It’s always a thrill when a customer or prospect challenges us to prove what our technology can do. A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a prospect about how Lightbits adds value to Kubernetes. We were discussing our seamless CSI integration, which delivers high performance and low latency at scale. I was showing how easily you can create volumes, snapshots, and clones—whether they’re file systems or block-based—and run multiple pods through our CSI integration. This is something we do every day.
The prospect then asked a great question that cut right to the chase: “How easily does Lightbits fit into our existing infrastructure?” The puzzle piece they wanted to see was Velero. “We use Velero to back up and restore our entire Kubernetes environment,” they said. “Do you integrate with it, too? We’d love to see that.”
Challenge accepted. I got my hands dirty to see what it would take.
My goal was to restore a FileSystem, a Block PVC, and all associated pods, as well as a single pod on a block device. The key was to accomplish all of this without any scripting, by leveraging our existing integrations.
The Software Stack
- Lightbits block storage
- Kubernetes
- Garage S3-compliant object storage
- Velero for backup and restore
The Integrations
- Physical Volume Claims on Lightbits
- Kubernetes and CSI driver to Lightbits
- Velero and CSI driver to Kubernetes
- Velero and S3 driver to Garage
I’m happy to report that I achieved my goal. The restoration was a complete success. I managed to restore a pod on a FileSystem—even in a multi-tenant environment. I restored a PVC and its pods from a Lightbits snapshot, and I even restored a single pod on a PVC without affecting other pods running on the same PVC. All of this was done with zero scripting.
Beyond the initial installation of Velero, Garage, Kubernetes, and Lightbits, the integration itself took less than 30 minutes. That includes the time it took me to learn the ropes. The takeaway? Lightbits isn’t just a powerful, high-performance solution; it’s a seamless one. It fits into your existing ecosystem like a missing puzzle piece, simplifying your operations and proving that a robust, script-free backup and restore process is not just a dream—it’s a reality.
Want to see how we did it? Download the white paper.
