Windows server 2008 r2 backup retention settings

Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. Backup — Windows and Windows Server. Sign in to vote. I have "real backups" using Commvault Simpana but it's so much easier to deal with a restore from shadow copies for simple file shares. Yes you can change the limit up to shadow copies per volume, by using the MaxShadowCopies registry key. You will probably also need to adjust the amount of storage space VSS is allowed to use with vssadmin.

You may configure Shadow Copies for a volume to back up to a separate volume, such as one with more space. Again, vssadmin. VSS on its own works well, but it's pretty basic. Most good enterprise backup solutions make use of VSS on Windows machines. But to get those really granular and fine-tuned retention policies, you'll need to use a more thorough backup solution.

It also seems impossible to set a "no delete" mark on a particular shadow copy set. It would be most conveniently called before a new VSS copy is created through the task scheduler of your system. Sign up to join this community.

The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Windows R2 - shadow copy management and retention Ask Question. Asked 8 years, 4 months ago. Active 5 years, 6 months ago. Viewed 15k times. Scenario To simplify it, I'll stick with a single volume in my environment.

The volume is GB and has 44GB of free space. Unselected , the associated folder and the folder contents are excluded from backup. Solid , the associated folder is selected for backup, but one or more items within that folder are excluded from the backup. The volume may be configured for backup, but it may be offline.

This is common for removable USB drives. Volumes that are offline are shown in grey text. You can only back up data from a local drive that is formatted as an NTFS file system. Volume Shadow Copy Service VSS does not support creating a shadow copy of a virtual volume and the host volume in the same snapshot set.

VSS does support creating snapshots of volumes on a virtual hard disk VHD , if backup of the virtual volume is necessary. The backup process should be scheduled during a time when as few people as possible are using their networked computers.

This is usually during the late evening or early morning hours. The default time for backup is PM until AM. The server attempts to back up client computers only during the scheduled window of time.

However, if your business is active during these traditionally off hours, you may want to change these default settings. In Windows Server Essentials, this task has been renamed Client computer backup tasks. In Client computer backup settings and tools , on the Computer Backup tab, you can change the start and end times to meet your needs. Daily backups of all your computers accumulate on your server over time. To help you manage these backups, Windows Server Essentials can help you manage the database of computer backups.

You can configure how many backups to keep for all your computers. The backup retention policy determines how long a backup is kept before it is deleted during the backup cleanup process. Backup cleanup runs at PM every Saturday. It deletes all the backups that fall outside the backup retention policy. The defaults for the backup retention policy are:.

Retain daily backups for 5 days. The first backup of the day is retained as the daily backup. After 5 days, the oldest daily backup is deleted in the cleanup process. Retain weekly backup for 4 weeks. The first backup of the week is retained as the weekly backup. After 4 weeks, the oldest weekly backup is deleted in the cleanup process. Retain monthly backups for 6 months. The first backup of the month is retained as the monthly backup. After 6 months, the oldest monthly backup is deleted in the cleanup process.

In Client computer backup settings and tools , in the Client computer backup retention policy section, make the changes to the retention policy that meets your needs. When you finish, click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog box. The updated retention policy will be applied the next time that backup cleanup runs.

The updated retention policy applies to all of the client computers on your network that are configured for backup. After backup is configured for client computers, the network administrator may have specified a different window of time. Similarly, the administrator may have specified a longer or shorter backup retention time than the default.

The Reset to defaults button lets you reset the backup window and retention policy to the defaults provided during initial backup configuration. On the Computer Backup tab of the Client computer and backup settings and tools page, click Reset to defaults.

You may want to write down the customized schedule and retention policy settings because they will be gone when you reset to the default settings. Repair backups: If the database of computer backups becomes corrupt or unusable for some reason, you can attempt to repair the database by using the Repair the Backup Database Wizard.

The wizard analyzes the backup files to determine if there are any issues that can be repaired. The wizard then attempts to fix any issues that are found.

Computer recovery: You can create a bootable USB flash drive to use to restore a computer from an existing backup. After the bootable USB flash drive is created, you insert it into the computer that you want to restore, and then boot to the USB flash drive to start the full system restore process. If you receive an alert telling you that the computer backup database has issues, you can attempt to repair it. In Client computer backup settings and tools , click the Tools tab. In the Repair backups section, click Repair now.

The Repair the Backup Database Wizard opens. Depending on how large the backup database is, the database repair can take several hours.

In the Tasks pane, click Customize Backup for the computer. The Customize Backup Wizard appears. Click Disable backup for this computer , and then select whether you want to keep or delete the existing backup files.

For information about how to enable backup for a computer after backup has been disabled, see Set up backup for a client computer. The client computer backup cleanup task is scheduled to run at PM every Saturday after all backups are complete. The cleanup task deletes backups from the client computer backup database according to the backup retention policy.

The default settings for the backup retention policy are:. For information about changing the backup retention policy, see Change the computer backup retention policy.

On the server, open Task Scheduler. You can access the Task Scheduler program from the Administrative Tools console. Click the Backup Cleanup task, and then click Run in the Actions pane. The Status changes to Running until the task is complete. There is not a recent successful backup. The number of days since the last successful backup is included in the notice. Windows Server Essentials only: A new volume is added to your computer.