This page describes how to schedule backups for Cassandra without the Cloud Storage.
In this method, backups are stored on a remote server specified by you instead of a Cloud Storage bucket. Apigee uses
SSH to communicate with the remote server.
You must schedule the backups as cron jobs. Once a backup schedule has been applied
to your hybrid cluster, a Kubernetes backup job is periodically executed according to the schedule
in the runtime plane. The job interacts with each Cassandra pod in your hybrid cluster to collect
all the data, create an archive (compressed) file of the data, and send the archive to the server
specified in your overrides.yaml file.
The following steps include common examples for completing specific tasks, like creating an SSH
key pair. Use the methods that are appropriate to your installation.
Designate a Linux or Unix server for your backups. This server must be reachable using SSH from
your Apigee hybrid runtime plane. It must have enough storage for your backups.
Set up an SSH server on the server, or ensure that it has a secure SSH server configured.
Create an SSH key pair and store the private key file in a path that is accessible from your hybrid
runtime plane. You must use a blank password for your key pair or the backup will fail. For example:
Where: exampleuser@example.com is a string.
Any string that follows -C in the ssh-keygen
command becomes a comment included in the newly created ssh
key. The input string can be any string. When you use an account name
in the form of exampleuser@example.com, you can quickly
identify which account goes with the key.
Create a user account on the backup server with the name apigee. Make sure
the new apigee user has a home directory under /home.
On the backup server, create an .ssh directory in the new /home/apigee
directory.
Copy the public key (ssh_key.pub in the previous example) into a file named
authorized_keys in the new /home/apigee/.ssh directory. For example:
cd /home/apigee
mkdir .sshcd .sshvi authorized_keys
On your backup server, create a backup directory within the /home/apigee/
directory. The backup directory can be any directory as long as the apigee user has access
to it. For example:
cd /home/apigee
mkdir cassandra-backup
Set the schedule and destination for backup
You set the schedule and destination for backups in your overrides.yaml file.
Add the following parameters to your overrides.yaml file:
Backup is disabled by default. You must set this
property to true.
backup:keyFile
PATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
The path on your local file system to the SSH private key file (named ssh_key
in the step where you created the SSH key pair). This path must be relative to the apigee-datastore chart directory.
backup:server
BACKUP_SERVER_IP
The IP address of your backup server.
backup:storageDirectory
BACKUP_DIRECTORY
The name of the backup directory on your backup server. This must be a directory within
home/apigee (the backup directory is named cassandra_backup
in the step where you created the backup directory).
backup:cloudProvider
HYBRID
For a remote server backup, set the property to HYBRID.
backup:schedule
SCHEDULE
The time when the backup starts, specified in
standard crontab syntax. Times are in the local time zone of the Kubernetes cluster. Default: 0 2 * * *
Apply the backup configuration to the storage scope of your
cluster:
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-26 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis document outlines the process for scheduling Cassandra backups to a remote server via SSH, rather than using Cloud Storage, within an Apigee hybrid environment.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBackups are scheduled using \u003ccode\u003ecron\u003c/code\u003e jobs, and each scheduled job triggers a Kubernetes process that collects data from Cassandra pods, compresses it, and sends it to the remote server specified in the \u003ccode\u003eoverrides.yaml\u003c/code\u003e file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSetting up the backup server involves designating a Linux/Unix server reachable by SSH, creating an SSH key pair with a blank password, and establishing an \u003ccode\u003eapigee\u003c/code\u003e user with appropriate directory permissions.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe backup schedule and destination details, including the server IP, private key path, and storage directory, must be defined within the \u003ccode\u003eoverrides.yaml\u003c/code\u003e file under the \u003ccode\u003ecassandra:backup:\u003c/code\u003e section, and the \u003ccode\u003ecloudProvider\u003c/code\u003e must be set to "HYBRID".\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAfter editing the \u003ccode\u003eoverrides.yaml\u003c/code\u003e, you should apply the configurations to the storage scope of the cluster and verify the \u003ccode\u003ecronjob\u003c/code\u003e has been created.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Scheduling backups in a remote server\n\n| You are currently viewing version 1.14 of the Apigee hybrid documentation. For more information, see [Supported versions](/apigee/docs/hybrid/supported-platforms#supported-versions).\n\nThis page describes how to schedule backups for Cassandra without the Cloud Storage.\nIn this method, backups are stored on a remote server specified by you instead of a Cloud Storage bucket. Apigee uses\nSSH to communicate with the remote server.\n\nYou must schedule the backups as `cron` jobs. Once a backup schedule has been applied\nto your hybrid cluster, a Kubernetes backup job is periodically executed according to the schedule\nin the runtime plane. The job interacts with each Cassandra pod in your hybrid cluster to collect\nall the data, create an archive (compressed) file of the data, and send the archive to the server\nspecified in your `overrides.yaml` file.\n| **Note:** You must ensure there is enough space on the file system for the backups, and adjust the frequency of the backups to avoid unnecessarily filling the allotted storage space. Apigee does not dictate a retention policy for the backup files. You may want to create a retention policy for files appropriate to your installation.\n\n\nThe following steps include common examples for completing specific tasks, like creating an SSH\nkey pair. Use the methods that are appropriate to your installation.\n\n\nThe procedure has the following parts:\n\n- [Set up the server and SSH](#server-ssh)\n- [Set the schedule and destination for backup](#overrides-backup)\n\n### Set up the server and SSH\n\n1. Designate a Linux or Unix server for your backups. This server must be reachable using SSH from your Apigee hybrid runtime plane. It must have enough storage for your backups.\n2. Set up an SSH server on the server, or ensure that it has a secure SSH server configured. **Caution:** For security purposes, make sure your SSH server is up to date.\n3. Create an SSH key pair and store the private key file in a path that is accessible from your hybrid runtime plane. **You must use a blank password for your key pair or the backup will fail** . For example: \n\n ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"devsite-syntax-n\"\u003eexampleuser\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"devsite-syntax-nv\"\u003e@example\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"devsite-syntax-p\"\u003e.\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"devsite-syntax-n\"\u003ecom\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/var\u003e\n Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/exampleuser/.ssh/id_rsa): $APIGEE_HOME/hybrid-files/certs/ssh_key\n Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):\n Enter same passphrase again:\n Your identification has been saved in ssh_key\n Your public key has been saved in ssh_key.pub\n The key fingerprint is:\n SHA256:DWKo334XMZcZYLOLrd/8HNpjTERPJJ0mc11UYmrPvSA exampleuser@example.com\n The key's randomart image is:\n +---[RSA 4096]----+\n | +. ++X|\n | . . o.=.*+|\n | . o . . o==o |\n | . . . =oo+o...|\n | . S +E oo .|\n | . . .. . o .|\n | . . . . o.. |\n | . ...o ++. |\n | .. .. +o+. |\n +----[SHA256]-----+\n\n\n Where: \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eexampleuser@example.com\u003c/var\u003e is a string.\n Any string that follows `-C` in the `ssh-keygen`\n command becomes a comment included in the newly created `ssh`\n key. The input string can be any string. When you use an account name\n in the form of \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eexampleuser@example.com\u003c/var\u003e, you can quickly\n identify which account goes with the key.\n4. Create a user account on the backup server with the name `apigee`. Make sure the new `apigee` user has a home directory under `/home`.\n5. On the backup server, create an `.ssh` directory in the new `/home/apigee` directory.\n6. Copy the public key (`ssh_key.pub` in the previous example) into a file named `authorized_keys` in the new `/home/apigee/.ssh` directory. For example: \n\n cd /home/apigee\n mkdir .ssh\n cd .ssh\n vi authorized_keys\n\n7. On your backup server, create a backup directory within the `/home/apigee/` directory. The backup directory can be any directory as long as the `apigee` user has access to it. For example: \n\n cd /home/apigee\n mkdir cassandra-backup\n\n### Set the schedule and destination for backup\n\n\nYou set the schedule and destination for backups in your `overrides.yaml` file.\n\n1. Add the following parameters to your `overrides.yaml` file:\n\n ### Parameters\n\n ```actionscript-3\n cassandra:\n backup:\n enabled: true\n keyFile: \"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003ePATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE\u003c/var\u003e\"\n server: \"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eBACKUP_SERVER_IP\u003c/var\u003e\"\n storageDirectory: \"/home/apigee/\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eBACKUP_DIRECTORY\u003c/var\u003e\"\n cloudProvider: \"HYBRID\" # required verbatim \"HYBRID\" (all caps)\n schedule: \"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eSCHEDULE\u003c/var\u003e\"\n ```\n\n ### Example\n\n ```actionscript-3\n cassandra:\n backup:\n enabled: true\n keyFile: \"private.key\"# path relative to apigee-datastore path\n server: \"34.56.78.90\"\n storageDirectory: \"/home/apigee/cassbackup\"\n cloudProvider: \"HYBRID\"\n schedule: \"0 2 * * *\"\n ```\n\n\n Where:\n\n2. Apply the backup configuration to the storage scope of your cluster: \n\n ```\n helm upgrade datastore apigee-datastore/ \\\n --install \\\n --namespace APIGEE_NAMESPACE \\\n --atomic \\\n -f OVERRIDES_FILE.yaml\n ```\n\n Where \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eOVERRIDES_FILE\u003c/var\u003e is the path to the overrides file you just edited.\n3. Verify the backup job. For example: \n\n ```\n kubectl get cronjob -n APIGEE_NAMESPACE\n ``` \n\n ```component-pascal\n NAME SCHEDULE SUSPEND ACTIVE LAST SCHEDULE AGE\n apigee-cassandra-backup 33 * * * * False 0 \u003cnone\u003e 94s\n ```"]]