Cleanup and pinned points

Without cleanup, backups pile up, and used space in the storage only grows. Cleanup deletes old backups according to the retention rules. The panel does it, not the agent: the agent never deletes backups.

Each storage has its own rules: storage page → “Cleanup” tab. From a server's protection settings, the “Cleanup” button next to each storage leads there. Cleanup is off until you turn it on.

Retention rules

• Windows are counted back from the moment of cleanup. Days, weeks and months use the panel time zone.
• Windows overlap: a backup stays if it falls into at least one of them.
• There is one set of rules per storage, but they're applied to each server separately and only to the copies in this storage. In another storage the same backup lives by that storage's rules.

What cleanup never deletes

• the latest N backups of each server — “At least the latest”;
• the newest backup that was successfully restored from with arcula restore;
• everything less than a day old;
• pinned points.

When it runs

• Every night from 03:00 to 06:00 panel time, no more than once every 12 hours — if cleanup is on and there's access to the storage.
• Extra backups are deleted first. Space is freed once a week — in the repositories where something was deleted. Until then, deleted backups still take up space.
• “Clean up now” deletes by the rules and frees space right away, without waiting for the night.
• If the agent is sending a backup to this repository at that moment, cleanup waits for it.
• If it fails, it runs again the next night. The result is in “Last run …” on the tab and in the storage log; in notifications — “Cleanup failed”.

Deleted backups can't be recovered. On the server's “Backups” tab, their copy in this storage shows “removed by cleanup”. In History such a backup stays saved on its day.

Preview first, then turn it on

Below the rules, the panel immediately calculates what will be deleted, without deleting anything: “With these rules, 120 backups of 300 will be deleted, about 40 GB · 180 will stay, including ★ 2 pinned”. The “What will be deleted” table is per server: how many are kept and how many are deleted, the oldest kept and the newest deleted.

The size is approximate: backups share a lot of data, and the exact space is known after it's freed.

Steps:

1. Set the rules or keep the defaults.
2. Check the preview and the “What will be deleted” table.
3. Pin the backups you want to keep forever.
4. Click “Turn on cleanup”. The first cleanup runs that same night.

Other buttons: “Save rules”, “Discard changes”, “Use defaults”, “Turn off”.

Pinned points

A pinned point is a backup you pinned, for example before a GitLab upgrade or a move. Cleanup won't delete it from any storage.

How to pin:

1. Server page → “Backups” tab.
2. The ☆ star in the backup's row.
3. An optional note, up to 200 characters — “Pin”.

The row turns gold, with the “pinned” label.

• Retention rules don't count pinned points: they don't take a place among “At least the latest” and don't fill their day, week or month. Other backups are cleaned up as if there were no pinned ones.
• You can pin right away. To unpin — the ★ star and confirmation with a password or passkey; after that, cleanup may delete the backup.
• If you pin a backup while cleanup is waiting for its turn, it won't delete it: pins are re-read before deleting.
• The “pinned only” filter is on the “Backups” tab.
• The pin is stored in the panel. Without the panel, when restoring with the recovery kit, all snapshots in the storage are seen as they are.
• Deleting a server together with its backups also deletes its pinned points.