Milvus-backup

Milvus-Backup is a tool that allows users to backup and restore Milvus data. This tool can be utilized either through the command line or an API server.

The Milvus-backup process has negligible impact on the performance of Milvus. Milvus cluster is fully functional and can operate normally while backup and restoration are in progress.

Compatibility

Always use the latest release of milvus-backup, which is backward-compatible with Milvus v2.2 and above.

The backup tool is designed to automatically adapt to version differences in Milvus.
Using the latest version ensures best compatibility, performance, and bug fixes.

The table below shows which Milvus versions can restore backups created from other versions:

Backup From ↓ \ Restore To →	2.4	2.5	2.6
2.2	✅	✅	✅
2.3	✅	✅	✅
2.4	✅	✅	✅
2.5	❌	✅	✅
2.6	❌	❌	✅

✅ = Supported ❌ = Not supported

Rules:

Backup is supported from Milvus 2.2+

Restore is supported to Milvus 2.4+

A backup can only be restored to the same or newer Milvus versions

For example, backups created in Milvus 2.5 cannot be restored to 2.4

Installation

Download binary from release page. Usually the latest is recommended.

Use homebrew to install on Mac

brew install zilliztech/tap/milvus-backup

Usage

Milvus-backup provides command line and API server for usage.

Configuration

In order to use Milvus-Backup, access to Milvus proxy and Minio cluster is required. Configuration settings related to this access can be edited in backup.yaml.

[!NOTE]

Please ensure that the configuration settings for Minio are accurate. There may be variations in the default value of Minio's configuration depending on how Milvus is deployed, either by docker-compose or k8s.

field docker-compose helm
bucketName a-bucket milvus-bucket
rootPath files file

field	docker-compose	helm
bucketName	a-bucket	milvus-bucket
rootPath	files	file

[!NOTE]

There is also an option to override values in backup.yaml using environment variables. Please refer env_variables.md to know more.

Command Line

Milvus-backup establish CLI based on cobra. Use the following command to see all the usage.

milvus-backup is a backup&restore tool for milvus.

Usage:
  milvus-backup [flags]
  milvus-backup [command]

Available Commands:
  check       check if the connects is right.
  create      create subcommand create a backup.
  delete      delete subcommand delete backup by name.
  get         get subcommand get backup by name.
  help        Help about any command
  list        list subcommand shows all backup in the cluster.
  restore     restore subcommand restore a backup.
  server      server subcommand start milvus-backup RESTAPI server.

Flags:
      --config string   config YAML file of milvus (default "backup.yaml")
  -h, --help            help for milvus-backup

Use "milvus-backup [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Here is a demo for a complete backup and restore process.

API Server

To start the RESTAPI server, use the following command after building:

./milvus-backup server

The server will listen on port 8080 by default. However, you can change it by using the -p parameter as shown below:

./milvus-backup server -p 443

We offer a demo of the key APIs; however, please refer to the Swagger UI for the most up-to-date usage details, as the demo may occasionally become outdated.

swagger UI

We offer access to our Swagger UI, which displays comprehensive information for our APIs. To view it, simply go to

http://localhost:8080/api/v1/docs/index.html

Backup.yaml Configurations

Below is a summary of the configurations supported in backup.yaml:

Section	Field	Description	Default/Example
`log`	`level`	Logging level. Supported: `debug`, `info`, `warn`, `error`, `panic`, `fatal`.	`info`
	`console`	Whether to print logs to the console.	`true`
	`file.rootPath`	Path to the log file.	`logs/backup.log`
`http`	`enabled`	Whether to enable the HTTP server.	`true`
	`debugMode`	Whether to enable Gin debug mode.	`false`
	`swaggerBasePath`	Override the Swagger UI base path. Useful when running behind a reverse proxy with a path prefix.	(empty)
`milvus`	`address`	Milvus proxy address.	`localhost`
	`port`	Milvus proxy port.	`19530`
	`user`	Username for Milvus.	`root`
	`password`	Password for Milvus.	`Milvus`
	`tlsMode`	TLS mode (0: none, 1: one-way, 2: two-way/mtls).	`0`
	`caCertPath`	Path to your ca certificate file	`/path/to/certificate`
	`serverName`	Server name	`localhost`
	`mtlsCertPath`	Path to your mtls certificate file	`/path/to/certificate`
	`mtlsKeyPath`	Path to your mtls key file	`/path/to/key`
`minio`	`storageType`	Storage type for Milvus (e.g., `local`, `minio`, `s3`, `aws`, `gcp`, `ali(aliyun)`, `azure`, `tc(tencent)`, `gcpnative`). Use `gcpnative` for the Google Cloud Platform provider.	`minio`
	`address`	MinIO/S3 address.	`localhost`
	`port`	MinIO/S3 port.	`9000`
	`accessKeyID`	MinIO/S3 access key ID.	`minioadmin`
	`secretAccessKey`	MinIO/S3 secret access key.	`minioadmin`
	`gcpCredentialJSON`	Path to your GCP credential JSON key file. Used only for the "gcpnative" cloud provider.	`/path/to/json-key-file`
	`useSSL`	Whether to use SSL for MinIO/S3.	`false`
	`bucketName`	Bucket name in MinIO/S3.	`a-bucket`
	`rootPath`	Storage root path in MinIO/S3.	`files`
`minio (backup)`	`backupStorageType`	Backup storage type (e.g., `local`, `minio`, `s3`, `aws`, `gcp`, `ali(aliyun)`, `azure`, `tc(tencent)`, `gcpnative`). Use `gcpnative` for the Google Cloud Platform provider.	`minio`
	`backupAddress`	Address of backup storagße.	`localhost`
	`backupPort`	Port of backup storage.	`9000`
	`backupUseSSL`	Whether to use SSL for backup storage.	`false`
	`backupAccessKeyID`	Backup storage access key ID.	`minioadmin`
	`backupSecretAccessKey`	Backup storage secret access key.	`minioadmin`
	`backupGcpCredentialJSON`	Path to your GCP credential JSON key file. Used only for the "gcpnative" cloud provider.	`/path/to/json-key-file`
	`backupBucketName`	Bucket name for backups.	`a-bucket`
	`backupRootPath`	Root path to store backup data.	`backup`
	`crossStorage`	Enable cross-storage backups (e.g., MinIO to AWS S3).	`false`
`backup`	`maxSegmentGroupSize`	Maximum segment group size for backups.	`2G`
	`parallelism.backupCollection`	Collection-level parallelism for backup.	`4`
	`parallelism.copydata`	Thread pool size for copying data.	`128`
	`parallelism.restoreCollection`	Collection-level parallelism for restore.	`2`
	`keepTempFiles`	Whether to keep temporary files during restore (for debugging).	`false`
	`gcPause.enable`	Pause Milvus garbage collection during backup.	`true`
	`gcPause.seconds`	Duration to pause garbage collection (in seconds).	`7200`
	`gcPause.address`	Address for Milvus garbage collection API.	`http://localhost:9091`

For more details, refer to the backup.yaml configuration file.

Advanced feature

Cross Storage Backup: Data is read from the source storage and written to a different storage through the Milvus-backup service. Such as, S3 -> local, S3 a -> S3 b.
RBAC Backup&Restore: Enable backup and restore RBAC meta with extra parameter.
Segment Merging Restore: In segment merging restore mode (v2 restore), multiple segments are grouped into a single job and restored together. This significantly improves restore performance, especially in scenarios with many small segments.

Examples

Syncing Minio Backups to an AWS S3 Bucket

NOTE: The following configuration is an example only. Replace the placeholders with your actual AWS and Minio settings.

To back up Milvus data to an AWS S3 bucket, you need to configure the backup.yaml file with the following settings:

# Backup storage configs: Configure the storage where you want to save the backup data
backupStorageType: "aws"                     # Specifies the storage type as AWS S3
backupAddress: s3.{your-aws-region}.amazonaws.com  # Address of AWS S3 (replace {your-aws-region} with your bucket's region)
backupPort: 443                              # Default port for AWS S3
backupAccessKeyID: <your-access-key-id>      # Access key ID for your AWS S3
backupSecretAccessKey: <your-secret-key>     # Secret access key for AWS S3
backupGcpCredentialJSON: "/path/to/file"     # Path to your GCP credential JSON key file. Used only for the "gcpnative" cloud provider.
backupBucketName: "your-bucket-name"         # Bucket name where the backups will be stored
backupRootPath: "backups"                    # Root path inside the bucket to store backups
backupUseSSL: true                           # Use SSL for secure connections (Required)
crossStorage: "true"                         # Required for minio to S3 backups

FAQ

Development

Build

For developers, Milvus-backup is easy to contribute to.

Execute make all will generate an executable binary milvus-backup in the {project_path}/bin directory.

Test

Developers can also test it using an IDE. You can test it using the command line interface:

make test

License

milvus-backup is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.