Disaster Recovery for Virtual Machines with Kasten K10

Introduction

In this workshop, we’ve explored performance, networking, and high availability. But availability (keeping the service online) is different from data protection (keeping the data safe). What happens if an administrator accidentally deletes the entire project? Or if data inside a VM becomes corrupted and you need to roll back to yesterday’s copy?

This is where Disaster Recovery (DR) and backup solutions become critical. OpenShift Virtualization workloads are complex, consisting of a VirtualMachine definition, a DataVolume, a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC), and the underlying data. We need a solution that understands and can back up all these components as a single, consistent application.

In this final module, you will learn how to use Kasten K10 by Veeam, a leading Kubernetes data protection platform, to back up and restore an entire Virtual Machine application. You will create a VM with unique data, back it up, simulate a total disaster by deleting the project, and then restore the VM and its data from scratch.

Credentials for the Red Hat OpenShift Console

Your OpenShift cluster console is available {openshift_cluster_console_url}[here^].

Your local admin login is available with the following credentials:

User: {openshift_cluster_admin_username}
Password: {openshift_cluster_admin_password}

You will first see a page that asks you to choose an authentication provider, click on htpasswd_provider.

Figure 1. OpenShift Authentication

You will then be presented with a login screen where you can copy/paste your credentials.

Figure 2. OpenShift Login

Accessing the Kasten K10 Dashboard

First, let’s log in to the Kasten K10 dashboard, which is running as an application on our OpenShift cluster.

In the Administrator perspective of the OpenShift console, use the Project dropdown to select the kasten-io project.
In the left navigation menu, click on Networking → Routes.
You will see a Route named k10-dashboard. Click on the URL in the Location column.

Figure 3. Kasten Dashboard Route
A new tab will open. Kasten is integrated with OpenShift’s authentication. Click the Log in with OpenShift button.

Figure 4. Kasten Login Screen
You will be asked to authorize the Kasten service account. Click Allow selected permissions.
You are now at the main Kasten K10 Dashboard. This is your command center for all backup and restore operations.

Figure 5. Kasten K10 Dashboard

Create and Populate the Target VM

We need a VM with some "critical data" to back up.

Back in the OpenShift console, create a new project. Click Projects → Create Project.
Name: dr-test
Click Create.
Switch to the Virtualization perspective.
Go to Virtualization → VirtualMachines and make sure the dr-test project is selected.
Create a new VM:
- Name: critical-db-vm
- Operating System: Select a Fedora image.
- Flavor: tiny
Click Create VirtualMachine and wait for it to start and enter the Running state.
Once running, click on critical-db-vm and go to the Console tab.
Log in to the VM (e.g., user fedora, no password).
Now, let’s create our "critical data" file. This file is our proof that the data itself is being backed up.
```
echo "My Secret Database Password" > /home/fedora/secret-file.txt
```
Verify the file was created.
```
cat /home/fedora/secret-file.txt
```
You should see the output My Secret Database Password.
You can now log out of the console. Our VM is running and contains unique data.

Create a Backup Policy in Kasten

Now, let’s instruct Kasten to back up our new dr-test application.

Switch back to your Kasten K10 Dashboard browser tab.
Click on Applications in the left menu. Kasten automatically discovers applications (namespaces).
You should see dr-test in the list. Click on it.

Figure 6. Kasten Applications
The dashboard will show all the resources in this namespace, including our VM and its DataVolume.
Click the Create a Policy button.
Fill out the form:
- Name: dr-test-daily-backup
- Action: Backup (this is the default).
- Backup Frequency: Daily (Kasten will automatically select a time).
- Location Profile: A backup location (e.g., s3-storage-profile) should already be configured for you.
Click Create Policy.

Run the Backup Manually

The policy is set to run daily, but we want a backup now.

You will be on the Policies page. Find your dr-test-daily-backup policy.
Click the Run Once button (the "play" icon) on the far right of its row.
A dialog will pop up. Click the Run button.

Figure 7. Run Kasten Policy
Go to the main Dashboard by clicking the Kasten logo in the top left.
You will see your backup job running in the Activity panel.
Wait for the Backup job to show the status Succeeded. This may take a few minutes as it copies the VM’s disk data (a snapshot) to the S3 backup location.

Figure 8. Kasten Backup Succeeded
We now have a secure, application-consistent backup of our VM and its data, stored externally from the cluster.

Simulate a Total Disaster

Now, let’s perform the ultimate "oops" and delete the entire project.

Return to the OpenShift Console tab.
Switch to the Administrator perspective.
Go to Home → Projects.
Find the dr-test project.
Click the Kebab menu (⋮) on the far right of its row, and select Delete Project.

Figure 9. Delete Project
A confirmation box will appear. Type dr-test to confirm.
Click Delete.
The project will change to Terminating and then disappear from the list.
Our VM, its disk (PVC), its console, and our "secret file" are all gone.

Restore the Application from Backup

Time to see if Kasten can save the day.

Go back to the Kasten K10 Dashboard.
Click on Applications in the left menu.
The dr-test application will still be listed, but will have a Removed status.
Click on dr-test.
You will see a list of Restore Points. We have the one we just created.
Click the Restore icon on the right of that restore point.

Figure 10. Kasten Restore Point
The Restore Application dialog will appear.
We want to restore everything to its original place. Kasten is smart enough to know it needs to re-create the dr-test namespace.
Leave all defaults and click the Restore button at the bottom.

Figure 11. Kasten Restore Dialog
You will be taken to the Dashboard, where you can see the Restore job in the Activity panel.
Wait for the job to show the status Succeeded.

Verify the VM and its Data

The Kasten dashboard says the restore is complete. Let’s verify.

Go back to the OpenShift Console.
Go to Home → Projects.
Look! The dr-test project has reappeared!
Click on the dr-test project.
Switch to the Virtualization perspective.
Go to Virtualization → VirtualMachines.
You will see critical-db-vm is back and in the Running state.
But is the data there? This is the most important test.
Click on critical-db-vm and open the Console tab.
Log in to the VM (fedora).
Run the cat command again to check for our file:
```
cat /home/fedora/secret-file.txt
```
The console will output:
```
My Secret Database Password
```
Our VM, its disk, and its critical data have all been fully restored from backup.

Workshop Summary

In this module, you learned how to provide true data protection and disaster recovery for your OpenShift Virtualization workloads. You used Kasten K10 to create an application-aware backup of a Virtual Machine, including its persistent data. You then simulated a catastrophic project deletion and successfully restored the entire application—the project, the VM, and its data—from an external backup, proving the system’s resilience.

Congratulations! You have completed the OpenShift Virtualization workshop. You have journeyed from basic VM creation to advanced networking with VLANs, high availability with load balancers, automated node-failure remediation, and finally, complete disaster recovery. You are now well-equipped to run modern and traditional workloads side-by-side on the OpenShift platform.