Back up and restore PX-CSI clusters using volume resource-only backup in Portworx Backup

Portworx Backup supports volume resource-only (VRO) backup and restore for PX-CSI Kubernetes clusters. A VRO backup captures only Kubernetes resource definitions, including PVC and PV specifications and application manifests, without taking storage snapshots. Because the underlying storage volumes remain on the FlashArray or FlashBlade backend, PX-CSI can rebind to the same volumes when you restore those resources to a new or rebuilt cluster. No data migration is required.

How volume resource-only backup and restore work

A volume resource-only backup does not copy volume data. Portworx Backup captures:

• PVC and PV specifications
• Application manifests, such as Deployments, StatefulSets, and ConfigMaps

The data on the FlashArray or FlashBlade backend remains untouched and persists independently of the Kubernetes cluster lifecycle.

When you restore a VRO backup, Portworx Backup recreates the Kubernetes resources in the target cluster. PX-CSI uses the PV specification to reconnect to the backend volumes that already exist on the FlashArray or FlashBlade. Application pods resume access without any data migration or transfer.

VRO backup and restore helps in cluster migration, cluster rebuild after a control plane failure, and disaster recovery when the target cluster has network access to the same storage backend.

Prerequisites

Before performing volume resource-only backup and restore, verify the following:

• Portworx Backup version 2.11.0 or later is installed and configured with access to both the source and target Kubernetes clusters
• Stork is installed and running on both the source and target Kubernetes clusters. For more information, see Install Stork.
• PX-CSI version 26.2.1 or later is installed and running on both the source and target Kubernetes clusters
• The target Kubernetes cluster has network access to the same FlashArray or FlashBlade backend as the source cluster
• The Portworx Backup version supports volume resource-only backups

Perform a volume resource-only backup and restore

To perform a volume resource-only backup and restore using Portworx Backup:

1. Add your source PX-CSI cluster to Portworx Backup.
2. Create a volume resource-only policy that targets your CSI driver.
3. Take a backup of the source cluster using the volume resource-only policy.
4. Add your target PX-CSI cluster to Portworx Backup.
5. Restore the backup to the target cluster.