Storage Configuration

Before you can run backups, you need at least one storage configuration that tells Breeze where to send backup data. You can create multiple configurations — for example, an S3 bucket for off-site cloud storage and a local NAS for fast restores.

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Creating a Storage Configuration

The storage configuration wizard walks you through four steps:

1. Select a provider. Choose Amazon S3 or Local/NAS. Each option shows a brief description to help you decide.

2. Enter provider settings. The fields change based on your provider:

   Amazon S3
   • Region — AWS region (e.g., us-east-1)
   • Bucket Name — the S3 bucket to store backups in
   • Base Path — optional prefix within the bucket (e.g., breeze-backups/)
   • Access Key and Secret Key — IAM credentials with s3:PutObject, s3:GetObject, s3:ListBucket, and s3:DeleteObject permissions

   Also works with S3-compatible services like MinIO, Wasabi, and Backblaze B2 — just set the endpoint URL accordingly. Enter the endpoint as a host (s3.example.com) or host and port (minio.local:9000), optionally prefixed with http:// or https://; a scheme-less endpoint is treated as https://. Other schemes (such as s3:// or ftp://) are rejected with a validation error rather than failing later at backup time.

   Local / NAS
   • Local Path — mount point or UNC path (e.g., /mnt/backups or \\nas\breeze)
   • Retention Tier — storage tier classification

3. Set a schedule. Choose how often backups run:

   • Daily — pick a start time and backup window duration
   • Weekly — pick days of the week, start time, and timezone
   • Cron — enter a custom cron expression for advanced scheduling

4. Configure retention. Choose a preset or customize:

   • Standard — 30 days, 5 versions
   • Extended — 90 days, 10 versions
   • Compliance — 365 days, 20 versions
   • Custom — set your own day count and version count

   Optionally enable encryption. This is only enforceable for S3 destinations with server-side encryption (SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS) configured — see Encryption for details. Local/NAS destinations do not support enabling this toggle.

   What retention removes today

   When a restore point passes its retention window, Breeze removes it from the snapshot list — it can no longer be restored or verified — and marks its data for reclamation. A background storage sweep then deletes the restore point’s exclusive data from the storage target on its next scheduled run. Data another surviving restore point still depends on (for example, a file shared with an incremental backup) is never deleted, no matter how old it is. A short safety grace period (48 hours by default) additionally protects any loose object that might still be mid-upload before it is considered for deletion at all. An upload that never finished, or whose record could not be reconciled, is reclaimed once it has sat idle for about 9 days — giving Breeze time to recognize and finish adopting it first.

   If a device’s Breeze backup helper predates version 0.112.0, storage reclamation beyond an expired snapshot’s own row stays deferred on that device’s destination until every device sharing it has upgraded — update the agent to enable full reclamation.

Click Publish Configuration to make it active, or Save as Draft to finish later.

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Testing Connectivity

After creating a configuration, test that Breeze can reach the storage target:

1. Find the configuration in your storage list.
2. Click the Refresh (test) action on the configuration row.
3. A success or failure message appears. The configuration’s Last Tested timestamp updates on success.

Tip

Always test connectivity after creating or updating a configuration. This catches credential errors or network issues before your first scheduled backup fails.

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Editing a Configuration

Click the Edit action on any configuration to reopen the wizard. Changes are merged — updating a single field (like the bucket name) won’t erase your other settings.

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Deleting a Configuration

Click Delete on a configuration to remove it. Configurations that are actively referenced by a backup policy should have the policy reassigned first.

Caution

Deleting a storage configuration does not delete the backup data already stored at that target. The data remains in S3 or your local path until you remove it manually.

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Multiple Configurations

You can create different configurations for different use cases:

Use case	Recommended setup
Critical servers	S3 (off-site) + local vault (fast restore)
Workstations	Local NAS with 30-day retention
Compliance	S3 with 365-day retention and server-side encryption
Development/test	Local storage with minimal retention

Assign each configuration to the appropriate devices through backup policies.