## Getting started

The following example sets up the Velero server and client, then backs up and restores a sample application. 

For simplicity, the example uses Minio, an S3-compatible storage service that runs locally on your cluster. 
For additional functionality with this setup, see the docs on how to [expose Minio outside your cluster][31].

**NOTE** The example lets you explore basic Velero functionality. Configuring Minio for production is out of scope.

See [Set up Velero on your platform][3] for how to configure Velero for a production environment.

If you encounter issues with installing or configuring, see [Debugging Installation Issues](debugging-install.md).

### Prerequisites

* Access to a Kubernetes cluster, version 1.7 or later. Version 1.7.5 or later is required to run `velero backup delete`.
* A DNS server on the cluster
* `kubectl` installed

### Download

1. Download the [latest release's][26] tarball for your platform.

1. Extract the tarball:
    ```bash
    tar -xzf <RELEASE-TARBALL-NAME>.tar.gz -C /dir/to/extract/to 
    ```
    We'll refer to the directory you extracted to as the "Velero directory" in subsequent steps.

1. Move the `velero` binary from the Velero directory to somewhere in your PATH.

#### MacOS Installation

On Mac, you can use [HomeBrew](https://brew.sh) to install the `velero` client:
```bash
brew install velero
```

### Set up server

These instructions start the Velero server and a Minio instance that is accessible from within the cluster only. See [Expose Minio outside your cluster][31] for information about configuring your cluster for outside access to Minio. Outside access is required to access logs and run `velero describe` commands.

1.  Start the server and the local storage service. In the Velero directory, run:

    ```bash
    kubectl apply -f config/common/00-prereqs.yaml
    kubectl apply -f config/minio/
    ```

1. Deploy the example nginx application:

    ```bash
    kubectl apply -f config/nginx-app/base.yaml
    ```

1. Check to see that both the Velero and nginx deployments are successfully created:

    ```
    kubectl get deployments -l component=velero --namespace=velero
    kubectl get deployments --namespace=nginx-example
    ```

### Back up

1. Create a backup for any object that matches the `app=nginx` label selector:

    ```
    velero backup create nginx-backup --selector app=nginx
    ```

   Alternatively if you want to backup all objects *except* those matching the label `backup=ignore`:

   ```
   velero backup create nginx-backup --selector 'backup notin (ignore)'
   ```

1. (Optional) Create regularly scheduled backups based on a cron expression using the `app=nginx` label selector:

    ```
    velero schedule create nginx-daily --schedule="0 1 * * *" --selector app=nginx
    ```

    Alternatively, you can use some non-standard shorthand cron expressions:

    ```
    velero schedule create nginx-daily --schedule="@daily" --selector app=nginx
    ```

    See the [cron package's documentation][30] for more usage examples.

1. Simulate a disaster:

    ```
    kubectl delete namespace nginx-example
    ```

1. To check that the nginx deployment and service are gone, run:

    ```
    kubectl get deployments --namespace=nginx-example
    kubectl get services --namespace=nginx-example
    kubectl get namespace/nginx-example
    ```

    You should get no results.
    
    NOTE: You might need to wait for a few minutes for the namespace to be fully cleaned up.

### Restore

1. Run:

    ```
    velero restore create --from-backup nginx-backup
    ```

1. Run:

    ```
    velero restore get
    ```

    After the restore finishes, the output looks like the following:

    ```
    NAME                          BACKUP         STATUS      WARNINGS   ERRORS    CREATED                         SELECTOR
    nginx-backup-20170727200524   nginx-backup   Completed   0          0         2017-07-27 20:05:24 +0000 UTC   <none>
    ```

NOTE: The restore can take a few moments to finish. During this time, the `STATUS` column reads `InProgress`.

After a successful restore, the `STATUS` column is `Completed`, and `WARNINGS` and `ERRORS` are 0. All objects in the `nginx-example` namespace should be just as they were before you deleted them.

If there are errors or warnings, you can look at them in detail:

```
velero restore describe <RESTORE_NAME>
```

For more information, see [the debugging information][18].

### Clean up

If you want to delete any backups you created, including data in object storage and persistent
volume snapshots, you can run:

```
velero backup delete BACKUP_NAME
```

This asks the Velero server to delete all backup data associated with `BACKUP_NAME`.  You need to do
this for each backup you want to permanently delete. A future version of Velero will allow you to
delete multiple backups by name or label selector.

Once fully removed, the backup is no longer visible when you run:

```
velero backup get BACKUP_NAME
```

If you want to uninstall Velero but preserve the backup data in object storage and persistent volume
snapshots, it is safe to remove the `velero` namespace and everything else created for this
example:

```
kubectl delete -f config/common/
kubectl delete -f config/minio/
kubectl delete -f config/nginx-app/base.yaml
```

[31]: expose-minio.md
[3]: install-overview.md
[18]: debugging-restores.md
[26]: https://github.com/heptio/velero/releases
[30]: https://godoc.org/github.com/robfig/cron