Backups

This explains the basics about how backups work with the Drupal Operator. For more advanced details, see the advanced section on Importing DB & files, and backups.

What gets backed up?

There are two main things you usually want to back up:

1. Database – all Drupal content, configuration, and users.
2. Files – uploaded files, public assets, and other content stored on disk.

The Drupal Operator can:

• Run automatic backups on a schedule (CronJobs).
• Import an existing DB dump or files archive when setting up a site.

This page focuses on automatic backups.

Enabling automatic backups

In the spec of your Drupal resource, you can enable:

• Database backups: backup_db: true
• Files backups: backup_files: true

Example:

apiVersion: ozzi.io/v1alpha2
kind: Drupal
metadata:
  name: example-drupal
  namespace: drupal-demo
spec:
  # ... other settings ...
  backup_db: true
  backup_files: true

When these are enabled, the operator creates Kubernetes CronJobs that run backup jobs on a schedule.

Backup schedules

There are two schedule settings:

• backup_db_cron_schedule – when to run DB backups Default: "0 3 * * *" (once per day at 03:00)

• backup_files_cron_schedule – when to run files backups Default: "0 5 * * *" (once per day at 05:00)

You can change these to any valid cron expression. For example, to run DB backups every 6 hours:

spec:
  backup_db: true
  backup_db_cron_schedule: "0 */6 * * *"

Where do backups go?

The exact backup destination is defined in the job templates and usually depends on:

• A Kubernetes Secret with backup credentials:
• drupal_backup_secret (default name: backup-secret)
• Environment variables or scripts that send the backup to:
• S3-compatible storage
• Object storage
• Another backup system

In other words:

• The operator schedules and runs the backup jobs.
• The job containers/scripts decide where and how the backup is stored.

Ask your platform team or check your cluster’s templates to see:

• Which bucket or storage service is used.
• How long backups are kept.

Checking backup CronJobs

After you enable backups and apply your Drupal resource, list CronJobs:

kubectl get cronjobs -n drupal-demo

You should see (names will include your Drupal site name):

• <name>-auto-db-backup
• <name>-auto-files-backup

To see when they last ran and if they succeeded:

kubectl describe cronjob <name>-auto-db-backup -n drupal-demo
kubectl get jobs -n drupal-demo

Basic recommendations

• Enable both DB and files backups for any important site.
• Verify that backups are actually stored in your backup system and can be restored (test restore in a separate environment).
• Coordinate with your platform/ops team so backup destinations, retention policies, and credentials are managed securely.

For information on how imports and backups work internally, see:

• Importing DB & files, and backups