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Volcengine Kubernetes Engine

EBS volume snapshots

Using EBS snapshots

This topic describes how to statically and dynamically create Elastic Block Storage (EBS) snapshots.

tip

[Beta · Apply for Trial]: The EBS snapshot feature is currently in the beta stage. We recommend that you test this feature in non-production environments first and exercise caution when using it in production.

Limits

EBS snapshots support the instant availability feature. After enabling this feature, you do not need to wait for the snapshot creation progress to reach 100% before using the snapshot to create a new EBS volume. This feature provides a faster and more convenient snapshot service. For details, see Instant snapshot availability.

The following limitations apply to the instant availability feature:

Instant availability supports only ESSD_PL0 and ESSD_FlexPL EBS types.

The available traffic bandwidth during lazy loading is limited to 15-40 MB/s per volume.

Snapshot size cannot exceed 300 GB.

During lazy loading when you use an instant snapshot to create a PersistentVolume (PV), the snapshot cannot be deleted.

A single account in a single region can have up to 10 instant snapshots in the lazy loading state.

Prerequisites

The csi-ebs add-on has been installed. For details, see csi-ebs.

The snapshot-controller add-on has been installed. For details, see Installing add-ons.

A StorageClass (SC) and PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) have been created. In this topic, the PVC is named pvc-ebs. For details, see Using EBS as dynamic PersistentVolumes.

The cluster has been connected using kubectl. For details, see Connecting to clusters.

To use the instant snapshot availability feature, ensure that the csi-ebs add-on has been upgraded to version 1.2.13 or later.

Dynamically creating snapshots

Step 1: Create a VolumeSnapshotClass

Create a YAML file for the VolumeSnapshotClass. The following vke-volumesnapshotclass.yaml file serves as an example:

apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: VolumeSnapshotClass
metadata:
name: vke-volumesnapshotclass # The name of the VolumeSnapshotClass.
parameters:
instantAccess: "false" # Whether to enable the EBS instant snapshot availability feature. The valid value is false or true. By default, this feature is disabled.
driver: ebs.csi.volcengine.com # The driver type. This example uses ebs.csi.volcengine.com, which indicates the csi-ebs add-on.
deletionPolicy: Delete # Snapshot reclaim policy. Supported policies include Delete (deleting VolumeSnapshot also deletes VolumeSnapshotContent and related resources) and Retain (deleting VolumeSnapshot does not automatically delete VolumeSnapshotContent and related resources).

Run the following command to create the VolumeSnapshotClass.

kubectl apply -f vke-volumesnapshotclass.yaml

Step 2: Create a workload and write data

Create a workload (application) and write data. This topic uses a stateless workload (Deployment) as an example.

Create a YAML file for the Deployment. The following deployment-nginx.yaml file serves as an example. For details, see Using dynamic EBS PersistentVolumes. For information about how to configure other types of workload, see Workloads.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: deployment-nginx
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: nginx
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: nginx
spec:
containers:
- name: nginx
image: doc-cn-beijing.cr.volces.com/vke/nginx-demo:v1.0 # The image file to deploy.
ports:
- containerPort: 80
name: web
volumeMounts:
- name: ebs-essd-volume0
mountPath: /data
volumes:
- name: ebs-essd-volume0
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: pvc-ebs # The name of the PVC.

Run the following command to create the workload.

kubectl apply -f deployment-nginx.yaml

Write data to the pod.

tip

Replace deployment-nginx-6fcb64f6cd-qcxkt with your own pod name.

kubectl exec deployment-nginx-6fcb64f6cd-qcxkt -- touch /data/test

Check whether the data has been written.

kubectl exec deployment-nginx-6fcb64f6cd-qcxkt -- ls /data

The expected output is as follows:

lost+found
test

Step 3: Create a snapshot

Create a VolumeSnapshot YAML file. The following vke-snapshot.yaml file serves as an example:

apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: VolumeSnapshot
metadata:
name: vke-snapshot # The custom VolumeSnapshot name, which will be used when you restore data from the snapshot.
namespace: default # The namespace of the VolumeSnapshot.
spec:
volumeSnapshotClassName: vke-volumesnapshotclass # The VolumeSnapshotClass created in Step 1.
source:
persistentVolumeClaimName: pvc-ebs # It must be consistent with the PVC name used by the workload in Step 2.

Run the following command to create the VolumeSnapshot.

kubectl apply -f vke-snapshot.yaml

Step 4: Validate the result

Run the following command to check whether the snapshot was created successfully.

kubectl get VolumeSnapshot

The expected output is as follows. You can view the status and source of the EBS snapshot.

NAME READYTOUSE SOURCEPVC SOURCESNAPSHOTCONTENT RESTORESIZE SNAPSHOTCLASS SNAPSHOTCONTENT CREATIONTIME AGE
vke-snapshot true pvc-ebs 20Gi vke-volumesnapshotclass snapcontent-b863c082-ad70-4*** 2m29s 2m29s

Run the following command to view the details of the EBS snapshot.

kubectl get VolumeSnapshotContent

The expected output is as follows:

NAME READYTOUSE RESTORESIZE DELETIONPOLICY DRIVER VOLUMESNAPSHOTCLASS VOLUMESNAPSHOT VOLUMESNAPSHOTNAMESPACE AGE
snapcontent-b863c082-ad70-4*** true 21474836480 Delete ebs.csi.volcengine.com vke-volumesnapshotclass vke-snapshot default 3m12s

Statically creating snapshots

In the ECS console create a snapshot. For details, see Creating snapshots.

(Optional) To use the instant snapshot feature, add the following label to the snapshot configuration.

Label key
Label value
ebs.csi.volcengine.com/use-instant-access
true

Create a VolumeSnapshotContent YAML file. The following vke-snapshotcontent.yaml file serves as an example:

apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: VolumeSnapshotContent
metadata:
name: vke-snapshotcontent
spec:
deletionPolicy: Retain # Snapshot reclaim policy. Supported policies include Delete (deleting VolumeSnapshot also deletes VolumeSnapshotContent and related resources) and Retain (deleting VolumeSnapshot does not automatically delete VolumeSnapshotContent and related resources).
driver: ebs.csi.volcengine.com # The driver type. This example uses ebs.csi.volcengine.com, which indicates the csi-ebs add-on.
source:
snapshotHandle: snap-f1ksxj7k1d******** # The ID of the created snapshot in ECS.
volumeSnapshotRef:
name: vke-snapshot # The name of the VolumeSnapshot.
namespace: default # The namespace of the VolumeSnapshot.

Run the following command to create a VolumeSnapshotContent.

kubectl apply -f vke-snapshotcontent.yaml

Create a VolumeSnapshot YAML file. The following vke-snapshot.yaml file serves as an example:

apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: VolumeSnapshot
metadata:
name: vke-snapshot # The name of the VolumeSnapshot. The name must be consistent with the custom snapshot name specified in Step 2. This name will be used for restoring data from the snapshot.
namespace: default # The namespace of the VolumeSnapshot. It must be consistent with the namespace selected in Step 2.
spec:
source:
volumeSnapshotContentName: vke-snapshotcontent # The name of the VolumeSnapshotContent created in Step 2.

Run the following command to create the VolumeSnapshot.

kubectl apply -f vke-snapshot.yaml

Restoring data from snapshots

After a snapshot is created, you can restore data from the snapshot to a new PVC. The following YAML file serves as an example. For details, see Using EBS as dynamic PersistentVolumes.

Last updated: 2026.08.19 17:44:49

Label key	Label value
ebs.csi.volcengine.com/use-instant-access	true