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Back up Data to Azure Blob Storage Using BR

This document describes how to back up the data of a TiDB cluster on Kubernetes to Azure Blob Storage.

The backup method described in this document is implemented based on CustomResourceDefinition (CRD) in TiDB Operator. For the underlying implementation, BR is used to get the backup data of the TiDB cluster, and then send the data to Azure Blob Storage. BR stands for Backup & Restore, which is a command-line tool for distributed backup and recovery of the TiDB cluster data.

Usage scenarios

If you have the following backup needs, you can use BR to make an ad-hoc backup or scheduled full backup of the TiDB cluster data to Azure Blob Storage.

To back up a large volume of data (more than 1 TB) at a fast speed
To get a direct backup of data as SST files (key-value pairs)

For other backup needs, refer to Backup and Restore Overview to choose an appropriate backup method.

Note

BR is only applicable to TiDB v3.1 or later releases.
Data that is backed up using BR can only be restored to TiDB instead of other databases.

Ad-hoc backup

Ad-hoc backup supports both full backup and incremental backup.

To get an Ad-hoc backup, you need to create a Backup Custom Resource (CR) object to describe the backup details. Then, TiDB Operator performs the specific backup operation based on this Backup object. If an error occurs during the backup process, TiDB Operator does not retry, and you need to handle this error manually.

This document provides an example about how to back up the data of the demo1 TiDB cluster in the test1 Kubernetes namespace to Azure Blob Storage. The following are the detailed steps.

Step 1. Prepare for an ad-hoc backup

Download backup-rbac.yaml, and execute the following command to create the role-based access control (RBAC) resources in the test1 namespace:

kubectl apply -f backup-rbac.yaml -n test1

Grant permissions to the remote storage. You can grant permissions to Azure Blob Storage by two methods. For details, refer to Azure account permissions.
For a TiDB version earlier than v4.0.8, you also need to complete the following preparation steps. For TiDB v4.0.8 or a later version, skip these preparation steps.
1. Make sure that you have the SELECT and UPDATE privileges on the mysql.tidb table of the backup database so that the Backup CR can adjust the GC time before and after the backup.
2. Create backup-demo1-tidb-secret to store the account and password to access the TiDB cluster:
```
kubectl create secret generic backup-demo1-tidb-secret --from-literal=password=${password} --namespace=test1
```

Step 2. Perform an ad-hoc backup

Depending on which method you choose to grant permissions to the remote storage when preparing for the ad-hoc backup, export your data to Azure Blob Storage by doing one of the following:

Method 1: If you grant permissions by access key, create the Backup CR to back up cluster data as described below:

kubectl apply -f backup-azblob.yaml

The content of backup-azblob.yaml is as follows:

---
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: Backup
metadata:
  name: demo1-backup-azblob
  namespace: test1
spec:
  backupType: full
  br:
    cluster: demo1
    clusterNamespace: test1
    # logLevel: info
    # statusAddr: ${status_addr}
    # concurrency: 4
    # rateLimit: 0
    # timeAgo: ${time}
    # checksum: true
    # sendCredToTikv: true
    # options:
    # - --lastbackupts=420134118382108673
  # Only needed for TiDB Operator < v1.1.10 or TiDB < v4.0.8
  from:
    host: ${tidb_host}
    port: ${tidb_port}
    user: ${tidb_user}
    secretName: backup-demo1-tidb-secret
  azblob:
    secretName: azblob-secret
    container: my-container
    prefix: my-folder

Method 2: If you grant permissions by Azure AD, create the Backup CR to back up cluster data as described below:

kubectl apply -f backup-azblob.yaml

The content of backup-azblob.yaml is as follows:

---
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: Backup
metadata:
  name: demo1-backup-azblob
  namespace: test1
spec:
  backupType: full
  serviceAccount: tidb-backup-manager
  br:
    cluster: demo1
    sendCredToTikv: false
    clusterNamespace: test1
    # logLevel: info
    # statusAddr: ${status_addr}
    # concurrency: 4
    # rateLimit: 0
    # timeAgo: ${time}
    # checksum: true
    # options:
    # - --lastbackupts=420134118382108673
  # Only needed for TiDB Operator < v1.1.10 or TiDB < v4.0.8
  from:
    host: ${tidb_host}
    port: ${tidb_port}
    user: ${tidb_user}
    secretName: backup-demo1-tidb-secret
  azblob:
    secretName: azblob-secret-ad
    container: my-container
    prefix: my-folder

When configuring backup-azblob.yaml, note the following:

Since TiDB Operator v1.1.6, if you want to back up data incrementally, you only need to specify the last backup timestamp --lastbackupts in spec.br.options. For the limitations of incremental backup, refer to Use BR to Back up and Restore Data.
For more information about Azure Blob Storage configuration, refer to Azure Blob Storage fields.
Some parameters in .spec.br are optional, such as logLevel and statusAddr. For more information about BR configuration, refer to BR fields.
For v4.0.8 or a later version, BR can automatically adjust tikv_gc_life_time. You do not need to configure spec.tikvGCLifeTime and spec.from fields in the Backup CR.
For more information about the Backup CR fields, refer to Backup CR fields.

After you create the Backup CR, TiDB Operator starts the backup automatically. You can view the backup status by running the following command:

kubectl get bk -n test1 -o wide

Backup CR examples

Back up data of all clusters

---
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: Backup
metadata:
  name: demo1-backup-azblob
  namespace: test1
spec:
  backupType: full
  serviceAccount: tidb-backup-manager
  br:
    cluster: demo1
    sendCredToTikv: false
    clusterNamespace: test1
  # Only needed for TiDB Operator < v1.1.10 or TiDB < v4.0.8
  # from:
    # host: ${tidb_host}
    # port: ${tidb_port}
    # user: ${tidb_user}
    # secretName: backup-demo1-tidb-secret
  azblob:
    secretName: azblob-secret-ad
    container: my-container
    prefix: my-folder

Back up data of a single database

The following example backs up data of the db1 database.

---
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: Backup
metadata:
  name: demo1-backup-azblob
  namespace: test1
spec:
  backupType: full
  serviceAccount: tidb-backup-manager
  tableFilter:
  - "db1.*"
  br:
    cluster: demo1
    sendCredToTikv: false
    clusterNamespace: test1
  # Only needed for TiDB Operator < v1.1.10 or TiDB < v4.0.8
  # from:
    # host: ${tidb_host}
    # port: ${tidb_port}
    # user: ${tidb_user}
    # secretName: backup-demo1-tidb-secret
  azblob:
    secretName: azblob-secret-ad
    container: my-container
    prefix: my-folder

Back up data of a single table

The following example backs up data of the db1.table1 table.

---
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: Backup
metadata:
  name: demo1-backup-azblob
  namespace: test1
spec:
  backupType: full
  serviceAccount: tidb-backup-manager
  tableFilter:
  - "db1.table1"
  br:
    cluster: demo1
    sendCredToTikv: false
    clusterNamespace: test1
  # Only needed for TiDB Operator < v1.1.10 or TiDB < v4.0.8
  # from:
    # host: ${tidb_host}
    # port: ${tidb_port}
    # user: ${tidb_user}
    # secretName: backup-demo1-tidb-secret
  azblob:
    secretName: azblob-secret-ad
    container: my-container
    prefix: my-folder

Back up data of multiple tables using the table filter

The following example backs up data of the db1.table1 table and db1.table2 table.

---
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: Backup
metadata:
  name: demo1-backup-azblob
  namespace: test1
spec:
  backupType: full
  serviceAccount: tidb-backup-manager
  tableFilter:
  - "db1.table1"
  - "db1.table2"
  # ...
  br:
    cluster: demo1
    sendCredToTikv: false
    clusterNamespace: test1
  # Only needed for TiDB Operator < v1.1.10 or TiDB < v4.0.8
  # from:
    # host: ${tidb_host}
    # port: ${tidb_port}
    # user: ${tidb_user}
    # secretName: backup-demo1-tidb-secret
  azblob:
    secretName: azblob-secret-ad
    container: my-container
    bucket: my-bucket
    prefix: my-folder

Scheduled full backup

You can set a backup policy to perform scheduled backups of the TiDB cluster, and set a backup retention policy to avoid excessive backup items. A scheduled full backup is described by a custom BackupSchedule CR object. A full backup is triggered at each backup time point. Its underlying implementation is the ad-hoc full backup.

Step 1. Prepare for a scheduled full backup

The steps to prepare for a scheduled full backup are the same as those of Prepare for an ad-hoc backup.

Step 2. Perform a scheduled full backup

Depending on which method you choose to grant permissions to the remote storage, perform a scheduled full backup by doing one of the following:

Method 1: If you grant permissions by access key, create the BackupSchedule CR, and back up cluster data as described below:

kubectl apply -f backup-scheduler-azblob.yaml

The content of backup-scheduler-azblob.yaml is as follows:

---
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: BackupSchedule
metadata:
  name: demo1-backup-schedule-azblob
  namespace: test1
spec:
  #maxBackups: 5
  #pause: true
  maxReservedTime: "3h"
  schedule: "*/2 * * * *"
  backupTemplate:
    backupType: full
    br:
      cluster: demo1
      clusterNamespace: test1
      # logLevel: info
      # statusAddr: ${status_addr}
      # concurrency: 4
      # rateLimit: 0
      # timeAgo: ${time}
      # checksum: true
      # sendCredToTikv: true
    # Only needed for TiDB Operator < v1.1.10 or TiDB < v4.0.8
    from:
      host: ${tidb_host}
      port: ${tidb_port}
      user: ${tidb_user}
      secretName: backup-demo1-tidb-secret
    azblob:
      secretName: azblob-secret-ad
      container: my-container
      prefix: my-folder

Method 2: If you grant permissions by Azure AD, create the BackupSchedule CR, and back up cluster data as described below:

kubectl apply -f backup-scheduler-azblob.yaml

The content of backup-scheduler-azblob.yaml is as follows:

---
apiVersion: pingcap.com/v1alpha1
kind: BackupSchedule
metadata:
  name: demo1-backup-schedule-azblob
  namespace: test1
spec:
  #maxBackups: 5
  #pause: true
  maxReservedTime: "3h"
  schedule: "*/2 * * * *"
  backupTemplate:
    backupType: full
    br:
      cluster: demo1
      sendCredToTikv: false
      clusterNamespace: test1
      # logLevel: info
      # statusAddr: ${status_addr}
      # concurrency: 4
      # rateLimit: 0
      # timeAgo: ${time}
      # checksum: true
    # Only needed for TiDB Operator < v1.1.10 or TiDB < v4.0.8
    from:
      host: ${tidb_host}
      port: ${tidb_port}
      user: ${tidb_user}
      secretName: backup-demo1-tidb-secret
    azblob:
      secretName: azblob-secret-ad
      container: my-container
      prefix: my-folder

From the preceding content in backup-scheduler-azblob.yaml, you can see that the backupSchedule configuration consists of two parts. One is the unique configuration of backupSchedule, and the other is backupTemplate.

For the unique configuration of backupSchedule, refer to BackupSchedule CR fields.
backupTemplate specifies the configuration related to the cluster and remote storage, which is the same as the spec configuration of the Backup CR.

After creating the scheduled full backup, you can run the following command to check the backup status:

kubectl get bks -n test1 -o wide

You can run the following command to check all the backup items:

kubectl get bk -l tidb.pingcap.com/backup-schedule=demo1-backup-schedule-azblob -n test1

Delete the backup CR

If you no longer need the backup CR, you can delete it by referring to Delete the Backup CR.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any problem during the backup process, refer to Common Deployment Failures.