OADP VM File Restore

This project provides a Kubernetes controller for discovering and serving files from VM backups created by Velero/OADP.

Current Implementation Status

✅ Completed Features:

• VirtualMachineBackupsDiscovery: Complete backup discovery workflow
• VirtualMachineFileRestore: Basic controller with PV identification (file serving in progress)

🚧 In Development:

• File serving pod creation and management
• Volume restoration and mounting

Prerequisites

• OpenShift cluster with OADP operator installed
• Virtual machine backups created by Velero/OADP
• oc CLI configured to access the cluster

Deployment and Testing

1. Verify OADP Setup

Before deploying the controller, ensure OADP is properly configured:

# Check OADP operator is installed
oc get csv -n openshift-adp | grep oadp

# Verify DataProtectionApplication (DPA) is configured
oc get dpa -n openshift-adp

# Check BackupStorageLocation is ready
oc get bsl -n openshift-adp

# List existing backups (There are two Backup kind in OpenShift, specify one with suffix)
oc get backups.velero.io -n openshift-adp

2. Deploy the Controller

Option A: Run Locally (Development)

# Install CRDs to the cluster
make install

# Run controller locally (recommended for testing)
make run

Option B: Deploy to OpenShift Cluster

# Build and deploy the controller
make docker-build docker-push IMG=<your-registry>/oadp-vm-file-restore:latest
make deploy IMG=<your-registry>/oadp-vm-file-restore:latest

# Alternative: Install CRDs only (if controller is already running)
make install

# Check deployment status
oc get pods -n oadp-vm-file-restore-system

2. Testing Backup Discovery

The discovery functionality identifies which Velero backups contain a specific virtual machine.

Note: All discovery and file restore resources must be created in the same namespace as the OADP operator (typically openshift-adp).

Create a Discovery Resource

Example 1: Time-based Discovery

apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: VirtualMachineBackupsDiscovery
metadata:
  name: my-vm-discovery
  namespace: openshift-adp  # Must be in OADP namespace
spec:
  virtualMachineName: my-vm
  virtualMachineNamespace: my-app-namespace
  startTime: "2025-01-01"
  endTime: "2025-09-17"

Example 2: Explicit Backup List

apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: VirtualMachineBackupsDiscovery
metadata:
  name: my-vm-discovery
  namespace: openshift-adp
spec:
  virtualMachineName: my-vm
  virtualMachineNamespace: my-app-namespace
  requestedBackups:
    - backup-2025-09-15
    - backup-2025-09-16

Monitor Discovery Progress

# Watch discovery progress (vmbd is short for virtualmachinebackupsdiscovery)
oc get vmbd my-vm-discovery -w

# View detailed status
oc get vmbd my-vm-discovery -o yaml

# Check discovery results
oc get vmbd my-vm-discovery -o jsonpath='{.status.validBackups[*].name}'

# List all discoveries
oc get vmbd

# Show discovery statistics
oc get vmbd my-vm-discovery -o jsonpath='{.status.discoveryStats}'

Tip: You can also monitor resources through the OpenShift Console under Administration → Custom Resource Definitions → Search for "VirtualMachineBackupsDiscovery".

Discovery Status Fields

• Phase: New → InProgress → Completed/Failed
• ValidBackups: List of backups containing the VM
• InvalidBackups: Requested backups that don't contain the VM
• DiscoveryStats: Summary statistics (total, completed, failed, etc.)

4. Testing File Restore (PV Discovery)

Once discovery is complete, you can create a file restore resource to identify PVs.

Create a File Restore Resource

apiVersion: oadp.openshift.io/v1alpha1
kind: VirtualMachineFileRestore
metadata:
  name: my-file-restore
  namespace: openshift-adp
spec:
  backupsDiscoveryRef: my-vm-discovery
  # Optional: specify which backups to use
  selectedBackups:
    - backup-2025-09-16

Monitor File Restore Progress

# Watch file restore progress (vmfr is short for virtualmachinefilerestore)
oc get vmfr my-file-restore -w

# View discovered PVs
oc get vmfr my-file-restore -o jsonpath='{.status.fileServingInfo.discoveredPVs}'

# Check detailed status
oc get vmfr my-file-restore -o yaml

# List all file restores
oc get vmfr

# Quick status overview
oc get vmfr my-file-restore -o custom-columns="NAME:.metadata.name,PHASE:.status.phase,DISCOVERY:.spec.backupsDiscoveryRef,PVS:.status.fileServingInfo.discoveredPVs"

5. Common Discovery Scenarios

No Valid Backups Found

If discovery completes but finds no valid backups:

• Phase: Completed
• Condition: Complete: False with reason NoValidBackups
• Check: VM name/namespace, backup inclusion/exclusion rules

Backup Not Found

If requested backup doesn't exist:

• InvalidBackups: Lists missing backups with reason "Backup not found in cluster"

VM Not in Backup

If backup exists but doesn't contain the VM:

• InvalidBackups: Lists backups with reason "VM not found in backup"

6. Troubleshooting

Discovery Stuck in InProgress

# Check controller logs
oc logs -n oadp-vm-file-restore-system deployment/oadp-vm-file-restore-controller-manager

# Check backup accessibility
oc get backups -n openshift-adp

# Verify OADP operator is working
oc get bsl -n openshift-adp

# Check OADP operator status
oc get dpa -n openshift-adp

File Restore Stuck in BackingOff

# Check if discovery is complete
oc get vmbd <discovery-name> -o jsonpath='{.status.phase}'

# Verify discovery has valid backups
oc get vmbd <discovery-name> -o jsonpath='{.status.validBackups}'

7. Development Commands

# Run tests
make test

# Build locally
make build

# Generate manifests after API changes
make manifests generate

# Format and lint code
make fmt vet lint

Kubebuilder

The project was generated using kubebuilder version v3.33.0, running the following commands

kubebuilder init \
    --plugins go.kubebuilder.io/v4 \
    --project-version 3 \
    --project-name=oadp-vm-file-restore \
    --repo=github.com/migtools/oadp-vm-file-restore \
    --domain=openshift.io
kubebuilder create api \
    --plugins go.kubebuilder.io/v4 \
    --group oadp \
    --version v1alpha1 \
    --kind VirtualMachineFileRestore \
    --resource --controller
make manifests