The open source project Gemini aims to solve a problem that has frustrated developers since Kubernetes was introduced: the inability to run databases or persistent storage in Kubernetes.
To fix this, Kubernetes enablement company Fairwinds built Gemini on the VolumeSnapshot API.
The new solution creaties a more robust and user-friendly interface that allows for automated backups on a customizable, fine-grained interface to allow for automated backups on a customizable, fine-grained schedule, deletes stale backups automatically and easily restores data from specific backups.
This represents a big step forward for the Container Storage Interface (CSI), the official way to handle persistent storage in Kubernetes, and each of the major cloud vendors provides CSI hooks, allowing developers to manage volumes and backups in their cloud using Kubernetes-native interfaces, according to Fairwinds.
“The inability to run databases or persistent storage in Kubernetes has frustrated developers since the platform was introduced. There hasn’t been a good solution for automating backups or restoring data, until now,” said Robert Brennan, the director of open source at Fairwinds. “When we combine Gemini with the VolumeSnapshot API we’ve created a robust backup strategy for Kubernetes.”
Gemini also includes automation so that VolumeSnapshots are no longer a manual process, making it easier to ensure that data is secure.
To get started with Gemini, users will need to have the ‘VolumeSnapshot’ API available in their cluster. This API is in beta as of Kubernetes 1.17, and was introduced as alpha in 1.12.
