Kubernetes nodes typically use virtual machines running on a hardware platform, which may be hosted in the cloud or on-premises. While Kubernetes nodes do not directly interact with the user, they must still be protected against external threats. Here is some disaster recovery in a Kubernetes system: best practices and solutions. Regional outages can disrupt or completely shut down Kubernetes apps.
DR testing
In a disaster, you should consider performing DR testing in a Kubernetes system to ensure that all your clusters are functioning properly. It is important to remember that disaster recovery is only as effective as your ability to repeat the steps you have taken to protect your system. Disaster recovery drills help you practice your plan and keep your training current. They can also improve your team’s ability to deal with a disaster.
The RTO value of a DR solution depends on how often you schedule it and how frequently it runs. For stateful applications, it’s crucial to back up data in persistent volumes. The size of a storage-focused application directly correlates with its RPO. Also, the backup of the network element is not part of Kubernetes, so you have to back it up separately.
DR plan
A good DR plan for a Kubernetes system will have a plan to restore your production environment in case the main cluster fails. It would help if you considered using a CI/CD pipeline to automate the deployment of new apps into the cluster. Make sure to point these tasks to the right cluster. If an application fails, perform a health check at the load balancer level. You can also set up a monitoring system to automatically trigger steps to remove it from one cluster to another.
When setting up your DR plan, consider who will activate it, what it will look like, and when it will take effect. Your plan should be as simple and automated as possible. Remember the KISS principle: automate as many steps as possible. Then, use this plan to implement your disaster recovery plan.
Backups
Despite being an excellent application deployment environment, Kubernetes has some unique characteristics that make disaster recovery more challenging than ever. A backup solution tailored for Kubernetes is essential for your cloud-native applications. A good backup solution should be Kubernetes native to ensure that it can recover your data in an accidental or deliberate attack.
Using a backup solution is essential for any mission-critical situation. Backups should be created and tested regularly for maximum efficiency. If you need to recover from disasters, you can use a managed service to manage it. This way, you don’t have to worry about worrying about it and its backups. Furthermore, disaster recovery solutions should be designed, so your Kubernetes system doesn’t lose critical data during a disaster.
Replication
In the case of a Kubernetes system, replication is the best practice to recover from a disaster. In such an environment, all nodes of the cluster are replicated. It means that failures to one node will not have catastrophic effects on the rest of the cluster. Moreover, replication prevents failures from occurring again until a full recovery is achieved.
The primary cluster replicates the mount configuration to the secondary cluster. Replication is necessary to prevent catastrophic failures of entire clusters. During a disaster, the secondary cluster will continue to serve requests from the primary cluster while the primary one is down. The replica is synchronously replicated to prevent data loss and restore full redundancy after the recovery from a disaster.
Heartbeats
One of the most common problems in a Kubernetes system is the slowness of the disk. It is because the leader must send heartbeats to its followers regularly, or they will not know if the node is still up and running. Moreover, this type of heartbeat can be caused by a slow disk because it requires a leader to persist data on its disk.
One of the best ways to recover from a Kubernetes disaster is to configure your system to use Heartbeats, which extend the feature of Kubernetes. If you don’t use this feature, you will end up with an unusable system that cannot function properly. So then, you should consider adding some heartbeats to the cluster and test it regularly.
