End-to-End Kubernetes with Rancher, RKE2, K3s, Fleet, Longhorn, and NeuVector

What is a Snapshot?

In Rancher, snapshots are backups of your Kubernetes cluster that include three key components:

• The etcd data, which stores the cluster's state.
• The Kubernetes version.
• The cluster configuration (settings and changes you’ve made).

These snapshots allow you to restore your cluster if something goes wrong. For example:

• If only the data in etcd is affected, you can restore just the etcd data.
• If a Kubernetes upgrade caused issues, you can restore both etcd and the Kubernetes version to return to the previous, stable state.
• If both the Kubernetes version and cluster configuration caused problems, you can restore everything (etcd, Kubernetes version, and configuration).

To take a snapshot, you can use the Rancher UI and follow these steps:

• Click on Global > Cluster Management
• Next to the cluster you want to take a snapshot of, click on the three dots and select Take Snapshot

When the snapshot is complete, it will be saved in the /var/lib/rancher/rke2/server/db/snapshots/ directory on the etcd nodes. The snapshot files are named based on the cluster name, the timestamp, and a unique identifier. For example:

# SSH to an etcd node and run the following command
ls -l /var/lib/rancher/rke2/server/db/snapshots/