Backup Types by Driver

Applicable to both Classic and Federated modes

This topic describes the various types of backups supported by Portworx Backup when different provisioners and drivers are involved in the backup creation phase. For more information on the types of backups that get triggered for the various options you choose in the web console during the backup creation operation for Portworx Backup 2.7.0 and later, see Backup type matrix.

warning

Federated mode limitations and migration impact: KDMP-based backup types (Direct KDMP and CSI local snapshot with KDMP offload) are not available in Federated mode. NFS backup locations are also not supported in Federated mode — only Azure Blob Storage is supported.

If you are migrating from Classic mode to Federated mode, be aware that:

• Existing KDMP-based backups cannot be used for restore in Federated mode.
• Existing NFS backup locations cannot be used and must be replaced with Azure Blob Storage backup locations.

Federated mode must be installed as a new deployment; in-place conversion from Classic mode is not supported.

Backup types

Portworx Backup allows you to configure the following types of backups based on the driver associated with the backups in the system:

• Portworx (Portworx cloud snapshots)

• Native CSI (on premises or on cloud)

• CSI local snapshot with KDMP (local snapshots with offload to back up location) (Classic mode only)

• Direct KDMP (Applicable to Classic mode only)

  note

  Portworx Backup currently supports VolumeBlock mode only on Portworx Enterprise.

Portworx cloud snapshots

Under the extent-based mode, Portworx compares contiguous ranges of blocks, called extents, to determine the difference between the local snapshot and the previously uploaded cloud snapshot.

Portworx uses this metadata to calculate the difference between snapshots for upload and does not need to store previous snapshots for comparison. Portworx reduces the footprint of the locally stored cloud snapshot data significantly. However, Portworx must also upload this metadata to the cloud alongside the cloud snap data, resulting in slightly larger uploads.

While taking extent-based snapshots, Portworx performs the following tasks:

• Takes a snapshot
• Downloads extent data for the previous snapshot from the cloud
• Compares extents, scans for changed blocks or generations
• Uploads the changes and new snapshot metadata
• Deletes the local snapshot

Native CSI snapshot (on-premises)

Portworx Backup utilizes the storage provider's CSI driver to create a local snapshot on the array. This default behavior is applicable to all CSI storage providers (Dell, NetApp, and so on).

To trigger a native CSI snapshot backup, in the Create Backup window:

• Disable Cross Cloud Backup/Restore toggle button
• Map your provisioner with Volume Snapshot Class (VSC) if applicable
• Disable Offload to backup location

Native CSI snapshot (on-cloud)

Portworx Backup uses the cloud storage provider's CSI driver to trigger a local snapshot. Depending on the driver and the underlying storage, the resulting snapshot may be stored on the cloud disk or at the storage-array level. This default behavior is applicable to all CSI storage providers (AWS, GKE, AKS and so on).

• Disable Cross Cloud Backup/Restore toggle button
• Map your provisioner with VSC if applicable
• Disable Offload to backup location

When a KDMP backup is used

A KDMP backup is used in the following scenarios:

1. Using non-Portworx storage platforms

   If your environment uses a storage platform other than Portworx Enterprise:

   • Storage provider does not support CSI snapshots

     For storage providers that do not support CSI snapshots, Portworx Backup performs a direct KDMP backup. In this case, select the Cross Cloud Backup/Restore option in the Create Backup window.

   • Storage provider supports CSI snapshots with offload

     If CSI snapshots are supported and you choose to offload the backup to a backup location (S3 or NFS), KDMP is used along with the selected Volume Snapshot Class (VSC).

2. Cross-cloud and cross-region operations

   When performing Cross-cloud and cross-region backup and restore operations

3. 3-2-1 backup strategy

   When configuring backups to follow the 3-2-1 backups strategy

3-2-1 backup strategy

The 3-2-1 backup strategy is a data protection best practice that recommends maintaining:

• 3 total copies of your data
• 2 copies on different types of storage media
• 1 copy stored offsite or in a separate location

Portworx Backup supports this strategy using a combination of local snapshots and offloaded backups with the KDMP driver.

When you use CSI local snapshot with KDMP (local snapshots with offload to back up location), Portworx Backup creates three copies of your data:

Copy	Location	Storage type
Copy 1	Original application data on persistent volumes (PVs) on the application cluster	Primary cluster storage (SAN, NAS, or cloud disk)
Copy 2	CSI local snapshot on the storage array or cloud disk	Snapshot storage (separate from primary PVs)
Copy 3	Offloaded backup in the configured backup location (S3-compatible object store or NFS share)	Object storage or NFS (offsite or separate infrastructure)

This setup meets all three requirements of the 3-2-1 strategy:

• Three copies (original data + snapshot + backup)
• Two different media types (block/file storage and object storage or NFS)
• One offsite copy (the backup location)

For configuration steps and guidance on extending this strategy with multiple backup locations, see Configure a 3-2-1 backup strategy.

CSI local snapshot with KDMP

In Portworx Backup, the CSI driver takes local snapshots and later offloads or uploads those snapshots to S3-compliant object stores or NFS-based backup locations using the KDMP driver.

In this case, Portworx Backup performs the following tasks:

a. Takes available snapshot storageclass information
b. Creates a local snapshot using CSI driver
c. Uses KDMP driver to attach the mount point of the PV on the worker node
d. Copies the file system contents to object store (S3 or others) or NFS backup location

To trigger a CSI local snapshot with KDMP, in the Create backup window:

• Disable Cross Cloud Backup/Restore toggle button
• Map your provisioner with volume snapshot class (VSC) wherever applicable
• Enable Offload to backup location

For more information on how to create a CSI local snapshot with KDMP backup, see Snapshot class mapping backup.

Direct KDMP/generic

This backup type uses the KDMP driver to attach the mount point of the PV on the worker node and copy the file system contents to object storage.

When a direct KDMP backup or generic backup occurs

Portworx Backup triggers a direct KDMP backup in the following scenarios:

• When you enable the Cross Cloud Backup/Restore option in the Create Backup window of the web console during the backup creation operation.

For more details, see Cross Cloud backup/restore.