Storware Backup and Recovery for OpenStack
The #1 backup for OpenStack. Storware protects large, multi-tenant OpenStack clouds agentlessly — driven by the OpenStack service APIs and built to scale with your deployment. Data protection continuity across every project, availability zone, and storage backend.
Key Highlights
Agentless by design
No agents inside guests and no access to the hypervisor OS. Protection runs through the OpenStack service APIs and a Proxy VM per availability zone.
Built for multi-tenancy
Scoped and unscoped domain authorization with role inheritance down to projects. Every tenant's data stays isolated and independently recoverable.
Native OpenStack experience
Backup and recovery from inside Horizon and Skyline, on the same documented REST API.
Scales with your cloud
Horizontally scalable nodes with multi-Ceph and multi-cluster support for distributed OpenStack environments
Powerful Data Protection Features for OpenStack
Two current backup strategies
Disk attachment and Disk attachment with generic incremental (preferred), both Cinder-based through a Proxy VM.
Generic + Ceph CBT
Backend-independent generic incremental via block-level checksum; CBT-like incrementals on Ceph RBD, with changed blocks fetched directly from the Ceph monitors.
Instant restore
Fast recovery objectives through a dedicated NFS-backed restore path.
Granular and cross-cloud recovery
Recover files, volumes, single VMs, or full instances — including rebuilding an instance in a different OpenStack cloud from captured metadata, flavors, and optionally the original Glance image.
V2V migration
VMware, Citrix Hypervisor, XCP-ng → OpenStack
Open REST API
Native OpenStack project scoping; build self-service backup portals and wire data protection into orchestration and CMP tooling.
Policy-driven scheduling and retention
Assign policies by VM name or Nova tag; retention windows and retention lock for compliance.
Storage-agnostic protection
Protect OpenStack workloads across any Cinder-compatible backend — Ceph RBD, NFS, iSCSI, LVM — with no dependency on a specific storage layer.
Advanced security
IsoLayer air-gap backup, immutable backup destinations, RBAC and access management, Keycloak MFA, Linux-based installation.
Technology partners
Supported across every OpenStack distribution
Storware protects OpenStack the same way wherever it runs — through the standard service APIs (Keystone, Nova, Cinder, Glance). Upstream or vendor-distributed, the engine, the licensing, and the policies stay the same.
Canonical OpenStack
Charmed OpenStack and Sunbeam, in the Ubuntu ecosystem.
Canonical OpenStack backupVirtuozzo Infrastructure
OpenStack-based hyperconverged IaaS, built for service providers and backup-as-a-service.
Virtuozzo Infrastructure backupSee Storware Backup and Recovery for OpenStack in action
Backup, restore, and scheduling for OpenStack don't require a separate console. Watch how Storware operates directly inside the OpenStack dashboard through the Horizon and Skyline plugins — running full and incremental jobs, browsing recovery points, and restoring instances without leaving the environment your teams already use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Storware Backup and Recovery agentless for OpenStack?
Yes. Storware protects OpenStack instances with no agents inside guest VMs and no access to the hypervisor OS. Both current strategies operate through a Proxy VM per availability zone, coordinating volume attachment through the Cinder API and reading data directly on the Proxy VM.
Which backup strategies does Storware support for OpenStack?
Two current, production strategies, both Cinder-based: Disk attachment, and Disk attachment with generic incremental (the preferred strategy). The older Libvirt/SSH Transfer strategy is deprecated and remains available only on systems upgraded from earlier versions that already used it.
Does Storware support incremental backups and CBT on OpenStack?
Yes. u003cemu003eGeneric incrementalu003c/emu003e delivers storage-backend-independent incrementals across any Cinder backend using block-level checksum comparison. On Ceph RBD, Storware performs CBT-like incrementals by fetching changed-block information directly from the Ceph monitors, reducing backup windows and data transfer.
Which OpenStack versions and distributions does Storware support?
The current strategies support Wallaby, Antelope, Caracal, Dalmatian, and Epoxy, along with Red Hat OpenStack Platform 17.1 and 18.0, and Canonical OpenStack 2024.1 LTS (Sunbeam) and 2024.1 (Charmed). Always confirm against the current documented version at docs.storware.eu.
Can Storware protect multi-tenant OpenStack environments?
Yes. Storware supports both scoped (per-domain credentials) and unscoped (single credentials across domains) authorization, with domain-level admin roles and inheritance propagated down to projects. Each tenant’s data stays isolated and independently recoverable — built for MSP and enterprise backup-as-a-service.
Can I migrate from VMware to OpenStack with Storware?
Yes. Storware provides V2V migration from VMware to OpenStack. Note that VMware → OpenStack is the supported V2V path; other supported platforms (for example Proxmox, Nutanix AHV, OpenShift Virtualization, Hyper-V) are backup and recovery targets, not V2V destinations.
Does Storware integrate with OpenStack Horizon and Skyline?
Yes. A Horizon UI plugin exposes backup and recovery directly from the OpenStack dashboard through the REST API, and a dedicated Skyline plugin brings the same operations to the modern Skyline UI.
What recovery options does Storware provide for OpenStack?
Recovery is granular: individual files, a single volume, one virtual machine, or an entire instance — including cross-cloud recovery, where Storware rebuilds an instance in a different OpenStack environment using its captured metadata, flavors, and optionally the original Glance image.