Creating a new storage

To be able to back up any data, you first need to create a new storage. There are two ways to do so:

• Directly in the Administration Panel: go to the Storages tab and click New on the menu bar (Fig. 1.).

Fig. 1. Opening the storage creation wizard via the Storages tab.

• When configuring a backup job: once you open the backup job wizard, proceed to the Target storage step and click New (Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. Opening the storage creation wizard via the backup job wizard.

This will open the Create new storage wizard (Fig. 3.) that consists of six steps. Click the links below to find out more about each step:

• Location, where you define the name of the storage and select its location on a local drive. 
• Exchange data retention, where you configure a retention policy for the backed-up Exchange data.
• SharePoint data retention, where you configure a retention policy for the backed-up SharePoint data.
• Retention scheduler, where you specify the frequency at which the data not covered by the retention policy is removed from the storage. 
• Password, where you can password protect the storage.
• Recovery key, where you can save a unique key that allows you to recover data from the storage in certain cases. 

Fig. 3. The storage creation wizard.

Location

The first step, Location, allows you to choose a local resource that will store your backups. Use the Browse button to select a folder that will be used as a storage. You can either choose an existing folder on your local machine (network/external drives are not supported) or create a new folder via the Make new folder button.

The Display name field will be filled in automatically when you select a location for your storage. The suggested name will mirror the name of the folder (Fig. 4.). You can change it any way you want.

Fig. 4. Selecting a storage location and name.

Exchange data retention

The Exchange data retention policy applies to the older versions of Exchange items backed up in the storage. Items that do not meet retention requirements are automatically removed from that storage according to the retention schedule. Mark the Turn on Exchange data retention checkbox (Fig. 5.) to enable a retention policy for Exchange data (user mailboxes, public folders, etc.). Once the retention policy is enabled, specify for how long (in days) the program will keep the older versions of backed-up items in the storage. The age of an item is calculated based on the date when the item (or its version) was created in the storage (was backed up), not the date when the item was created on the source server.

Fig. 5. Enabling data retention policy for Exchange data.

Next, select what types of items will be covered by the policy by marking the checkbox next to these items (Fig. 6.). You can choose between the following item types: Emails, Contacts, Calendars, Tasks, Notes, and Journals. Item types that are not selected will not be covered by the retention policy, which means they will not be removed from the storage at all.

Fig. 6. Selecting item types for which you want to apply the retention policy.

The retention policy can be also applied to special folders: Junk e-mail, Deleted items, Drafts, and Infected items. Note that in this case, the policy applies to all item types existing in these folders.

Example

You want to keep backups of all Contacts folders indefinitely, but you only need to keep emails and other item types from the last 3 months (90 days). In addition, you choose to enable the policy for the Deleted Items folder as well. The retention policy settings will look as follows (Fig. 7.):

Fig. 7. And example of using the Exchange retention policy settings in CodeTwo Backup.

Keep in mind that even though you didn’t include Contacts item type in the retention policy, any Contacts items that exist in the Deleted Items folder, along with other item types, will be removed from the storage after 90 days from the day they were backed up.

Learn more about Exchange data retention

SharePoint data retention

Select the Turn on SharePoint data retention checkbox to enable a retention policy for SharePoint data (site collections, team sites, and OneDrive for Business sites) backed up in the storage. There are 3 SharePoint data retention settings available in CodeTwo Backup (Fig. 8.):

• Keep the backed-up items for {X} days after they have been deleted from SharePoint – mark this checkbox to delete SharePoint list and library items backed up in your local storage when these items have been deleted from the source SharePoint environment. Specify the number of days that must elapse (the retention period) before the program deletes these items from the storage. The minimum value is 1 (day).

• Keep a maximum of {X} latest backed-up item versions – every time an item is modified in the SharePoint list or library, the program creates a new version of such an item in the local storage during the subsequent backup cycle (learn more about incremental backup model). Mark this checkbox if you want to keep only a certain number of most recently backed up item versions and delete the older ones from the storage. The minimum value is 1, which means that it’s not possible to completely delete a list/library item from the storage with this retention setting.
• Keep a maximum of {X} latest SharePoint versions for each backed-up version of a library item – this option applies only to library items. When versioning is enabled in SharePoint for a specific library that is included in your backup job, the program creates backup copies of all existing SharePoint item versions as well. Mark this checkbox to keep a certain number of most recently backed up SharePoint item versions and delete the older ones from the storage. The minimum value is 1, which means that it’s not possible to delete all SharePoint versions of a library item with this retention setting. The program will also back up only the set number of SharePoint versions in the subsequent backup cycles once this option is enabled (this applies to all backup jobs that use this storage).

Fig. 8. SharePoint data retention settings in CodeTwo Backup.

Keep in mind that once you enable SharePoint data retention, you need to select at least one retention setting in order to continue. Items that do not meet retention requirements will be automatically removed from the storage according to the retention schedule.

Example

You want to keep the 3 most recent versions of backed up SharePoint items, but you don’t want the program to delete any SharePoint versions of library items. In addition, once list or library items are deleted from SharePoint, they should be kept in the backup storage for no longer than a month (30 days). The retention policy settings will look as follows (Fig. 9.):

Fig. 9. An example of using the SharePoint retention policy settings in CodeTwo Backup.

Learn more about SharePoint data retention

Retention scheduler

In this step, you can set the frequency at which the program deletes data from the storage according to the retention policy settings. The retention scheduler option will be disabled if neither Exchange data retention nor SharePoint data retention is turned on.

To configure the retention scheduler, first select one of the recurrence options:

• Daily – the program will delete data from the storage every set number of days (e.g. every day, every 5 days, etc.) or only on weekdays (Fig. 10.).

Fig. 10. Configuring the daily recurrence pattern for the retention scheduler.

• Weekly – the program will delete data from the storage every set number of weeks on specific day(s), e.g. every week on Tuesdays and Fridays (Fig. 11.).

Fig. 11. Configuring the daily recurrence pattern for the retention scheduler.

Next, in the Recurrence pattern section (Fig. 12.), use the 24-hour clock to set the start time when the retention policy should be executed.

Finally, in the Range of recurrence section (Fig. 12.), you can:

• set the Start date, i.e. the day from which the retention scheduler becomes active (by default, it’s filled automatically with today’s date);
• set the End date, i.e. the day after which the retention scheduler becomes inactive. To be able to change this setting, you need to unmark the No end date checkbox first (which is marked by default). If you leave this checkbox marked, the retention scheduler will be active indefinitely.

Fig. 12. Additional retention scheduler options.

Password

Setting up a password for the storage is optional. However, it strongly improves the security of your backups. To enable password protection for your storage, mark the Protect the storage with a password checkbox (Fig. 13.). If a storage is protected with a password, you will need to provide that password to edit its properties, view or restore the contents of that storage, or to archive it. You will still be able to use that storage when configuring backup jobs without providing the password.

A password is created per storage.

Fig. 13.  Setting a storage password protection.

Recovery key

In the last step of the storage wizard, you can save a Recovery key for your storage. By default, backups saved to storages are automatically encrypted. That is why we recommend saving a Recovery key in your local resources, for potential recovery. You can use the recovery key in case the storage gets corrupted or, if the storage is password-protected, you lose the password.

To create a Recovery key, click Save and choose a local path where the key will be saved (Fig. 14.). 

Fig. 14. Saving a Recovery key for the storage.

Once your storage is defined, click Finish. A newly created storage will be listed on the Storages tab (Fig. 15.).

Fig. 15. A list of storages.