velero

Velero is an open-source backup and disaster recovery tool for Kubernetes clusters. It was originally developed by Heptio and later continued under VMware, with ongoing community involvement. Velero enables users to back up cluster resources and persistent volumes to an object storage repository, and to restore them to the same or a different Kubernetes cluster.

Velero operates with a server component that runs inside a Kubernetes cluster and a command-line interface for operators. Backups are created and stored in object storage that is compatible with S3, such as AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, or on-premises solutions like MinIO. A backup typically includes Kubernetes resources (namespaces, deployments, services, config maps, secrets, CRDs, etc.) and, when available, volume data. For volumes, Velero can take snapshots through CSI drivers that support snapshots or, alternatively, use Restic for file-level backups.

Key features include scheduled backups, retention policies, and pre/post-backup hooks. Velero uses Custom Resource Definitions to model backups, restores, and schedules, and it supports plugins to extend storage backends and snapshot methods. Restores recreate the resources and volumes in the target cluster, enabling disaster recovery or migration to another cluster or cloud provider.

Common use cases are disaster recovery planning, data protection for Kubernetes workloads, and migrating applications between clusters or environments. The Velero ecosystem comprises the Velero CLI, the Velero server, and various plugins to support different storage and snapshot providers.