Retention Period Configuration

You can define several retention times in your pools, but also for each clients. The first rule is that the file retention must be lower or equal to job retention which should be lower or equal to the volume retention. Normally you should set up Retention so they match the following rule:

File Retention <= Job Retention <= Volume Retention

The longer you keep file entries in the Catalog, the bigger the catalog. As a rule of thumb you can expect at least 150 bytes per file or object stored in the catalog.

Once the File Retention and the Job Retention are over for all Jobs stored in a Volume, this volume can be reused at any time by Bacula for next backup Jobs.

Retention times are used by Bacula to recycle your volume so your tapes and disk Volumes can be re-used. That’s why it is important to set them correctly so volumes are not recycled “too early” (see also figure Example for a simple schedule with 7 days of retention for Full and Incremental backups in section Schedules and Retentions). These retention settings must match your requirements.

In most cases, you should define File Retention and Job Retention in the Client{} resource, while the Volume Retention should be defined in the Pool{} resource.

In a Client resource:

Client {
   Neme = HRserv-fd # Human Ressources server File Daemon
   ...
   File Retention = 94608000 # 3 years in seconds
   Job Retention  = 103680000 # 3 years and 4 months in seconds
}

In a Pool:

Pool {
   Name = 3years-pool
   Description = long term archiving Pool
   ...
   File Retention = 94608000 # 3 years in seconds
   Job Retention  = 103680000 # 3 years and 4 months in seconds
   Volume Retention = 106272000 # 3 years and 5 months in seconds
}

Note

If File retention is lower but not equal to Job Retention, you will, during the “gap” between those times, still be able to query the catalog for the Job but not directly for a file of this Job.

Pay great attention to retention times to avoid unwanted recycling or non-recycling.