TridentProtect Snapshot Restore Fails with “Existing app definition is different than expected, cannot reuse the application” Error

Applies to

• NetApp TridentProtect
• Kubernetes environments using TridentProtect for application-level backup/restore
• Application restores from snapshot to a different namespace

Issue

When attempting to restore an application from a snapshot using TridentProtect, the following error is encountered:

Log Output:

{
  "level": "error",
  "ts": "<time stamp>",
  "msg": "Error reconciling stage",
  "controller": "snapshotrestore",
  "controllerGroup": "protect.trident.netapp.io",
  "controllerKind": "SnapshotRestore",
  "SnapshotRestore": {"name": "<snaprestore name>", "namespace": "<namespace>"},
  "namespace": "<namespace>",
  "name": "<snaprestore name>",
  "reconcileID": "4f04918d-6dbf-470e-bd4c-97ce0e7a6094",
  "condition": "CreateApplicationCompleted",
  "error": "Existing app definition is different than expected, cannot reuse the application '<app name>'"
}

Symptoms:

• Restore operation fails
• Application CR is not created in the intended namespace
• Error message indicates a conflict with the existing application definition