Feature request: option to remove existing backups when excluding mailboxes

[GuntherExabyte]

When you now exclude a mailbox from backup any existing backups of that mailbox are kept en count toward the licensing.
It would be very usefull to, when adding an mailbox to the "exclude" list in the gui, to have there an option to remove existing backups of that mailbox (and also clear the license usage).

Currently the only option is (as provided to me by veeam support engineer Peter Nikitin - see below ) to use cmdlet's .

You can remove the user backups using "Remove-VBOEntityData" cmdlet:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=30

Please note, that licence is not automatically revoked once the user's backup is removed from the repository. The license is revoked automatically only in case there was no successful backup of the user within the last 31 days:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=30

In case you are using Veeam Backup for Office 365 version 3.0 you can forcibly revoke the license using "Remove-VBOLicencedUser" cmdlet.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=30

Version 3.0 also allows you to generate the License Overview report - it could help you to determine which users you would like to remove from the backup
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=30

[Polina]

Hi @GuntherExabyte and welcome to the Community!

First, Peter's response is absolutely correct. We've heard from our customers that sometimes users are added to a backup job by mistake and consume licenses. To address this, in version 3, we added a specific cmdlet - Remove-VBOLicencedUser - which allows revoking a license without the need to wait for 31 days. And to apply this cmdlet you will need first to remove the user's data from all the repositories. Another benefit of PowerShell is the flexibility to perform these actions for multiple users at once, while via the UI exclusions are managed one by one. (should you need any assistance with the PowerShell scripting, we'll be happy to help)

Next, my concern is that many customers use VBO to back up not only users' mailboxes but also OneDrive and SharePoint data. If available in the UI, the requested option may cause issues for those who have complex backup configurations and multiple backup jobs for different types of data. Makes sense?