Feature Request - View and Edit Retention Settings on Backup Jobs

[HYF_JE]

If there's already a way to do this I'm sorry for not looking hard enough - didn't see an obvious way in the VBR GUI.

A problem today is that if I say, create a VeeamZip, there's 0 way to see what the retention was set to in the UI for times when this is helpful (reviews, troubleshooting, etc).

Also, say that a request comes in to increase retention on a backup. How does an administrator do that today? Or is it a call into Veeam support to do that manually with SQL?

Finally - there are some situations where retention can't be set (and maybe this should be a separate feature request) such as VeeamZips of AHV VM backups/exports. Having one "source agnostic" interface to get/set chain retention would be wonderful.

[Dima P.]

Hello HYF_JE,

A problem today is that if I say, create a VeeamZip, there's 0 way to see what the retention was set to in the UI for times when this is helpful (reviews, troubleshooting, etc).

This functionality is planned, I've added your vote to this feature request.

Also, say that a request comes in to increase retention on a backup. How does an administrator do that today? Or is it a call into Veeam support to do that manually with SQL?

For the backups linked to jobs you can increase the retention in the job settings. For orphaned backups you can remove the backup from the configuration, that will free the backup from orphaned retention logic. Next time you import such backup it wont be a subject to retention any longer.

Or is it a call into Veeam support to do that manually with SQL?

Unfortunately there is no such option, retention value is a part of the backup file itself and it currently cannot be edited.

Finally - there are some situations where retention can't be set (and maybe this should be a separate feature request) such as VeeamZips of AHV VM backups/exports. Having one "source agnostic" interface to get/set chain retention would be wonderful.

Passed to the AHV team, thank you for the feedback!

[HYF_JE]

For the backups linked to jobs you can increase the retention in the job settings. For orphaned backups you can remove the backup from the configuration, that will free the backup from orphaned retention logic. Next time you import such backup it wont be a subject to retention any longer.

I'll clarify, I didn't do a good job explaining here. I specifically mean VeeamZip backups here. You can set the veeamzip retention at the time of creation, but to my knowledge there's no way to increase the retention should that become required.

The rest of the responses sound good, though I hope engineering/development will find a way to move retention from the backup file to the database in some way.

[Dima P.]

Hello HYF_JE,

The workaround to remove backup from configuration and import it back should also work for VeeamZip backups. Thank you!

[coadyho]

Hi,
Q. To increase retention on a backup. How does an administrator do that today?
A. For the backups linked to jobs you can increase the retention in the job settings.

Is there a way that an administrator can increase the retention only on one specific backup instead of in the job settings?
For example, the retention was set for 4 weeks in the backup job "Application". Full backup on every weekends. Inc. on weekdays. Can I
set the full backup ran a week ago to 8 weeks of retention, while the backup job "Application" still has 4 weeks of retention?

Thank you.

[HYF_JE]

Hello HYF_JE,

The workaround to remove backup from configuration and import it back should also work for VeeamZip backups. Thank you!

What would your recommendation be if the backup file is in an Archive Tier? I just tried ctrl + right-clicking a few backups in my console. If the backup chain/restore point is in an archive tier, that doesn't appear to be possible.

[Dima P.]

For example, the retention was set for 4 weeks in the backup job "Application". Full backup on every weekends. Inc. on weekdays. Can I set the full backup ran a week ago to 8 weeks of retention, while the backup job "Application" still has 4 weeks of retention?

Settings are configured per job, so it's not possible to adjust the retention for one particular machine backup without affecting other backups. If you need a dedicated retention per specific workload you can move it to a dedicated backup job with a dedicated retention settings. Thanks!