Learn Velero - Scheduling & Retention

#Introduction

The manual backup in episode 4 is good for practice, but for production you need backups that run themselves — every day, every hour, without being reminded. In episode 6 we build that professional habit: automatic schedules with TTL to clean up old backups.

Think of it like your archiving habit: manual means "saving when you remember" (unreliable), while scheduled means "archives come in every day at 02.00, automatically discarded after 30 days". Which one can your business rely on?

#Schedule: Scheduled Backups

#Creating a Schedule

velero schedule create daily \
  --schedule="0 2 * * *" \
  --include-namespaces prod \
  --ttl 720h \
  --storage-location default

Anatomy of the command:

• daily — the schedule name (a Schedule CRD object).
• --schedule="0 2 * * *" — a standard cron expression: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week. 0 2 * * * means every day at 02:00.
• --include-namespaces prod — the scope is the same as a manual backup.
• --ttl 720h — every backup born from this schedule automatically expires after 720 hours (30 days).
• --storage-location — the target BSL (optional; defaults if there's only one).

#Writing Cron Expressions

Some commonly used examples:

velero schedule create hourly \
  --schedule="0 * * * *" \
  --include-namespaces prod \
  --ttl 48h

#Managing Schedules

velero schedule get
velero schedule describe daily
velero schedule delete daily --confirm

Each schedule creates a Schedule CRD; the server runs the "trigger" — when the time arrives, it creates a new Backup object with the same parameters.

#TTL: Automatic Retention

#How TTL Works

The --ttl flag determines how long a backup is retained. Once it passes, Velero automatically deletes the backup from object storage and updates the CRD status to Expired. The value is written as a duration (e.g. 48h, 720h, 1680h).

velero backup create manual-checkpoint --include-namespaces app --ttl 168h
velero backup get

TTL isn't just a cleaner — it's cost and compliance control. Object storage isn't free: backups without TTL pile up, inflate your bill, and slow down backup listing.

#Tiered Retention Patterns

A common production strategy combines several schedules with different TTLs:

• Hourly: TTL 24 hours — a safety net for rapid changes.
• Daily: TTL 30 days — daily recovery.
• Weekly: TTL 1 year — mid-term archive.
• Monthly: TTL 3 years — compliance/audit.

velero schedule create hourly  --schedule="0 * * * *" --include-namespaces prod --ttl 24h
velero schedule create daily   --schedule="0 2 * * *" --include-namespaces prod --ttl 720h
velero schedule create weekly  --schedule="30 2 * * 0" --include-namespaces prod --ttl 8760h

#Schedule vs Manual Backup

Understand the fundamental differences:

• Manual backup: runs once, creating a Backup object directly. Used for specific moments (before a cluster upgrade, migration, risky experiments).
• Schedule: a permanent template. The server creates a new Backup each time the cron fires, with the same parameters and TTL.

It's not "one is better" — they complement each other: schedules for routine, manual for specific points in time (a checkpoint before the migration in episode 11).

#Closing

Key takeaways:

• velero schedule create + a cron expression creates automatic backups; --ttl controls auto-expiry.
• TTL controls cost and rotation: 48h, 720h (30 days), 8760h (1 year).
• Tiered retention patterns: short-TTL hourly, long-TTL daily/weekly/monthly.
• TTL ≠ immutability — for must-keep data, use object lock (episode 15).
• Schedules for routine, manual backups for point-in-time checkpoints.

In episode 7 next, we'll refine backup control: labels, selectors, and annotations — selecting resources by label, marking include/exclude via the velero.io annotation, and setting up --snapshot-volumes and pre/post hooks.