Set up Ark on your platform

You can run Ark with a cloud provider or on-premises. For detailed information about the platforms that Ark supports, see Compatible Storage Providers.

In version 0.7.0 and later, you can run Ark in any namespace, which requires additional customization. See Run in custom namespace.

In version 0.9.0 and later, you can use Ark’s integration with restic, which requires additional setup. See restic instructions.

Cloud provider

The Ark repository includes a set of example YAML files that specify the settings for each supported cloud provider. For provider-specific instructions, see:

• Run Ark on AWS
• Run Ark on GCP
• Run Ark on Azure
• Use IBM Cloud Object Store as Ark’s storage destination

On-premises

You can run Ark in an on-premises cluster in different ways depending on your requirements.

First, you must select an object storage backend that Ark can use to store backup data. Compatible Storage Providers contains information on various options that are supported or have been reported to work by users. Minio is an option if you want to keep your backup data on-premises and you are not using another storage platform that offers an S3-compatible object storage API.

Second, if you need to back up persistent volume data, you must select a volume backup solution. Volume Snapshot Providers contains information on the supported options. For example, if you use Portworx for persistent storage, you can install their Ark plugin to get native Portworx snapshots as part of your Ark backups. If there is no native snapshot plugin available for your storage platform, you can use Ark’s restic integration, which provides a platform-agnostic backup solution for volume data.

Examples

After you set up the Ark server, try these examples:

Basic example (without PersistentVolumes)

1. Start the sample nginx app:

   kubectl apply -f examples/nginx-app/base.yaml
   

2. Create a backup:

   ark backup create nginx-backup --include-namespaces nginx-example
   

3. Simulate a disaster:

   kubectl delete namespaces nginx-example
   

   Wait for the namespace to be deleted.

4. Restore your lost resources:

   ark restore create --from-backup nginx-backup
   

Snapshot example (with PersistentVolumes)

NOTE: For Azure, you must run Kubernetes version 1.7.2 or later to support PV snapshotting of managed disks.

1. Start the sample nginx app:

   kubectl apply -f examples/nginx-app/with-pv.yaml
   

2. Create a backup with PV snapshotting:

   ark backup create nginx-backup --include-namespaces nginx-example
   

3. Simulate a disaster:

   kubectl delete namespaces nginx-example
   

   Because the default reclaim policy for dynamically-provisioned PVs is “Delete”, these commands should trigger your cloud provider to delete the disk that backs the PV. Deletion is asynchronous, so this may take some time. Before continuing to the next step, check your cloud provider to confirm that the disk no longer exists.

4. Restore your lost resources:

   ark restore create --from-backup nginx-backup