Backups

Backups

Backup solution designed to protect workloads, data, and configurations across any environment.

Trilio vs. Cinder-Backup

Users can choose between Trilio and Cinder-Backup for backup management, both of which leverage backups using snapshots but are designed for different needs and levels of automation.

Feature	Trilio	Cinder-Backup
Backup Type	Incremental and full backups using snapshots	Incremental and full backups of Cinder volumes
Scheduling	✅ Automated scheduling available	❌ Manual or external tool required
Recovery	✅ Automated recovery (VM and application-level)	❌ Manual recovery required
Retention Policies	✅ Configurable retention policies	❌ Manual management required
Use Case	Enterprise environments, automation, scalability	Small-scale or custom environments

Snapshot and Backup Technologies by Use Case

Technology	VMs (Basic)	VMs with Consistency (qemu-guest-agent)	DB (Non-Prod)	DB (Low Transactions)	DB (High Transactions)	Kubernetes Persistent Volumes
VM Snapshot (as-is)	✅ (Crash-consistent)	❌ (Use qemu-guest-agent instead)	✅ (Crash-consistent, risk of corruption)	❌ (Risk of data loss)	❌ (High risk of data loss)	❌ (Not recommended)
VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent	✅ (Filesystem consistent)	✅ (Filesystem consistent)	✅ (Filesystem consistent, but DB may still have logical inconsistencies)	✅ (Improved consistency)	❌ (Not sufficient for high transactions)	❌ (Not applicable)
VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent + Custom Hooks	❌ (Overkill for basic VMs)	✅ (DB-consistent if hooks are configured)	✅ (DB-consistent)	✅ (DB-consistent)	✅ (DB-consistent, but requires careful hook setup)	❌ (Not applicable)
Native DB Tools (e.g., pg_dump, mysqldump)	❌ (Not for VM recovery)	❌ (Not for VM recovery)	✅ (Granular recovery)	✅ (Granular recovery)	✅ (Best for granular recovery)	❌ (Not for K8s volumes)
Velero + CSI (e.g., csi-cinder)	❌ (Not for VMs)	❌ (Not for VMs)	❌ (Not for DBs directly)	❌ (Not for DBs directly)	❌ (Not for DBs directly)	✅ (Cluster-consistent, includes persistent volumes)

Caveats by Technology

• VM Snapshot (as-is):

  • Caveat: Crash-consistent only. Risk of data corruption if the VM was writing data during the snapshot.

• VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent:

  • Caveat: Filesystem consistent, but DBs may still have logical inconsistencies (e.g., uncommitted transactions).

• VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent + Custom Hooks:

  • Caveat: Requires scripting and manual configuration in Trilio. Hooks must be tested to ensure they work as expected.

• Native DB Tools:

  • Caveat: Does not recover the entire VM or OS. Only useful for DB-level recovery.

• Velero + CSI:

  • Caveat: Requires Velero setup and CSI driver configuration. Does not replace DB-native tools for granular DB recovery.

Recommendations by Use Case

• VMs (Basic): Use VM Snapshot (as-is) or VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent for filesystem consistency.
• VMs with Consistency: Use VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent.
• DB (Non-Prod): Use VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent or Native DB Tools for granular recovery.
• DB (Low Transactions): Use VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent + Custom Hooks or Native DB Tools.
• DB (High Transactions): Use Native DB Tools for granular recovery and VM Snapshot + qemu-guest-agent + Custom Hooks for full VM recovery.
• Kubernetes Persistent Volumes: Use Velero + CSI for cluster-level recovery.