# Policies

Policies allow you to group cloud instances in many ways. For example, based on the cloud features.

To create a new backup policy, please open the Backup SLAs tab under the Cloud section and click on ![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/wUsKWUrceYHp8e9TJ00e/blobs/YGhAos0CaTLJRPqDlDIn/administration-virtual_environments-backup-slas-schedules_icon.png)the button on the right.

![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/wUsKWUrceYHp8e9TJ00e/blobs/GB55HR0q5VjPBERbEeqH/administration-virtual_environments-backup-slas-policies_1.png)

Now you should see the policy wizard with 8 main sections.

![](https://github.com/Storware/backup-and-recovery-manual/blob/master/administration/cloud/backup-slas/broken-reference)

## General

Under this section you can set up:

* The policy name
* Switch on/off scheduled backups enabled
* Set the priority for tasks

## Auto-assignment

In this section, you can switch on/off automatic policy assignments to cloud service providers

![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/wUsKWUrceYHp8e9TJ00e/blobs/skiw38PBGvOaUUSUrivy/administration-cloud-instances_3.PNG)

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** Go to the [Account auto-synchronization](https://docs.storware.eu/administration/cloud/backup-slas/broken-reference) to learn how to synchronize Microsoft 365 accounts.
{% endhint %}

## Features

Here you can easily select features that will be backup according to policy.

![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/wUsKWUrceYHp8e9TJ00e/blobs/ayZQCt9EvTDYhBX7lyBc/administration-cloud-instances_4.png)

## Users / Groups / Sites / Teams

These sections are used to select instances that will be protected in policy.

![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/wUsKWUrceYHp8e9TJ00e/blobs/WC4wYPNLXb8FhA7ioW1a/administration-cloud-instances_5.png)

## Rule

This section is used to select the backup destination.

![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/wUsKWUrceYHp8e9TJ00e/blobs/hHsZg0XBd9rShumCxqBm/administration-cloud-instances_6.png)

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** You can use only [File System](https://docs.storware.eu/deployment/backup-destinations/filesystem/regular-filesystem), [Microsoft Azure Blob Storage](https://docs.storware.eu/deployment/backup-destinations/object-storage/microsoft-azure-blob-storage), [Micro Focus Data Protector](https://docs.storware.eu/administration/cloud/backup-slas/broken-reference) as a backup destination.
{% endhint %}

You can also set here **Retention** settings for your backups. You can use a number of days and versions to keep.

If you have already created a schedule, you can also select it or Create New Schedule.

## Retention

Storware Backup & Recovery handles retention for all backup destinations except NetBackup. There are 2 properties that define how long backup should be kept in the backup destination:

* `Retention - no. of versions to keep` - number of versions to keep
* `Retention - no. of days to keep` - number of days to keep

## Other

This is an optional section with two switches:

* Fail the rest of the backup tasks if more than xx% of the EXPORT tasks have already failed
* Fail the rest of the backup tasks if more than xx% of the STORE tasks have already failed

Two examples when using switches is useful It is very likely that if 30% of the backup tasks fail, the remaining tasks will also fail because the environment has failed. Or you are backing up a set of machines, and if even one is not secured, there is no point in backing up the rest.

In the end, save settings.

{% hint style="info" %}
There is no limit to the number of policies you can create.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** You can also perform the same action thanks to the CLI interface: [CLI Reference](https://docs.storware.eu/administration/cli-reference)
{% endhint %}