fix: clear absent provider fields on reconcile

Zero object before unmarshal so disabled fields (e.g. readAffinity)
are cleared on the live object rather than silently retained via
json merge accumulation. Preserve labels, annotations, ownerRefs,
resourceVersion and creationTimestamp across the reset.

Signed-off-by: Leela Venkaiah G <lgangava@ibm.com>

Author: leelavg

internal/controller/storageclient_controller.go

@@ -841,16 +841,38 @@ func (r *storageClientReconcile) reconcileResourcesByGK(
 func (r *storageClientReconcile) reconcileResource(obj client.Object, desiredState desiredKubeObject) error {
 
 	mutateFunc := func() error {
-		// Unmarshal follows merge semantics, that means that we don't need to worry about overriding the status,
-		// or any metadata fields. There is an exception when it comes to creationTimestamp which gets serialized into
-		// default value.
+		// Preserve metadata that must survive provider updates.
+		labels := obj.GetLabels()
+		annotations := obj.GetAnnotations()
+		ownerRefs := obj.GetOwnerReferences()
+		finalizers := obj.GetFinalizers()
+		uid := obj.GetUID()
 		creationTimestamp := obj.GetCreationTimestamp()
+		resourceVersion := obj.GetResourceVersion()
+
+		// Zero the object so absent fields in the response clear existing
+		// values rather than being silently retained via merge accumulation.
+		goType := reflect.TypeOf(obj).Elem()    // concrete struct type, e.g. CephConnection not *CephConnection
+		zeroValue := reflect.New(goType).Elem() // zeroed struct value of that type
+		objValue := reflect.ValueOf(obj).Elem() // addressable struct value behind obj's pointer
+		objValue.Set(zeroValue)                 // reset in-place, same pointer CreateOrUpdate holds
+
 		if err := json.Unmarshal(desiredState.bytes, obj); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal %s configuration response: %v", obj.GetName(), err)
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal %s configuration response: %v", desiredState.Name, err)
 		}
+
+		obj.SetName(desiredState.Name)
+		obj.SetNamespace(desiredState.Namespace)
+		obj.SetLabels(labels)
+		obj.SetAnnotations(annotations)
+		obj.SetOwnerReferences(ownerRefs)
+		obj.SetFinalizers(finalizers)
+		obj.SetUID(uid)
 		obj.SetCreationTimestamp(creationTimestamp)
+		obj.SetResourceVersion(resourceVersion)
+
 		if err := r.own(obj); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to own %s resource: %v", obj.GetName(), err)
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to own %s resource: %v", desiredState.Name, err)
 		}
 		return nil
 	}