Example: Retention when a policy uses only time controls
The simplest way to manage data retention is to use only time-based policy controls. With only time-based controls in the policy, the file versions are retained based on the days since the versions become inactive.
For a policy that is based only on time, you use the Keep Extra
Backups and Keep Deleted
Backups controls. This type of policy does not
limit the number of versions of files. If clients back up frequently, ensure that server storage can
handle the potential number of file versions.
The following figure shows how files from a client are handled by the server over time as the client runs a daily incremental backup operation.
In this example, the policy has the following characteristics:
- The latest version of a file is always retained, as long as the file still exists on the client system. The latest version is the active version. This characteristic is part of every policy on the server.
- Keep Extra Backups is set to 30 days. After a more recent backup is made, a file version becomes inactive and is kept in server storage for 30 days.
- Keep Deleted Backups is set to 60 days. When a file is deleted from the client system, all versions of the file in server storage become inactive. These inactive versions are kept for 60 days after the file versions become inactive.