User ManualPodWarden
Backups
Restic backup policies with schedules, retention, and snapshot management
What you see
URL: /backups
The backups page lists all backup policies configured in PodWarden. Each policy defines what to back up, how often, how long to keep snapshots, and where to store them. PodWarden uses Restic for efficient, encrypted, deduplicated backups.
Fields / columns
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Display name for the backup policy |
| Workload | The deployment this policy backs up |
| Schedule | Cron expression defining when backups run (e.g. 0 2 * * * for daily at 2 AM) |
| Retention | How many snapshots to keep (e.g. 7 daily, 4 weekly, 12 monthly) |
| Mode | hot (live backup while workload runs) or cold (workload is scaled down during backup) |
| Storage | The storage connection used for backup data |
| Status | Current state of the backup policy (see status badges below) |
Available actions
| Action | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Create | List page toolbar | Opens the backup policy form |
| Edit | Policy row | Modify the policy schedule, retention, mode, or storage target |
| Delete | Policy row | Removes the backup policy and its cron job from the cluster |
| Apply | Policy row | Creates or updates the Kubernetes CronJob that runs the backup on schedule |
| Run now | Policy row | Triggers an immediate backup run outside the normal schedule |
| View snapshots | Policy row | Lists all available snapshots for this policy with timestamps and sizes |
| Restore | Snapshot list | Restores workload data from a selected snapshot |
Create backup policy
The create form lets you configure: policy name, target deployment, cron schedule, retention settings (daily, weekly, monthly), backup mode (hot or cold), and storage connection.
Snapshots
Click a policy row to expand and see its snapshots. Each snapshot shows the timestamp, size, and provides a Restore action to recover workload data from that point in time.
Status badges
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| active | Backup cron job is installed and running on schedule |
| paused | Policy exists but the cron job is not installed |
| running | A backup is currently in progress |
| completed | Last backup run completed successfully |
| failed | Last backup run failed (check logs for details) |
Backup modes
- Hot -- Backup runs while the workload continues serving traffic. Best for workloads that handle concurrent access to their data files (e.g. databases with WAL).
- Cold -- PodWarden scales the workload to zero replicas before backup, then scales it back up afterward. Guarantees data consistency but causes downtime.
Related docs
- Backups guide -- Detailed guide to backup configuration and restore procedures
- Storage -- Storage connections used as backup targets
- Deployments -- Workloads that backup policies protect