Velero Backup & Restore for Kubernetes Prompt

You are a senior Kubernetes platform engineer who has used Velero for production backup, restore, and namespace migration across clusters.

I will provide:
- The use case (DR, namespace migration, periodic backup)
- Current Velero setup (object store, snapshotter)
- Symptom (backup failing, restore stuck, can't migrate)

Your job:

1. **Velero components**:
   - **Server** — controller in cluster
   - **Object store** — S3/GCS/Azure for backups
   - **Snapshotter** — CSI snapshots or cloud-volume snapshots
   - **CLI** — `velero` for management
2. **For backup**:
   - `velero backup create` — point-in-time
   - Scoped by namespaces, labels, resources
   - Includes object manifests + optional volume data
3. **For restore**:
   - `velero restore create --from-backup`
   - Can rename namespaces, exclude resources
   - Volumes: from snapshot OR file copy
4. **For schedules**:
   - `velero schedule create` for periodic
   - TTL on backups
   - Cron-style timing
5. **For volume backup methods**:
   - **CSI snapshots** — fast, recommended
   - **Restic / Kopia** — file-system level, slower but works anywhere
   - **Cloud snapshots** — provider-native
6. **For namespace migration**:
   - Backup from source cluster
   - Restore to destination (different name OK)
   - Useful for cluster upgrades, region migrations
7. **For DR**:
   - Cross-region object store replication
   - Periodic backups
   - Restore drill quarterly
8. **For Velero failures**:
   - `velero backup describe <name>` for status
   - `velero backup logs <name>` for detail

Mark DESTRUCTIVE: restoring over existing namespace (overwrites), backup with TTL too short (lost), enabling restore of cluster-scoped resources that conflict.

---

Use case: [DESCRIBE]
Velero setup: [DESCRIBE — object store, snapshotter]
Symptom: [DESCRIBE]

Why this prompt works

Velero is the standard K8s backup tool but its model has subtleties. This prompt walks them.

How to use it

1. Pick volume backup method based on infra.
2. Schedule with appropriate retention.
3. Test restores regularly.
4. For DR, replicate object store.

Useful commands

# Install (Helm)
helm repo add vmware-tanzu https://vmware-tanzu.github.io/helm-charts
helm install velero vmware-tanzu/velero \
    --namespace velero --create-namespace \
    --set configuration.backupStorageLocation[0].provider=aws \
    --set configuration.backupStorageLocation[0].bucket=my-velero-backups \
    --set configuration.backupStorageLocation[0].config.region=us-east-1 \
    --set configuration.volumeSnapshotLocation[0].provider=aws \
    --set configuration.volumeSnapshotLocation[0].config.region=us-east-1 \
    --set initContainers[0].name=velero-plugin-for-aws \
    --set initContainers[0].image=velero/velero-plugin-for-aws:v1.10.0 \
    --set initContainers[0].volumeMounts[0].mountPath=/target \
    --set initContainers[0].volumeMounts[0].name=plugins

# Status
velero version
velero backup get
velero schedule get
velero restore get

# Create backup
velero backup create web-prod-$(date +%F) \
    --include-namespaces=production \
    --include-cluster-resources=true \
    --snapshot-volumes=true \
    --ttl 720h

# Schedule
velero schedule create daily \
    --schedule="0 2 * * *" \
    --include-namespaces=production \
    --ttl 720h

# Restore
velero restore create --from-backup web-prod-2026-05-30

# Restore to different namespace
velero restore create \
    --from-backup web-prod-2026-05-30 \
    --namespace-mappings production:production-restored

# Inspect
velero backup describe <name> --details
velero backup logs <name>
velero restore describe <name>

Patterns

Daily backup with retention

apiVersion: velero.io/v1
kind: Schedule
metadata:
  name: daily-prod
  namespace: velero
spec:
  schedule: "0 2 * * *"
  template:
    includedNamespaces: [production]
    snapshotVolumes: true
    ttl: 720h0m0s              # 30 days
    storageLocation: default

Cross-cluster migration

# In source cluster
velero backup create migration-2026-05-30 --include-namespaces=team-a --include-cluster-resources=false

# In destination cluster (configured with same object store)
velero restore create --from-backup migration-2026-05-30

DR drill

# Quarterly: restore latest backup to a "DR test" namespace
velero restore create dr-drill-$(date +%F) \
    --from-backup $(velero backup get -o json | jq -r '.items[0].metadata.name') \
    --namespace-mappings production:dr-test \
    --restore-volumes=true
# Verify app works in dr-test, then delete

Common findings this catches

• Backup failing → object store access; check IAM.
• Restore fails for volumes → snapshot class missing in target.
• Schedule not creating backups → schedule paused; check status.
• Old backups consuming object store → tune TTL.
• PVC restore creates new with different name — by design; update references.
• Restore overwriting in-use namespace — use namespace mapping.
• Untested DR plan — schedule drills.

When to escalate

• Major restore during incident — coordinated.
• Cross-region DR architecture — strategic.
• Backup tool migration — staged.