles, a previous point in time can be provided to filter out any restore points newer than the specified time in the next step. If no specific date is chosen, it will display all available restore points, with the most recent ones appearing first.

6. Click the Next button to start the validation process. If validation succeeds, a drop-down containing the available restore points will be displayed.

Note

All times are displayed in the local timezone of the client's browser.

7. Select the desired restore point and click the Next button.

8. Review the summary and click the Start Restore button to begin the restore process.

9. Upon completion of a successful restoration, navigation to the dashboard and information about ownership and deletion of the configmap is displayed.

Recovering Kasten From a Disaster via Helm

Recovering from a Kasten backup involves the following sequence of actions:

1. Create a Kubernetes Secret, k10-dr-secret, using the passphrase provided while enabling Disaster Recovery

2. Install a fresh Kasten instance in the same namespace as the above Secret

3. Provide bucket information and credentials for the object storage location or NFS file storage location where previous Kasten backups are stored

4. Restoring the Kasten backup

5. Uninstalling the Kasten restore instance after recovery is recommended

Note

If Kasten was previously installed in FIPS mode, ensure the fresh Kasten instance is also installed in FIPS mode.

Note

If Kasten backup is stored using an NFS File Storage Location, it is important that the same NFS share is reachable from the recovery cluster and is mounted on all nodes where Kasten is installed.

Specifying a Disaster Recovery Passphrase

Currently, Kasten Disaster Recovery encrypts all artifacts via the use of the AES-256-GCM algorithm. The passphrase entered while enabling Disaster Recovery is used for this encryption. On the cluster used for Kasten recovery, the Secret k10-dr-secret needs to be therefore created using that same passphrase in the Kasten namespace (default kasten-io)

The passphrase can be provided as a raw string or reference a secret in HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager.

Specifying the passphrase as a raw string:

$ kubectl create secret generic k10-dr-secret \
   --namespace kasten-io \
   --from-literal key=<passphrase>

Specifying the passphrase as a HashiCorp Vault secret:

$ kubectl create secret generic k10-dr-secret \
   --namespace kasten-io \
   --from-literal source=vault \
   --from-literal vault-kv-version=<version-of-key-value-secrets-engine> \
   --from-literal vault-mount-path=<path-where-key-value-engine-is-mounted> \
   --from-literal vault-secret-path=<path-from-mount-to-passphrase-key> \
   --from-literal key=<name-of-passphrase-key>

# Example
$ kubectl create secret generic k10-dr-secret \
   --namespace kasten-io \
   --from-literal source=vault \
   --from-literal vault-kv-version=KVv1 \
   --from-literal vault-mount-path=secret \
   --from-literal vault-secret-path=k10 \
   --from-literal key=passphrase

The supported values for vault-kv-version are KVv1 and KVv2.

Note

Using a passphrase from HashiCorp Vault also requires enabling HashiCorp Vault authentication when installing the kasten/k10restore helm chart. Refer: Enabling HashiCorp Vault using Token Auth or Kubernetes Auth.

Specifying the passphrase as an AWS Secrets Manager secret:

$ kubectl create secret generic k10-dr-secret \
   --namespace kasten-io \
   --from-literal source=aws \
   --from-literal aws-region=<aws-region-for-secret> \
   --from-literal key=<aws-secret-name>

# Example
$ kubectl create secret generic k10-dr-secret \
   --namespace kasten-io \
   --from-literal source=aws \
   --from-literal aws-region=us-east-1 \
   --from-literal key=k10/dr/passphrase

Reinstalling Kasten

Note

When reinstalling Kasten on the same cluster, it is important to clean up the namespace in which Kasten was previously installed before the above passphrase creation.

# Delete the kasten-io namespace.
$ kubectl delete namespace kasten-io

Kasten must be reinstalled before recovery. Please follow the instructions here.

Provide External Storage Configuration

Create a Location Profile with the object storage location or NFS file storage location where Kasten backups are stored.

Restoring Kasten Backup with Iron Bank Kasten Images

The general instructions found in Restore Kasten Backup can be used for restoring Kasten using Iron Bank hardened images with a few changes.

Specific helm values are used to ensure that the Kasten restore helm chart only uses Iron Bank images. The values file must be downloaded by running:

$ curl -sO https://docs.kasten.io/ironbank/k10restore-ironbank-values.yaml

Note

This file is protected and should not be modified. It is necessary to specify all other values using the corresponding helm flags, such as --set, --values, etc.

Credentials for Registry1 must be provided in order to successfully pull the images. These should already have been created as part of re-deploying a new Kasten instance; therefore, only the name of the secret should be used here.

The following set of flags should be added to the instructions found in Restore Kasten Backup to use Iron Bank images for Kasten disaster recovery:

...
--values=<PATH TO DOWNLOADED k10restore-ironbank-values.yaml> \
--set-json 'imagePullSecrets=[{"name": "k10-ecr"}]' \
...

Restoring Kasten Backup in FIPS Mode

The general instructions found in Restore Kasten Backup can be used for restoring Kasten in FIPS mode with a few changes.

To ensure that certified cryptographic modules are utilized, you must install the k10restore chart with additional Helm values that can be found here: FIPS values. These should be added to the instructions found in Restore Kasten Backup for Kasten disaster recovery:

...
--values=https://docs.kasten.io/latest/fips/fips-restore-values.yaml
...

Restoring Kasten Backup

Requirements:

• Source cluster ID

• Name of Location Profile from the previous step

# Install the helm chart that creates the Kasten restore job and wait for completion of the `k10-restore` job
# Assumes that Kasten is installed in the 'kasten-io' namespace.
$ helm install k10-restore kasten/k10restore --namespace=kasten-io \
    --set sourceClusterID=<source-clusterID> \
    --set profile.name=<location-profile-name>

If Kasten Quick Disaster Recovery is enabled, the Kasten restore helm chart should be installed with the following helm value:

--set quickMode.enabled=true \
--set quickMode.overrideResources=true

Note

The overrideResources flag must be set to true when using Quick Disaster Recovery. Since the Disaster Recovery operation involves creating or replacing resources, confirmation should be provided by setting this flag.

The restore job always restores the restore point catalog and artifact information. If the restore of other resources (options include profiles, policies, secrets) needs to be skipped, the skipResource flag can be used.

# e.g. to skip restore of profiles and policies, helm install command will be as follows:
$ helm install k10-restore kasten/k10restore --namespace=kasten-io \
    --set sourceClusterID=<source-clusterID> \
    --set profile.name=<location-profile-name> \
    --set skipResource="profiles\,policies"

The timeout of the entire restore process can be configured by the helm field restore.timeout. The type of this field is int and the value is in minutes.

# e.g. to specify the restore timeout, helm install command will be as follows:
$ helm install k10-restore kasten/k10restore --namespace=kasten-io \
    --set sourceClusterID=<source-clusterID> \
    --set profile.name=<location-profile-name> \
    --set restore.timeout=<timeout-in-minutes>

If the Disaster Recovery Location Profile was configured for Immutable Backups, Kasten can be restored to an earlier point in time. The protection period chosen when creating the profile determines how far in the past the point-in-time can be. Set the pointInTime helm value to the desired time stamp.

# e.g. to restore Kasten to 15:04:05 UTC on Jan 2, 2022:
$ helm install k10-restore kasten/k10restore --namespace=kasten-io \
    --set sourceClusterID=<source-clusterID> \
    --set profile.name=<location-profile-name> \
    --set pointInTime="2022-01-02T15:04:05Z"

See Immutable Backups Workflow for additional information.

Enable HashiCorp Vault using Token Auth

Create a Kubernetes secret with the Vault token.

kubectl create secret generic vault-creds \
    --namespace kasten-io \
    --from-literal vault_token=<vault-token>

Warning

This may cause the token to be stored in shell history.

Use these additional parameters when installing the kasten/k10restore helm chart.

--set vault.enabled=true \
--set vault.address=<vault-server-address> \
--set vault.secretName=<name-of-secret-with-vault-creds>

Enable HashiCorp Vault using Kubernetes Auth

Refer to Configuring Vault Server For Kubernetes Auth prior to installing the kasten/k10restore helm chart.

Use these additional parameters when installing the kasten/k10restore helm chart.

--set vault.enabled=true \
--set vault.address=<vault-server-address> \
--set vault.role=<vault-kubernetes-authentication-role_name> \
--set vault.serviceAccountTokenPath=<service-account-token-path> # optional

vault.role is the name of the Vault Kubernetes authentication role binding the Kasten service account and namespace to the Vault policy.

vault.serviceAccountTokenPath is optional and defaults to /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token.

Restoring Kasten Backup in Air-Gapped environment

In case of air-gapped installations, it's assumed that k10offline tool is used to push the images to a private container registry. Below command can be used to instruct k10restore to run in air-gapped mode.

# Install the helm chart that creates the Kasten restore job and wait for completion of the `k10-restore` job.
# Assume that Kasten is installed in the 'kasten-io' namespace.
$ helm install k10-restore kasten/k10restore --namespace=kasten-io \
    --set airgapped.repository=repo.example.com \
    --set sourceClusterID=<source-clusterID> \
    --set profile.name=<location-profile-name>

Restoring Kasten Backup with Google Workload Identity Federation

Kasten can be restored from a Google Cloud Storage bucket using the Google Workload Identity Federation. Please follow the instructions provided here to restore Kasten with this option.

Using the Restored Kasten in Place of the Original

The newly restored Kasten includes a safety mechanism to prevent it from performing critical background maintenance operations on backup data in storage. These operations are exclusive, meaning that there is only one Kasten instance should perform them one at a time. The DR-restored Kasten initially assumes that it does not have permission to perform these maintenance tasks. This assumption is made in case the original source, Kasten, is still running, especially during scenarios like testing the DR restore procedure in a secondary test cluster while the primary production Kasten is still active.

If no other Kasten instances are accessing the same sets of backup data (i.e., the original Kasten has been uninstalled and only the new DR-restored Kasten remains), it can be signaled that the new Kasten is now eligible to take over the maintenance duties by deleting the following resource:

# Delete the k10-dr-remove-to-get-ownership configmap in the Kasten namespace.
$ kubectl delete configmap --namespace=kasten-io k10-dr-remove-to-get-ownership

Important

It is critical that you delete this resource only when you are prepared to make the permanent cutover to the new DR-restored Kasten instance. Running multiple Kasten instances simultaneously, each assuming ownership, can corrupt backup data.

Cluster-Scoped Resource Recovery

Prior to recovering applications, it may be desirable to restore cluster-scoped resources. Cluster-scoped resources may be needed for cluster configuration or as part of application recovery.

Upon completion of the Disaster Recovery Restore job, go to the Applications card, hover on the Cluster-Scoped Resources card, click on the restore icon, and select a cluster restore point to recover from.

Application Recovery

Upon completion of the Disaster Recovery Restore job, go to the Applications card, select Removed under the Filter by status drop-down menu. Click restore under the application and select a restore point to recover from.

Uninstall k10restore

The K10restore instance can be uninstalled with the helm uninstall command.

# e.g. to uninstall K10restore from the kasten-io namespace
$ helm uninstall k10-restore --namespace=kasten-io

Recovering with the Operator

Recovering from a Kasten backup involves the following sequence of actions:

1. Install a fresh Kasten instance.

2. Configure a Location Profile from where the Kasten backup will be restored.

3. Create a Kubernetes Secret named k10-dr-secret in the same namespace as the Kasten install, with the passphrase given when disaster recovery was enabled on the previous Kasten instance. The commands are detailed here.

4. Create a K10restore instance. The required values are

   • Cluster ID - value given when disaster recovery was enabled on the previous Kasten instance.

   • Profile name - name of the Location Profile configured in Step 2.

   and the optional values are

   • Point in time - time (RFC3339) at which to evaluate restore data. Example "2022-01-02T15:04:05Z".

   • Resources to skip - can be used to skip restore of specific resources. Example "profile,policies".

   After recovery, deleting the k10restore instance is recommended.

Operator K10restore form view with Enable HashiCorp Vault set to False

Operator K10restore form view with Enable HashiCorp Vault set to True