Managing policies

Creating a policy

Creating a policy involves the following high-level steps:

1. In the navigation pane, go to Protect > Backup policies.
2. Click Create. The Create policy wizard appears.
3. Enter a name for the policy.
4. From the Add asset types list, select the asset type.
5. Configure policy settings for the selected backup type. Select a backup frequency and retention periods that conform to the asset's backup requirements.
   • Use the additional options to specify a window of time when the backups can occur (backup window). Select the Start time checkbox, and then specify the time zone, the start time, and -- optionally -- the end time for the backup window. If you don't select specific times, the backup window is for 24 hours. When the backup window is enabled, recurring backups occur only between the specified start and end times.
   • Select a backup tier if applicable to the asset.
   • Choose whether to store the backups in the same region that the asset is located (in-region), or in another region (out-of-region) that's available from the drop down menu. If you choose to backup out-of-region, AWS transfer fees will apply.
   • If the policy is for Amazon EBS volumes, Amazon EC2 instances, or Amazon DynamoDB tables, you can enable Clumio-managed AWS snapshots. A policy can contain both types of backup.
   • If the policy is for Amazon RDS resources or Amazon DynamoDB tables, you can enable AWS point-in-time recovery.
   • If the policy is for Amazon S3, you can enable Clumio Backtrack.
6. Click Add. The Create policy screen appears. You can add more asset types to protect in this policy, edit your selections, or save the policy.

Adding more asset types to a policy

A single policy can apply to more than one asset type, with each asset type having its own frequency and retention settings. However, you can add assets only one at a time.

After you click Add, the Create policy screen displays. To add more assets to the same policy:

1. Select the asset type from the Asset type drop down list. The configuration screen for that asset displays.
2. Make your selections, and then click Add. The asset type is added to the policy.

Applying a policy to assets

After you create a policy, you must apply the policy to your assets using AWS protection rules or directly to the asset. Refer to the documentation for each asset type to learn how to apply a policy to that asset.

Activating or deactivating policies

When a policy is created, it is activated by default. This means when you apply that policy to an asset, all scheduled backup tasks defined in that policy are performed. An active policy must be applied to an asset in order to protect it. Deactivating a policy stops all of the policy's scheduled tasks from running, affecting all assets assigned to the policy. When you deactivate a policy, any tasks that have already started ("In progress") or are waiting to start ("Queued") will be unaffected; instead, those tasks will finish to completion.

To activate or deactivate one or more policies, make your selections on the backup policies page and click Activate or Deactivate. A dialog box displays informing you about the assets affected by this action and prompting you to confirm the action.

Copying policies

You can copy a policy and save it with a new name or edit the settings to create a new policy. To copy a policy, from the Manage Policy tab on the Policies page, click the icon in the Actions column for the policy that you want to copy. The Summary screen of the Create Policy wizard displays with "_copy" appended to the policy name. You can edit this name. You can also change the backup frequency and retention periods for existing asset types, remove or add asset types, and also change the advanced settings.

Editing policies

1. To edit a policy, Backup policies page, click the edit icon in the Actions column in the same row as the policy that you want to edit.
2. The Edit policy screen of the Create policy wizard displays.
3. Make changes to the policy name, frequency and retention settings, change backup window settings (if applicable to the selected asset), change the backup tier or backup region, and Clumio-managed AWS snapshot settings.
4. Save your changes. Changes to backup tier, retention and frequency, or backup destination settings may trigger a seeding backup task.

Deleting policies

You can delete a policy at any time. When you delete a policy, removes it from all of the assets that are protected by the policy.

To delete a policy, click the delete icon in the Actions column, a dialog displays indicating any assets that will be unprotected when you delete this policy. You can choose to review the affected assets before confirming the policy deletion.