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OpenStack Freezer

OpenStack Freezer is an OpenStack project that provides a backup, restore, and Disaster Recovery (DR) (data protection) service for OpenStack environments and workloads.

  • Backup and restore service for OpenStack workloads and infrastructure (data protection)
  • Supports file-level and volume-level backup operations for cloud instances and data (storage management)
  • Integrates with core OpenStack services such as Keystone and others for authentication and service interaction (cloud platform integration)
  • Provides a scheduler and job management for recurring or policy-based backup tasks (automation and orchestration)
  • Offers command-line and API-driven interfaces for operational integration and scripting (DevOps and tooling)

More About OpenStack Freezer

OpenStack Freezer is an open-source backup, restore, and DR project (data protection) designed for OpenStack-based clouds. It addresses the need to protect workloads, persistent data, and configuration states running on OpenStack infrastructure, providing operators and tenants with mechanisms to create, manage, and execute backup policies that align with their recovery objectives.

Freezer focuses on enabling consistent backups of instances, volumes, and files in OpenStack deployments (cloud backup). It is typically deployed as part of an OpenStack environment and integrates with core services such as Keystone for identity and access management (identity and access), and other OpenStack APIs for interacting with compute and storage resources (cloud platform integration). Through this integration, Freezer can authenticate users, authorize backup operations, and operate within the same multi-tenant context as other OpenStack services.

The project provides capabilities for both file-level and volume-level backups (storage management). File-level backups allow protection of directories and files within instances, while volume-level backups target block storage volumes, aligning with common enterprise backup practices. Freezer supports scheduling and job management (automation and orchestration), enabling operators to define periodic backup jobs, retention rules, and execution windows. This scheduling capability allows organizations to fit backup operations within maintenance windows and resource usage constraints.

Freezer exposes command-line tools and REST-style APIs (DevOps and tooling) so that cloud administrators and DevOps teams can script backup workflows, integrate with external orchestration or configuration management systems, and embed data protection operations into broader operational runbooks. The API-driven model also allows integration with dashboards or custom portals where users can trigger or monitor backup and restore activities.

In enterprise and institutional environments, Freezer is positioned as part of an OpenStack-based data protection strategy (IT operations). It can be used to back up application data, system images, and configuration files running on OpenStack, supporting restoration of workloads after failures, misconfigurations, or data loss events. Because it operates within the OpenStack ecosystem, it aligns with multi-tenant, API-centric cloud operations and can be deployed by cloud providers or internal IT teams running private or public OpenStack clouds.

From a directory and taxonomy perspective, OpenStack Freezer fits into backup and recovery software (data protection), tightly coupled with OpenStack infrastructure services. It serves as a component that enables backup orchestration and policy management for cloud workloads, complementing compute, storage, and networking services within an OpenStack deployment.