Intelligent Retention

Intelligent Retention is a special kind of retention policy that is applied exclusively in combination with a Forever Forward Incremental schedule. The main purposes of Intelligent Retention are to reduce storage costs by avoiding so-called early data deletion fees (these early deletion fees are linked with minimum time periods of keeping data. If minimum periods are not reached or data was changed before that date, the storage provider may charge users for early deletion).

How It Works

Intelligent Retention works as follows: each time a backup plan is executed, backup storage parameters are checked and the retention period for a Forever Forward Incremental (FFI) backup (with FFI, only one full backup is kept on backup storage) is adjusted in such a way that this full backup is kept on backup storage for a minimum period based on storage provider data deletion conditions. Backup storage parameters are analyzed automatically, so no actions are required from the user: you do not need to do anything.

The logic of Intelligent Retention points to the following:

If a full backup was created within the minimum retention period, the next incremental backup is performed according to the schedule set in the backup plan
If a full backup is kept in storage for more than the minimum retention period, a new Synthetic Full backup is executed. This Synthetic Full will include all incremental backups older than the retention period specified

After the successful creation of a new Synthetic Full backup, a previous full backup is deleted.

Attention! When Intelligent Retention is disabled, only the retention period for incremental backups is checked. Those incremental backups that are older than the specified retention period (the 'Keep Backup For' value) are merged into a new Synthetic Full backup

Why Intelligent Retention Is Enabled

Enabled Intelligent Retention is highly recommended with Forever Forward Incremental schedule and is enabled by default

Intelligent Retention is configured on the 'Retention Policy' step.

Note that Intelligent Retention is available only if you enabled and set the Forever Forward Incremental schedule. With any other schedule or no schedule, the Intelligent Retention option is not available

To configure the Intelligent Retention, edit the backup plan using a backup wizard or straight on the Backup Plans tab.

Follow the wizard to the Retention Policy step or click the pen icon right to the Retention in the backup plan.
Specify the retention period in the Keep backup for field, then select the Intelligent Retention check box.
Follow the backup wizard steps to save the configuration or click OK if you edited the retention policy straight in the plan.