Chapter 2. Backing up the control plane nodes
To back up the control plane nodes, you configure the backup node, install the Relax-and-Recover tool on the control plane nodes, and create the backup image. You can create backups as a part of your regular environment maintenance.
You must back up the control plane nodes before performing updates or upgrades. You can use the backups to restore the control plane nodes to their previous state if an error occurs during an update or upgrade. You can also create backups as a part of your regular environment maintenance.
2.1. Supported backup formats and protocols
The undercloud and backup and restore process uses the open-source tool Relax-and-Recover (ReaR) to create and restore bootable backup images. ReaR is written in Bash and supports multiple image formats and multiple transport protocols.
The following list shows the backup formats and protocols that Red Hat OpenStack Platform supports.
- Bootable media formats
- ISO
- File transport protocols
- SFTP
- NFS
2.2. Installing and configuring an NFS server on the backup node
You can install and configure a new NFS server to store the backup file. To install and configure an NFS server on the backup node, create an inventory file, set up an SSH key, and run the openstack undercloud backup
command with the NFS server options.
- If you previously installed and configured an NFS or SFTP server, you do not need to complete this procedure. You enter the server information when you set up ReaR on the node that you want to back up.
-
By default, the Relax and Recover (ReaR) configuration assumes that the IP address of the NFS server is
192.168.24.1
. If your NFS server has a different IP address, add the parametertripleo_backup_and_restore_server
to the setup ReaR command.
Procedure
On the undercloud node, source the undercloud credentials:
[stack@undercloud ~]$ source stackrc (undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$
On the undercloud node, create an inventory file for the backup node and replace the
<ip_address>
and<user>
with the values that apply to your environment:(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ cat <<'EOF'> ~/nfs-inventory.yaml [BackupNode] <backup_node> ansible_host=<ip_address> ansible_user=<user> EOF
On the undercloud node, create the following Ansible playbook and replace
<backup_node>
with the host name of the backup node:(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ cat <<'EOF' > ~/bar_nfs_setup.yaml # Playbook # Substitute <backup_node> with the host name of your backup node. - become: true hosts: <backup_node> name: Setup NFS server for ReaR roles: - role: backup-and-restore EOF
Copy the public SSH key from the undercloud node to the backup node.
(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub <backup_node>
Replace
<backup_node>
with the path and name of the backup node.On the undercloud node, enter the following
ansible-playbook
commands to configure the backup node:(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ ansible-playbook \ -v -i ~/nfs-inventory.yaml \ --extra="ansible_ssh_common_args='-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'" \ --become \ --become-user root \ --tags bar_setup_nfs_server \ ~/bar_nfs_setup.yaml
2.3. Installing ReaR on the control plane nodes
Before you create a backup of the control plane nodes, install and configure Relax and Recover (ReaR) on each of the control plane nodes.
Due to a known issue, the ReaR backup of overcloud nodes continues even if a Controller node is down. Ensure that all your Controller nodes are running before you run the ReaR backup. A fix is planned for a later Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) release. For more information, see BZ#2077335 - Back up of the overcloud ctlplane keeps going even if one controller is unreachable.
Prerequisites
- You have an NFS or SFTP server installed and configured on the backup node. For more information about creating a new NFS server, see Section 2.2, “Installing and configuring an NFS server on the backup node”.
Procedure
On the undercloud node, create the following Ansible playbook:
(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ cat <<'EOF' > ~/bar_rear_setup-controller.yaml # Playbook # Install and configuring ReaR on the control plane nodes - become: true hosts: Controller name: Install ReaR roles: - role: backup-and-restore EOF
NoteIf you deployed the control plane nodes with composable roles, replace the host type
Controller
with the types of nodes in your control plane. For example, if you deployed the database, messaging, and networking on separate nodes, enterControllerOpenstack,Database,Messaging,Networker
.Choose one of the following options:
If you use NFS and the IP address of the NFS server is the default value
192.168.24.1
, on the undercloud node, enter the following Ansible command to install ReaR on the control plane nodes:(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ ansible-playbook \ -v -i ~/tripleo-inventory.yaml \ --extra="ansible_ssh_common_args='-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'" \ --become \ --become-user root \ --tags bar_setup_rear \ ~/bar_rear_setup-controller.yaml
If you use SFTP and the IP address of the NFS server is not the default value
192.168.24.1
, enter the following Ansible command to install ReaR on the control plane nodes:(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ ansible-playbook \ -v -i ~/tripleo-inventory.yaml \ --extra="ansible_ssh_common_args='-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'" \ --become \ --become-user root \ -e tripleo_backup_and_restore_server=<nfs_ip> \ --tags bar_setup_rear \ ~/bar_rear_setup-controller.yaml
Replace
<nfs_ip>
with the IP address of your NFS server.If you use SFTP, enter the following Ansible command do install ReaR on the control plane nodes:
(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ ansible-playbook \ -v -i ~/tripleo-inventory.yaml \ --extra="ansible_ssh_common_args='-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'" \ --become \ --become-user root \ -e tripleo_backup_and_restore_output_url=sftp://<user>:<password>@<backup_node_ip>/ \ -e tripleo_backup_and_restore_backup_url=iso:///backup/ \ --tags bar_setup_rear \ ~/bar_rear_setup-undercloud.yaml
If your system uses the UEFI boot loader, perform the following steps on the control plane nodes:
Install the following tools:
$ sudo dnf install dosfstools efibootmgr
-
Enable UEFI backup in the ReaR configuration file located in
/etc/rear/local.conf
by replacing theUSING_UEFI_BOOTLOADER
parameter value0
with the value1
.
2.4. Configuring Open vSwitch (OVS) interfaces for backup
If you use an Open vSwitch (OVS) bridge in your environment, you must manually configure the OVS interfaces before you create a backup of the undercloud or control plane nodes. The restoration process uses this information to restore the network interfaces.
Procedure
In the
/etc/rear/local.conf
file, add theNETWORKING_PREPARATION_COMMANDS
parameter in the following format:NETWORKING_PREPARATION_COMMANDS=('<command_1>' '<command_2>' ...')
Replace
<command_1>
and<command_2>
with commands that configure the network interface names or IP addresses. For example, you can add theip link add br-ctlplane type bridge
command to configure the control plane bridge name or add theip link set eth0 up
command to set the name of the interface. You can add more commands to the parameter based on your network configuration.
2.5. Creating a backup of the control plane nodes
To create a backup of the control plane nodes, use the backup-and-restore
Ansible role. You can then use the backup to restore the control plane nodes to their previous state in case the nodes become corrupted or inaccessible. The backup of the control plane nodes includes the backup of the database that runs on the control plane nodes.
Prerequisites
- You have an NFS or SFTP server installed and configured on the backup node. For more information about creating a new NFS server, see Section 2.2, “Installing and configuring an NFS server on the backup node”.
- You have installed ReaR on the control plane nodes. For more information, see Section 2.3, “Installing ReaR on the control plane nodes”.
- If you use an OVS bridge for your network interfaces, you have configured the OVS interfaces. For more information, see Section 2.4, “Configuring Open vSwitch (OVS) interfaces for backup”.
Procedure
On each control plane node, back up the
config-drive
partition of each node as theroot
user:[root@controller-x ~]$ dd if=<config_drive_partition> of=/mnt/config-drive
On the undercloud node, create the following Ansible playbook:
(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ cat <<'EOF' > ~/bar_rear_create_restore_images-controller.yaml # Playbook # Using ReaR on the control plane nodes. - become: true hosts: ceph_mon name: Backup ceph authentication tasks: - name: Backup ceph authentication role include_role: name: backup-and-restore tasks_from: ceph_authentication tags: - bar_create_recover_image - become: true hosts: Controller name: Create the recovery images for the control plane roles: - role: backup-and-restore EOF
On the undercloud node, enter the following
ansible-playbook
command to create a backup of the control plane nodes:(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ ansible-playbook \ -v -i ~/tripleo-inventory.yaml \ --extra="ansible_ssh_common_args='-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'" \ --become \ --become-user root \ --tags bar_create_recover_image \ ~/bar_rear_create_restore_images-controller.yaml
2.6. Scheduling control plane node backups with cron
This feature is available in this release as a Technology Preview, and therefore is not fully supported by Red Hat. It should only be used for testing, and should not be deployed in a production environment. For more information about Technology Preview features, see Scope of Coverage Details.
You can configure a cron job to create backups of the control plane nodes with ReaR using the Ansible backup-and-restore
role. You can view the logs in the /var/log/rear-cron
directory.
Prerequisites
- You have an NFS or SFTP server installed and configured on the backup node. For more information about creating a new NFS server, see Section 1.2, “Installing and configuring an NFS server on the backup node”.
- You have installed ReaR on the undercloud and control plane nodes. For more information, see Section 2.3, “Installing ReaR on the control plane nodes”.
- You have sufficient available disk space at your backup location to store the backup.
Procedure
On the undercloud node, enter the following command to create the backup script:
[stack@undercloud ~]$ cat <<'EOF' > /home/stack/execute-rear-cron.sh #!/bin/bash OWNER="stack" TODAY=`date +%Y%m%d` FILE="/var/log/rear-cron.${TODAY}" sudo touch ${FILE} sudo chown ${OWNER}:${OWNER} ${FILE} CURRENTTIME=`date` echo "[$CURRENTTIME] rear start" >> ${FILE} source /home/stack/stackrc && /usr/bin/openstack overcloud backup 2>&1 >> ${FILE} CURRENTTIME=`date` echo "[$CURRENTTIME] rear end" >> ${FILE} EOF
Set executable privileges for the
/home/stack/execute-rear-cron.sh
script:[stack@undercloud ~]$ chmod 755 /home/stack/execute-rear-cron.sh
Edit the crontab file with the
crontab -e
command and use an editor of your choice to add the following cron job. Ensure you save the changes to the file:[stack@undercloud ~]# $ crontab -e #adding the following line 0 0 * * * /home/stack/execute-rear-cron.sh
The
/home/stack/execute-rear-cron.sh
script is scheduled to be executed by the stack user at midnight.To verify that the cron job is scheduled, enter the following command:
[stack@undercloud ~]$ crontab -l
The command output displays the scheduled cron jobs:
0 0 * * * /home/stack/execute-rear-cron.sh