As organizations increasingly deploy mission-critical applications on Kubernetes, ensuring robust data protection and disaster recovery capabilities becomes essential. This is where Kasten by Veeam, offers comprehensive Kubernetes-native backup, disaster recovery, and application mobility solutions.
In this first article of the series, I’ll explore the foundations needed to implement Kasten K10 on Oracle Kubernetes Engine (OKE), Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s managed Kubernetes service. I’ll cover key concepts, prerequisites, and the initial setup to prepare you for a successful Kasten K10 deployment.
Understanding Kasten K10 and OKE
What is Kasten K10?
Kasten K10 is a purpose-built data management platform designed specifically for Kubernetes. It provides enterprise operations teams with an easy-to-use, scalable, and secure system for backup/restore, disaster recovery, and application mobility. Key capabilities include:
- Application-Centric Approach: K10 understands the complexity of Kubernetes applications and treats them as cohesive entities rather than disconnected components.
- Cloud-Native Architecture: Built from the ground up for Kubernetes, K10 seamlessly integrates with Kubernetes APIs and resource models.
- Policy-Based Automation: Define protection policies that can be applied across namespaces and clusters.
- Security-Focused Design: Includes encryption, RBAC integration, and other security features to protect sensitive data.
Oracle Kubernetes Engine (OKE)
OKE is Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s fully managed Kubernetes service that simplifies the deployment, operations, and scaling of containerized applications. It provides:
- Automated deployment and configuration of Kubernetes
- Integrated security with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IAM
- Highly available control plane with no single point of failure
- Seamless integration with other OCI services including Load Balancer, Block Volumes, and Container Registry
Prerequisites for Deploying Kasten K10 on OKE
Before implementing Kasten K10 on OKE, ensure you have the following prerequisites in place:
1. OCI Account and Resources
- An active Oracle Cloud Infrastructure account
- Sufficient privileges to create and manage resources
- Proper quota limits for required resources (compute, storage, networking)
2. OKE Cluster
- A functioning OKE cluster (currently version 1.32.1)
- At least 3 worker nodes
- Appropriate node shape (compute and memory) based on your workload requirements
3. Command-Line Tools
- OCI CLI: Configured with appropriate credentials
- kubectl: Configured to connect to your OKE cluster
- Helm: Version 3.x for Kasten K10 deployment (currently V3.17.0)
4. Storage Considerations
- Block Storage: OCI Block Volumes for persistent storage
- Storage Classes: Properly configured default storage class
- Permissions: Appropriate permissions for volume snapshot operations if using them for backups
5. Networking Requirements
- Network access between all cluster nodes
- Access to external services if using cloud storage for backups
- Load balancer configuration if exposing the K10 dashboard externally
Initial Setup Steps
Let’s walk through the essential steps to prepare your environment for Kasten K10 deployment:
First, this is a quick walkthrough to set up a quick OKE cluster on OCI. I choose “Quick Create” to speed the process and to help create all the backend requirements like VCN (Virtual Cloud Network) and worker nodes.
This is my setup for the test cluster. Of course, you can choose to make it private or public. However, it is not recommended to make it public for the production environment.
The next step is to prepare my machine (if not already) with tools like OCI CLI, helm, and kubectl.
In the next section, we will have a walkthrough on installing Kasten and some challenges I faced.
Former Nuclear Engineer | University Lecturer | Technology Advisor | Digital Transformation evangelist | FinTech | Blockchain | Podcaster | vExpert ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | VeeamVanguard ⭐️⭐️ | Nutanix SME | MBA | AWS ABW Grant’23
