Kubernetes VM

Kubernetes VM resources represent KubeVirt virtual machines running in a Kubernetes cluster. The Kubernetes integration backs them up and restores them through the k8s+vm protocol.

During a backup, Plakar Control Plane asks KubeVirt to snapshot the virtual machine. KubeVirt snapshots each disk, so no VolumeSnapshotClass needs to be configured. Plakar Control Plane then reads each disk through a helper pod and stores the disk contents and the virtual machine manifest in the Kloset store.

During a restore, Plakar Control Plane recreates the PVC of each disk in the namespace of the destination resource, writes the disk contents back through a helper pod, then applies the virtual machine manifest.

The kubeconfig used by the app must grant the permissions required by the operation. Source apps use the VM backup role and destination apps use the VM restore role. When Plakar runs outside the cluster, both also need the port forwarding role.

Inventory Management

Managed inventories can discover KubeVirt virtual machines automatically once the Kubernetes inventory is connected to a cluster with KubeVirt installed. You can instead set up a self-managed inventory and add the virtual machine manually.

Adding a Kubernetes VM as a resource

When using a self-managed inventory, register the resource with Compute as the class. For the endpoint, use the namespace followed by the virtual machine name, for example /default/my-vm. See resources documentation for more information on how to set up resources on a self-managed inventory.

Backup flow 

flowchart TD
  subgraph K8s["Kubernetes Cluster"]
    VM["Virtual Machine"]
    Snap["KubeVirt snapshot"]
    Helper["Helper pod"]
  end

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Source["Kubernetes VM
Source app"]
    Backup["Backup process
Encrypt & deduplicate"]
  end

  Store["Kloset Store"]

  Source -->|"requests"| Snap
  VM --> Snap
  Snap --> Helper
  Helper -->|"reads disk data"| Source
  Source --> Backup
  Backup --> Store

Restore flow 

flowchart TD
  Store["Kloset Store"]

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Destination["Kubernetes VM
Destination app"]
    Restore["Restore process"]
  end

  subgraph K8s["Kubernetes Cluster"]
    Helper["Helper pod"]
    PVC["Restored disk PVCs"]
    VM["Restored 
 Virtual Machine"]
  end

  Store --> Restore
  Destination --> Restore
  Restore -->|"writes via"| Helper
  Helper --> PVC
  PVC --> VM

Shared Configuration

The following settings are available when configuring both source and destination apps using the k8s+vm protocol.

  • Kubeconfig: Upload a kube config YAML file or paste its contents directly. Leave it empty when Plakar Control Plane runs inside the cluster to use the in-cluster configuration. The kubeconfig can also be loaded from a secret provider.
  • Kubelet Image: The container image used for the helper pod. Defaults to a recent kubelet image. Set it to pull the image from another registry, for example a local mirror in an air-gapped cluster.

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