Snapshot Policy: Every 12 Hours. Keep Last 2 Days

Introduction

This snapshot policy creates two daily snapshots, spaced 12 hours apart, and retains only the most recent 2 days of backups.

Scheduler Configuration

Type: snapshot
Frequency: Every 12 hours
Time window: From 07:00 UTC to 06:45 UTC (next day) — ensures 24h coverage
Repeat rule: */12 (every 12 hours)
User Timezone: Etc/UTC

Retention Rules

Keep snapshots from the last 2 days
Automatically delete anything older

Snapshot Timeline (1 Year)

Snapshots per day: 2 (1 every 12 hours)
Retention window: 2 days
Total retained snapshots at any time: 4

No matter how many are created over time, the system will only keep the most recent four snapshots (2 per day × 2 days).

Total snapshots after 1 year: Still four snapshots (Older ones are deleted automatically by the retention policy.)

API Summary

Endpoint:

POST /api/2.0/backupschedulers/

JSON Payload:

{
  "type": "snapshot",
  "name": "Every 12 hours. Last 2 days",
  "enable_backup_policy_notifications": true,
  "enable_retention_policy_notifications": false,
  "is_default": false,
  "is_enabled": true,
  "manual_incremental_backup": "",
  "retention_policy": {
    "name": "Keep 12 Month",
    "rules": [
      {
        "period": "days",
        "quantity": 2
      }
    ]
  },
  "incremental_backup": {
    "day_of_week": [],
    "day_of_month": "",
    "month": "",
    "hour": "",
    "minute": "",
    "repeat": {
      "hour": "*/12",
      "minute": ""
    },
    "start_time": {
      "hour": 7,
      "minute": 0
    },
    "end_time": {
      "hour": 6,
      "minute": 45
    }
  },
  "user_timezone": "Etc/UTC"
}