Issue Summary:
This story addresses a critical performance regression identified in upstream Velero that affects OADP backup operations. Users are experiencing dramatic performance degradation where backups that previously took 30 minutes now take 6+ hours for the same workload.

Upstream Issue: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/velero/issues/9169

Problem Description:

• Velero v1.11.1: ~300k objects backed up in ~30 minutes (CPU: 1 core, Memory: 3Gi)
• Velero v1.16.2: Same 300k objects now take ~6 hours (CPU: 3.5 cores, Memory: 4.5Gi)
• Performance starts fast (~5k objects in seconds) then drops to ~3 objects/sec
• Resource increases and configuration tuning have not resolved the issue

Configuration Details:

• Snapshots and filesystem backup disabled
• Backup schedule: Daily at 4 AM
• Includes all namespaces and resources
• Storage location: default
• TTL: 888h0m0s

Attempted Mitigations (unsuccessful):

• Increased resource requests to 4 cores/6Gi
• Increased clientPageSize to 700
• Increased itemBlockWorkerCount to 5
• Increased clientQPS to 100
• Increased clientBurst to 100
• Increased uploaderConfig.parallelFilesUpload to 30

Impact on OADP:
This performance regression directly affects OADP users running similar backup workloads and needs investigation for the 1.6.0 release to ensure optimal backup performance.

Environment:

• Kubernetes: v1.32.4-gke.1767000
• Cloud: Google Cloud GKE
• OS: Container-Optimized OS from Google

Acceptance Criteria:

• Investigate the root cause of performance degradation in newer Velero versions
• Identify if this affects OADP's Velero integration
• Implement fixes or workarounds for OADP 1.6.0 if needed
• Ensure backup performance meets acceptable standards for large workloads
• Document any configuration recommendations for optimal performance