{"id":48144,"date":"2023-03-21T15:19:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T11:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/?p=48144"},"modified":"2024-01-23T19:30:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T15:30:06","slug":"setting-up-retention-policy-in-msp360-managed-backup-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/setting-up-retention-policy-in-msp360-managed-backup-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting Up Retention Policy in MSP360 Managed Backup Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re configuring a backup plan, setting up an appropriate retention policy is one of the points that you should pay the most attention to. The retention policy determines how many data snapshots are going to be kept and for how long, so if you don\u2019t set it up properly, you may lose some vital data or fail to meet your obligations under compliance.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MSP360 Managed Backup Service<\/a> is a highly customizable solution that allows you to create a retention policy according to your needs for any type of backup plan. You can fully control the backup datasets. In the guide below, we describe how to set up a retention policy by default and for each kind of backup plan we support.<\/p>\n

How the Retention Policy Works in MSP360 Managed Backup Service<\/h2>\n

In MSP360 Managed Backup Service, you can set the retention policy on a per-machine basis, but there is also an option for bulk deployment. The default retention policy can be applied to any number of plans and, if you need specific settings, you can customize the retention policy within a plan. Some options may vary according to the plan type.<\/p>\n

How to Customize and Apply Default Retention Settings<\/h2>\n

To change the default settings for an endpoint, proceed to the Remote Management<\/b> section, find the endpoint needed, then click the gear icon. In the drop-down menu, choose Edit <\/b>and then Edit Options<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

In the window that appears, click the arrow near Retention Policy<\/b>. You\u2019ll see a list of options that work for all the plans if you don\u2019t switch to custom ones.<\/p>\n

If you want to pay less for the storage space and don\u2019t need to keep data for a long time, click Delete versions older than<\/b> and specify File version age<\/b>, which can be counted from the backup or modification date. MSP360 Managed Backup Service will automatically delete older files. This can\u2019t be undone, so it is highly recommended to enable the Always keep the last version<\/b> option,<\/b> so as not to lose vital data.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

Next, specify how many versions (copies) of files or images you need to store. You can also switch on the Delay purge<\/b> option \u2013 then you will have time to check how many files are going to be deleted and restore them if you want.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a>\"CTA\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

The History retention policy<\/b> option helps you to track the backup process in detail. After the backup is completed, you can go to the History <\/b>tab of the appropriate backup agent and check what happened to every single file (if the number of records is high enough) or image components. Specify when to delete records if needed.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

The default options apply to all the plans, with just one exception \u2013 if an option exists in defaults and is missing in the plan preferences, it doesn\u2019t work for this plan.<\/p>\n

If you want to set up a retention policy on a company level, consider utilizing the Remote Deploy<\/b><\/a> option. There, you can create a configuration and apply it to all the computers needed.<\/p>\n

Per-Plan Retention Policy Settings<\/h2>\n

If you want to create a plan with options other than the default ones, select the Specify custom retention policy for backup plan<\/b> option when creating a plan.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve already described most of the options above, so for each plan type below, we\u2019ll cover only plan-specific properties.<\/p>\n

File-Level Backup<\/h3>\n

For a file-level backup, you can specify what to do with the files that have been deleted on the user\u2019s machine. You can remove them from storage as well, after a number of days which you can set here.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

Image-Based Backup<\/h3>\n

Here, a version is more of a restore point. The data version in the image-based backup<\/a> can be a full backup and a respective block-level one. For example, if you select to keep three versions, that will be one full backup and two block-level ones. Bear in mind that a block-level backup cannot be deleted without performing a subsequent full backup.<\/p>\n

Also, the Delay purge<\/b> option doesn\u2019t work for an image-based backup.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

SQL Server Backup<\/h3>\n

For SQL Server Backup, a version is a full backup with all its dependencies, such as differential and transaction log backup. So, if a version is deleted, all its dependencies are deleted, too. When you choose how many versions to keep, bear in mind that these versions are stored along with all their follow-ups.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

Microsoft Exchange Backup<\/h3>\n

When backing up Microsoft Exchange, a version is considered to be a chain of full backup plus block-level backups. So, in the event of deletion, this whole chain gets removed.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

Further reading<\/span> Microsoft Exchange Backup Guide<\/a><\/p>\n

Virtual Machine Backup: VMware and Hyper-V<\/h3>\n

Here, everything works similarly to the image-based backup: a version is also a restore point, and it can be a full backup or a block-level one. The only difference is the opportunity to delay purge.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

EC2 Instance Backup<\/h3>\n

In this case, a version is a snapshot of your virtual machine that emerges when you successfully run the EC2 backup plan. You can choose EBS for this \u2013 that\u2019s an analog of a drive. To learn more about EC2 instance<\/a> backup, check this article:<\/p>\n

How to Back Up Amazon EC2 Instances<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

Further reading<\/span> EC2 Instance Types: Choosing the One That Is Right for You<\/a><\/p>\n

AMI (Amazon Machine Image)<\/h4>\n

In the EC2 backup, you can also select the AMI option, which allows you to take a snapshot of an image that can be used to start a new EC2. Here, each snapshot is also called a version.<\/p>\n

\"MSP360<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Managed Backup Service is a solution that has the appropriate options for any type of backup. You can set up the retention policy for all the plans or define a specific policy for each of the plans. It all depends on the needs of your clients and, knowing this, we do our best to offer you the most flexibility and usability. Please contact our pre-sales team if you have any questions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re configuring a backup plan, setting up an appropriate retention policy is one of the points that you should pay the most attention to. The retention policy determines how many data snapshots are going to be kept and for how long, so if you don\u2019t set it up properly, you may lose some vital […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":48121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[878,931],"tags":[956],"class_list":["post-48144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-msp-university","category-msp360-product-guides","tag-setting-up-retention-policy-in-msp360-managed-backup-service"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48144"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57372,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48144\/revisions\/57372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}