106 - How to select your retention settings

Retention refers to how long backup files are kept online. By default, backups are performed according to a This Month/Last Month scheme in which a full backup is performed, followed by two months' worth of incremental backups (according to the backup schedule). On the last day of the second month, the first month's incremental backups are rolled up as a synthetic full backup.

The roll-up is then used by the Storage Platform as the base reference for subsequent backups and restores. With each roll-up cycle, newer roll-ups accumulate and older ones are deleted. If a longer retention period is required, the number of roll-ups to be retained can be increased - one roll-up per additional month of retention.

Roll-up settings

To select your roll-up preferences, follow these steps: 

1. In your Storage Platform  Console, open the Account Management view by clicking the button in the sidebar on the left.

2. Expand the Storage Platform folder structure, right-click on the appropriate group and choose Configure.

3. In the Roll-ups tab, select and/or enter your preferences.

4. If you have mirroring enabled, click Show Advanced Options and select your MirrorServer roll-up retention preference. 

5. Click OK to close.

Note: If you wish to adjust when (i.e. how frequently) your backups occur, open your ESE Agent and go to Options > Backup Schedule.

Local copy retention settings

To also keep one or more copies of your data locally, open ESE and click on Options > Local Backup Copy. Tick the box "Keep a local copy of your files for fast restores" and enter or select a number under Retention Preferences.

Report retention settings

To modify an Enterprise Report's retention period, follow these steps:

1. In your Storage Platform Console, open the Reports view by clicking the button in the sidebar on the left.

2. Double-click the Enterprise node in the Reports tree, or click the Enterprise node and then the Configure icon on the toolbar.

3. In the ReportServer properties dialog box that appears, specify how long the ReportServer should store reports before deleting them. By default, the retention period will be set to 60 days; modify this as required.

4. Click OK to save the changes or Cancel to exit the window.