Difference between Retention preiod and Rentention level

[sagar666]

Hi

In netbackup linux file level back up policy i noticed in scheudled tab retion period is 1 year and retention level is 5. i understand Retention preiod is to hold backup upto 1 year and i would like to know here what is retention level and why we need this.

Thanks in advance 

[Marianne]

NBU has default Retention Periods for each Retention Level, but all of these can be customized.

To see how Retention Levels map to Retention Periods in your environment, you can check from cmd with 
bpretlevel -U

See http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH32538 

You can also use the GUI: Host Properties -> Master -> Retention Levels

[V4 · Accepted solution]

Level  Days  Label
   0       7  1 week
   1      14  2 weeks
   2      21  3 weeks
   3      31  1 month
   4      62  2 months
   5      93  3 months
   6     186  6 months
   7     279  9 months
   8     365  1 year
   9   24855  infinity
  10   24855  infinity

Look at aboveIf you got custom requirement to keep backup sets lets say 5 Days or 45 days

You can select level 10 from master server host properties and you get option to change it from infinity to either 5 days or 45 days... 

So above would look like

8     365  1 year
9   24855  infinity
10   5  days

Retention levels allows you to use pre-defined retention period however gives flexibility to change it based on organization need even for single application too.....

So if your regulator says retain data for this application for 3 yrs or 5 yrs or 7-10 yrs... you indeed can  simply by changing any of retention level (10 onwards  ... do not overwrite any existing customized retention periods if already done) and set it to 3/5/7/10 yrs whatever your requirements are.

Although you can extend image retention using CLI however it ain't way to follow practise unless needed.

Hope above clears 

[mph999]

Excellent posts above. Be aware that the retention level could be set differently on different masters. eg master 1 ret level 14 is 5 years but on master 2 ret level 14 is set to 5 months If you import a tape from master 1 to master 2, the retention period (which is stored in the backup header on the tape) stays as 14, but this equates to 5 months now, not the original 5 years.

[SachinSharma]

Retention Period - Terminology represents data storage in terms of Days, Weeks, months and years which can be understood even by a layman who is not aware of Netbackup terminologies. Multiple retention periods can set as per ones choice/requirement and expected backup image to be retained on the storage device for the defined time period.

Retention Level - Terminology represented across Netbackup domains in numerical digits. Each level denotes a numerical value from 0 - 24. Levels, in short represents from a Netbackup perspective for administrators or professionals. These can be customized according to ones choice and requirement.

By default some of the retention levels are set to 'Infinity', its values and units can be reset in Days, Weeks, months and years for a specific backup image's retention. It can be used for special backup request which do not have pre-denoted time period/duration set in existing policies. Levels are also useful in identifying tapes which needs to be rotated offsite, in case you have a process in place to rotate them quite often for disaster recovery and security purposes.