# Elasticsearch SLM retention

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-slm-retention/289559>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** slm-snapshot-lifecycle-management\
**Created:** [November 18, 2021, 9:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-slm-retention/289559 "2021-11-18T09:31:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pszemesy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@pszemesy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pszemesy)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 9:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-slm-retention/289559/1 "2021-11-18T09:31:13Z")

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Hi All,

I have a question about the retention at SLM.  
If I set a retention period for an SLM Policy, the SLM will deletes all the snapshots older then the retention period.  
Since Elasticsearch is dealing with incremental snapshots how can I do a full restore (if the base snapshot is already deleted because of the retention settings)?  
ES version: 7.13

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/christian_dahlqvist/32/4617_2.png) [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 10:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-slm-retention/289559/2 "2021-11-18T10:19:32Z")

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Each snapshot is a full snapshot. The incremental aspect of it is that segments that have not changed between snapshots are reused and not copied multiple times.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pszemesy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@pszemesy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pszemesy)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 10:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-slm-retention/289559/3 "2021-11-18T10:21:15Z")

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Thanks Christian.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 10:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-slm-retention/289559/4 "2021-12-16T10:22:02Z")

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