Chapter 1. Backing up the undercloud node
To back up the undercloud node, you configure the backup node, install the Relax-and-Recover tool on the undercloud node, and create the backup image. You can create backups as a part of your regular environment maintenance.
In addition, you must back up the undercloud node before performing updates or upgrades. You can use the backups to restore the undercloud node to its previous state if an error occurs during an update or upgrade.
1.1. 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 when you use ReaR to back up and restore the undercloud and control plane.
- Bootable media formats
- ISO
- File transport protocols
- SFTP
- NFS
1.2. Configuring the backup storage location
Before you create a backup of the control plane nodes, configure the backup storage location in the bar-vars.yaml
environment file. This file stores the key-value parameters that you want to pass to the backup execution.
Procedure
In the
bar-vars.yaml
file, configure the backup storage location. Follow the appropriate steps for your NFS server or SFTP server.If you use an NFS server, add the following parameters the
bar-vars.yaml
file:tripleo_backup_and_restore_server: <ip_address> tripleo_backup_and_restore_shared_storage_folder: <backup_server_dir_path> tripleo_backup_and_restore_output_url: "nfs://{{ tripleo_backup_and_restore_server }}{{ tripleo_backup_and_restore_shared_storage_folder }}" tripleo_backup_and_restore_backup_url: "nfs://{{ tripleo_backup_and_restore_server }}{{ tripleo_backup_and_restore_shared_storage_folder }}"
Replace
<ip_address>
and<backup_server_dir_path>
. The default value fortripleo_backup_and_restore_server
parameter value is192.168.24.1
.If you use an SFTP server, add the
tripleo_backup_and_restore_output_url
parameter and set the values of the URL and credentials of the SFTP server:tripleo_backup_and_restore_output_url: sftp://<user>:<password>@<backup_node>/ tripleo_backup_and_restore_backup_url: iso:///backup/
Replace
<user>
,<password>
, and<backup_node>
with the backup node URL and credentials.
1.3. 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, create 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) IP address parameter for the NFS server is
192.168.24.1
. You must add the parametertripleo_backup_and_restore_server
to set the IP address value that matches your environment.
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:
(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ cat <<'EOF'> ~/nfs-inventory.yaml [BackupNode] <backup_node> ansible_host=<ip_address> ansible_user=<user> EOF
Replace
<ip_address>
and<user>
with the values that apply to your environment.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.Configure the NFS server on the backup node:
(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ openstack undercloud backup --setup-nfs --extra-vars /home/stack/bar-vars.yaml --inventory /home/stack/nfs-inventory.yaml
1.4. Installing ReaR on the undercloud node
Before you create a backup of the undercloud node, install and configure Relax and Recover (ReaR) on the undercloud.
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 1.3, “Installing and configuring an NFS server on the backup node”.
Procedure
On the undercloud node, source the undercloud credentials:
[stack@undercloud ~]$ source stackrc
If you use a custom stack name, add the
--stack <stack_name>
option to thetripleo-ansible-inventory
command.If you have not done so before, create an inventory file and use the
tripleo-ansible-inventory
command to generate a static inventory file that contains hosts and variables for all the overcloud nodes:(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ tripleo-ansible-inventory \ --ansible_ssh_user heat-admin \ --static-yaml-inventory /home/stack/tripleo-inventory.yaml
Install ReaR on the undercloud node:
(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ openstack undercloud backup --setup-rear --extra-vars /home/stack/bar-vars.yaml --inventory /home/stack/tripleo-inventory.yaml
If your system uses the UEFI boot loader, perform the following steps on the undercloud node:
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
.
1.5. Creating a standalone database backup of the undercloud nodes
If you are upgrading your Red Hat OpenStack Platform environment from 13 to 16.2, you must create a standalone database backup after you perform the undercloud upgrade and before you perform the Leapp upgrade process on the undercloud nodes.
You can optionally include standalone undercloud database backups in your routine backup schedule to provide additional data security. A full backup of an undercloud node includes a database backup of the undercloud node. But if a full undercloud restoration fails, you might lose access to the database portion of the full undercloud backup. In this case, you can recover the database from a standalone undercloud database backup.
Procedure
Create a database backup of the undercloud nodes:
openstack undercloud backup --db-only
The db backup file is stored in
/home/stack with the name openstack-backup-mysql-<timestamp>.sql
.
1.6. 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.
1.7. Creating a backup of the undercloud node
To create a backup of the undercloud node, use the openstack undercloud backup
command. You can then use the backup to restore the undercloud node to its previous state in case the node becomes corrupted or inaccessible. The backup of the undercloud node includes the backup of the database that runs on the undercloud node.
If you are upgrading your Red Hat OpenStack Platform environment from 13 to 16.2, you must create a separate database backup after you perform the undercloud upgrade and before you perform the Leapp upgrade process on the overcloud nodes. For more information, see Section 1.5, “Creating a standalone database backup of the undercloud 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 1.3, “Installing and configuring an NFS server on the backup node”.
- You have installed ReaR on the undercloud node. For more information, see Section 1.4, “Installing ReaR on the undercloud node”.
- If you use an OVS bridge for your network interfaces, you have configured the OVS interfaces. For more information, see Section 1.6, “Configuring Open vSwitch (OVS) interfaces for backup”.
Procedure
-
Log in to the undercloud as the
stack
user. Retrieve the MySQL root password:
[stack@undercloud ~]$ PASSWORD=$(sudo /bin/hiera -c /etc/puppet/hiera.yaml mysql::server::root_password)
Create a database backup of the undercloud node:
[stack@undercloud ~]$ sudo podman exec mysql bash -c "mysqldump -uroot -p$PASSWORD --opt --all-databases" | sudo tee /root/undercloud-all-databases.sql
Source the undercloud credentials:
[stack@undercloud ~]$ source stackrc
If you have not done so before, create an inventory file and use the
tripleo-ansible-inventory
command to generate a static inventory file that contains hosts and variables for all the overcloud nodes:(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ tripleo-ansible-inventory \ --ansible_ssh_user heat-admin \ --static-yaml-inventory /home/stack/tripleo-inventory.yaml
Create a backup of the undercloud node:
(undercloud) [stack@undercloud ~]$ openstack undercloud backup --inventory /home/stack/tripleo-inventory.yaml
1.8. Scheduling undercloud node backups with cron
You can schedule backups of the undercloud nodes with ReaR by 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 1.3, “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
To schedule a backup of your control plane nodes, run the following command. The default schedule is Sundays at midnight:
openstack undercloud backup --cron
Optional: Customize the scheduled backup according to your deployment:
To change the default backup schedule, pass a different cron schedule on the
tripleo_backup_and_restore_cron
parameter:openstack undercloud backup --cron --extra-vars '{"tripleo_backup_and_restore_cron": "0 0 * * 0"}'
To define additional parameters that are added to the backup command when cron runs the scheduled backup, pass the
tripleo_backup_and_restore_cron_extra
parameter to the backup command, as shown in the following example:openstack undercloud backup --cron --extra-vars '{"tripleo_backup_and_restore_cron_extra":"--extra-vars bar-vars.yaml --inventory /home/stack/tripleo-inventory.yaml"}'
To change the default user that executes the backup, pass the
tripleo_backup_and_restore_cron_user
parameter to the backup command, as shown in the following example:openstack undercloud backup --cron --extra-vars '{"tripleo_backup_and_restore_cron_user": "root"}