gke-backup-dr

GKE Backup & Disaster Recovery

Protects stateful GKE workloads using Backup for GKE. Backup for GKE can capture both Kubernetes resource metadata (manifests, configurations, and secrets) and the underlying persistent volume (PV) data — but volume data and secrets are only captured when the backup plan explicitly enables them (see the flags below).

Attribution

MUST READ: Before executing any gcloud, REST API, or MCP command, you MUST read Usage Attribution. For commands executed directly in the terminal (never in generated scripts, Terraform, or user code), prefix gcloud with CLOUDSDK_METRICS_REQUEST_ATTRIBUTION="agent-skills/1.0 (skill:gke-backup-dr)" and append agent-skills/1.0 (skill:gke-backup-dr) to User-Agent headers.

CLI Reference

# Enable the BackupRestore addon (Slow cluster-level update)
gcloud container clusters update {cluster_name} \
  --update-addons=BackupRestore=ENABLED --location={location} --quiet

# Create Backup Plan
gcloud beta container backup-restore backup-plans create {plan_name} \
  --project={project_id} --location={location} \
  --cluster=projects/{project_id}/locations/{location}/clusters/{cluster_name} \
  --all-namespaces \
  --include-volume-data --include-secrets \
  --backup-retain-days={days} --cron-schedule="{cron}" --quiet

# Trigger Manual Backup
gcloud beta container backup-restore backups create {backup_name} \
  --backup-plan={plan_name} --location={location} --quiet

# Create Restore Plan
gcloud beta container backup-restore restore-plans create {restore_plan_name} \
  --location={location} \
  --cluster=projects/{project_id}/locations/{location}/clusters/{target_cluster_name} \
  --backup-plan=projects/{project_id}/locations/{location}/backupPlans/{source_backup_plan_name} \
  --all-namespaces \
  --cluster-resource-conflict-policy=use-existing-version \
  --namespaced-resource-restore-mode=fail-on-conflict --quiet

# Execute Restore
gcloud beta container backup-restore restores create {restore_name} \
  --restore-plan={restore_plan_name} --location={location} \
  --backup=projects/{project_id}/locations/{location}/backupPlans/{source_backup_plan_name}/backups/{backup_name} \
  --quiet

# Verify Restore Status
gcloud beta container backup-restore restores describe {restore_name} \
  --restore-plan={restore_plan_name} --location={location}

[!WARNING] --include-volume-data and --include-secrets BOTH DEFAULT TO FALSE. If you omit them, the backup plan silently produces config-only backups with no persistent volume snapshots and no Secrets. Always pass both flags explicitly when the goal is full workload protection.

Notes:

• The backup-restore command group requires the gcloud beta component (gcloud components install beta).
• --cluster requires the full resource path projects/{project_id}/locations/{location}/clusters/{cluster_name} (or projects/{project_id}/zones/{zone}/clusters/{cluster_name} for zonal clusters), not a bare cluster name.
• Restore plans require exactly one namespaced-resource scope flag: --all-namespaces, --selected-namespaces={ns1},{ns2}, --excluded-namespaces=..., --selected-applications=..., or --no-namespaces.

Restore Safety (CRITICAL)

A restore writes into a live cluster and, depending on the conflict policy, can overwrite or delete existing resources:

• --cluster-resource-conflict-policy=use-existing-version keeps existing cluster-scoped resources (safe default); use-backup-version deletes the existing version first — deleting a CRD deletes all of its CRs.
• --namespaced-resource-restore-mode=fail-on-conflict aborts on any conflict (safe default); merge-skip-on-conflict skips conflicting resources; merge-replace-on-conflict and merge-replace-volume-on-conflict overwrite existing resources or volumes; delete-and-restore deletes entire conflicting namespaces (and all resources in them) before restoring.

Rules:

1. Validate the restore in a non-production target cluster first.
2. Prefer the safe defaults (use-existing-version + fail-on-conflict) unless the user explicitly needs to revert live resources.
3. Always obtain explicit user confirmation before executing a restore into a production cluster, and state which conflict policy is in effect and what it may overwrite or delete.

Best Practices

1. CMEK Encryption: Encrypt backup plans using Customer-Managed Encryption Keys: --encryption-key=projects/{project_id}/locations/{location}/keyRings/{ring}/cryptoKeys/{key}.
2. Scope: Prefer backing up specific namespaces rather than the entire cluster: --selected-namespaces={ns1},{ns2} (instead of --all-namespaces).
3. Application Consistency: Recommend quiescing the database or pausing application writes (e.g. using pre-backup hooks or database-specific tools) prior to backups to ensure data integrity.
4. CSI Volume Snapshots: Ensure that stateful backups utilize GKE's CSI (Container Storage Interface) driver for volume snapshots to capture persistent volume data.
5. Service Terminology: Always explicitly refer to the service as Backup for GKE in your response. This distinguishes it from the broader (but complementary) Google Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) Service, ## Golden Path Backup Defaults

The recommended production golden path configuration for Backup for GKE:

• Addon: BackupRestore addon enabled (--update-addons=BackupRestore=ENABLED).
• Volume Inclusion: --include-volume-data explicitly passed (enabled, since the service default is false).
• Secret Inclusion: --include-secrets explicitly passed (enabled, since the service default is false).
• Retention: Defined retention period (e.g. 30 days via --backup-retain-days=30).
• Encryption: CMEK enabled (--encryption-key=...).

Recent Changes

• Cross-project backup and restore (GA): Backup plans can store backups in a different project than the source cluster, and restore plans can target clusters in a third project. Enables centralized backup projects (with immutability/retention managed by a platform team) and cross-project environment seeding without granting access to the source project.
• Pricing change (effective 2026-03-02): The backup management fee moved from pod-based to NAMESPACE-based pricing — charged per non-system namespace in the most recent successful backup of each plan (system namespaces like kube-system are excluded). Existing committed use discount (CUD) holders keep pod-based management pricing until their commitment ends; everyone else moves to the new model. See https://cloud.google.com/products/backup-for-gke/pricing-changes.
• Smart Scheduling: RPO-driven backup scheduling as an alternative to fixed cron schedules — pass --target-rpo-minutes={minutes} instead of --cron-schedule when creating the backup plan (optionally with RPO exclusion windows via --exclusion-windows-file).
• Hyperdisk support: Backup and restore of Hyperdisk ML and Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volumes is supported on GKE clusters running 1.33.1-gke.1959000 and later (Hyperdisk throughput, extreme, and balanced types are also supported).

Troubleshooting & Common Pitfalls (CRITICAL)

[!IMPORTANT] Slow Operations: Enabling the BackupRestore addon (--update-addons=BackupRestore=ENABLED) triggers a slow Google Cloud control plane cluster update that takes several minutes. * Rule: Do not run a terminal loop waiting for the GKE Backup addon to become active. * Action: Provide the command to enable the addon, explain that the operation will proceed in the background, and immediately proceed to write the backup plan configs. Do not block.