Re-syncing a repository from scratch, using local repo item retention as a way to control how much data to pull per run?

[cerberus]

Hi all,

Using VBO and having to re-sync a large repository from scratch (20TB), massive mailboxes with archives that have emails going back 20yr+ and no retention policies so it keeps on growing (yup, that's another story all together).

Can one use the local repository item level retention settings as a way to control how much data is pulled down per job run?

If I run the job as is, pulling 20TB of data will take weeks (sure I can break it down into multiple jobs, but let's imagine it's a single catch-all job). Instead, I was thinking of incrementally increasing the retention policy between each successful run, starting at 1yr > 2yr > 3yr > 5yr etc.

This way I can hit up all the mailboxes and get the most critical data backed up first (items that fall within the 1yr retention), working my way to "keep forever" retention to pull everything.

Any issues from a support perspective or pitfalls going this route?

[Mildur]

Hi Mirza

Your plan is supported.
Just consider, you won't be able to switch to Snapshot-based retention later on.

Best,
Fabian

[cerberus]

Thanks for confirming, that's great!

[Mildur]

You're welcome.
Maybe set the retention scheduler to once per week until you have done the initial backup. With applying retention daily, the oldest protected data would be removed each day and you have to backup it again when you set a higher retention for the repository.
Monthly is not possible for Item-Level Retention based repositories.

Thanks,
Fabian