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Title
Customizing Retention Policy Settings for a specific Agent -
Description
This article describes how to set a custom retention policy for a protected agent, ensuring that rollup occurs based on that retention policy.When protecting your data using Rapid Recovery, backup snapshots are taken frequently and are saved to the repository specified by the Core. To conserve storage space over time, this data can be rolled up to an incrementally less granular series of recovery points.Rollup occurs as an internal nightly maintenance task, during which the defined retention policy is enforced by collapsing and eliminating dated recovery points. As data ages beyond the requirements defined in the retention policy, those recovery points are rolled up into fewer, smaller recovery points. This process is ongoing, trading off storage space required in the repository with granularity of your backups.You can apply a default retention policy to all agents backing up to a single Core, or you can specify a custom retention policy for a specific agent. -
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Customizing Retention Policy Settings
1. Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Console and then click on the agent machine that you want to set.2. Expand the "More" menu and select "Retention Policy"
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3. Select the Use custom retention policy option. The Custom Retention Policy window expands to display the retention policy options.
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4. Specify the time intervals for retaining all recovery points for this Agent.
NOTE: To specify any duration in the retention policy, first enter an integer and then specify the time period for which that number applies.
The primary setting sets the initial retention period for all snapshots. It is the most granular setting, representing the most number of backups saved.
Typically, the need for an organization to restore an exact moment in time on an agent machine decreases as time passes. Each additional line in the retention policy settings supports the ability to trade off granularity for storage space by rolling up some of those recovery points into a fewer number.
For example, if the organization is backing up every ten minutes, this represents six recovery points per hour, or 144 recovery points in a day. At any point in that initial retention period, an agent machine can be restored to the exact state within a ten-minute threshold.
Three days later it likely is less important to restore to a ten-minute period, but perhaps the organization wishes to retain one backup per hour. Thus, in the first line under the primary setting, you can specify a number of days for which snapshots will be rolled up into recovery points representing a one-hour period.
Each successive line in the custom retention policy period allows older backups to be rolled up into less granular recovery points, retaining the ability to recover the agent state but for a longer period of time.
For example, if you use all the settings, you can first roll up multiple recovery points into one per hour, then one per day, then one per week, then one per month, and finally, one per year.
The retention policy options are described in the following table.Text Box
Description
Keep all Recovery Points for n [retention time period] Specifies the primary retention period for all recovery points.Enter a number to represent the retention period and then select the time period. The default is 3 Days. …and then keep one Recovery Point per hour for n [retention time period] Provides a more granular level of retention. It is used as a building block with the primary setting to further define how long recovery points are maintained.Enter a number to represent the retention period and then select the time period. …and then keep one Recovery Point per day for n [retention time period] Provides a more granular level of retention. It is used as a building block to further define how long recovery points are maintained.Enter a number to represent the retention period and then select the time period. …and then keep one Recovery Point per week for n [retention time period] Provides a more granular level of retention. It is used as a building block to further define how long recovery points are maintained.Enter a number to represent the retention period and then select the time period. …and then keep one Recovery Point per month for n [retention time period] Provides a more granular level of retention. It is used as a building block to further define how long recovery points are maintained.Enter a number to represent the retention period and then select the time period. …and then keep one Recovery Point per year for n [retention time period] Enter a number to represent the retention period and then select the time period (years). The Newest Recovery Point text box displays the most recent recovery point. The oldest recovery point would be determined by the retention policy settings.
The following is an example of how the retention period is calculated.
Keep all recovery points for 3 days.
…and then keep one recovery point per hour for 3 days
…and then keep one recovery point per day for 4 days
…and then keep one recovery point per week for 3 weeks
…and then keep one recovery point per month for 2 months
…and then keep one recovery point per month for 1 year
Newest Recovery Point is set to the current day, month, and year.
In this example, the oldest recovery point would be 1 year and 3 months old.
5. Click Apply to save your changes.
6. Click Force Rollup to perform a rollup based on the current retention policy for the machine, or let the retention policy you defined be applied during the nightly rollup.