Retention rules

1. Click How long to keep.
2. In Cleanup, choose one of the following:
   • By backup age (default)

     Specify how long to keep backups created by the protection plan. By default, the retention rules are specified for each backup set separately. If you want to use a single rule for all backups, click Switch to single rule for all backup sets.

   • By number of backups

     Specify the maximum number of backups to keep.

   • By total size of backups

     Specify the maximum total size of backups to keep.

     This setting is not available with the Always incremental (single-file) backup scheme or when backing up to the cloud storage.

   • Keep backups indefinitely
3. Select when to start the cleanup:
   • After backup (default)

     The retention rules will be applied after a new backup is created.

   • Before backup

     The retention rules will be applied before a new backup is created.

     This setting is not available when backing up Microsoft SQL Server clusters or Microsoft Exchange Server clusters.

What else you need to know

• If, according to the backup scheme and backup format, each backup is stored as a separate file, this file cannot be deleted until the lifetime of all its dependent (incremental and differential) backups expires. This requires extra space for storing backups whose deletion is postponed. Also, the backup age, number, or size of backups may exceed the values you specify.

  This behavior can be changed by using the "Backup consolidation" backup option.

• Retention rules are a part of a protection plan. They stop working for a machine's backups as soon as the protection plan is revoked from the machine, or deleted, or the machine itself is deleted from the Cyber Protection service. If you no longer need the backups created by the plan, delete them as described in "Deleting backups".