Data Aging - Getting Started

Data Aging is the process of removing old data from secondary storage to allow the associated media to be reused for future backups.

By default, all backup data is retained infinitely. However, you should change the retention of your data based on your needs. Note that if you continue to have infinite retention, you will also need infinite storage capacity.

1.	From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Policies | Storage Policies.
2.	Highlight the Storage Policy.
3.	From the right pane, right-click the Storage Policy Copy and click the Properties.
4.	Click the Retention tab. Click the Retain For in the Basic Retention Rules for All Backups area. Enter number of days to retain the data. Enter number of cycles to retain the data. Click OK.
5.	From the CommCell Browser, click the Reports icon.
6.	Expand Reports and select Data Retention Forecast and Compliance.
7.	Click Run.
8.	The report will display the data to be pruned when a data aging job is run. To ensure only data intended for aging is actually aged, it is important to identify the data that will be aged based on the retention rules you have configured. Hence, ensure this report includes only the data you intend to age. If necessary, fine-tune your rules so that only the intended data is aged. Once you run a data aging job, the data will be lost.
9.	From the CommCell Console, right click the CommServe icon and click All Tasks | Data Aging.
10.	Select Immediate in the Job Initiation section and click OK.
11.	You can track the progress of the job from the Job Controller window. When the job has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed. Make sure that the job completes successfully. If the job did not complete successfully, re-run the job.