Syself Autopilot is designed around declarative Kubernetes infrastructure and reproducible clusters. Instead of treating cluster nodes as long-lived machines that need full-system backups, the recommended approach is to focus on GitOps-managed manifests and object storage for backing up application data.
The appropriate backup strategy depends heavily on the workload architecture and operational requirements.
If your workloads are managed through GitOps workflows, the Kubernetes resources already exist in version-controlled repositories.
In these environments, Kubernetes manifests can be recreated directly from Git repositories using tools such as ArgoCD or Flux. This significantly reduces the need to back up Kubernetes resource definitions themselves.
With GitOps-based workflows, disaster recovery often becomes a matter of:
While Kubernetes resources are often reproducible, application data usually is not.
The most important backups in a Kubernetes environment are commonly:
For production workloads, backups should ideally be stored outside the cluster itself using external object storage or dedicated backup systems.
Common approaches include:
Syself Autopilot fully supports Kubernetes-native backup solutions.
One of the most commonly used tools is Velero, which can back up:
Velero integrates with multiple object storage providers and is commonly used for disaster recovery and migration scenarios.
Other Kubernetes backup solutions can also be used depending on workload requirements and operational preferences.
As a general guideline:
| Component | Recommended Backup Strategy |
|---|---|
| Kubernetes manifests | Git repositories / GitOps |
| Databases | Native backups (operator-based) |
| Persistent volumes | Snapshots or object storage |
| User uploads | Object storage |
| AI and ML datasets | Object storage |
| Cluster configuration | Git repositories / GitOps |
Backup and disaster recovery planning can become complex in Kubernetes environments, especially for stateful workloads and AI platforms.
The Syself team can help with:
If you want guidance designing backup and recovery workflows for your Kubernetes platform, contact the Syself team.