Excluding Kubernetes Applications or Resources from an Application Group

You can exclude Kubernetes applications or resources from an application group so that they are not backed up.

Excluding applications is particularly useful when you use namespace-centric protection to back up the entire cluster. With namespace-centric protection, you can exclude applications that do not require protection, while still ensuring that new applications and data are discovered and protected.

Important

If you select individual applications, labels, or PersistentVolumeClaims, new API resources or objects within the namespace are not backed up.
If you exclude an application that is specifically selected or is the only content selected to back up, then the application is still backed up. If you add content as namespace or label selector and exclude a single or multiple applications, then the application is excluded from back up.
You can preview only for namespaces and applications. Applications are supported API resources or objects (such as Secrets, ConfigMaps, Namespaces, and StorageClasses) that can be listed, created, or re-created using the Kubernetes API server. The search function does not support wildcards and does not find PersistentVolumeClaim names or labels names or label values.

Go to the Application Group

From the navigation pane, go to Protect > Kubernetes.

The Overview page appears.
On the Application groups tab, click the application group.

The application group properties page appears.

Exclude Resources by Application

When you select by application, you can exclude the namespaces, Pods, DaemonSets, and other resources in the cluster.

On the Content tab, in the Content section, click the edit button .

The Manage content dialog box appears.
Move the Exclude resources toggle key to the right.

The Exclusions area appears.
From the Exclude list, select Applications.

The Add exclusions dialog box appears.
From the Browse list, select the option that displays the resources/objects that you want to select:
- Applications: Displays the cluster, each namespace, and Pods, DaemonSets, Deployments, StatefulSets, and Helm-deployed applications within the namespace.
- Labels: Displays the cluster, each namespace, and any labels on Pods, Deployments, DaemonSets, StatefulSets, and Helm-deployed applications within the namespace.
  
  If a namespace does not contain any API resources/objects that have labels, the namespace is displayed as empty.
- Volumes: Displays the cluster, each namespace, and any PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) within the namespace.
  
  If a namespace does not contain any PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) objects, the namespace is displayed as empty.
  
  PersistentVolume (PV) objects that do not have an associated PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) are not displayed.
Select the resources to exclude from backup.
Click Done.

Exclude Resources by Label

When you select by label, you can select labels and values to exclude resources/objects that have those labels and values.

On the Content tab, in the Content section, click the edit button .

The Manage content dialog box appears.
Move the Exclude resources toggle key to the right.

The Exclusions area appears.
From the Exclude list, select Label selectors.

The Add label selector dialog box appears.
From the Type list, select Application, Namespaces, or Volumes.
For Value, enter the label value. Supported format is key=value [-n <namespace> | --all-namespaces]. For example, usage=prod -n dev.
Click Add.

Exclude Resources by Rule

You can exclude Kubernetes resources from backups by configuring rule(s) based on the resource Kind, Group, Version, Namespace, Name, and Label. Applications such as Pod, Deployment, StatefulSet can be excluded from backups.

Note

Applications deployed via Helm charts cannot be excluded from backups.

On the Content tab, in the Content section, click the edit button .

The Manage content dialog box appears.
Move the Exclude resources toggle key to the right.

The Exclusions area appears.
From the Exclude list, select Exclude by Rule.

The Add rule dialog box appears.
From the list, select Kind, Group, Version, Namespace, Name, or Label, and then specify the rule.
Click Save.

Exclude Sub-Resources by Rule

You can exclude sub-resources of applications from backup such as ConfigMaps, Secrets, Services, PersistentVolumeClaims, etc.

Note

Sub-resources associated with applications deployed via Helm charts cannot be excluded from backups.

On the Content tab, in the Content section, click the edit button .

The Manage content dialog box appears.
Move the Exclude sub-resources toggle key to the right.

The Exclude sub-resources area appears.
From the Exclude list, select Exclude by Rule

The Add rule dialog box appears.
From the list, select Kind, Group, Version, Namespace, Name, or Label, and then specify the rule.
Click Save.