How to use Altinity Backup and the Restore Wizard

This section covers how to use the Altinity Restore Wizard.

14 March 2023 · Read time 5 min

Overview

This section covers the Altinity Cloud Manager Cluster Restore Wizard, which is available from your cluster’s ACTIONS > Restore a Backup menu. This guide walks you through the steps to restore a cluster from an Altinity backup.

Create Backup

In addition to scheduled backups, an ad hoc backup feature is provided to create an on-demand snapshot. By manually creating a backup from the ACTIONS 》 Create Backup Backup, each backup request adds a Tag with a timestamp.

  • Note that for ad hoc backups, there are no configuration options. A dialog box (Cluster Backup) displays to let you know the backup is in progress.
Cluster Backup acknowledgement dialog box

Figure 1 – Making an on-demand backup: the ACTIONS 》Create Backup and the confirmation window.

UI Text

  • Cluster Backup The Backup procedure for the Cluster your-backup has been scheduled. It will require some time to finish the procedure. Note: Backup files are handled by ACM and stored separately from the cluster instances. These backup files will remain available even if you accidentally delete the cluster.

Backup Scheduling

To change the backup schedule from the 7 day default, bring up your cluster Environments settings, select the 3-dot menu icon beside your cluster, choose Edit then the Backups tab.

Cluster Backup Schedulingz

Figure 2 – Backup Schedule settings from the Environment > Cluster > Edit > Backup tab.

Restore a Backup

Prerequisites

  • Login to the Altinity.Cloud Manager https://acm.altinity.cloud/clusters
  • The backup operator has backup roles and permissions set up in My Account > Common Information > Role and Access Rights
  • Accounts > Manage Roles > Account Role Details > Cluster Settings and NodeTypes are set to (Allow)
  • The backup provider is Altinity or an external cloud provider
  • The Organization list of account Names has been granted the role of allowing backups and restores to the listed Environments

NOTE: New users do not have the rights to perform manual backups and restore functions, so the default view of the Actions menu will not display the backup or restore options.

The following wizard screens are covered on this page:

  1. Backup Location
  2. Source Cluster
  3. Source Backup
  4. Destination Cluster
  5. Restore Summary
  6. Cluster Launch Wizard

The following illustration shows a summary of the various screens available in the Restore Wizard option.

  • The Backup Location may be the Altinity.Cloud Backup or a Remote Backup of your choice of cloud provider.
  • Colored orange, the Cluster Launch Wizard opens after you CONTINUE from the last screen of the Cluster Restore Wizard.
    Restore Wizard summary

Figure 2 – Each of the 5 Restore Wizard screens and the available settings.


Clusters > Actions - Where to find the Restore Wizard

The ACTIONS menu contains the Restore a Backup function that starts the Cluster Restore Wizard within the Altinity.Cloud Connection Manager. The following screenshot shows the Altinity.Cloud Connection Manager dashboard screen for cluster-a, highlighting points of interest.

  1. The your-environment menu is the parent for your clusters.
  2. The Clusters in the left navigation pane let you know where you are in the ACM.
  3. The cluster-a is the name of the dashboard you are currently viewing.
  4. The Actions menu is where the Backup and Restore functions are found.

NOTE: If your account and roles are not set up, you will not see all of the items in the left-hand pane or all the items in the Actions menu.

Environment

Figure 3 – The dashboard view of cluster-a showing the selected environment and the ACTIONS menu.


ACTIONS menu - Backup and Restore

From your cluster dashboard, the ACTIONS menu lists the Restore a Backup setting.

Backup and Restore options in the cluster Action menu

Figure 4 – The ACTIONS menu shows the Restore a Backup setting.


Running the Cluster Restore Wizard

From the Altinity Cloud Manager cluster screen select ACTIONS > Restore a Backup to open the Cluster Restore Wizard. The

Features of the interface shown in Figure 4:

  • The left side of each Cluster Restore Wizard screen shows the progress of the restore operation.
  • The green bar indicates the section of the wizard you are viewing.
  • The dimmed choices indicate you have not yet set anything in those screens.
  • After progressing through the wizard screens, you can return to a previous screen by clicking on any of the 5 names of the screens shown in the left pane.

Buttons located at the bottom right include:

  • CANCEL - Closes the Wizard without saving any settings.
  • NEXT - Indicates that there is another screen that you will go to.
  • BACK - Returns to the previous screen while retaining any changes you have made.
  • CONTINUE - Appears on the last screen of the wizard. Click to start the Cluster Launch Wizard.
  • The left pane titles are also buttons that allow you to jump directly to without using the BACK button.

1. Backup Location

This screen lets you choose where your backups are located, either from Altinity or from your own cloud provider.

  • Altinity.Cloud Backup
  • Remote Backup (AWS or GCP)

Backup Location Information

  • This Backup Location information screen is used to choose between an Altinity backup or an external cloud vendor.

Altinity.Cloud Backup

To use Altinity as the source of the cluster you want to restore:

  1. Select Altinity.Cloud Backup from the Backup Location Information.
  2. Select an Altinity environment from the Source Environment menu, for example, tenant-a.
  3. Select NEXT to go to the next screen Source Cluster.
Launch Cluster button

Figure 5 – The Backup Location Information screen, selecting the Altinity.Cloud Backup and the Source Environment (for example: tenant-a).

Remote Backup

Use this selection if you are using a third-party cloud provider such as Amazon (AWS) or Google (GCP). Select Remote Backup, fill in the fields then NEXT.

  1. Select Remote Backup, fill in the following fields from steps 2 to 7 then NEXT.
Launch Cluster button

Figure 6 – The Altinity Cloud Manager (ACM) home page, selecting the LAUNCH CLUSTER button.

  1. Select an Altinity-supported cloud provider:
    Cloud Storage Provider


  2. Copy the AWS or GCP Access Key and paste it here:
    Access Key

    • UI Text: Storage Access Key
    • Example: EXAMPLE_KEY_ID_ABCDEFGH

  1. Copy the AWS or GCP Secret Key and paste it here:
    Secret Key
    • UI Text: Storage Secret Key
    • Example: EXAMPLE_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_ID_ABCDEFGH

  1. Enter the Region identifier string ID here:
    Region

  1. Enter the Bucket name:
    Bucket

  1. Select ACM (Altinity Cloud Manager) if you want to retain this folder structure:
    ACM Compatible Folder Structure
    • UI Text: Bucket contents were previously created by ACM or has a fully ACM-compatible structure
    • Example: checkmark (checked)

  1. Select NEXT to go to the next screen Source Cluster.

2. Source Cluster

The Source Cluster Information screen lets you choose one cluster from a list of cluster names. The following column names appear in a scrolling table:

  • Radio button - Marks the cluster you want to use as the source. (Example: selected)
  • Cluster - This is the name of the backed-up cluster. (Example: abc)
  • Namespace - This is the environment name. (Example: tenant-a)
  • Configuration - Checked if the configuration information is included in the backup (Example: checked)

To select a cluster name:

  1. In the Source Cluster Information scrolling table, select the radio button of the Cluster name.
    Source Cluster Information

    • UI Text: Note: It is possible to restore a complete Cluster’s configuration only if a given backup contains it.
    • Example: abc

  2. Select NEXT to go to the next screen Source Backup.

Launch Cluster wizard screens

Figure 7 – The restore wizard screen 2 of 5 Source Cluster Information showing the selected cluster abc.


3. Source Backup

The Backup Information: <environment name>/<cluster name> screen lists the available backups by date. Note that the environment name (example tenant-a) and cluster name (example: abc) were selected in the previous wizard screens.

The following column names appear in a scrolling table:

  • Radio button - Marks the backup Tag name you want to use.
  • Tag - This is the 14-digit name of the backed-up cluster that is the year yyyy month mm day dd time hhmmss (Example: 20230104201700)
  • Size - This is the size of the backup. (Example: 450 B)
  • Timestamp - The date and time of the backup (Example: 2023-01-04-20:17:00)
  • Configuration - Checked if the configuration information is included in the backup (Example: checked)

To select a backup:

  1. In the screen Backup Information: tenant-a/abc select the radio button by the Tag name. Example: Tag: 20230104201700

  2. Select NEXT to go to the next screen Destination Cluster.

Cluster Launch Wizard summary

Figure 8 – The wizard restore wizard screen 3 of 5 Backup Information showing a Tag backup selected.


4. Destination Cluster

The Destination Cluster Information screen is where the restored data is saved to.

Available options are:

  • Launch a new Cluster
  • Launch a new Cluster using configuration and settings of a source cluster
  • Restore into an existing cluster
    • A new cluster will be launched using a fresh setup (it may be different from the original Cluster configuration)

Launch a new Cluster

The Launch of a new cluster runs the Cluster Launch Wizard immediately after the Review & Confirm screen appears and you select CONTINUE.

Select Launch a new cluster then NEXT to advance to Restore Summary.

Launch a new Cluster using the configuration and settings of a source cluster

Use this setting if you want to override the backed-up cluster settings such as CPU, RAM, and Storage size to instead use the destination cluster values.

The Launch a New Cluster runs the Cluster Launch Wizard immediately after the Review & Confirm screen appears and you select CONTINUE.

Select Launch a new cluster then NEXT to advance to Restore Summary.

Launch a new Cluster

In the Name field, create a new name.

  • Example: restored-cluster-backup

Source Cluster

Ignores the backed-up settings and instead uses the settings in the destination cluster. This is useful when you want to ignore the settings of the existing cluster and instead use the backed-up configuration.

Existing Cluster

This is the opposite of the Source Cluster. This is useful when you want to use the settings of the existing cluster and not the backed-up configuration.

Cluster Launch Wizard summary

Figure 9 – The restore wizard screen 4 of 5 Destination Cluster Information with Launch a new Cluster selected.


5. Restore Summary

This Review & Confirm screen covers communication details such as port settings and endpoint information. To change a setting, select BACK or the title of the screen from the left-hand pane. Select CONTINUE to save and begin the restore process. IMPORTANT: Do not perform any changes to the restored cluster until the process is complete

UI Text: Please review and confirm the selected options:

Cluster Launch Wizard summary

Figure 10 – The last restore wizard screen 5 of 5 Review & Confirm.


Cluster Launch Wizard

The Cluster Launch Wizard starts automatically after selecting CONTINUE from the Cluster Restore Wizard. From that point, follow the instructions to create a cluster to restore to.

Cluster Launch Wizard summary

Figure 11 – The Cluster Launch Wizard appears after you select CONTINUE from the Cluster Restore Wizard.

Last modified 2023.09.09: Major restructuring of the Anywhere docs