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Version: 3.0.0-alpha (Diátaxis)

How to restore a backup

This guide explains how to restore a MySQL database from a Restic backup stored in an S3-compatible bucket. The restoration is performed via the Restic CLI from your workstation.

Prerequisites​

  • Restic CLI installed on your local machine
  • The S3 credentials used when configuring backups (Access Key, Secret Key)
  • The Restic password used to encrypt the backups
  • The S3 bucket name and repository path
  • A mysql client to import the restored data

Steps​

1. Install Restic CLI​

Install Restic according to your operating system:

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install restic

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install restic

# Depuis les binaires officiels
# https://github.com/restic/restic/releases

2. Configure Restic environment variables​

Export the necessary variables so Restic can access the backup repository:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="HIKUBE123ACCESSKEY"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="HIKUBE456SECRETKEY"
export RESTIC_PASSWORD="SuperStrongResticPassword!"
export RESTIC_REPOSITORY="s3:s3.hikube.cloud/mysql-backups/example"
warning

The repository path (RESTIC_REPOSITORY) corresponds to the s3Bucket configured in the MySQL manifest, followed by the instance name. For example, for an instance named example with s3Bucket: s3.hikube.cloud/mysql-backups, the repository will be s3:s3.hikube.cloud/mysql-backups/example.

3. List available snapshots​

Display all backups stored in the repository:

restic snapshots

Expected output:

repository abc12345 opened successfully
ID        Time                 Host        Tags        Paths
---------------------------------------------------------------
a1b2c3d4  2025-01-15 02:00:05  mysql-example            /backup
e5f6g7h8  2025-01-16 02:00:03  mysql-example            /backup
i9j0k1l2  2025-01-17 02:00:04  mysql-example            /backup
---------------------------------------------------------------
3 snapshots
tip

You can filter snapshots by date with restic snapshots --latest 5 to display only the 5 most recent ones.

4. Restore a snapshot​

Restore the latest snapshot (or a specific one) to a local directory:

# Restaurer le dernier snapshot
restic restore latest --target /tmp/mysql-restore

# Ou restaurer un snapshot spécifique par son ID
restic restore a1b2c3d4 --target /tmp/mysql-restore

The restored content will be available in /tmp/mysql-restore/backup/.

5. Import the data into MySQL​

Once the backup files are extracted, import them into your MySQL instance:

# Identifier les fichiers de dump restaurés
ls /tmp/mysql-restore/backup/

# Importer le dump dans la base de données cible
mysql -h <host-mysql> -P 3306 -u <utilisateur> -p <base_de_donnees> < /tmp/mysql-restore/backup/dump.sql
note

The MySQL host address depends on your configuration:

  • Internal access (port-forward): 127.0.0.1 after kubectl port-forward svc/mysql-example 3306:3306
  • External access (LoadBalancer): the external IP of the mysql-example-primary service

6. Clean up temporary files​

Once the restoration is completed and verified, delete the temporary files:

rm -rf /tmp/mysql-restore

Verification​

Connect to the MySQL instance and verify that the data has been correctly restored:

mysql -h <host-mysql> -P 3306 -u <utilisateur> -p <base_de_donnees>
-- Vérifier les tables présentes
SHOW TABLES;

-- Vérifier le nombre de lignes dans une table
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM <nom_table>;
Test restoration regularly

It is strongly recommended to test the restoration procedure regularly, ideally in a development environment. A backup that has never been tested does not guarantee a successful restoration.

Going further​