How to avoid backup deletion during Velero upgrades via Argo CD.

Introduction

A quick tip on how to avoid backup deletion during Velero upgrades via Argo CD.

Problem

Initially when upgrading Velero with Argo CD, any backup objects created from a schedule would be pruned, as they had no owner ref. Setting the schedule’s useOwnerReferencesInBackup value to true within the Velero helm chart fixed that specific problem.

However, on subsequent Velero upgrades where the schedule was affected, all backups would also be removed, due to the useOwnerReferencesInBackup setting.

Solution

The fix was to use Argo CD’s Resource Exclusion option, as shown below:

1. Edit the argocd-cm configmap:

    kubectl edit configmap argocd-cm --namespace argocd
   

2. Add exclusion block for velero backups:

    data
      resource.exclusions: |
        - apiGroups:
          - "velero.io"
          kinds:
          - Backup
          clusters:
          - "*"