Google Drive Backups Retention questions

[WorkinOnIt]

Hello all

Has anyone any experience with managing Google Drive cPanel remote backups?

I have it set up and tested a backup - which worked flawlessly (well done CP )

I have two questions;

1) will backups to Google Drive save to different date folders?

2) How can i use the date to delete files older than e.g. 60 days?

In S3 you can set file lifecycle paramaters - I've search Google and can't figure out where these would be - in Drive / Apps script I assume.

So - can anyone advise where / how to set these parameters or have an example script they can share?

This articles is helpful, but would prefer to find one that is more specifically / tested with cpanel backups
Automatically delete files in google drive

 

[cPanelKenneth]

Hi,

The short answer is: you don't. Google Drive isn't positioned as a backup storage service. It doesn't offer features like auto-expiring of files. If you want that, and want to use Google Drive, then you'll need to provide your own means to do so.

In contrast services like S3, which are positioned as backup storage services, offer such features. Usually they don't require custom coding or additional services to be fully functional as a backup storage service.

 

[WorkinOnIt]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I understand that Google Drive isn't positioned as a backup drive per se, however, I find it works quite well. I just need to find a way to autodelete older files and thought I'd ask the community if anyone has a reference for this.

Afterall - cPanel provided the solution - I'm assuming cPanel would understand the need for users to cycle out older files.

Otherwise - what's the point to add it to WHM backup remote destination?

Thank you

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello,

The scheduling and retention settings documented on the link below should apply to your remote destination:

Backup Configuration - Documentation - cPanel Documentation

Is that not happening for your Google Drive destination?

Thank you.

 

[cPanelKenneth]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I understand that Google Drive isn't positioned as a backup drive per se, however, I find it works quite well. I just need to find a way to autodelete older files and thought I'd ask the community if anyone has a reference for this.

Afterall - cPanel provided the solution - I'm assuming cPanel would understand the need for users to cycle out older files.

Otherwise - what's the point to add it to WHM backup remote destination?

Thank you

I may have misread or misunderstood your original question, as I thought you were asking about features within Google Drive itself.

As Michael pointed out, when using Google Drive with the cPanel & WHM backup system, the retention policy you define in the Backup Configuration interface determines how long backups are kept on Google Drive.

Backups are stored on Google Drive the same way as on other services, within a dated folder. Since I store backups from several servers on my Google Drive, I find it convenient to also configure the backup service to use the local server hostname as part of the folder structure, resulting in something like this on my Google Drive:

/backups/server1.example.com/2017-12-01
/backups/server1.example.com/monthly/2017-12-01
/backups/server1.example.com/weekly/2017-12-01

As long as you configure the number of backups to retain, the cPanel & WHM backup system will prune older backups during the next backup run.

 

[WorkinOnIt]

Hello - thank you for your comprehensive and clear reply. I think I understand now!

Backup Configuration - Documentation - cPanel Documentation

These apply to remote destinations also? I assumed (obviously wrongly) that this was for local backups on the same server - perhaps the documentation could specify that fact for users like me who need clarification ;-)

So - I am awaiting my test results for weekly backups to cycle out the oldest backup (not quite there yet). I'll update the thread if any further questions or issues come up.

Meanwhile, I appreciate your help.

R