Getting started with Kasten on Red Hat OpenShift

Learning path | 2 resources | 25 mins | Published on December 5, 2025
Daniele Rossi Danilo Chiavari

Learn how to integrate the Veeam Kasten data management platform with Red Hat OpenShift to coordinate data protection operations on your OpenShift cluster.

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  1. Overview: Getting started with Kasten on Red Hat OpenShift
  2. Install the Kasten operator Page | 25 mins

Overview: Getting started with Kasten on Red Hat OpenShift

Feature image for Red Hat OpenShift

The adoption of Red Hat OpenShift as the de facto standard for cloud-native orchestration has driven a significant evolution: the ability to run virtual machines (VMs) alongside containerized applications on a single, unified platform, thanks to Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization. This power enables a modernization effort that shifts the focus from infrastructure to the application, offering unique agility and flexibility. In this dynamic hybrid environment, ensuring robust data management and protection for both containerized and virtualized workloads becomes critical.

To address these essential data protection needs, Veeam Kasten provides an enterprise-grade data management platform purpose-built for Kubernetes. Kasten delivers comprehensive data protection, disaster recovery, application mobility, and ransomware protection for all workloads running on OpenShift, including those deployed via OpenShift Virtualization. Its deep understanding of cloud-native application design and dependencies allows it to effectively coordinate data protection operations in an application-aware fashion, protecting the complete application stack with unparalleled operational simplicity.

Kasten operates seamlessly within OpenShift's modern storage paradigm. OpenShift's modern storage paradigm replaces the traditional concept of a datastore by mapping disks directly to Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs), managed through the standard Kubernetes Container Storage Interface (CSI) abstraction. This approach allows organizations to leverage their existing enterprise storage arrays and provides a robust foundation for data protection. To ensure full compatibility, enable all features for VMs within OpenShift, and protect them using Kasten, it is crucial that the vendor's CSI driver supports two minimum capabilities: VolumeSnapshots, essential for efficient, storage-based data protection utilized by Kasten, and Read/Write/Many (RWX) access mode, which is a key requirement for advanced OpenShift Virtualization functionalities like the live migration of VMs across cluster nodes.

Getting started with Kasten is straightforward due to its cloud-native architecture. Kasten is deployed as an application directly within the OpenShift cluster you intend to protect. The recommended method is to use the certified OpenShift Operator from the Operator Hub. For simplified management, Kasten integrates with Red Hat OAuth, allowing you to use your existing OpenShift login to access the Kasten dashboard and eliminate the need to manage separate credentials. Once deployed, all data protection activities are managed through policies, where you can define the frequency, retention, and lifecycle of snapshots for your applications and VMs.

Beyond snapshot and recovery, one of Kasten's most powerful capabilities is its ability to simplify application and VM mobility. Thanks to its integrated transform engine, you can not only clone or migrate an application from one cluster to another, you can also dynamically modify its configuration during the restore process. For instance, you can change a PVC’s StorageClass to match the new environment, add or remove annotations, or adjust the number of pod replicas. This capability elevates a simple restore into an agile mobility and reconfiguration operation, essential in today's cloud-native environments. 

Prerequisites:

  • OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) cluster
  • OpenShift Virtualization
  • Resources for Kasten (3 CPU core, 1.4 GB free memory)
  • Git CLI (Optional, as the entire procedure can be performed via the UI)
  • OC CLI (Optional, as the entire procedure can be performed via the UI)

In this learning path, you will:

  • Install Kasten.
  • Create a sample virtual machine workload.
  • Configure the necessary storage annotations.
  • Perform local snapshot and restore operations.