Option to control numbers of Synthetic full

[Leslie Lei]

The current software doesn't have the option for us to control the number of Synthetic full backups.  The best option I can find is to create a Synthetic full every month.  Most of our clients are required to store backup data for at least one year.  Some clients even require to save backup for 3-10 years.   With the current software option, one-year retention will create 12 Synthetic full backups.  Even Synthetic full backup doesn't really perform a backup from the protected server to save backup time, it still constructs a full backup from the previous incremental and eat up the storage space.  If one full backup takes 1TB, one-year retention means we will need at least 12TB to store the backup.  Can Nakivo make a new feature to set the maximum number of Synthetic full backups so we can control how many full backups are in the entire backup storage?  We have clients with large file servers that a full backup is more than 3TB.

[The Official Moderator]

17 hours ago, Leslie Lei said:

The current software doesn't have the option for us to control the number of Synthetic full backups.  The best option I can find is to create a Synthetic full every month.  Most of our clients are required to store backup data for at least one year.  Some clients even require to save backup for 3-10 years.   With the current software option, one-year retention will create 12 Synthetic full backups.  Even Synthetic full backup doesn't really perform a backup from the protected server to save backup time, it still constructs a full backup from the previous incremental and eat up the storage space.  If one full backup takes 1TB, one-year retention means we will need at least 12TB to store the backup.  Can Nakivo make a new feature to set the maximum number of Synthetic full backups so we can control how many full backups are in the entire backup storage?  We have clients with large file servers that a full backup is more than 3TB.

Hello, @Leslie Lei. We are currently working on improvements to the retention policies in our software to be included in a release in early 2024.

In the meantime, as a temporary solution, you can enable the legacy retention approach. To enable this approach, in expert settings, you should activate the "Legacy" parameter "system.job.default.retention.approach" accessible in the expert settings. For more details: https://helpcenter.nakivo.com/User-Guide/Content/Settings/Expert-Mode.htm).

With the legacy retention approach, you can specify the backup storage duration for 3 years, for example. Important: If setting for 3 years, the parameter should be set to 4 to achieve the goal you described - 3 for the past 3 years plus 1 for this year.

[The Official Moderator]

On 12/5/2023 at 11:34 PM, Leslie Lei said:

The current software doesn't have the option for us to control the number of Synthetic full backups.  The best option I can find is to create a Synthetic full every month.  Most of our clients are required to store backup data for at least one year.  Some clients even require to save backup for 3-10 years.   With the current software option, one-year retention will create 12 Synthetic full backups.  Even Synthetic full backup doesn't really perform a backup from the protected server to save backup time, it still constructs a full backup from the previous incremental and eat up the storage space.  If one full backup takes 1TB, one-year retention means we will need at least 12TB to store the backup.  Can Nakivo make a new feature to set the maximum number of Synthetic full backups so we can control how many full backups are in the entire backup storage?  We have clients with large file servers that a full backup is more than 3TB.

@Leslie Lei I forwarded your post to our development team, and they have suggested submitting an official feature request.

To assist our team in better understanding your environment and solution plan, please consider sending us a support bundle. For information on how to do this, please refer to: https://helpcenter.nakivo.com/User-Guide/Content/Settings/Support-Bundles.htm