Viewing and editing Server Backup policies

You can view policies that provide settings for Server Backup agents, including a schedule for backing up data and retention settings that specify how long to keep each backup.

There are three types of Server Backup policies:

Note: If you are using Business view in the Management Console, Global policies are available for all devices in the Management Console, and there are no Site policies.

You can edit a Global or Site policy. If you edit a policy that is assigned to one or more devices or sites, agents obtain the new policy settings when they next contact the Management Console. Agents usually contact the Management Console once every hour and before each backup.

You cannot edit a System policy. However, you can copy a System policy and edit settings in the new policy. See Adding a Server Backup policy.

To view and edit Server Backup policies:

  1. In the navigation pane, go to Server Backup > Policies.

    The Policies page lists available policies. The Type column indicates whether each policy is a System, Global or Site policy. The Last Updated column shows the last date and time when each Global and Site policy was updated. Times are shown in your user's time zone set in the Management Console.

  2. (Optional) To specify which policies appear on the page, if a Policies filter appears, do one of the following:

    • To view policies that are available for all sites, click Global in the Policies filter.

    • To view policies that are available for a specific site, click the site name in the Policies filter.

    The Policies filter does not appear if you are using Business view in the Management Console.

  3. Click the name of the policy that you want to view or edit.

    Note: You cannot edit a System policy.

  4. In the Name and Description boxes, view or edit the policy name and description.

  5. In the Policy Settings area, view or edit policy settings in the following sections. To hide or show settings in a section, click the arrow beside the section name.

    • Basic Configuration

      Automatically download and upgrade agents

      Specifies whether a Server Backup agent is upgraded automatically when a new agent version is available.

      If selected, the agent is upgraded automatically when a new agent version is available.

      If not selected, the agent is not upgraded automatically. When a new agent version is available, you must download the agent installer from the Management Console and manually upgrade the agent.

      Run first backup after agent installation

      Specifies whether a Server Backup agent backs up data immediately after it is installed on a device.

      If selected, the agent backs up device data immediately after it is installed.

      If not selected, the agent backs up device data at the first scheduled backup time.

    • Backup Content

      The Backup Content section specifies which data a Server Backup agent backs up on a device. For the current release, the only available setting is Entire Server. This means that an agent backs up all data on a device, including non-removable volumes that are added after the agent is installed. The agent sequentially backs up all blocks on each volume in a server rather than backing up specific files and folders.

    • Cloud Backup Schedule

      Backup Frequency

      Specifies the time each day when an agent backs up device data.

      Backups run at the specified time according to the system time on the device where the agent is installed. If the device is not synchronized with an NTP server, the system time could be different than the real local time.

      Backup Active Days

      Specifies the days of the week when an agent backs up device data at the time specified by the Backup Frequency setting.

      Automatically retry failed backups

      Specifies whether scheduled backups automatically retry if they do not run successfully.

      If selected, scheduled backups retry after a failed backup attempt. The Retry failed backups box specifies the number of times that the backup should retry. The Wait before each retry attempt for [ ] minutes box specifies the number of minutes between backup attempts.

      If not selected, scheduled backups do not retry after a failed backup attempt.

    • Cloud Backup Retention

      Cloud Backup Retention settings specify how long to keep each backup before automatically deleting it. This minimizes the amount of storage used and reduces storage costs. For more information, see Retention settings.

      Standard Retention

      If selected, each backup is kept for 30 days and the first successful backup of each month is kept for 12 months.
      Custom Retention

      If selected, backups are kept as specified by the Keep Daily backups for, Keep Weekly backups for, Keep Monthly backups for, and Keep Yearly backups for boxes.

    • Backup Maintenance

      Run maintenance every day at

      Specifies the time each day when maintenance processes run in Server Backup storage to delete backup data that is no longer required according to the agent's retention settings. Deleting backup data minimizes the amount of storage used and reduces storage costs.

  6. In the Policy Usage area, view the sites and number of devices that use the policy.

    For each site, the Number of Endpoints column shows the number of devices that use the policy, compared to the total number of devices in the site.

    If you are using Business view in the Management Console, the Policy Usage area only shows devices for the site you are managing.

  7. If you edited the policy, click Save.