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Version: 8.0.15 (latest)
Note

With the 7.0 release in May 2024, "Kasten by Veeam" and "Kasten K10" have been replaced with "Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes." Throughout this documentation, references to "K10" will be modified to include both the new and simpler "Veeam Kasten" names. Both names will be used for a while, and then the documentation will be modified only to use the new names. The name K10 is still used for functional examples.

Operator based Installation

Veeam Kasten Operator Editions​

The Veeam Kasten Operator is available within the Red Hat Operator Hub, which is bundled with the Kasten free license, allowing fully-featured Kasten for up to 5 nodes. An Enterprise license can be applied for full features and support beyond 5 worker nodes.

Pre-Flight Checks​

Assuming that your default oc context is pointed to the cluster you want to install Veeam Kasten on, you can run pre-flight checks by deploying the primer tool. This tool runs in a pod in the cluster and does the following:

  • Validates if the Kubernetes settings meet the Veeam Kasten requirements.
  • Catalogs the available StorageClasses.
  • If a CSI provisioner exists, it will also perform a basic validation of the cluster's CSI capabilities and any relevant objects that may be required. It is strongly recommended that the same tool be used to also perform a more complete CSI validation using the documentation here.

Note that this will create and clean up a ServiceAccount and ClusterRoleBinding to perform sanity checks on your Kubernetes cluster.

Run the following command to deploy the pre-check tool:

$ curl https://docs.kasten.io/downloads/8.0.15/tools/k10_primer.sh | bash

Prerequisites​

Before installing Veeam Kasten, it is essential to have a functional and accessible Red Hat OpenShift environment.

Optionally, you can create a new project in advance where Veeam Kasten will be installed. Select this project during operator deployment, or create a project (namespace) during the operator installation process. By default, the documentation uses the kasten-io namespace. 

oc new-project kasten-io \
  --description="Kubernetes data management platform" \
  --display-name="Veeam Kasten"

Veeam Kasten Installation​

Interactive Demo​

Step-by-Step Guide​

  1. Select the OperatorHub from the Operators Menu, search for Veeam Kasten. Select either the Certified Operator, or Marketplace version, depending on the requirements.

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  1. To begin the installation, simply click Install.

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  1. Next, set the channel to stable and the installation mode to A specific namespace on the cluster. Choose the kasten-io project created in an earlier step. Optionally, enable the console plugin provided with the Veeam Kasten operator. For more information on the plugin, refer to the plugin documentation.

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  1. After installation, click Create Instance on the operator details page to create a Veeam Kasten instance.

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  1. The default installation can be done through either the Form View or YAML View. By default, no changes are required to install.

    Veeam Kasten assumes that the default storage class is supported by SSDs or equivalent fast storage media. If this assumption is not true, please modify the installation values to specify a performance-oriented storage class. This modification can be done within the form view or directly within the YAML of the Veeam Kasten Operand configuration by setting the parameters below: 

    global:
      persistence:
        storageClass: <storage-class-name>

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Offline Operator Install​

To install the Veeam Kasten operator in a disconnected, or air-gapped, OpenShift environment, refer to the Red Hat documentation for details on mirroring OperatorHub registries and images to a private registry.

When directed to create an image set configuration, append k10-kasten-operator-rhmp to the list of operators as shown in the example below:

kind: ImageSetConfiguration
apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v2alpha1
mirror:
  platform:
    channels:
    - name: stable-4.19 
      minVersion: 4.19.2
      maxVersion: 4.19.2
    graph: true 
  operators:
    - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4.19 
      packages: 
       - name: aws-load-balancer-operator
       - name: 3scale-operator
       - name: node-observability-operator
       - name: k10-kasten-operator-rhmp
  additionalImages: 
   - name: registry.redhat.io/ubi8/ubi:latest
   - name: registry.redhat.io/ubi9/ubi@sha256:20f695d2a91352d4eaa25107535126727b5945bff38ed36a3e59590f495046f0

The Veeam Kasten operator may be now installed from the OperatorHub using the mirrored images.

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Follow the steps under operator install to continue installing Veeam Kasten.

Other Installation Options​

For a complete list of installation options, please visit our advanced installation page.

Note

After installing the "Veeam Kasten (Enterprise - PAYGO)" edition, if the warning message "Unable to validate Red Hat Marketplace license" is displayed on the Veeam Kasten dashboard, please verify the cluster is registered with Red Hat Marketplace and the Red Hat Marketplace Operator is installed, and then re-install Veeam Kasten.

OpenShift on AWS​

When deploying OpenShift on AWS without using the EBS CSI driver for persistent storage, make sure that you configure these policies before executing the installation command provided below: 

$ helm install k10 kasten/k10 --namespace=kasten-io \
    --set scc.create=true \
    --set secrets.awsAccessKeyId="${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID}" \
    --set secrets.awsSecretAccessKey="${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}"

Securing Veeam Kasten with SecurityContextConstraints​

Veeam Kasten installs customized SecurityContextConstraints (SCC) to ensure that all workloads associated with Veeam Kasten have just enough privileges to perform their respective tasks.

For additional information about SCCs, please refer to the official OpenShift documentation

Note

Starting with OpenShift 4.14, a new openshift.io/required-scc annotation was introduced. Veeam Kasten applies this annotation to its own pods to ensure that the correct SecurityContextConstraints (SCC) have been applied.

Please note that pods created for Kanister Execution Hooks execution will not receive the openshift.io/required-scc annotation. For more information, visit the Managing security context constraints.

SecurityContextConstraints Customization​

The value of the Priority field in SecurityContextConstraints can be adjusted to align the priority with the existing cluster configuration.

To set the desired Priority value in an Operator-managed installation, modify the YAML of the Veeam Kasten Operand configuration with the parameters below: 

scc:
  priority: <priority_value>

This customization can be achieved in a Helm-based installation by adding the following parameter to the Helm command: 

--set scc.priority=<priority_value>

If required, allowing the use of CSI ephemeral volumes can be enabled in the SecurityContextConstraints configuration. This will update the volumes section of the k10-scc SecurityContextConstraints to include csi.

To allow CSI ephemeral volumes in an Operator-managed installation, modify the YAML of the Veeam Kasten Operand configuration with the parameters below: 

scc:
      allowCSI: true

This customization can be enabled in a Helm installation by adding the following parameter to the Helm command: 

--set scc.allowCSI=true

SecurityContextConstraints Leakage​

OpenShift assigns SCC to workloads automatically. By default, the most restrictive SCC matching a workload security requirement will be selected and assigned to that workload. One of the criteria for SCC selection is the availability of the SCC to a User or ServiceAccount. SCC leakage means that some workloads might get an SCC applied to them, which was not the intended one.

Veeam Kasten protects its SCC from leaking onto other workloads by limiting access only to its dedicated ServiceAccount: 

users:
  - system:serviceaccount:kasten-io:executor-svc  # example of a Veeam Kasten service account
  # all Veeam Kasten service accounts will be listed as users
Note

In this example, and in the rest of this page, Veeam Kasten is installed into the namespace kasten-io (default). If the cluster being considered has a different configuration, those values need to be adapted to match the values used during Veeam Kasten's installation in this cluster.

Despite the usage restrictions, it is still possible to get Veeam Kasten's SCC assigned to other workloads. This could happen when a workload is started by a cluster admin or any other user with an allowed use action on all SCCs (*) or on Veeam Kasten's specific SCC (k10-scc). This is because users with the ClusterRole cluster-admin bound to them have unlimited access to all available SCCs, without any restrictions.

Veeam Kasten's SCC may be unexpectedly applied to workloads it was not intended for under the following conditions:

  • The workload is initiated by a user with cluster admin privileges
  • The user initiating the workload has a role that grants access to all SCCs

Validating SecurityContextConstraints Access​

OpenShift's command line (CLI) client, oc, has a can-i command that can be used with impersonation to check if a user can perform a specific action on a specific resource. Alternatively, the standard kubectl CLI client also has the same command built-in and can be used to perform the same check. Simply replace oc with kubectl in the command below.

To check if a user can use/access Veeam Kasten's SCC, the following command can be used: 

oc auth can-i use securitycontextconstraints/k10-scc --as=<your_username>

The output will contain yes if the specified user is able to use Veeam Kasten's SCC or no if it is not. For example, the output for the following check, "Can Veeam Kasten's ServiceAccount use Veeam Kasten's SCC", should be yes: 

oc auth can-i use securitycontextconstraints/k10-scc --as=system:serviceaccount:kasten-io:executor-svc

Note that executor-svc is just one of the Veeam Kasten service accounts created for a default install.

Detailed information about can-i and impersonation can be found in the official Kubernetes documentation.

Accessing Dashboard via Route​

As documented here, the Veeam Kasten dashboard can also be accessed via an OpenShift Route.

Authentication​

OpenShift OAuth server​

As documented here, the OpenShift OAuth server can be used to authenticate access to Veeam Kasten.

Using an OAuth Proxy​

As documented here, the OpenShift OAuth proxy can be used for authenticating access to Veeam Kasten.

Validating the Install​

To validate that Veeam Kasten has been installed properly, the following command can be run in Veeam Kasten's namespace (the install default is kasten-io) to watch for the status of all Veeam Kasten pods: 

$ kubectl get pods --namespace kasten-io --watch

It may take a couple of minutes for all pods to come up but all pods should ultimately display the status of Running. 

$ kubectl get pods --namespace kasten-io
NAMESPACE     NAME                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
kasten-io     aggregatedapis-svc-b45d98bb5-w54pr      1/1     Running   0          1m26s
kasten-io     auth-svc-8549fc9c59-9c9fb               1/1     Running   0          1m26s
kasten-io     catalog-svc-f64666fdf-5t5tv             2/2     Running   0          1m26s
...

In the unlikely scenario that pods that are stuck in any other state, please follow the support documentation to debug further.

Validate Dashboard Access​

By default, the Veeam Kasten dashboard will not be exposed externally. To establish a connection to it, use the following kubectl command to forward a local port to the Veeam Kasten ingress port: 

$ kubectl --namespace kasten-io port-forward service/gateway 8080:80

The Veeam Kasten dashboard will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8080/k10/#/.

For a complete list of options for accessing the Kasten Veeam Kasten dashboard through a LoadBalancer, Ingress or OpenShift Route you can use the instructions here.

Using Veeam Kasten Console Plugin​

The Veeam Kasten operator includes the OpenShift Console Plugin, providing faster and more convenient access to the essential data about the Veeam Kasten application state.

Enable Veeam Kasten Console Plugin​

The Veeam Kasten Console Plugin can be enabled during the installation of the Veeam Kasten operator. For more details, see Veeam Kasten Installation.

To enable the plugin for existing K10 deployments, navigate to the Operator Details page for Veeam Kasten operator in the OpenShift Console. In the Console Plugin section on the right-hand side, select the Enabled checkbox.

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Veeam Kasten Console Plugin UI Overview​

The Veeam Kasten Console Plugin adds a new Veeam Kasten tab to the OpenShift Web Console panel on the left. Click on the tab to open the plugin. The plugin UI contains all the essential data from the Veeam Kasten Dashboard, including the system overview and the recent activity.

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