diff --git a/admin/kubezero.sh b/admin/kubezero.sh
index 34128800..c0d24de7 100755
--- a/admin/kubezero.sh
+++ b/admin/kubezero.sh
@@ -214,30 +214,16 @@ control_plane_node() {
       sleep 3
     done
 
-    # if we are NOT member already, flush etcd to be able to join
+    # see if we are a former member
     MY_ID=$(etcdctl member list --endpoints=$etcd_endpoints | grep $ETCD_NODENAME | awk '{print $1}' | sed -e 's/,$//')
+    [ -n "$MY_ID" ] && retry 12 5 5 etcdctl member remove $MY_ID --endpoints=$etcd_endpoints
 
-    # Failsafe / etcd on ephmeral: we were a member but our dataset is missing
-    # -> remove former self so we can re-join
-    if [ -n "$MY_ID" -a ! -d ${HOSTFS}/var/lib/etcd/member ]; then
-      # Remove former self first
-      [ -n "$MY_ID" ] && retry 12 5 5 etcdctl member remove $MY_ID --endpoints=$etcd_endpoints
-      MY_ID=""
-    fi
+    # flush etcd data directory as joining with previous store seems flaky, especially during etcd version upgrades
+    rm -rf ${HOSTFS}/var/lib/etcd/member
 
-
-    if [ -z "$MY_ID" ]; then
-      # flush etcd data directory from restore
-      rm -rf ${HOSTFS}/var/lib/etcd/member
-
-      # Announce new etcd member and capture ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER, retry needed in case another node joining causes temp quorum loss
-      ETCD_ENVS=$(retry 12 5 5 etcdctl member add $ETCD_NODENAME --peer-urls="https://${ETCD_NODENAME}:2380" --endpoints=$etcd_endpoints)
-      export $(echo "$ETCD_ENVS" | grep ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER= | sed -e 's/"//g')
-    else
-      # build initial_cluster string from running cluster
-      _cluster=$(etcdctl member list --endpoints=$etcd_endpoints -w json | jq -r '.members[] | "\(.name)=\(.peerURLs[]),"')
-      export ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER=$(echo ${_cluster%%,} | sed -e 's/ //g')
-    fi
+    # Announce new etcd member and capture ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER, retry needed in case another node joining causes temp quorum loss
+    ETCD_ENVS=$(retry 12 5 5 etcdctl member add $ETCD_NODENAME --peer-urls="https://${ETCD_NODENAME}:2380" --endpoints=$etcd_endpoints)
+    export $(echo "$ETCD_ENVS" | grep ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER= | sed -e 's/"//g')
 
     # Patch kubeadm-values.yaml and re-render to get etcd manifest patched
     yq eval -i '.etcd.state = "existing"
diff --git a/admin/upgrade_cluster.sh b/admin/upgrade_cluster.sh
index 8c43484a..34d34cc9 100755
--- a/admin/upgrade_cluster.sh
+++ b/admin/upgrade_cluster.sh
@@ -170,7 +170,11 @@ waitSystemPodsRunning
 
 echo "Applying remaining KubeZero modules..."
 
-control_plane_upgrade "apply_cert-manager, apply_istio, apply_istio-ingress, apply_istio-private-ingress, apply_logging, apply_metrics, apply_argocd" backup
+control_plane_upgrade "apply_cert-manager, apply_istio, apply_istio-ingress, apply_istio-private-ingress, apply_logging, apply_metrics, apply_argocd"
+
+# Trigger backup of upgraded cluster state
+kubectl create job --from=cronjob/kubezero-backup kubezero-backup-$VERSION -n kube-system
+kubectl wait --for=condition=complete job/kubezero-backup-$VERSION && kubectl delete job kubezero-backup-$VERSION -n kube-system
 
 # Final step is to commit the new argocd kubezero app
 kubectl get app kubezero -n argocd -o yaml | yq 'del(.status) | del(.metadata) | del(.operation) | .metadata.name="kubezero" | .metadata.namespace="argocd"' | yq 'sort_keys(..) | .spec.source.helm.values |= (from_yaml | to_yaml)' > $ARGO_APP