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Clarify how retention works
As shown below,
C:\>mminfo -avot -r "volume(20), client(30), name(8), ssretent, clretent, level, ssid, cloneid, totalsize" -q ssid=3404728478
volume client name retent clretent lvl ssid clone id total
Backup.006 clientsrv J:\ 4/5/2017 4/22/2016 full 3404728478 1458571391 1609375286232
ClonTo1v.003 clientsrv J:\ 4/5/2017 3/31/2017 full 3404728478 1458646980 1609375286232
ClonTo3h.001 clientsrv J:\ 4/5/2017 4/5/2017 full 3404728478 1459878162 1609375286232
The backup of J:\ drive on clientsrv had 3 copies, one onsite and two offsite. I need to expire the onsite backup and keep the offsite copies for 1 year. For the onsite backup on volume Backup.006, its saveset retention was set to April 5, 2017, but its clone retention was set to April 22, 2016. Which retention attribute Networker server would use to determine when the saveset need to expire?
bingo.1
2.4K Posts
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April 12th, 2016 02:00
@AndrewX
We have a pretty similar scenario - your disk backups also retire first (1 month) while the clone/tape SS expiration date is set to 18 months ahead.
The Command Line Reference (mminfo) is pretty clear:
ssretent The save set’s retention time (expiration time). This is the time limit that the save set will remain recoverable
in the media database.
clretent time The clone retention time is the time limit that the clone instance will remain recoverable in the media
database.
ssretent reflects to the longest retention date for all instances
clretent reflects to the specific retention date for that save set instance.
ble1
14.3K Posts
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April 11th, 2016 12:00
It would take into consideration retention of the last dependent saveset too (eg. incr before next full was made). In your mminfo that is not visible as you did query for specific ssid. If you do it for save set name (or use -N for it) you can see such dependencies more clear.
AndrewX1
30 Posts
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April 11th, 2016 16:00
Thanks for quick response. No, this is the only full backup of the J:\ drive. This saveset has 3 copies as shown in the original post. It did not have any other savesets (neither full nor incr).
gautamgp
226 Posts
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April 11th, 2016 20:00
In NetWorker there are 2 types of Retentions (Browse and Retention). Browse only decides the time till which you would be able to browse the saveset and restore individual items. Retention decides when the saveset will be removed from the Media Database. In your case both primary copy and Clone copy have their own retention periods and you can also modify them using the nsrmm command.
bingo.1
2.4K Posts
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April 12th, 2016 02:00
@Gautash
Sorry, but your statements are incorrect/incomplete. Let me add my comments here:
"Browse only decides the time till which you would be able to browse the saveset and restore individual items."
You can restore individual items at any time - no matter which current state the save set has.
Unfortunately, if the browse time has been passed, you will not be able to do that 'the browseable way' but you have
to tell NW exactly what to recover (i.e. you replace the missing file index).
From the command line you use the "recover -S ssid -a pathname ..." option.
"Retention decides when the saveset will be removed from the Media Database."
This is only true for disk media.
For tapes, passing the retention date will only set the status to 'recyclable'. The save sets will only be removed when
the tape is recycled/relabeled.
StuartWhitby
45 Posts
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April 12th, 2016 07:00
Get the results of
mminfo -q ssid=1458571391 -r "cloneid,volume,clretent(30)"
and run
nsrmm -S 1458571391/ -e
to redo the retention time of the appropriate clone. Hopefully that'll work - the nsrmm -? output actually only shows the ssid/cloneid usable with the -o option, and I'm not modifying my existing media DB to test 
bingo.1
2.4K Posts
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April 12th, 2016 08:00
As mentioned, these statements are to be found in the NW Command Line Reference (mminfo command), aka Manual Pages or Manpages. This is main document because whatever must work will finally initiate a command.
You can download the book from the documents page either by itself or as part of the Documentation Portfolio.
NetWorker Product Documentation Index
AndrewX1
30 Posts
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April 12th, 2016 08:00
Thanks Bingo! Were the below statements from EMC document? It's a good summary on retention time for saveset and saveset-clone-instance of saveset.
"ssretent reflects to the longest retention date for all instances
clretent reflects to the specific retention date for that save set instance."