I need to setup ArgoCD DR fully automated in multi-region. Help me with the best approach as I am new to ArgoCD

[Harshith-Krishnappa96]

Hi Team,

I have the ArgoCD installed in EKS Cluster. I have to set-up Disaster Recovery for the application in multi-region. I have tried exploring and have got this official document:
https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/en/stable/operator-manual/disaster_recovery/

But the ask here is, I have to automate the complete DR process. Please help me with the workflow how best I can carry out this.

[FernandoMiguel]

Although I am a strong advocate of DR, for stuff like Argo that can, and should, be entirely codified, as should their applications, what is the benefit of DR?
We have destroyed Argo installs many times, only to spin a bran new one moments later that adopt the existing clusters and their running workloads with zero impact.

[Harshith-Krishnappa96]

Thanks @FernandoMiguel for your response. So rather than having a DR, we can have the backups at regular interval and store it. We can restore it using the backup when there is an issue in the primary ArgoCD is what you suggest?

[FernandoMiguel]

Quite the opposite.
If all your config is in code, what are you backing up and restoring?
If your Argo fails for any reason, just nuke it, treat it like cattle not as a pet.
Simply replace the install with a new one and you are off to the races minutes later.

In the past, when you restored a backup, how long did that take you, @Harshith-Krishnappa96?

[Harshith-Krishnappa96]

I tried taking a backup of Argo by export command and tried importing it in a new cluster by installing Argo. It took me 15 to 20 minutes for this procedure. Below are the commands I used:

take complete backup of existing argocd

argocd admin export -n argocd > argocd-backup-$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M").yml

argocd admin import - < argocd-backup-2023-07-19_16:23.yml
kubectl apply -f argocd-backup-2023-07-19_16:23.yml -n argocd

[FernandoMiguel]

Plus the time to install Argo, right?

Now imagine that just as you finish installing it, it's already managing your workloads....
Better?

@Harshith-Krishnappa96 how are you installing and managing Argo and the workloads?
Is it all in code?

[Harshith-Krishnappa96]

I am installing the Argo using Helm package in the cluster and have integrated with GitLab which consists of the application code

[Harshith-Krishnappa96]

@FernandoMiguel : Thanks a lot for your suggestion. It helped me.