Scheduling backups

Red Hat Edge Manager does not include a built-in backup scheduler. Run flightctl-backup from cron on Red Hat Enterprise Linux or from a Kubernetes CronJob on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform to automate backups. Implement retention in your wrapper script or storage lifecycle policy.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux example (cron)
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Run backup daily at 02:00, write archives to /var/backups/rhem, and delete archives older than 14 days:

# /etc/cron.d/rhem-backup (example — adjust paths and retention to your environment)
0 2 * * * root /usr/local/bin/flightctl-backup --output /var/backups/rhem && \
  find /var/backups/rhem -name 'flightctl-backup-*.tar.gz' -mtime +14 -delete
Note

Install flightctl-backup on the host where cron runs (typically the Red Hat Edge Manager Red Hat Enterprise Linux system). Ensure the job runs non-interactively and that log output is captured by your logging stack.

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform example (CronJob)
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Schedule backup from a Job that runs flightctl-backup on a management image or an admin workstation with cluster credentials. The following manifest is illustrative; replace the image, command, volume mounts, and service account with values that match your cluster security policy:

apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: rhem-backup
  namespace: rhem-chart-namespace
spec:
  schedule: "0 2 * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          restartPolicy: OnFailure
          containers:
          - name: backup
            image: registry.redhat.io/edge-manager/edge-manager-rhel9:1.3
            command:
            - /bin/sh
            - -c
            - flightctl-backup --output /backup && cp /backup/flightctl-backup-*.tar.gz* /pvc/
            volumeMounts:
            - name: backup-pvc
              mountPath: /backup
          volumes:
          - name: backup-pvc
            persistentVolumeClaim:
              claimName: rhem-backup-pvc
Note

Image version must match your deployed Red Hat Edge Manager version.

 Note

Ansible Automation Platform on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform uses a dedicated backup operator for long-term cluster backup patterns. Red Hat Edge Manager documents CronJob-based scheduling so you can integrate with your existing backup platform. You are not required to deploy a separate Red Hat Edge Manager operator for backups.

Verification in scheduled jobs
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After each scheduled run:

  • Confirm the archive and .sha256 files exist.
  • Run sha256sum -c on the newest archive.
  • Periodically perform a full restore test in a non-production environment. For more information about testing backups, see Additional resources.