Veeam Kasten v8.0 Unveiled: Next-Gen Kubernetes & VM Backup for DevOps

Hey DevOps folks! As an exclusive Veeam Kasten Preferred partner and the first in the Nordics to get a hands-on preview, IssTech is thrilled to bring you the inside scoop on the latest game-changer: Veeam Kasten v8.0! This release is packed with features designed to make your life easier and your applications more resilient. Let's dive into the highlights that you absolutely need to know about.

VM Backup is Now a First-Class Citizen

For those managing hybrid environments or migrating traditional workloads to Kubernetes, this is a game-changer. Veeam Kasten v8.0 now natively supports backing up and restoring Virtual Machines running on Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and SUSE Virtualization (Harvester).

Imagine the possibilities:

Centralized Management: Manage the backup and recovery of both your containerized applications and virtual machines from a single, Kubernetes-native platform.
Consistent Policies: Apply consistent backup policies across your entire Kubernetes ecosystem, regardless of whether the workload is containerized or virtualized.
Simplified DR: Streamline your disaster recovery strategies by including your virtualized workloads within your Kasten recovery plans.

This eliminates the need for separate backup solutions for your VMs in these environments, bringing everything under the familiar and powerful Kasten umbrella.

Unleashing Application-Aware Backups with Kanister

But wait, there's more! Kasten's integration with the Kanister project takes data protection for complex applications to a whole new level. Kanister, now a CNCF Sandbox project, provides a framework for application-consistent backups.

Think about stateful applications like Microsoft SQL Server or other traditional VM workloads. Standard volume snapshots might not capture the application data in a consistent state, leading to potential data loss or corruption during recovery.

With Kanister, you can define Blueprints – declarative workflows that understand the specific needs of your applications. These blueprints can orchestrate pre- and post-backup actions, such as:

Quiescing databases to ensure data consistency before a snapshot.
Flushing transaction logs.
Performing application-specific backup commands.

This means you can achieve reliable, application-consistent backups and restores for even your most critical traditional workloads running as VMs within your Kubernetes clusters.

Embracing Multi-Architecture with ARM Support

In today's diverse infrastructure landscape, supporting multiple architectures is crucial. Veeam Kasten v8.0 rises to the occasion by now supporting ARM architecture, in addition to the existing Intel (x86_64) and IBM Power architectures.

This expanded support ensures that you can leverage Kasten's robust data protection capabilities across a wider range of Kubernetes platforms, including:

Kubernetes clusters running on ARM-based processors (e.g., AWS Graviton).
Edge computing deployments utilizing ARM.
Kubernetes on IBM Power systems.

This provides greater flexibility in your infrastructure choices without compromising on data protection. Kasten can now seamlessly protect your Kubernetes workloads regardless of the underlying CPU architecture.

Catching Up on the Innovations from v7.5 to v7.5.10 – Now Part of v8.0

Version 8.0 builds upon a solid foundation of enhancements introduced in the 7.5.x releases. These improvements are now seamlessly integrated into v8.0, bringing you a comprehensive and powerful data protection solution. Key updates from the 7.5.x series that you'll also find in v8.0 include:

Performance Optimizations: Enhanced data mover performance and granular control over worker Pod resources.
Security Enhancements: Expanded Changed Block Tracking support, Azure Federated Identity integration, broadened immutability and FIPS 140-3 compliance.
OpenShift Integration: OpenShift Console Plugin for a more integrated user experience and support for OpenShift Virtualization instance types.
Disaster Recovery Improvements: Capabilities for backing up and restoring Multi-Cluster Manager configurations for primary and secondary clusters in Quick DR mode.
VirtualMachine Enhancements (leading up to native VM support): Support for restoring VirtualMachines referencing various cluster-scoped resources and improvements to the VM snapshot and restore workflow.
Storage Integration: Support for exporting NetApp ONTAP-NAS-Economy volume snapshots.
Operational Improvements: Updated Infrastructure Profiles page, Helm flags for controlling parallelism during data export/import, and enhancements to the application details panel.
Kubernetes Version Support: Added support for newer Kubernetes versions, including 1.32.
Specialized Use Cases: Features like copying Iron Bank images and restoring VMs with overriding image references.
SUSE Virtualization Focus: Initial support for unencrypted VM image backup, restore, and migration on SUSE Virtualization (Harvester).

What This Means for DevOps

Veeam Kasten v8.0 is a significant leap forward for DevOps teams managing data protection in Kubernetes environments. The new features empower you to:

Simplify complexity: Manage backups for both containers and VMs within OpenShift and SUSE from a single platform.
Enhance reliability: Achieve application-consistent backups for stateful workloads using Kanister.
Increase flexibility: Deploy Kasten on a wider range of Kubernetes architectures, including ARM.
Improve operational efficiency: Automate and orchestrate data protection workflows across your entire Kubernetes ecosystem.
Benefit from continuous innovation: Leverage the cumulative improvements from the 7.5.x series, now seamlessly integrated.

Conclusion

Veeam Kasten v8.0 is a must-have upgrade for any DevOps professional serious about Kubernetes data protection! The expanded VM support, the power of Kanister for application-aware backups, the broadened architecture support, and the incorporation of previous advancements make it an even more versatile and indispensable tool in your cloud-native toolkit. As IssTech, your exclusive Veeam Kasten Preferred partner in the Nordics, we're excited to help you explore these new features – your future self (and your data) will thank you! Reach out to us for a personalised demo and to discuss how v8.0 can revolutionise your Kubernetes data protection strategy.