Longhorn is a 100% open-source, cloud-native distributed block storage solution for Kubernetes. It provides persistent storage designed to be easy to deploy, manage, and upgrade, helping teams add replicated storage to Kubernetes clusters, including environments not hosted by a cloud provider. By offering an alternative to costly proprietary products and non-portable external storage arrays, Longhorn aims to make Kubernetes storage more accessible across different environments.

The platform includes built-in incremental snapshots and backups to help protect volume data both inside and outside a Kubernetes cluster. Its management interface supports scheduling backups and managing persistent storage volumes. Longhorn also enables cross-cluster disaster recovery: teams can create a recovery volume in another Kubernetes cluster and use it to fail over applications if the primary cluster becomes unavailable. Users can define recovery point and recovery time objectives for this process.

Longhorn is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) Incubating Project. The project provides documentation, community resources, and a free hands-on Longhorn Basics course for people who want to learn how to use it.