Tips for creating a backup policy

Here are a few tips to remember when creating backup policies:

  • Agents process backup policy components in the following order:

    1. Scope options
    2. Locked rule groups
    3. User-created rules (created automatically when users manually add or remove files from backup)
    4. Unlocked rule groups

    For more information, see How Agents process backup policy rules.

  • If a file does not match any rule, Agents do not back it up.

    However, do not rely on the absence of a rule to exclude a file from backup. If you do not target a particular file or folder, Connected treats it like an unlocked exclude rule, which users can override. To prevent users from backing up specific files, create a rule group that explicitly excludes those files.

    For example, assume that you want to exclude all MP3 files from backups. Because the Agent does not consider files for backup unless the file matches a rule, you decide that you can exclude MP3 files from backup by not creating a rule for them. However, in this scenario, users can still back up MP3 files by manually adding them to their backups. If you want to ensure that the Agent does not back up MP3 files, create a locked rule group that excludes them.

  • Agents compare files to rules in top-down order.

    The Connected web application displays rule groups in highest-to-lowest priority. If a policy contains three locked rule groups, the Agent compares files to the first locked rule group, then to the second, and lastly to the third. If a file matches a rule group, the Agent does not compare that file to subsequent rule groups. Therefore, be sure to order your rule groups in the order that you want Agents to apply rules.

    Assume that you want to create a set of rules that targets most video files for backup except for MP4 files. The following two backup policies illustrate how the order of rules affects backup behavior.

    Backup policy 1

    • Rule 1. Exclude MP4 files.
    • Rule 2. Include files specified by the Video Files file group (includes MP4 files).

    Backup policy 2

    • Rule 1. Include files specified by the Video Files file group.
    • Rule 2. Exclude MP4 files.

    In the first backup policy, all files with an MP4 extension match the first rule group. Because the Agent finds a match, it does not compare any MP4 files to the second rule. Using this policy, the Agent excludes all MP4 files from backup.

    In the second backup policy, all files with an MP4 extension match the first rule group because the predefined Video Files group contains MP4 files. Based on this rule, the Agent selects MP4 files for backup and does not compare them with the second rule.

  • Group-level policy rules override unlocked rules in the corporate policy.

    For example, assume that you have defined two backup policies.

    Corporate backup policy

    • Rule 1. Locked rule to exclude video files.
    • Rule 2. Unlocked rule to include audio files.
    • Rule 3. Unlocked rule to include picture files.

    Sales group backup policy

    • Rule 1. Locked rule to include video files.
    • Rule 2. Locked rule to exclude audio files.
    • Rule 3. Unlocked rule to exclude images.

    Agents that use the corporate policy back up audio and image files but not video files. Agents that use the Sales group policy do the following:

    • Do not back up video files

      Although the group policy contains a rule to include videos, group-level rules cannot override locked corporate rules, which in this case excludes videos.

    • Do not back up audio files

      The group-level rule to exclude audio files overrides the unlocked corporate rule to include them.

    • Do not back up images

      The group-level rule to exclude images overrides the unlocked corporate rule to include them. However, users can override unlocked group-level rules so users on Windows-based computers can manually include images for backup.

      Agents allow users to select images because users can manually override unlocked rules.

  • To keep the set of rule groups manageable, use as few rule groups as possible to target the desired files.

    For example, create a single rule group to either include or exclude several file groups. For custom rules, enter multiple comma-separated values when you specify file extensions. You can create one custom rule per rule group.

  • To prevent Agents from performing unnecessary system scans, publish an updated policy only after making all required changes to it.

    Each time that you publish a policy with updated rules, all Agents assigned to the policy perform a system scan to recalculate which files they must back up based on the current rules. Therefore, if you want to save the policy while making changes to it, save the policy as a draft until you are finished. Saving a draft version of the policy does not affect Agents who use the policy.