Custom backup and restore workflows

When you protect an application with Backup & Restore service or Backup & Restore (Legacy) service, a default backup and restore workflow is used to protect an application. But while the backup and restore workflow is sufficient for some applications, there are some instances where you need to create a custom workflow for the backup and restore process.

  • The default backup workflow that is used by the Backup & Restore or Backup & Restore (Legacy) service is as follows:
    1. Backup all namespace-scoped resources that are associated with the application and any dependent cluster-scoped resources.
    2. Run any Velero pre-backup hooks that are specified through pod annotations in an arbitrary order.
    3. Create snapshots of all PVCs associated with the application.
    4. Run any Velero post-backup hooks that are specified through pod annotations in an arbitrary order.
    5. If the backup policy specifies backup to an object storage, then copy the data to object storage.
  • The default restore workflow that is used by the Backup & Restore or Backup & Restore (Legacy) service is as follows:
    1. Restore all PVCs.
    2. Restore all resources in an arbitrary order.
    3. Run Velero post-restore hooks that are specified through pod annotations in an arbitrary order.

You need a recipe to create a custom workflow for the backup and restore process. For more information, see Creating a Recipe.