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Velero

by CNCF

CNCF open-source Kubernetes backup and disaster recovery tool enabling APAC platform engineering teams to back up Kubernetes cluster resources, namespaces, and persistent volume data to object storage — with scheduled backups, retention policies, and cross-cluster restore for disaster recovery.

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AIMenta verdict
Recommended
5/5

"Velero is the CNCF Kubernetes backup and disaster recovery tool for APAC platform teams — backing up cluster resources and persistent volumes to S3-compatible storage with scheduled backups and cross-cluster restore. Best for APAC teams protecting Kubernetes from data loss."

Features
7
Use cases
4
Watch outs
4
What it does

Key features

  • Namespace-scoped backup — back up entire APAC Kubernetes namespaces including all resources and PVC data
  • Scheduled backups — automated daily/weekly APAC backup policies with configurable retention and TTL
  • Object storage integration — AWS S3, GCP Storage, Azure Blob, MinIO for APAC backup destination flexibility
  • Persistent volume backup — snapshot PVC data via cloud provider volume snapshots or Restic file backup
  • Cross-cluster restore — restore APAC backups to different clusters for disaster recovery and migration
  • Resource filtering — include/exclude specific namespaces, label selectors, and resource types from APAC backups
  • Backup hooks — pre/post backup hooks for APAC application-consistent snapshots (quiesce databases before snapshot)
When to reach for it

Best for

  • APAC platform engineering teams that need Kubernetes cluster backup and disaster recovery for stateful workloads (databases, message queues, file storage)
  • Engineering organisations with APAC regulatory or compliance requirements for data backup retention and disaster recovery RTO/RPO documentation
  • Platform teams migrating APAC Kubernetes workloads between clusters or cloud providers who need a structured backup-and-restore migration approach
  • APAC DevOps teams that have experienced or want to prevent namespace-level accidents (accidental deletion of production namespace) and need rapid recovery capability
Don't get burned

Limitations to know

  • ! Not a real-time replication solution — Velero creates point-in-time snapshots on a schedule; APAC databases that require zero data loss (RPO=0) need application-level replication (MySQL Replication, PostgreSQL Streaming Replication) alongside Velero cluster backups
  • ! Persistent volume backup approach varies — Velero uses cloud provider volume snapshots (fast, consistent) or Restic file-level backup (slow, requires file system consistency); APAC teams using non-standard storage classes must verify Velero's supported backup approach for their storage provider
  • ! Restore time for large clusters — restoring large APAC Kubernetes clusters with significant PVC data can take hours; APAC teams should test restore performance and document expected RTO before depending on Velero for disaster recovery SLAs
  • ! No application-level consistency by default — Velero captures PVC data at the filesystem level, which may be inconsistent for databases with in-flight transactions; APAC teams must configure pre-backup hooks to flush and quiesce stateful applications before snapshot
Context

About Velero

Velero is a CNCF open-source Kubernetes backup and disaster recovery tool that provides APAC platform engineering teams with the ability to back up Kubernetes cluster resources (Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, Secrets, RBAC rules, PersistentVolumeClaims) and their associated persistent volume data to object storage (AWS S3, GCP Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, MinIO, or any S3-compatible store) — enabling backup, restore, and migration of APAC Kubernetes applications and their stateful data.

Velero's backup model — where a `velero backup create apac-production-backup --include-namespaces payments,orders,inventory` command captures all Kubernetes resources in the specified namespaces plus the persistent volume data from PersistentVolumeClaims — enables APAC platform teams to create consistent snapshots of application state that can be restored to recover from cluster failures, namespace accidents, or operator errors that delete or corrupt production resources.

Velero's scheduled backup automation — where `velero schedule create apac-daily-backup --schedule='0 2 * * *' --ttl 720h` creates a recurring backup job that runs daily at 02:00 UTC and retains backups for 30 days — enables APAC platform teams to implement automated backup policies without building custom backup automation, with backup history visible through `velero backup get`.

Velero's disaster recovery workflow — where cluster restoration begins with `velero restore create --from-backup apac-production-backup` on a new or recovered cluster — enables APAC platform teams to recover from catastrophic cluster failures by restoring the backed-up resource state to a new cluster, with persistent volume data restored from the object storage snapshot to new PersistentVolumes in the target cluster.

Velero's cross-cluster migration capability — where a backup from one APAC cluster (e.g., EKS in ap-southeast-1) can be restored to a different cluster (e.g., GKE in asia-east1) by pointing both clusters at the same backup object storage bucket — enables APAC platform teams to migrate workloads between Kubernetes clusters or cloud providers, particularly valuable for APAC organisations consolidating multi-cloud deployments or migrating from managed to self-managed Kubernetes.

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