Storage Location for Backup Data
You can choose to store the backup data in the default storage location provided by AvePoint or your custom storage location.
- If you want to use the default storage location provided by AvePoint, you can select a storage type from the following:
- Google Cloud Storage
> ***Note**: This storage type is only available in the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) data centers listed below:
- GCP for Australia Southeast (Sydney)
- GCP for West Europe (Eemshaven, Netherlands)
- GCP for Japan (Tokyo)
- GCP for East US (Moncks Corner)
- GCP for South Korea (Seoul)
- Microsoft Azure Blob Storage
- Amazon S3
If you choose to use the **Amazon S3** storage type as the default storage location, refer to the following data center mappings between the data center you signed up to AOS with and the data center of the Amazon S3 storage.
| Data Center You Signed Up for AOS(Home Region) | Amazon S3 Storage Data Center(Storage Region) |
|---|
| East US (Virginia) | US East (N. Virginia) |
| North Europe (Ireland) | Europe (Ireland) |
| Southeast Asia (Singapore) | Asia Pacific (Singapore) |
| Australia Southeast (Victoria) | Asia Pacific (Sydney) |
| Japan West (Osaka) | Asia Pacific (Tokyo) |
| UK South (London) | Europe (London) |
| Canada Central (Toronto) | Canada (Central) |
| Germany West Central (Frankfurt) | Europe (Frankfurt) |
| Korea Central (Seoul) | Asia Pacific (Seoul) |
| France Central (Paris) | Europe (Paris) |
| Switzerland North (Zurich) | Europe (Zurich) |
| West Europe (Netherlands) | Not Supported |
If you are using the default AvePoint storage and you want to change to another default storage type, note the following:
- The legacy backup data will remain on the old default storage and can be restored.
- The new default storage can only store the data that is backed up after you switch to the new default storage type.
- Both default storage types will be covered in the retention jobs.
- If you want to use a custom storage location, the storage type can be one of the following: Google Cloud Storage, Amazon S3, Amazon S3-Compatible Storage, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, IBM Storage Protect – S3, and IBM Cloud Object Storage. Note the following:
- If your backup data is currently on the default storage location and you want to use your own storage afterward, you can contact AvePoint support to update your subscription to **Bring Your Own Storage** (BYOS) and change the storage location to your own storage. For details about configuring a custom storage location, refer to [Configure Custom Storage Location for Your Backup Data](#missing-link).
When your custom storage type is **Microsoft Azure Blob Storage**, to use your storage in the most cost-effective manner, AvePoint Cloud Backup can store the backup data in the archive tier. The default rule is archiving the data that has been in the storage location for 180 days. In restore jobs, if you want to restore backup data from the archive tier, choose **Automatically** **rehydrate** **if backup data is in Azure archive storage tier**. Export jobs do not support backup data on the archive tier. The administrator can navigate to **Settings** > **Self-service** > **End-user** **restore** **settings** and control whether to allow end-users to restore backup data on the archive tier. If you want to disable the archive and the other related settings, you can contact AvePoint support.
- If you use your own storage location at the beginning but you want to change to the default storage location, you can also contact AvePoint support to update your subscription and the storage location.
*Note: The changes from the default storage to a custom storage cannot be reverted, and the custom storage cannot be changed to another custom storage once saved.
Retention Policy of Backup Data
If you use your custom storage location to store backup data, you can navigate to Settings > General > Retention policy to customize the retention period for the backup data.
You can also customize the Retention policy setting if you use the default storage location with the Unlimited retention subscription.
For details about configuring the Retention policy setting, refer to Configure the Retention Policy Setting.
*Note: If your storage location for the backup data has been changed from a custom storage location to the AvePoint default storage location, only the backup data on the AvePoint default storage will be deleted according to the retention policy.
