Project: Velero (Runtime / Cloud Native Storage)
File: backup-hooks.md

title: "Backup Hooks" layout: docs Velero supports executing commands in containers in pods during a backup. When performing a backup, you can specify one or more commands to execute in a container in a pod when that pod is being backed up. The commands can be configured to run before any custom action processing ("pre" hooks), or after all custom actions have been completed and any additional items specified by custom action have been backed up ("post" hooks). Note that hooks are not executed within a shell on the containers. There are two ways to specify hooks: annotations on the pod itself, and in the Backup spec. You can use the following annotations on a pod to make Velero execute a hook when backing up the pod: `pre.hook.backup.velero.io/container` The container where the command should be executed. Defaults to the first container in the pod. Optional. `pre.hook.backup.velero.io/command` The command to execute. This command is not executed within a shell by default. If a shell is needed to run your command, include a shell command, like `/bin/sh`, that is supported by the container at the beginning of your command. If you need multiple arguments, specify the command as a JSON array, such as `. Optional. `pre.hook.backup.velero.io/on-error` What to do if the command returns a non-zero exit code. Defaults is `Fail`. Valid values are Fail and Continue. Optional. `pre.hook.backup.velero.io/timeout` How long to wait for the command to execute. The hook is considered in error if the command exceeds the timeout. Defaults is 30s. Optional. `post.hook.backup.velero.io/container` The container where the command should be executed. Default is the first container in the pod. Optional. `post.hook.backup.velero.io/command` The command to execute. This command is not executed within a shell by default. If a shell is needed to run your command, include a shell command, like `/bin/sh`, that is supported by the container at the beginning of your command. If you need multiple arguments, specify the command as a JSON array, such as `. Optional.

What to do if the command returns a non-zero exit code. Defaults is `Fail`. Valid values are Fail and Continue. Optional. `post.hook.backup.velero.io/timeout` How long to wait for the command to execute. The hook is considered in error if the command exceeds the timeout. Defaults is 30s. Optional. Please see the documentation on the for how to specify hooks in the Backup spec. This examples walks you through using both pre and post hooks for freezing a file system. Freezing the file system is useful to ensure that all pending disk I/O operations have completed prior to taking a snapshot. This example uses . Follow the to setup this example. The Velero serves as an example of adding the pre and post hook annotations directly to your declarative deployment. Below is an example of what updating an object in place might look like. ```shell kubectl annotate pod -n nginx-example -l app=nginx \ pre.hook.backup.velero.io/command='["/sbin/fsfreeze", "--freeze", "/var/log/nginx"]' \ pre.hook.backup.velero.io/container=fsfreeze \ post.hook.backup.velero.io/command='["/sbin/fsfreeze", "--unfreeze", "/var/log/nginx"]' \ post.hook.backup.velero.io/container=fsfreeze ``` Now test the pre and post hooks by creating a backup. You can use the Velero logs to verify that the pre and post hooks are running and exiting without error. ```shell velero backup create nginx-hook-test velero backup get nginx-hook-test velero backup logs nginx-hook-test | grep hookCommand ``` To use multiple commands, wrap your target command in a shell and separate them with `;`, `&&`, or other shell conditional constructs. ```shell pre.hook.backup.velero.io/command='["/bin/bash", "-c", "echo hello > hello.txt && echo goodbye > goodbye.txt"]' ``` You are able to use environment variables from your pods in your pre and post hook commands by including a shell command before using the environment variable. For example, `MYSQLROOTPASSWORD` is an environment variable defined in pod called `mysql`. To use `MYSQLROOTPASSWORD` in your pre-hook, you'd include a shell, like `/bin/sh`, before calling your environment variable: ``` pre: exec: container: mysql command: /bin/sh -c mysql --password=$MYSQLROOTPASSWORD -e "FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK" onError: Fail ``` Note that the container must support the shell command you use.