Should I clear snapshots periodicaly?

TrueNAS General
1

I have a daily snapshot running of a dataset. As such the snapshots pile up. There are currently tons of snapshots listed of that dataset. The question I have is should i periodically clear the out? How do I start afresh with a clean snaphot?

2

When you create a Snapshot Task you also define the Snapshot Lifetime. Snapshots created by the Snapshot Task are automatically deleted once the lifetime expires. You shouldn’t have to delete snapshots manually if they were created by a Snapshot Task.

I don’t know what you mean with “clean” snapshot, please elaborate.

3 Likes
3

I understand I missed the lifetime setting…I have daily snapshots and will keep a weeks worth of snapshots. I am still wrapping my head around what/how snapshots work. Thanks

4
5

Thanks Stux. What do I do about the tons of snapshots that i have that are marked to not go away? Leave them alone? Delete them?

6

Stux I appreciate the process that you turned me on to for snapshots.

I have 214 old snapshots that have the status of “Retention: Will not be destroyed automatically” can I just clear them out and start over with your process?

7

Just edit the snapshot task to add an expiry.

Then wait for the task to re-run. It will clean up the expired snapshots the next time it completes.

Then you can delete any others.

8

Yes.

9

Thanks Stux. Ill do just that.