From the Longhorn UI, recurring snapshots and backups can be scheduled.

To set up a schedule, you will go to the volume detail view in Longhorn. Then you will set:

  • The type of schedule, either backup or snapshot
  • The time that the backup or snapshot will be created, in the form of a CRON expression
  • The number of backups or snapshots to retain
  • Any labels that should be applied to the backup or snapshot

Then Longhorn will automatically create snapshots or backups for the user at that time, as long as the volume is attached to a node.

Recurring snapshots can be configured using the Longhorn UI, or by using a Kubernetes StorageClass.

For more information on how snapshots and backups work, refer to the concepts section.

Set up Recurring Jobs using the Longhorn UI

Recurring snapshots and backups can be configured from the volume detail page. To navigate to this page, click Volume, then click the name of the volume.

Set up Recurring Jobs using a StorageClass

Scheduled backups and snapshots can be configured in the recurringJobs parameters in a StorageClass.

Any future volumes created using this StorageClass will have those recurring jobs automatically set up.

The recurringJobs field should follow JSON format:

  1. kind: StorageClass
  2. apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: longhorn
  5. provisioner: driver.longhorn.io
  6. parameters:
  7.   numberOfReplicas: "3"
  8.   staleReplicaTimeout: "30"
  9.   fromBackup: ""
  10.   recurringJobs: '[
  11.     { 
  12.       "name":"snap", 
  13.       "task":"snapshot", 
  14.       "cron":"*/1 * * * *", 
  15.       "retain":1
  16.     },
  17.     {
  18.       "name":"backup", 
  19.       "task":"backup", 
  20.       "cron":"*/2 * * * *", 
  21.       "retain":1
  22.     }
  23.   ]'

The following parameters should be specified for each recurring job:

  1. name: Name of one job. Do not use duplicate name in one recurringJobs. And the length of name should be no more than 8 characters.

  2. task: Type of one job. It supports snapshot (periodically create snapshot) or backup (periodically create snapshot then do backup) only.

  3. cron: Cron expression. It tells execution time of one job.

  4. retain: How many snapshots/backups Longhorn will retain for one job. It should be no less than 1.