Enterprise workloads typically have a strong requirement for reliable data storage. When dealing with Kubernetes storage, persistent volumes can be provisioned using a variety of solutions. However, ensuring that the data is easy to backup and restore, always available, consistent, and durable in a Kubernetes workload DR (Disaster Recovery) situation or any other failure is the responsibility of end users and administrators.
In this article, we’ll look at how containerized applications in Kubernetes can take advantage of the enterprise data protection features of Cloud Volumes ONTAP by provisioning persistent volumes through NetApp Trident. This solution can help meet all the data protection requirements of production Kubernetes workloads transparently and with ease.
Read on below as we cover:
Stateful applications in production environments, such as database services, require access to redundant and highly available data storage. Most stateless applications make use of stateful services in order to fulfill client requests, and therefore have an indirect dependency on robust data storage services as well. Kubernetes provides a lot of flexibility when it comes to persistent data storage provisioning, however, each solution uses its own specific mechanisms for protecting data, which may also have limitations.
Persistent data is non-transient, business critical information that requires robust and durable storage to ensure that this data is always available to client users and applications. Kubernetes caters for persistent data storage through persistent volumes, which have a life-cycle that is independent of any particular container and that can be provisioned using a diverse range of storage platforms.
How do different storage solutions protect that data differently? For example, persistent volumes can be provisioned using Amazon EBS, which provides some level of data redundancy within an Availability Zone; however, this is not sufficient protection for all organizations where end users are expected to build their own solutions to protect data across Availability Zones, or across regions. When it comes to Kubernetes workload DR requirements, investing in this type of data protection is not only mandatory for business continuity and regulatory requirements, it also pays huge dividends in the long run.
Another important requirement for protecting persistent data storage is the ability to create and restore backups. Examples of why you’d take regular backups include ensuring that previous versions of the data are available in case of user error and providing your deployment in Kubernetes security against malicious access, such as ransomware attacks. Due to the large size of production datasets, an efficient procedure is required not only to create backups, but also to restore them consistently.
NetApp Trident is a fully-supported, open-source provisioner for Kubernetes that allocates data storage in the cloud using Cloud Volumes ONTAP for AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure, or on-prem with any NetApp ONTAP system. This allows pods and containers within Kubernetes to take advantage of the enterprise data protection capabilities of NetApp storage services no matter which type of environment, or environments, you use.
With Cloud Volumes ONTAP, Kubernetes users can find the resources they need in order to:Automated, Incremental Forever Block-Level Backup Service
Cloud Volumes ONTAP and on-premises ONTAP can take advantage of NetApp Cloud Backup to seamlessly create, store, update, and restore block-level, incremental forever copies of your Kubernetes persistent volumes. Cloud Backup is a fully-automated backup service that leverages the inexpensive and scalable object storage services on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, offering significant cost- and time savings over NDMP-based backup solutions.
Cloud Volumes ONTAP builds on the native compute and storage resources of the cloud to deliver a comprehensive range of data management features, which are made readily available to Kubernetes through NetApp Trident. The data protection features supported by Cloud Volumes ONTAP ensure that persistent data storage in Kubernetes is resilient against local, site-wide, and region-wide failures, which is a must for critical enterprise workloads.
Learn more about how Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports Kubernetes Persistent Volume provisioning and management requirements of containerized workloads, and how Cloud Volumes ONTAP helps to address the challenges of containerized applications in these Kubernetes Workloads with Cloud Volumes ONTAP Case Studies.