Retention Rules

[MikeParticipant]

How do you retention rules actually work? We upload our backups to S3 and had retention set to 5. As in, we wanted to keep 5 backups on Amazon, no more than that. What seems to actually be happening (which we realized after replying it to 50+ sites) is that it keeps 5 backups LOCALLY AND uploads to S3. So what if I change the retention to 0, will it delete all the backups on Amazon? Or will it just not keep any locally? There is no documentation on this discrepancy.

[udadminKeymaster]

Hi Mike,

By default, backups are sent to remote storage, and not kept locally. Please can you give more data on the issue you had? Note that its normal for the backup to be around locally, prior to remote despatch.

David

[MikeParticipant]

Please take a look at my screenshots. We have it set to retain 5 backups. Here is what it says exactly on the settings screen:

“Files backup schedule: ‘Weekly’ starting from next time it is ‘Sunday’ ’17:18′ and retain this many scheduled backups: ‘5’ ”

So my understanding is: make backups, keep five and store this on Amazon. So I figured the above retention settings were only applicable to S3 and not local because I didn’t tell it to store locally. So what I’m thinking is your Settings page is misleading or doesn’t clarify well enough to tell what exactly it’s doing.

Which leads me to my issue at hand. I don’t want to store anything locally just on S3. BUT I want to keep FIVE backups on S3 and no more. So if I set the retention to ZERO will it delete all my backups locally and on S3? Does Updraft even manage backups on S3?

[MikeParticipant]

Looks like the Dropbox links didnt come through so here they are again.

Settings

Local Storage

[Dee NutbourneModerator]

Hi Mike,

UpdraftPlus will list the backups that it can detect, both locally and in remote storage.

Could you check your site’s ‘wp-content/updraft’ directory via FTP? Are there any backup files present in that directory (Backup files are ZIP/GZIP archives)?

If not, then UpdraftPlus is correctly deleting the backup files from the server after upload.

Best Wishes,
David N

[MikeParticipant]

Yes, I did check the FTP before all of this which is why I was upset enough to put in a support thread/ticket. There is 600mb~ on the FTP that shouldn’t be there.

Please read what I am saying, it is storing it locally AND on S3. I don’t want it stored locally. I want it only stored on S3. I want FIVE backups on S3 ONLY. There is FIVE backups on S3 AND LOCALLY. How do I fix that?

You didn’t answer any of my questions so far and it almost seems like you’re ignoring them.

– So if I set the retention to ZERO will it delete all my backups locally and on S3?
– Does Updraft even manage backups on S3?

[udadminKeymaster]

Hi Mike,

To clarify: backups are created locally, and then sent to S3, and then the local copy is deleted. This is necessary, because S3 doesn’t have an interface for constructing a zip archive on its end, piece-by-piece – it will only receive an already-complete zip file. Hence, it’s normal for zip files to be in wp-content/updraft, prior to the completion of the backup.

Setting your retention to “0” would delete all the backups that UD knows about, except for the one just made. Deletion of old backups takes place immediately after a fresh successful backup (i.e. not at the instant settings are saved).

David

[MikeParticipant]

“Setting your retention to “0” would delete all the backups that UD knows about, except for the one just made. Deletion of old backups takes place immediately after a fresh successful backup (i.e. not at the instant settings are saved). ”

But UD knows about the backups on S3 as you said earlier:

“UpdraftPlus will list the backups that it can detect, both locally and in remote storage”

Which brings me back to my question I have asked three times before:

– So if I set the retention to ZERO will it delete all my backups locally AND on S3?
– Does Updraft even manage backups on S3?

I understand it will manage files locally, I get that. My concern is the retention rules being applied to both remote and local and you have still yet to clarify that. And yes, I understand the zip must be created locally prior to uploading to S3 and that a file will temporarily be on the server. But again, my concern is how the backups are managed remotely based on local retention rules.

[Dee NutbourneModerator]

Hi Mike,

If you set the retention to zero, UpdraftPlus will delete all the backups belonging to the site (except the latest) both locally and on S3.

UpdraftPlus does manage the backups stored on S3. The retention rules in UpdraftPlus also apply to backups stored remotely. Backup files in remote storage and stored locally are treated the same.

Best Wishes,
David N

[MikeParticipant]

David,

Who designed that system?!

So if I set retention rules to keep 5 and configure it to S3 it’s going to keep 5 copies everywhere it knows backups are located. Who would want that? The whole point of configuring S3 is to get the backups OFF the server. Not keep duplicates everywhere. I was worried that was the answer because it’s a horrible design.

As a logical feature request, I request that the retention rules should specify WHICH location they apply to. As it is now I can’t use S3 and NOT gobble up server space which is the whole point of setting up S3 in the first place.

Now I have to compensate for the poor design by removing delete access on S3 and set the retention to 0. That should fix my issue yes?

[udadminKeymaster]

Hi Mike,

I think you’ve misunderstood what I was saying; after a backup has been moved from the webserver to S3, the copy on the webserver isn’t retained (unless you changed the setting in the ‘expert settings’ section to retain it). By default, the local copy isn’t kept.

If you’re still having an issue, the best thing to do would be to give us a fuller description of the symptoms, including filenames and a backup log from your most recent backup – without those details, we’re only able to give general answers about the design, based on your questions about that – but whether these directly relate to your problem is hard to say without having those details.

David

[MikeParticipant]

David,

I think you’ve misunderstood what I am saying.

“after a backup has been moved from the webserver to S3, the copy on the webserver isn’t retained”

So with that, you’ve completely ignored the fact we have retention rules set to 5 which we’ve been discussing for the past few days. THAT is my issue, the retention rules are applying to S3 and to the local server. Here are two more screenshots showing what is on our server and what is on S3.

Server

S3

You don’t need server logs to understand anything else unless you actually think there is a bug in your plugin which you have yet to say that could be an issue.

“the best thing to do would be to give us a fuller description of the symptoms”

I don’t know how to better describe the symptoms as I have about 5 different times already. Here is how my partner describes the problem for what it’s worth:

—————————————
“The issue is that we told Updraft to store backups on S3. We did that, and rent space from Amazon, in order to keep the backups OFF OF OUR SERVERS!!!! That is not happening because Updraft is maintaining TWO copies of each and every backup. One locally and one on S3.

So, the issue is that we do NOT want to store ANY backups on our local servers. That is why we configured updraft for S3.

Now, explain what else you need to address this issue. I do not understand how log files, etc. are going to help you. May I suggest you have another support rep read over the above as there is an absolute disconnect on your part as to what the issue is, even though it is stated as clearly as humanly possible. We have found, in these situations, another set of eyes will help.

Thanking you in advance for your “logical” reply and suggestion as to how to accomplish the aforementioned task.”
—————————————

If that doesn’t help, maybe I can get someone else to review this ticket because this shouldn’t be this hard to get across. Thanks.

[Dee NutbourneModerator]

Hi,

UpdraftPlus is designed to keep backup files only in remote storage. I.e. it creates the backup file on the server, uploads the backup to S3, then deletes the local copy of the file.

The fact that the backup files are not deleted from the local directory indicate that there is something awry. The latest backup log will give us a better understanding of why the files are failing to be deleted from the server.

Best Wishes,
David N

[MikeParticipant]

This reply has been marked as private.

[Dee NutbourneModerator]

Hi Mike,

From the logs, it appears that the ‘Delete local backup’ option was disabled on the site. This meant that UpdraftPlus was not deleting the local copies.

In the latest log, this option appears to have been enabled, so UpdraftPlus is now deleting the local copies.

You can double check this option in the ‘expert settings’ section of the UpdraftPlus settings tab.

Best Wishes,
David

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