---
title: "Backup and restore overview"
description: "Overview of backup and restore capabilities for Aerospike clusters in Kubernetes using AKO and Custom Resources."
---

# Backup and restore overview

> For the complete documentation index see: [llms.txt](https://aerospike.com/docs/llms.txt)
> 
> All documentation pages available in markdown.

Aerospike Kubernetes Operator (AKO) provides backup and restore capabilities for Aerospike clusters running in Kubernetes.

The [Aerospike Backup Service Custom Resource (CR)](https://aerospike.com/docs/kubernetes/4.4.x/tools/backup/backup-service) defines a Kubernetes deployment of the [Aerospike Backup Service utility](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/backup-and-restore/backup-service). That deployment exposes a REST API that AKO calls to run backup and restore operations.

There are also several monitoring endpoints to check backup information and the health of the service in general.

## Components

AKO uses three components to manage backups and restores.

-   [Aerospike Backup Service (ABS)](https://aerospike.com/docs/kubernetes/4.4.x/tools/backup/backup-service): A standalone service in the Kubernetes cluster that provides a REST API used by AKO to execute backups and restores. AKO watches `AerospikeBackup` and `AerospikeRestore` custom resources, reconciles them, updates ABS configuration, and invokes ABS APIs as needed.
-   [Aerospike Backup](https://aerospike.com/docs/kubernetes/4.4.x/tools/backup/backup) Custom Resource: Defines backup configuration for a cluster. AKO reconciles this CR and runs backups through ABS.
-   [Aerospike Restore](https://aerospike.com/docs/kubernetes/4.4.x/tools/backup/restore) Custom Resource: Defines a restore operation. AKO reconciles this CR and runs restores through ABS.