Removing Backup Data of Discontinued Instances

Situation

The backup data affiliated with already retired machines of certain MBS users is still kept in the cloud storage and affects billing.

Cause

The need to remove (purge) the backup data of the retired machines can emerge when:

• The instances are completely retired and cloud data for them is no longer valuable
• Data migration from retired instances to new ones was completed, and the new instances are already backed up.

Solution

There are three basic methods to delete unnecessary data of Managed Backup Service users:

1. Open the Management Console.
2. In the Users menu, select Users.
3. Find the user to be deleted, then click X.

4. Select one of the available options:

• Delete a MBS user account from the web-console and keep all backed up data
• Delete a MBS user account with all backed up data
• Delete backup data only on selected instances and keep the MBS user account.

Note that this operation cannot be canceled and in some cases may take up to 96 hours to complete (depending on a cloud storage provider and storage class). MBS user account deletion cannot be canceled either

Additional Methods of Backup Data Deletion

To Delete Backup Data Selectively on an Active (Not Retired) Instance

1. Run Backup Agent.
2. Switch to the Backup Storage tab.
3. Right-click on the objects to be deleted, then select Delete. (This feature may be unavailable for specific objects, such as database backups).

To Delete Objects Manually Use MSP360 Explorer (use the version for your cloud storage provider)

1. Download MSP360 Explorer.
2. Specify credentials for your cloud storage.
3. Browse cloud storage contents and delete unnecessary data.