Backing up of Che instances to the internal backup server

To create backups for testing purposes, you can use the internal backup server. The internal backup server is a REST backup server that is managed by the Che Operator.

The Che Operator defaults to using the internal backup server for pre-update backups (to allow the Che version rollback) if multiple backup servers are configured and if the che.eclipse.org/backup-before-update: true annotation is added to more than one of the multiple backup servers or is not added to the custom object of any one of the multiple backup servers.

Backing up a Che instance to the internal server by using the CheClusterBackup custom object

You can create a custom object to back up a Che instance to the internal backup server.

In this case, the Che Operator automatically configures the internal backup server and creates a CheBackupServerConfiguration custom object with name: backup-rest-server-configuration.

Configuring a backup server inside the same cluster, for example the internal backup server, is not the best practice because a cluster failure can be one of the scenarios when a backed up Che instance needs to be restored.

Procedure

Create the CheClusterBackup custom object to send a backup snapshot to the internal backup server:
```
apiVersion: org.eclipse.che/v1
kind: CheClusterBackup
metadata:
  name: eclipse-che-backup
  namespace: eclipse-che
spec:
  useInternalBackupServer: true (1)
```
1 Configures the custom resource to back up to the internal backup server.

Read the status section of the CheClusterBackup object to verify the backup process:

...
status:
  message: 'Backup is in progress. Start time: <timestamp>' (1)
  stage: Collecting Che installation data (2)
  state: InProgress (3)
...

1	Displays the overall state or error message.
2	Current phase of the backup process in a human-readable format.
3	Backup process state: `InProgress` or `Succeeded` or `Failed`.

...
status:
  cheVersion: 7.37.0 (1)
  message: >- (2)
    Backup successfully finished at 2021-10-07 11:18:28.116103737 +0000 UTC
    m=+2384.430366711
  snapshotId: 40a09756 (3)
  state: Succeeded (4)
...

1	The version of Che from which the backup snapshot was created. This field appears only when `state` is `Succeeded`.
2	Displays the overall state or error message.
3	The ID of the created backup snapshot. This field appears only when `state` is `Succeeded`.
4	Backup process state: `InProgress` or `Succeeded` or `Failed`.

Backing up a Che instance to the internal server by using chectl

You can use chectl to take a backup snapshot of a Che instance and send it to the internal backup server.

In this case, the Che Operator automatically configures the internal backup server and creates a CheBackupServerConfiguration custom object with name: backup-rest-server-configuration.

This procedure does not back up the source code stored in users' workspaces. To back up the source code stored in users' workspaces, see Backups of persistent volumes.

Prerequisites

Installed chectl.
Che has not been configured to use a backup server.

Procedure

On a command line, enter the chectl server:backup command with no arguments.

Verify the output of the entered command. For example:

...
  ✔ Scheduling backup...OK
  ✔ Waiting until backup process finishes...OK
Backup snapshot ID: 9f0adce2
Command server:backup has completed successfully in 00:10.