I have a backup copy job with 2 restore points and the main purpose is to create 12 month end archive copies which I will keep in the backup repository and also copy out to a USB portable hard disk separately.
I've set it to 12 monthly retention and the first monthly archive was created in May 2019. The archives have been created properly every month end and there are 12 monthly archives in the repository. However the May 2020 archive was supposed to be created but nothing happened till now? Was it supposed to create the May 2020 archive and delete the May 2019 archive since the 12 months retention has been reached? Thanks.
According to your settings, it should be offloaded today, when the full backup in the regular chain reaches the last Sunday of May, which is May, 31st, i.e. after it will be merged with the increment as of May, 31st. If this doesn't happen, feel free to ask our engineers to review your setup closer. Thanks!
As anticipated by you. The May 2020 archive has been created just now but the May 2019 archive was not being deleted by the job. So I have 13 months of monthly archives in my repository now. When do you think the old May 2019 file will be deleted? Thanks.
Might be in case you have changed the GFS schedule at some point back in time causing the next monthly restore point to be created within the same GFS period (i.e. month) as the previous one - Veeam B&R treats both as a single RP then. In this case, retention will remove the oldest monthly point after the next one is created. If you feel this is not the case, please contact technical support for investigation.
Thanks again. I've started running the original backup copy job sometime back in year 2018 with retention of 12 monthly archives. Due to some issues with the backup copy jobs. I've removed all backup data from the backup copy job inclusive of 5-6 months of monthly archives some time back in Apr 2019 and started running the same backup copy job from fresh. The first monthly backup copy archive was created in May 2019 and this is the first 12 months anniversary since I've re-run the entire backup copy job. Could this be the reason why the 12 months calendar is messed up now? So I can wait until the end of this month for the new monthly archive to see whether will the oldest monthly archive will be removed?
Seems you haven't changed the job schedule since then so this might not be the cause. If you're ok with space then you can wait for another month and see whether retention comes into play. Otherwise, open a case to take a closer look. Thanks!
