Backing up the Policy Workbench for Azure

By default, the Policy Workbench data is backed up on a daily basis using a scheduled backup, after the Policy Workbench has been installed. The backed-up data includes the Kubernetes object state and the persistent volume data. The backed-up data is automatically stored in the encrypted Azure Blob Storage container that you created when you deployed PPC.

For more information about the Azure Blob Storage container, refer to the section Creating Azure Storage Account and Container.

You can also choose to manually back up the data to the Azure Blob Storage container using Velero.

Important: Before you manually back up the data, ensure that Velero CLI version 1.18 or later is installed.

To manually back up the data:

1. Run the following command on the jump box.

   velero backup create --from-schedule workbench-backup-schedule -n <Namespace where data is backed up>
   

   For example:

   velero backup create --from-schedule workbench-backup-schedule -n pty-backup-recovery
   

   The following output appears.

   INFO[0000] No Schedule.template.metadata.labels set - using Schedule.labels for backup object  backup=pty-backup-recovery/workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543 labels="map[app.kubernetes.io/managed-by:Helm deployment:policy-workbench]"
   Creating backup from schedule, all other filters are ignored.
   Backup request "workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543" submitted successfully.
   Run `velero backup describe workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543` or `velero backup logs workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543` for more details.
   

   For more information about the velero backup command, refer to the section Backup Reference in the Velero documentation.

2. Run the following commands to monitor the backup status.

   1. Run the following command to retrieve the list of existing backups.

      velero backup get -n pty-backup-recovery
      

      The following output appears.

      NAME                                               STATUS                       ERRORS   WARNINGS   CREATED                         EXPIRES   STORAGE LOCATION   SELECTOR
      workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543           InProgress                    0        0          2026-07-02 11:25:43 +0000 UTC   59d       default            <none>
      

   2. Run the following command to obtain details of a specific backup.

      velero backup describe <backup-name> -n pty-backup-recovery
      

      The following code block shows a snippet of the output.

      Name:         workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543
      Namespace:    pty-backup-recovery
      Labels:       app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=Helm
                  deployment=policy-workbench
                  velero.io/schedule-name=workbench-backup-schedule
                  velero.io/storage-location=default
      Annotations:  meta.helm.sh/release-name=policy-workbench
                  meta.helm.sh/release-namespace=policy-workbench
                  velero.io/resource-timeout=10m0s
                  velero.io/source-cluster-k8s-gitversion=v1.35.5
                  velero.io/source-cluster-k8s-major-version=1
                  velero.io/source-cluster-k8s-minor-version=35
      
      Phase:  InProgress
      

   3. Run the following command to obtain the log details for a specific backup.

      velero backup logs <backup-name> -n pty-backup-recovery
      

      The following code block shows a snippet of the output.

      time="2026-03-31T09:47:38Z" level=info msg="Setting up backup temp file" backup=pty-backup-recovery/workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543 logSource="pkg/controller/backup_controller.go:690"
      time="2026-03-31T09:47:38Z" level=info msg="Setting up plugin manager" backup=pty-backup-recovery/workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543 logSource="pkg/controller/backup_controller.go:697"
      time="2026-03-31T09:47:38Z" level=info msg="Getting backup item actions" backup=pty-backup-recovery/workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543 logSource="pkg/controller/backup_controller.go:701"
      

      Note: Verify that the log output contains no entries with level=error. Entries with level=warning are acceptable and do not indicate a backup failure.

Validating the backup

1. Run the following command to validate the backup status.

   velero backup get -n pty-backup-recovery
   

   The following output appears.

   NAME                                               STATUS                       ERRORS   WARNINGS   CREATED                         EXPIRES   STORAGE LOCATION   SELECTOR
   workbench-backup-schedule-20260702112543           Completed                    0        0          2026-07-02 11:25:43 +0000 UTC   59d       default            <none>