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How to Customize Retention Options in Drop-Down for Copy Backup, Export Backup, and VeeamZIP

KB ID: 4537
Product: Veeam Backup & Replication | 12.1
Published: 2024-01-11
Last Modified: 2024-01-11
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Purpose

This article documents how to customize the retention options that are available when configuring the following tasks:

Copy Backup
Copy Backup
Export Backup
Export Backup
VeeamZIP
VeeamZIP

Solution

The custom retention options are loaded by the Veeam Backup Service during startup of the service.

Custom retention options may be configured using the following file:

C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Config\Retention\AutodeleteRetention.json
Default File Contents: 
{
  "options": [
    {
      "name": "1 week",
      "period": 7,
      "unit": "days"
    },
    {
      "name": "2 weeks",
      "period": 14,
      "unit": "days"
    },
    {
      "name": "1 month",
      "period": 1,
      "unit": "months"
    },
    {
      "name": "3 months",
      "period": 3,
      "unit": "months"
    },
    {
      "name": "6 months",
      "period": 6,
      "unit": "months"
    },
    {
      "name": "1 year",
      "period": 1,
      "unit": "years"
    },
    {
      "name": "2 years",
      "period": 2,
      "unit": "years"
    },
    {
      "name": "3 years",
      "period": 3,
      "unit": "years"
    },
    {
      "name": "5 years",
      "period": 5,
      "unit": "years"
    },
    {
      "name": "7 years",
      "period": 7,
      "unit": "years"
    }
  ]
}

Notes:

  • The final value between curly brackets { } does not have a comma (compare line# 52 to line# 47).
  • If the AutodeleteRetention.json file contains invalid data, Veeam Backup & Replication will default to the embedded default settings. An error regarding the parsing failure will be recorded in C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Backup\Svc.VeeamBackup.log
    For example:
    Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionOptionsProvider] Loading config from file C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Config\Retention\AutodeleteRetention.json
Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionConfigParser] Parsing autodelete retention config
Error (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionOptionsProvider] Could not load retention config from file
Error (3)    After parsing a value an unexpected character was encountered: {. Path 'options[1]', line 13, position 4. (Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException)
Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionOptionsProvider] Loading embedded config
Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionConfigParser] Parsing autodelete retention config
Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionOptionsProvider] Embedded config successfully loaded
    Take note of the last line in the example above; if the AutodeleteRetention.json is correctly parsed and loaded, this line will read: 
    Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionOptionsProvider] Config from file successfully loaded
    Consider using a JSON validator, like https://jsonlint.com/
  • If the AutodeleteRetention.json file has been loaded correctly, the custom values will appear in the UI, and the following entries will be found in the "C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Backup\Svc.VeeamBackup.log" log file: 
    Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionOptionsProvider] Loading config from file C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Config\Retention\AutodeleteRetention.json
Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionConfigParser] Parsing autodelete retention config
Info (3)    [CAutodeleteRetentionOptionsProvider] Config from file successfully loaded

More Information

The custom retention settings selection only affects the retention of items at the time they are created. Changes to the AutodeleteRetention.json file will not affect the retention of items that have already been copied, exported, or created.
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