Assistance Needed: Reducing Storage from Azure DPM Backup & Replica Retention

Hello Tom Clark,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

When using Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) integrated with Microsoft Azure Backup, storage behavior is controlled by DPM’s protection groups and retention policies — not directly from Azure storage.

Let’s address each question clearly:

Reducing Storage Usage

Can you delete older backups or replicas directly from Azure?

No — not directly from Azure Storage or the Recovery Services Vault.

When DPM backs up to Azure:

Azure stores recovery points managed by DPM

Azure does not allow manual deletion of individual recovery points

Deleting data directly from Azure storage is unsupported and can corrupt the backup chain

Correct Way to Reduce Storage:

You must:

Modify the Protection Group retention range

Or remove the protected data source from DPM

Or stop protection with data deletion

Steps:

Open DPM Console

Go to Protection → Protection Group

Modify retention range (shorten it)

Apply changes

DPM will prune older recovery points automatically

 

Controlled Recovery Points

Can DPM maintain exactly two full recovery points with no retention policy?

No — DPM does not work this way.

DPM works on:

Short-term disk retention (express full + incremental)

Long-term Azure retention (daily/weekly/monthly/yearly)

You cannot configure:

“Keep exactly 2 full backups and delete older ones”

Because:

DPM uses a retention duration model, not a “count-based” model

Azure Backup retention is time-based, not quantity-based

Closest Possible Configuration:

You could:

Set Azure retention to 2 days

Schedule daily cloud backup

This effectively keeps ~2 recovery points

But it is still retention-based, not strictly “2 full backups”.

 

Replica Cleanup

Can older replicas be deleted without impacting the recovery chain?

Depends on what you mean:

Disk Replicas (Local DPM Storage)

You can:

Shrink retention

Remove datasource from protection group

Perform consistency check if needed

DPM handles chain integrity automatically.

 

Azure Recovery Points

You cannot delete individual Azure recovery points manually.

Options:

Reduce retention policy

Stop protection and delete cloud data

Remove protection group entirely

If you manually interfere at Azure level: You risk breaking the recovery chain Microsoft does not support manual blob deletion

 

Important Architecture Detail

With DPM + Azure:

Disk backups = Replica + Recovery Points

Azure backups = Recovery points stored in Recovery Services Vault

Azure does NOT store independent “full backup files” you can browse and delete

It stores:

Managed backup data chunks tied to retention rules

Best Practice for Your Requirement

Since you only want 2 full recovery points, consider:

Option A – Retention Adjustment

Set:

Cloud backup: Daily

Retention: 2 days

Option B – If storage cost is the concern

Consider moving to:

• Native Azure VM Backup (if workload is Azure-based)
• Or modernizing from DPM to Azure Backup Server (MABS) latest version 

What You Should NOT Do

Do NOT delete data from Azure storage account

Do NOT manipulate Recovery Services Vault data

Do NOT remove blobs manually

Let me know if you have any questions?

Tom hi,

u cannot safely delete dpm backups or replicas directly in Azure to free space. dpm manages recovery points and replicas through its own protection groups and retention settings. If u delete data directly in Azure storage u risk breaking the recovery chain and corrupting the protection set. To reduce storage usage u must modify the protection group in dpm. Change the retention policy there and dpm will automatically expire and clean up older recovery points according to the new configuration. Cleanup is controlled by dpm not by manually deleting blobs in Azure.

If u only want two full recovery points, dpm does not support a no retention, exactly two full backups model in a simplistic way. Retention is timebased not count-based. U would configure shortterm retention to the minimum window that effectively results in only two available recovery points, and dpm will age out older ones automatically.

about replicas, u should never manually delete replicas in Azure storage, if u need to reset or shrink replica size, the supported method is to stop protection with the option to delete replica data from dpm, then reprotect the data source, that ensures the chain is rebuilt cleanly.

rgds,

Alex