Skip to content

Aerospike Backup Service (ABS)

For the complete documentation index see: llms.txt

All documentation pages available in markdown.

Aerospike Backup Service (ABS) is a standalone service that backs up and restores Aerospike Database clusters over a REST API.

ABS runs next to your database, not inside it. You define named clusters, storage destinations, backup policies, and backup routines in a YAML configuration file. ABS then runs full and incremental backups on a schedule, accepts on-demand jobs, and restores data from a timestamp or from a backup path.

Use ABS when you need scheduled backups, retention, and a service you can scrape and orchestrate. Use absctl for one-off command-line backup and restore. Backups from either tool use the Aerospike backup format (.asb) and can be restored with a compatible restore tool. See Backup and restore overview to choose a tool.

What ABS offers

CapabilityWhat it does
Scheduled full and incremental backupsRoutines run on Quartz cron expressions in UTC, Local, or an IANA timezone. Incremental mode is differential (since the last backup) or cumulative (since the last full backup).
On-demand jobsThe REST API starts a full or incremental backup without waiting for the schedule.
Restore by timestamp or pathRestore the backup chain up to a point in time, or restore a specific backup directory.
Partial backupsA routine filter-exp limits the backup to records that match a Base64 Aerospike filter expression.
Object storage and local diskAmazon S3 (and S3-compatible stores such as MinIO), Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, and local file system.
Compression, encryption, and compact backupsZstandard compression, AES encryption, and a compact policy that skips Base64 encoding for BLOB types.
KubernetesHelm chart, and Aerospike Kubernetes Operator (AKO) for operator-managed deployments.
ObservabilityPrometheus metrics on /metrics, Grafana dashboard 21375, logs, /health, /ready, and REST job status.

The REST API is not an authentication product. Restrict the listen ports. Optionally terminate TLS on ABS with service.https, or keep TLS and authentication on ingress. See Secure ABS.

Field-level configuration lives in the ABS configuration reference. Request and response schemas live in the OpenAPI specification.

Understand ABS

  • Concepts: where ABS sits in a deployment, the objects a routine ties together, full versus incremental backups, the restore chain, and when ABS skips a job.
  • Architecture: ABS components, asynchronous job lifecycle, configuration changes that apply without a restart for routines, clusters, storage, and policies, and deployment topologies.

Read Concepts before you configure a routine. It is the shortest path to understanding why a backup ran, was skipped, or cannot be restored. Read Architecture when you need to reason about long-running jobs, configuration apply, or how ABS fits into your platform.

Get started

  • Quickstart: Docker Compose, a first backup and restore, and a local Grafana path.
  • Install ABS: Linux packages, Docker, Helm, remote configuration (-c / -r).
  • Upgrade ABS: breaking changes and post-upgrade steps.

Configure

Operate

Observe and scale

  • Monitor ABS: golden signals, scrape, Grafana, PromQL, alerts, probes.
  • Performance tuning: reader and writer parallelism, compression, min-part-size.
  • Parallel backups: slice a cluster by rack, node, or partition across ABS instances.

Guides by role

RoleStart with
Database administratorConcepts, Back up data, Restore data, filter expressions, incremental mode, schedule timezone, privileges, retention
DevOpsInstall, Upgrade ABS, Configure ABS, Secure ABS, HTTPS, GET/PUT secrets, Helm
SREArchitecture, Monitor ABS, Performance tuning, Parallel backups, HTTPS probes, skip versus failure, rate limiter

Release notes

See Aerospike Backup Service release notes for changes by version. These pages document ABS 3.7.0.