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New resource default backup policy

Alcion allows administrators to configure backup protection for the resources it has already discovered.

This works well for initial configuration, but would require administrators to come back to Alcion to make configuration changes every time a new resource is discovered. This is both labor intensive and may lead to gap in backup protection in larger environments where resource provisioning is automated and doesn't always happen as a result of direct administrative action.

To address this pain point, Alcion allows administrators to set a backup policy that applies automatically whenever Alcion discovers a new resource. This setting is available, and independently configurable, from the Alcion UI page for each resource type. Setting a new user auto backup policy doesn't impact any existing resources and their configuration, but only applies to newly discovered resources.

For user resources, Alcion also allows setting up default policies based on membership in Microsoft 365 groups. When a default policy is set for a group, whenever Alcion performs resource discovery any resources that are newly discovered for the group will automatically get the default policy. Currently, the default policy won't be applied if the resource already has a policy with value Excluded or On-demand. Setting up a default policy for a group, doesn't impact any existing resources, but only applies to resources that are newly discovered for the group. To prevent accidentally removing protection, Alcion will not remove a policy from a resource based on group membership changes.

Alcion will automatically provision licenses when resource types which require a license get a policy which allows them to be protected.

Bulk policy management​

Alcion also allows bulk management of backup policies for existing resources. This can be done as follows:

  • Set All Backup Policies - for non-user resources, a chosen backup policy can be applied across all discovered resources of a given type with the exception of resources that are explicitly configured with the Excluded backup policy.

  • Set Policies By Group - for user resources, a chosen backup policy can be applied to one or more groups. The groups available for policy targeting are Microsoft 365 Groups (with or without a Team) and Microsoft Entra ID security groups. The policy will be applied on all users that are direct or transitive members of a selected group with the option to skip users that are explicitly configured with the Excluded backup policy.

  • Targeted Multi-Select - for all resource types, even more precise policy application can be performed by multi-selecting a subset of the resources listed on a page or returned by search.