Enabling and configuring backup of system tablets

Note

For conceptual information about the mechanism, see the System tablet backup section.

Warning

Only local file systems are supported as backup storage. Network file systems, such as NFS, are not supported and may cause backup corruption or tablet failures.

By default, backup of system tablets is disabled because it requires storage configuration. YDB nodes typically do not use a local file system, so enabling it requires an informed decision by the administrator.

To enable it, add the system_tablet_backup_config section to the cluster configuration:

system_tablet_backup_config:
    filesystem:
        path: "/path/to/backup/directory"

The path parameter is an absolute path to a directory on the host's local file system for storing backups.

Warning

The backup directory must be writable by the YDB process on each host where system tablets run. Ensure that each host's disk has enough free space to store several backups of all system tablets. For large production environments consisting of dozens of storage nodes, at least 5 GB is recommended.

After changing the configuration, restart the cluster nodes that may run system tablets. Backup will start automatically.

Warning

By default, system tablets can run on any static nodes of the cluster, including those whose disks are part of a static group. Backups are stored locally on the hosts where system tablets run. This means that if static group hosts are lost, the backups that may be needed to restore the static group can also be lost.

It is recommended to configure the bootstrap_config section in the cluster configuration so that system tablets run on nodes that are not part of the static group. In this case, backups will be stored separately from the static group data.