Manage Namespaces in Scheduled Backups

Applicable to both Classic and Federated modes

Starting from Portworx Backup 2.10.0, namespace management capabilities allow scheduled backups to continue gracefully when namespaces go missing or become unavailable from the cluster. Instead of failing the entire backup, the system proceeds and creates a scheduled backup with available namespaces and marks the backup as Partial Success. This feature improves backup resilience by ensuring your backup schedules remain active even when namespace availability changes.

In traditional backup scenarios, if any specified namespace is missing during a backup cycle, the entire backup operation fails. Namespace management in scheduled backups improves resilience and usability by:

• Continuing operations: backup proceeds with available namespaces when some are missing
• Transparent reporting: clear indication of which namespaces were unavailable
• Partial success status: backups are marked as Partial Success instead of Failed
• Schedule continuity: backup schedules remain active even with missing namespaces

The flexible namespace feature is designed to handle three key scenarios: when namespaces are missing at backup start, when multiple namespaces are specified in a single backup, and when backup schedules must remain active despite missing namespaces.

When a scheduled backup is created, there are two scenarios:

1. If a namespace is missing at backup start, the backup continues with available namespaces and is marked as Partial Success. The Portworx Backup web console displays the missing namespaces in the backup details and sends an alert. You can then investigate the root cause and either exclude the missing namespaces from the schedule or recreate them.

2. New namespaces created in the cluster after the backup starts are not included in the current backup cycle. You must manually include these namespaces by editing the schedule, and they will be picked up in the next backup cycle.

Prerequisites

• Portworx Backup 2.10.0 or later
• Stork version 25.5.0 or later
• Appropriate RBAC permissions for target namespaces
• Multiple namespaces specified in backup configuration
• Preexisting backup schedules with multiple namespaces included in the backup

Backup behavior by namespace state

Scenario	Backup Status
Namespace(s) deleted before backup creation	Backup continues with available namespaces and results in partial success
Namespace(s) deleted during backup creation	Backup process fails and the backup status is marked as Failed
Namespace(s) deleted after backup creation	Backup continues with available namespaces in the next backup cycle and results in partial success
Namespace added before/after backup creation	Namespaces are not picked up for backup and need to be added manually with the Edit Schedule option. Newly added namespaces will be picked up in the next backup cycle
Namespace added during backup creation	Namespaces are not picked up in the current backup cycle and need to be added manually with the Edit Schedule option. These newly added namespaces will be picked up in the next cycle.

Exclude deleted namespaces from the backup

Portworx Backup triggers an alert (email notification as well as alert in the Portworx Backup web console dashboard) after the backup completes and goes into Partial Success state because of missing namespaces.

1. From the email alert or alert displayed in the Portworx Backup web console, note the name of the backup that contains missing namespaces.

2. In the Portworx Backup web console, navigate to Portworx Backup Dashboard or All Clusters or the home page.

3. Search for the required backup in the Search by Backup Name & Labels.

4. Select Partial Success in the Filter by Status field. Adjust the Time Filter (Last 1 Week or Last 1 Month) to fetch the required backup.

5. Click the details drop-down. You will see two options:

   1. Exclude from Schedule under Activity Info
   2. Edit Schedule under Backup Schedule
   
   

6. Click Exclude from Schedule. The following Alert info window appears:

   

   The Alert info window displays the number of namespaces that are unavailable.

   note

   Portworx Backup web console displays Alert info window with missing namespace list only for Portworx Backup 2.10.0 and above. If your Portworx Backup version is below 2.10.0 and Stork version is 25.5.0 or above, you need to check the list of missing namespaces in the respective backup Custom Resources.

7. Select all or the required namespaces you want to exclude from the scheduled backup and then click Exclude from Schedule.

   The backup schedule is updated and the selected namespaces are excluded from the next backup cycle.

Add new namespaces to the backup

If new namespaces are created in the cluster after the backup starts, these namespaces are not included in the current backup cycle. You must manually include these namespaces for the next backup cycle.

1. In the Portworx Backup web console, navigate to Clusters and then select your cluster.

2. Navigate to Schedules tab, search for backup schedule by name or labels.

3. Use the three-dot menu to the right of it, and select Edit. The following Edit Schedule window appears:

   

4. Click Add New Namespaces and select the required new namespaces you want to include in the backup schedule.

5. Click Add to Schedule and then click Update.

   The backup schedule is updated and the selected namespaces are included in the next backup cycle.

You can also edit the schedule from the backup details under the Backups tab. Click the backup name to see Edit Schedule under Backup Schedule.

Limitations

1. If a namespace that is part of the backup is deleted during backup execution (volume or resource stages), the backup transitions to a failed state.
2. You cannot manually include namespaces created after backup start in the current backup cycle. They will be picked up in the next backup cycle after you add them to the backup schedule.
3. If a backup schedule targets only one namespace and it's deleted, the schedule will not trigger further backups.
4. Flexible namespace backup schedule editing is not supported in the Portworx Backup web console for backup schedules defined with future namespace, namespace labels and VM backup schedules.
5. If you created a backup schedule initially for a single namespace and later want to add additional namespaces to that schedule, you can't update the backup schedule; it will result in an error.

Related topics

• Creating namespace backups
• Backup schedules
• RBAC configuration
• Backup locations