About storage lifecycle policies
A storage lifecycle policy (SLP) is a storage plan for a set of backups. An SLP is configured within the utility.
An SLP contains instructions in the form of storage operations, to be applied to the data that is backed up by a backup policy. Operations are added to the SLP that determine how the data is stored, copied, replicated, and retained. NetBackup retries the copies as necessary to ensure that all copies are created.
SLPs offer the opportunity for users to assign a classification to the data at the policy level. A data classification represents a set of backup requirements, which makes it easier to configure backups for data with different requirements. For example, email data and financial data.
SLPs can be set up to provide staged backup behavior. They simplify data management by applying a prescribed behavior to all the backup images that are included in the SLP. This process allows the NetBackup administrator to leverage the advantages of disk-based backups in the near term. It also preserves the advantages of tape-based backups for long-term storage.
The SLP Parameters properties in the NetBackup Administration Console allow administrators to customize how SLPs are maintained and how SLP jobs run.
Best-practice information about SLPs appears in the following document:
http://www.veritas.com/docs/TECH208536
For more information, see the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.