CSI Volume Features Support

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Starting with Bacula Enterprise 12.6.0, support for Kubernetes CSI Volume Cloning was introduced, along with other enhancements. Later, starting with Bacula Enterprise 16.0.8, Kubernetes CSI Volume Snapshot support was added. From that version onward, the plugin automatically detects whether it can use this functionality. As of 16.0.13, users can choose the backup mode that best fits their needs while maintaining compatibility.

Starting from Bacula Enterprise version 16.0.8, you can use CSI Volume Cloning or CSI Volume Snapshot to obtain a consistent data view of selected Volumes.

Additionally, you can configure remote command execution in a selected Container of the Pod. This command execution can be configured just before or after a Pod backup and just after volume snapshot/clone creation. More details in here.

CSI drivers may or may not implement volume cloning and/or snapshot functionality. For reference, see CSI Volume Cloning and Volume Snapshots.

The main distinction between CSI Volume Cloning and CSI Volume Snapshot is that Volume Cloning creates an exact duplicate of the specified volume, meanwhile, the Volume Snapshot represents a point-in-time copy of a volume. Therefore, a snapshot-based backup offers greater consistency.

When performing persistent volume backups, the plugin uses the volume clone and snapshot APIs. Because snapshotting generally provides a higher level of consistency, the plugin uses snapshots by default whenever the persistent volume’s CSI driver supports them.