How to Set Backup Retention Policy - Complete Guide
Question: How long should I keep backups?
Answer: Use a retention policy
Understanding Retention
Retention Options
| Type | Keep | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | 7 days | Recent recovery |
| Weekly | 4 weeks | Last month recovery |
| Monthly | 12 months | Year-end archive |
| Yearly | 7 years | Compliance |
How to Configure Retention (Web UI)
Step 1: Edit Backup Job
- Go to Datacenter → Backup
- Select your backup job → Edit
Step 2: Set Retention Values
- Keep Daily: 7
- Keep Weekly: 4
- Keep Monthly: 3
Step 3: Save
Click OK
How to Configure Retention (CLI)
Set in Backup Job
vzdump --mode snapshot --vmid all --storage local \
--prune-backup keep-daily=7,keep-weekly=4,keep-monthly=3How to Manually Clean Old Backups
Using find command
# Remove backups older than 30 days
find /var/lib/vz/dump -name "vzdump*.tar.*" -mtime +30 -delete
# Remove backups larger than specific size
du -sh /var/lib/vz/dump/*Cleanup Script
#!/bin/bash
# cleanup-old-backups.sh
RETENTION_DAYS=30
# Find and remove old files
find /var/lib/vz/dump -name "vzdump*.tar.*" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete
echo "Cleaned backups older than $RETENTION_DAYS days"Retention Policy Examples
Home Lab
Daily: 3
Weekly: 2
Monthly: 0
Small Business
Daily: 7
Weekly: 4
Monthly: 3
Enterprise (Compliance)
Daily: 7
Weekly: 5
Monthly: 12
Yearly: 7
Keywords
retention backup-policy how-to cleanup storage