Smart Archiving

Archiving transfers data from an active server to a backup system to free up space, enhance performance, and ensure data is available for future retrieval (for example, to audit regulatory compliance).

Archive in JFrog

The JFrog Smart Archiving solution facilitates the seamless transfer of critical but inactive packages from an Active Artifactory instance to a dedicated Archive instance. This architectural separation allows organizations to strictly enforce long-term retention policies for regulatory compliance, while simultaneously protecting the speed and performance of their active CI/CD pipelines.

Archive Policies enable Platform and Project Administrators to define customized rules for archiving dormant binaries based on specific criteria across the JFrog platform. This approach offers the following benefits:

• Reduced storage costs: Enhances system performance and improves loading times within the JFrog Platform.
• Boosted efficiency: Enhances system performance and improves loading times within the JFrog Platform.
• Enhanced user experience: Minimizes the number of items to navigate, saving time and improving overall user experience.
• Ensure compliance: Ensures compliance by archiving artifacts and restoring them when needed.

Smart Archiving is a new solution that enhances user experience, features, and infrastructure while addressing current limitations. Upgrade for better performance.

Smart Archiving Features

This topic outlines smart archiving features. It includes archiving, searching and restoring packages.

• Archive Policy

  Archive policies define which packages need to be archived. When the policy is executed, packages are moved from the Active Artifactory Instance to the Archive Artifactory Instance, while the corresponding packages are stored in the Storage connected to the Archive Artifactory Instance.

  Scheduled Execution: Scheduling enables you to configure the periodic execution of a policy that can be set to any frequency defined by a cron schedule. You can also define when (or after what period) the policy execution will be stopped, which enables you to perform archiving execution during weekends or maintenance windows.

After packages are successfully archived in the Archive Artifactory Instance, the archived items and corresponding metadata are deleted from the original repository in the Active Artifactory Instance. If the archive process fails, items and the corresponding metadata are not removed, and the incident is logged with an appropriate error message.

As the archive process progresses, the system generates detailed logs in the Artifactory service logs in the Active Artifactory Instance.

Admins can manage archive policies, such as create, view, edit, and delete, using the UI or APIs. For more information, see Manage Smart Archiving - Policies.

• Archive Search

  Admins can use the search feature to perform dedicated archive searches in the Active Artifactory Instance, allowing them to locate and restore packages as needed. For more information, see Search Archived Packages.

• Restore Archived Packages

  After searching for archived packages, admins can restore them from the Archive Artifactory Instance to the Active Artifactory Instance.

When performing a restore action, the admin can choose one of the following destinations:

• Restore items to their original repository and provide a fallback repository (if the original repository was deprecated).
• Restore all the items to a new repository.

The system performs the restore operation in the background and updates the Artifactory service logs in the Archive Artifactory instance.

For more information, see Restore Archived Packages.

Smart Archiving Limitations

This topic outlines the limitations of the smart archiving feature.

Supported Repositories

• Supports Local and Federated repositories. Does not support Remote and Virtual repositories.

Package Verification

There is no verification if packages are part of a Release Bundle or build. A package-level Archive policy may impact build or release bundle promotion.

Archive Limits

An archive policy can archive up to 100,000 packages in a single run.

Progress Notifications

Notifications on the progress of an archive policy run and restore run are unavailable.

Visibility of Run Results

Run results for global policies are visible only to Platform admins globally.

Archive Policy

The Archive policy does not execute when an ongoing mandatory task is in progress (for example, Garbage Collection).

Search

A project admin can only perform searches within their project context and does not have access to the global scope.

Archive Evidence

From Artifactory Version 7.117, added support for the archival of evidence associated with any packages. This enhancement ensures that relevant evidence is preserved as part of your archiving strategy, streamlining your package management process.

Concurrent Execution and Queuing of Archive Policies

• Archive Policies can run concurrently up to a specified maximum. When this limit is reached, additional triggered policies are queued. Any further triggered policies will be skipped entirely if the queue reaches its maximum capacity.
• In the current version of Artifactory, queued or skipped policy runs do not appear in the Runs view. You can find a log of skipped policies in the Artifactory Service log. For example, you might see a message like: "Policy: test_policy run: 1 has been rejected since allowed 3 concurrent runs are already in progress.".

Supported Topology

• 1-to-1 Connection

  Only one Active Artifactory Instance can be paired with one Archive Artifactory Instance.

• Active Artifactory Configuration

  Active Artifactory Instance can only be a Platform or a Mothership, not an Edge.

Provider and Region Restriction

Archive Artifactory Instance must be of the same provider and region as the Active Artifactory Instance.

No Unbinding

Unbinding an Archive Artifactory Instance is not supported.

Conversion Restriction

Archive Artifactory Instance cannot be converted to other JPD types.

Unbinding Deleted/unavailable Archive Artifactory Instance

When an Active Artifactory Instance and an Archive Artifactory Instance are paired, and the Archive Artifactory Instance is no longer available (for example, it has been decommissioned or is unreachable), the usual binding revocation may fail. This is because the revocation request relies on the existence of the Archive Artifactory Instance to complete. If the Archive Artifactory Instance no longer exists, the binding cannot be deleted through standard means. Workaround: Refer to the Solution.

Smart Archiving Known Issues

This topic outlines the known issues of the smart archiving solution.

SBT Package

• When SBT packages are uploaded with the sbt-default repository layout, they are not resolved during archive actions.

  Workaround: Choose Recommended Repository Layouts as described in the Create an sbt Repository.

Smart Archiving Use Cases

This topic outlines sample use cases for creating archive policies. It includes the type of use case, the scenario, the solution, and the expected result. These examples help you understand how to configure archive policies based on specific conditions for archiving packages.

Smart Archiving Architecture

This topic outlines smart archiving architecture and its components.

The smart archiving solution is comprised of three main components:

• Active Artifactory Instance

  Active Artifactory Instance is a standard Artifactory instance, the packages will be archived and restored Archive Artifactory Instance.

  • Archive

    The Archive policy periodically offloads packages based on specific criteria to the Archive Artifactory Instance. Moving these packages can enhance usability, search capabilities, and performance in the Active Artifactory Instance by reducing maintenance load. For more information, see Manage Smart Archiving - Policies.

  • Search and Restore

    You can search for and restore archived packages. Restorations can be directed to the original location in the Active Artifactory Instance or to a new destination. The restore process runs in the background, while metadata associated with archived packages remains intact for continued access after restoration.

    For more information, see Manage Restore Runs.

• Archive Artifactory Instance

  Archive Artifactory is a simplified version of an Artifactory instance designed specifically for archiving. It operates as a dedicated Artifactory instance connected to a binary storage provider, such as GCP Storage.

Archive Topology

The smart archiving supports the topology of one Active Artifactory instance connecting to one Archive Artifactory instance.

Smart Archiving Supported Packages

This topic outlines the supported packages for Smart Archiving. It includes the policy conditions that apply to each package type.

Package Type	Supported Release Version	Lead Artifact	Age (Packages Older Than)	Usage (Packages Not Downloaded Since)	Version (Number of Latest Versions to Keep)
Agent Plugins	7.157	.zip
Alpine	7.111.1	.tar.gz, .apk
Ansible	7.111.1	tar.gz
Cargo	7.111.1	.crate
CocoaPods	7.111.1	.tar.gz, .tgz
Composer	7.116	-
Conan	7.111.1	conanfile.py
Conda	7.111.1	tar.bz2
Debian	7.111.1	.deb, .ddeb
Docker	7.111.1	manifest.json			Note Supported from Artifactory 7.115.1.
Gems	7.111.1	.gem
Generic	7.111.1	-
Go	7.111.1	.mod
Gradle	7.111.1	.pom
Helm	7.111.1	.tgz
Helm OCI	7.111.1	manifest.json			Note Supported from Artifactory 7.115.1.
Hex	7.111.1	-
HuggingFaceML	7.111.1	.jfrog_huggingface_model_info.json, .jfrog_huggingface_dataset_info
Machine Learning	7.111.1	model-manifest.json
Maven	7.111.1	.pom
npm	7.111.1	.tgz
NuGet	7.111.1	.nupkg
OCI	7.111.1	manifest.json			Note Supported from Artifactory 7.115.1.
PyPI	7.111.1	tar.gz, tgz, gz, whl, egg, bz2
RPM	7.111.1	.rpm
SBT	7.111.1	.pom, .xml
Swift	7.114.1	-
Terraform	7.111.1	.zip
Terraform BE	7.111.1	.json
Vagrant	7.111.1	-

Docker Archive Method

Docker images can have multiple tags and use list.manifests to support different architectures. Each list.manifest points to several specific manifests for various systems.

Learn how the policy executes for the following conditions:

• Time-based Condition: Time-based conditions archive images and tags that have not been used within a certain period. This helps keep the connections between tags intact and ensures the stability of multi-architecture references. Use the Packages Not Downloaded Since condition to prevent the archiving of images that are currently in use.

• Version-based Condition: From Artifactory 7.115.1, version-based policy conditions for Docker, OCI, and Helm OCI are supported. It allows you to keep a specified number of image versions in the Docker repository, which considers the structure of Docker images when deciding what to archive. If a Docker image is a list.manifest, it will either be archived with all of its related sub-manifests or not archived at all. This approach maintains the relationships between images. This provides greater control over image management and helps maintain tag relationships and multi-architecture references.

  You can combine Keep Last N Versions with time-based and property conditions in a single policy. Versions among the last N are always kept on the active instance, even when they meet your time or property criteria.

  On the other hand, time-based conditions treat each manifest and list.manifest separately, without considering their hierarchical structure. Each one is evaluated independently based on its status.

Get Started with Smart Archiving

This topic outlines how to get started with smart archiving. It includes how to configure the smart archiving solution, grant permission to a project admin, work with archive and restore, and monitor archive and restore operations.

Configure Smart Archiving Instance

This section describes how to create a new archive instance and connect it to an active instance. The archive instance is used in the smart archiving solution to offload archive items from the active instance.

Follow the relevant instructions for your deployment model to configure smart archiving:

• Configure Cloud Smart Archiving Instance
• Configure Hybrid Smart Archiving Instance

Configure Cloud Smart Archiving Instance

Use this path when both your active JFrog Platform and archive instance run on JFrog Cloud (SaaS). Create the archive server and associate it with your active Platform server in MyJFrog Topology.

To configure a cloud smart archiving instance:

• Follow the procedure in Add Servers to Your Cloud Topology.

When you add the server, select Smart Archiving as the deployment type and associate it with your active JFrog Platform server in the Associated Server field.

Next steps:

• Grant Permission to Project Admin

Configure Hybrid Smart Archiving Instance

Hybrid Smart Archiving is supported on the Self-hosted platform with E+ from version 7.117.14.

Prerequisite: You must have an active Artifactory instance. Contact your Account Manager to purchase a JFrog E+ Hybrid subscription for your JFrog Smart Archive instance.

Use this path when your active Artifactory instance is self-hosted and the archive instance is deployed in JFrog Cloud. Complete the following tasks to set up hybrid smart archiving:

1. Provision the Archive Instance in MyJFrog.
2. Bind Archive Instance.

To revoke a binding or re-establish trust after initial setup, see Manage Hybrid Smart Archiving Bindings.

Provision the Archive Instance in MyJFrog

After you purchase a JFrog E+ Hybrid subscription, provision the archive instance in MyJFrog.

To provision the archive instance in MyJFrog:

1. Click Go to MyJFrog in the received email.
2. Log in to MyJFrog Your Customer Portal with your registered credentials.
3. In the My JFrog Dashboard, click Topology.
4. On the Topology page, click Configure Now.
5. Scroll down on the Configure JPDs page to the Available Smart Archiving Instance (x) section.
6. In the Archive Name field, enter a meaningful name for the archive instance. The name must follow these conventions:
   • Unique name
   • 3-32 characters long
   • Start with a letter
   • Contain only lowercase letters or numbers
7. From the Provider list, select the cloud provider.
8. From the Region list, select the region.
9. Enter Password and Validate Password. The password must meet these criteria:
   • 8-32 characters long
   • At least one uppercase and one lowercase character
   • At least one number
   • At least one special character
10. Click Update.

After you enter all required information, the dialog displays an All Set indicator. The Topology tab shows an indicator at the top that the JPDs are being added and the environment is being updated. This process may take a few minutes.

When the configuration completes:

• A tree structure displays the archive instance status as Active.
• Upon successful Smart Archiving JPD creation, you will receive an email from JFrog with the subject line Your New JFrog Instance Is Ready.

Next steps:

• Bind Archive Instance

Archive instance fields

The Topology page displays the following information for each configured archive instance:

• JPD Name: The name of the active instance.

• Type: Indicates the type of JPD.

• Provider: Indicates the type of Cloud provider.

• Region: Indicates the region of the deployed instance.

• Status: Indicates the status of the instance.

  • Active: The archive instance is available to bind with the active instance.

Bind Archive Instance

You can bind the archive instance using one of these methods:

• Bind Archive Instance via UI
• Bind Archive Instance via API

Bind Archive Instance via UI

To bind the archive instance via the UI:

1. On the archive instance, generate a pairing token:

   1. From Administration, click User Management > Access Tokens > Pairing Token.

   2. From Generate Pairing Token, click Cold Storage.

   3. Click Generate.

      The token window is displayed. It includes the token expiration (in seconds, set by default to 300 seconds = 5 minutes), the token ID, and the token value, which you can copy by clicking Copy.

2. On the active instance, establish trust with the archive instance:

   1. Register a Platform Deployment.

   2. From Administration, click Topology > Deployment Bindings.

   3. Click the Archive tab. In the top right corner, click + Add Binding, and select Archive from the dropdown list.

   4. In the Create Binding modal, do the following:

      • From Source JPD (Live Instance), select the active instance.

      • From Target JPD (Cold Instance), select the archive instance.

      • Click Apply.

        The Summary displays the target and source you selected.

   5. Click Create.

   6. Check the Binding Results.

Bind Archive Instance via API

To bind the archive instance via the API:

On the archive instance, execute the following POST request to generate the pairing token:

curl -u admin:password -X POST https://<ARCHIVE_INSTANCE>/artifactory/api/v1/service_trust/pairing/artifactory-cold

Where:

• <ARCHIVE_INSTANCE>: The URL of the archive Artifactory instance.

For example:

{ "pairing_token":"IiwiYWxnIjoiUlMyNTYiLCJraWQiOiJaWkhkQzBzenlqd2d..."}

On the active instance, use the generated pairing token to execute the following PUT request:

curl -u admin:password -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"pairing_token" : "<PAIRING_TOKEN>"}' https://<ACTIVE_INSTANCE>/artifactory/api/v1/service_trust/pairing/artifactory-cold

Where:

• <ACTIVE_INSTANCE>: The URL of the active Artifactory instance
• <PAIRING_TOKEN>: The pairing token returned from the archive instance.

For example:

curl -u admin:password -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"pairing_token" : "IiwiYWxnIjoiUlMyNTYiLCJraWQiOiJaWkhkQzBzenlqd2d..."}' https://<ACTIVE_INSTANCE>/artifactory/api/v1/service_trust/pairing/artifactory-cold

If the two instances are paired successfully, the request returns the following status:

Trust with service artifactory-cold was established successfully.

Next steps:

• Grant Permission to Project Admin

Manage Hybrid Smart Archiving Bindings

Use this section after initial setup when you need to revoke a binding or re-establish trust between the active and archive instances—for example, when a pairing token was mistakenly revoked.

To revoke the binding between the active and archive Artifactory instances:

Perform the following steps on the active Artifactory instance:

1. From Administration, click Topology > Deployment Bindings, and then click the Archive tab.

2. Select the checkbox for the bindings you wish to remove, and then click the Delete icon.

3. Click OK to confirm.

   Your action is applied and the results of the unbinding are now displayed.

To re-establish trust between the active and archive Artifactory instances:

Re-establish trust when the pairing was revoked, such as when a token has been mistakenly revoked.

Follow the same steps performed while binding for the first time as described in Bind Archive Instance.

Grant Permission to Project Admin

This topic outlines how to grant permission to a project admin. Platform admins can enforce and manage archive policies across multiple projects or all projects on the JFrog platform and thereby gain full control over organizational storage management (Global Policies). Platform admins can also delegate permissions to Project admins to manage policies on their project scope only (Project Policies), and Project admins have visibility on Global Policies affecting their projects.

Global Policy: For maintaining consistent archive policies across multiple projects, ensuring compliance and standardization.

• Scope: Applies to all packages across the entire Artifactory instance.
• Configuration: Set by platform administrators and affects all projects at global level.

Project Policy: For addressing unique archive policies for a project that differ from the global standard, allowing flexibility to project administrators.

• Scope: Applies to individual projects.
• Configuration: Set by project/platform administrators for specific needs and requirements of a project.

To grant permissions to project admins, follow these steps:

1. From the Administration module, click Projects.

2. In the Projects screen, select the project where you want to give permissions to the Project Admin.

   The project details appear in read-only mode.

3. Click Edit Settings in the upper right of the project details screen.

4. Go to the section Project Admins, and then click Manage Resources.

5. Add the user to the project from the Users tab.

6. Click Save.

Smart Archiving - User Activities and Authorizations

This topic outlines smart archiving user activities and their authorizations.

Configure Archive Instance and Grant Permission to Project Admin

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin	Application User
Configure Smart Archiving Instance
Grant Permission to Project Admin

Create Archive Policy

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin	Application User
Create Smart Archiving Policy		Note: Only from allocated projects

Manage Smart Archiving - Policies

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
Edit Smart Archiving Policy
Enable/Disable Smart Archiving Policy
Perform Dry Run on Smart Archiving Policy
Run Smart Archiving Policy Manually
Edit Smart Archiving Policy
Stop Running Smart Archiving Policy
Delete Smart Archiving Policy
Download Smart Archiving Policy Last Run Report
Disable All Smart Archiving Policies	Note: This option is shown from the Global Context only.
Search Smart Archiving Policy
Stop All Smart Archiving Policy Runs	Note: This option is shown from the Global Context only.

Manage Smart Archiving - Runs

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
View All Smart Archiving Runs
Stop All Smart Archiving Policy Runs
Download and Review Smart Archiving Run Report

Search and Restore Archived Packages

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Available from Version 7.123.	Application User
Search Archived Packages
Restore Archived Packages

Manage Restore Runs

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
View All Restore Runs
Download and Review Restore Run Report

Monitor Smart Archiving and Restore

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
Monitor Smart Archiving Storage Info	Note: This option is shown from the Global Context only.
Monitor Smart Archiving and Restore - via UI and Logs

Depending on your role, you can perform the operations described in this section within the following contexts:

Global Context

Project Context

Work with Smart Archiving and Restore

This section outlines working with Archive and Restore. It includes creating and managing archive policies, managing archive runs, searching and restoring archived packages and managing restore runs.

Create Smart Archiving Policy

This topic outlines how to create a smart archiving policy. You create the smart archiving policy to archive packages from Active Artifactory Instance to Archive Artifactory Instance.

Authorization

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin	Application User
Create Smart Archiving Policy		Note: Only from allocated projects

To create Archive policies:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.
2. In the Retention Policies page, from the Create Policy dropdown list, click Archive Policy.
3. Configure the following in the Create New Archive Policy page:

Field	Description	Media
Policy Name	Enter a unique and meaningful name for the policy.
Description	Enter information regarding why this policy was created, and details that help users understand its configuration.
Policy Scope
Include Stages / Include All Stages	Select the stages to which the policy should apply, or choose Include All Stages to run the policy across all stages on the platform.
Include Projects / Include All Projects	📘 Note This setting is applicable only at the global level for Platform Admins. It does not appear when creating a policy at the project level. When this setting is visible, it is mandatory. Select the projects to which the policy should apply, or choose Include All Projects to run the policy across all projects on the platform. You can also select Unassigned Repositories to apply the policy to repositories not linked to any projects.
Package Types	Select one or more of the package types you want to archive. 📘 Note If a policy includes a repository with retention settings, packages designated for retention may be inadvertently removed.
Include Repository Patterns	Enter one or more patterns for the repository names where you want the archive policy to apply, then click Add. Alternatively, you can select Include All Repositories or specify explicit repository names. At least one pattern or explicit name is required, as only packages in repositories matching these will be archived. Auto-complete will suggest options based on the project and package type, and both local and federated repositories are supported. 📘 Note It is not possible to specify a path within a repository. 📘 Note Set Patterns: Use wildcards at the end to match any suffix, or at the start to match any prefix. For example, npm-local* includes all repositories starting with npm-local. Regex is not supported.
Exclude Repository Patterns	Enter patterns or explicit repository names to exclude from the archive policy. Auto-complete will suggest options based on the project and package type. 📘 Note Set Patterns: Use wildcards at the end to match any suffix, or at the start to match any prefix. For example, npm-local* excludes all repositories starting with npm-local. Regex is not supported.
Include Path Patterns	(Optional) Enter one or more folder paths to include in the archive policy. Use this option to narrow the policy scope to specific repository paths within the defined repositories. 📘 Note Set Patterns: Use wildcards at the end to match any suffix, or at the start to match any prefix. For example, npm-local* excludes all repositories starting with npm-local. Regex is not supported.
Exclude Path Patterns	(Optional) Enter one or more folder paths to exclude from the archive policy. Use this option to include all packages within the defined repositories except for the packages whose path matches the exclude patterns. 📘 Note Set Patterns: Use wildcards at the end to match any suffix, or at the start to match any prefix. For example, npm-local* excludes all repositories starting with npm-local. Regex is not supported.
Include Package Name Pattern	Enter a pattern for a package name or an explicit package name for the archive policy, then click Add or select Include All Packages. Only one pattern or explicit name is allowed. 📘 Note Set Patterns: Use wildcards at the end to match any suffix, or at the start to match any prefix. For example, mypackage* includes all packages starting with mypackage. Regex is not supported.
Exclude Package Name	Enter explicit package names to exclude from the policy and click Add. Only explicit names are accepted and not patterns.
Include Package Version Pattern	Enter a pattern for a package version or an explicit package version for the policy, or select Include All Versions. 📘 Note Set Patterns: Use wildcards at the end to match any suffix, or at the start to match any prefix. For example, 1.0.* includes all packages starting with 1.0. Regex is not supported. Only 1 pattern or explicit version can be entered. Available from V 7.127 (Cloud) and V 7.125.7 (Self-managed).
Exclude Package Version Patterns	Enter explicit package version to exclude from the policy. Only explicit versions are accepted and not patterns. Available from V 7.127 (Cloud) and V 7.125.7 (Self-managed).
Policy Conditions	Select one or more conditions from the multi-select group. Time, property, and version criteria are evaluated using logical AND. The policy targets packages that meet all selected time and property conditions and fall outside the protected version history. Packages Older Than Packages Not Downloaded Since Property Keep Last N Versions
Policy Conditions	Select one or more of the following conditions: Packages Older Than: Archives packages based on their creation date, regardless of whether they have been downloaded. Packages Not Downloaded Since: Archives packages based on their last download date. The default is 2 years. If a package was never downloaded, it is archived only if its creation date is older than the specified Not Downloaded Since period. We recommend using this condition to prevent the archiving of packages currently in use. Property: Archives packages based on a property key-value pair applied to the lead artifact. For more information, see Smart Archiving Supported Packages. Keep Last N Versions: Defines the number of latest versions to keep. The archive policy excludes the N most recent versions from archiving. The latest version is always excluded. When combined with time or property conditions, only packages that meet those criteria and fall outside the retained version set are archived. 📘 Note A day in this context is a 24-hour period from the moment the policy is executed. Other units are calculated as follows: 1 week = 7 days 1 month = 30 days 1 year = 365 days The system will convert them to appropriate time unit if the matching value is entered. For example, if you enter 7 days, the system changes it to 1 week. 📘 Notes for Keep Last N Versions Versions are determined by creation date. Not all package types support this condition. For more information, see Smart Archiving Supported Packages. If your archive policy includes a version-based condition (for example, keep last N versions), be aware that a change in behavior in Helm client 3.18.0 and later causes Helm to create two manifest nodes per version. One is for the tag and one is for the digest. This affects any OCI-compliant repository where Helm charts are stored, including Helm OCI and Docker repositories. Since Artifactory counts each manifest node as a separate version, the policy may retain digest references instead of the human-readable tags used for consumption. Behavioral logic when multiple conditions are selected All selected conditions are evaluated together using logical AND: If you select both Packages Older Than and Packages Not Downloaded Since, the policy archives only packages that meet both conditions. Packages that have never been downloaded are archived only if their creation date is older than the Packages Older Than value. If you also select Keep Last N Versions, packages among the last N versions for their package path are never archived, even when they meet the time and property criteria. This acts as a safety rail to prevent total depletion of a package's version history on the active instance. When Property is selected with time-based conditions, packages must match the property and satisfy the selected time criteria to be eligible for archiving. Example: You select Packages Older Than 12 months, Property prod=true, and Keep Last 5 Versions. The policy archives only packages that are older than 12 months, have the property prod=true, and are not among the five most recent versions of their package.
Exclude based on property	Enable the checkbox and enter the property name and value applied to the lead artifact of a package. Packages with this property will be excluded from archiving. For more information, see Smart Archiving Supported Packages.
Additional Settings
Cron Expression	A cron expression is a string comprised of five or six fields separated by spaces. Each field represents a different unit of time, which collectively define the schedule for policy execution. The standard format is as follows: * * * * * * (Seconds - Optional) | | | | | | | | | | | +---- Day of the week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0) | | | | +------ Month (1 - 12) | | | +-------- Day of the month (1 - 31) | | +---------- Hour (0 - 23) | +------------ Minute (0 - 59) +-------------- Second (0 - 59) (Optional) 📘 Note This cron expression must follow the Quartz scheduler format as used in the CronTrigger class. It differs from the standard Unix cron format. For example, Quartz supports a sixth optional field for seconds and uses ? for non-specific values. Refer to the Quartz documentation for more details: Quartz Cron Expression Format. Example Cron Expression To illustrate how to construct a cron expression, consider the following example: Expression: 0 0 2 * * ? 0 - At second 0 0 - At minute 0 2 - At hour 2 (2:00 AM) Every day of the month Every month ? - No specific value for the day of the week This expression schedules the policy to run every day at 2:00 AM.Guidelines for Scheduling Run Interval: The minimum interval between policy executions is 6 hours. If you attempt to set a cron expression that results in a runtime shorter than this duration, you will encounter an error when saving the configuration. Off-Hours Scheduling: It is recommended to tune your cron expression so that policies run during off-hours. This helps to reduce the impact on system performance during peak usage times. Leaving the Cron Expression Empty: If you leave the cron expression empty, you can only Run Smart Archiving Policy Manually manually. This means that there will be no automatic scheduling and the policy will not run unless you initiate it.
Max Run Duration	This setting limits the maximum duration the policy can run when enabled. The maximum allowed duration is 5 hours. 📘 Note The policy stops before the completion of the run if it exceeds the applied run duration. In one run, within this duration, it archives all or part of your packages depending on the size and number of items. If there are any pending packages to be archived, they are archived incrementally in the next scheduled run and the subsequent runs.
Skip Trash Can	When enabled, this setting will cause packages to be permanently deleted from Artifactory instance without an option to restore them immediately after the archive policy is executed, bypassing the Trash Can repository. For more information on restoring packages, see Restore Archived Packages. 📘 Note If you want deleted items to be transferred to the trash can, you must enable the global Trash Can setting. For more information, see Trash Can Settings. The packages are copied from Active Artifactory Instance to Archive Artifactory Instance, and then deleted in the Active Artifactory Instance.

4. Click Save to save the policy.

   The newly created smart archiving policy appears in the Policies list and executes on the scheduled date and time.

   • Perform Dry Run on Smart Archiving Policy: This feature allows you to see which items would be archived without actually archiving them. We recommend performing a dry run and reviewing the results before enabling a policy.
   • Enable/Disable Smart Archiving Policy: The policy must be enabled to run automatically according to the schedule or Run Smart Archiving Policy Manually manually.

What Happens After the Smart Archiving Policy is Created?

This topic outlines what happens after a smart archiving policy is created.

After the Smart Archiving policy has been defined and created:

• Enabled smart archiving policies execute on the scheduled date and time.

  The archiving policy can also be manually executed. For more information, see Run Smart Archiving Policy Manually.

• The system archives the packages, along with the associated metadata, and moves them to the Archive Artifactory Instance.
• When an item is archived, the system dynamically creates dedicated archiving repositories in the Archive Artifactory Instance.
• As the archive process progresses, View All Smart Archiving Runs from the Active Artifactory Instance.

Manage Smart Archiving - Policies

This section outlines the actions you can perform on the smart archiving Policies from the Active Artifactory Instance. It includes enable/disable, search, manual run, dry run, edit, stop, delete, view and delete policies.

The following table lists all the possible actions on the policies and their equivalent links to REST API.

Authorization

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
Edit Smart Archiving Policy
Enable/Disable Smart Archiving Policy
Perform Dry Run on Smart Archiving Policy
Run Smart Archiving Policy Manually
Edit Smart Archiving Policy
Stop Running Smart Archiving Policy
Delete Smart Archiving Policy
Download Smart Archiving Policy Last Run Report
Disable All Smart Archiving Policies	Note: This option is shown from the Global Context only.
Search Smart Archiving Policy
Stop All Smart Archiving Policy Runs	Note: This option is shown from the Global Context only.

View All Smart Archiving Policies

This section outlines how to view all smart archiving policies. It guides you in reviewing key details such as the policy status, associated projects with the policy, timestamps for the last and next scheduled runs, last run status, actions performed on each policy, and options for customizing table columns.

To view all smart archiving policies:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.
2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.
3. Under the Policies tab, you can view all the policies.

Archive Policy Table Fields

The following table describes the columns of the archive policy table fields.

More Actions - Icon Status

From the more icon you can perform various actions on the policies. The status of the icon is as follows:

Icon	Status	Description
	Active	The more actions have been active. Following are the actions you can perform on a policy: . ased on the Last Run Status to review:
	Hover	Hovered the mouse pointer over more icon
	Disabled	The more actions have been disabled.
	New	Indicates the policy is newly created.

Customize Table Columns

Arrange the table columns according to how you want to view them.

To display and arrange the columns:

1. From the Table header, click the Customize Columns at the end.

2. Select which columns to display in the Customize Columns pop-up and drag and drop to reorder them.

3. Click Apply.

   

Refresh Policies

To refresh policies, click the Refresh icon in the top-right corner of the table header.

Search Smart Archiving Policy

This topic outlines how to search for a smart archiving policy to locate the desired policy easily.

To search the smart archiving policy:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. Click the Policies tab, enter the policy name in the Search field, and then press enter on the keyboard.

   

Perform Dry Run on a Smart Archiving Policy

This section outlines how to perform a dry run on a smart archiving policy. A dry run lets you preview which packages will be archived based on your defined policy criteria, without performing the actual archiving. This helps you understand the potential outcome before executing the policy. After the dry run, a CSV report is generated, listing all packages that would be archived along with relevant details. Review this list to decide whether to proceed with the policy or adjust the settings.

To perform a dry run on a smart archiving policy:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, under Policies, locate the policy you want to run, click ••• icon and then click Perform a Dry Run.

   

4. After the dry run is completed:

   1. Download the report from Download Smart Archiving Policy Last Run Report or Download and Review Smart Archiving Run Report.
   2. Review its status report, as explained in Smart Archiving Run Report Overview.

Enable/Disable Smart Archiving Policy

This topic outlines how to enable/disable a smart archiving policy. By default, newly created archive policies are disabled. You must activate a policy before it can execute automatically according to the schedule or be triggered manually.

The following actions can be performed on a disabled policy:

• Perform Dry Run on Smart Archiving Policy
• Edit Smart Archiving Policy
• Delete Smart Archiving Policy

To enable or disable the smart archiving policy:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, under Policies, locate the policy you want to enable/disable, and then toggle the slider under the Active column.

   

   Once enabled, the policy will run automatically based on the schedule you set during creation. You can also run it manually, as detailed in the Run Smart Archiving Policy Manually.

Disable All Smart Archiving Policies

As a Platform Admin, you can disable all smart archiving policies globally, making them inactive. Once this is done, you can activate policies individually as needed.

To disable all the smart archiving policies:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, click Global Stop/Disable dropdown list, and then click Disable All Policies.

   

4. Check the Active column in the policies list to verify that all policies are now disabled.

Run Smart Archiving Policy Manually

In addition to the periodic automated execution of the smart archiving policy that occurs if you enable the policy and set its Cron Expression, you can also manually run the archive policy at any time.

To run the smart archiving policy manually:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, under Policies, locate the policy you want to run, click ••• icon and then click Run Now.

   

4. After the run is completed:

   1. Download the report from Download Smart Archiving Policy Last Run Report or Download and Review Smart Archiving Run Report.
   2. Review its status report, as explained in Smart Archiving Run Report Overview.

Download Smart Archiving Policy Last Run Report

This section outlines how to download the last run report. The report is in CSV format and lists all archived packages with relevant information. You can review the list to learn about the archived packages.

To download the report:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, under Policies, locate the policy for which you want to download the report, click ••• icon, and then click Download Last Report.

   

   A zip file is downloaded including one .csv files.

4. After the run is completed:

   1. Download the report from Download Smart Archiving Policy Last Run Report or Download and Review Smart Archiving Run Report.
   2. Review its status report, as explained in Smart Archiving Run Report Overview.

Stop Running Smart Archiving Policy

You have the option to stop the smart archiving policy that is currently running before it finishes completion.

To stop the running smart archiving policy:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, under Policies, locate the policy you want to stop, click ••• icon and then click Stop.

   

4. In the Status column of Runs tab, the status changes to Stopped for that run.

Stop All Smart Archiving Policy Runs

You can stop all smart archiving policy runs from either the Policies tab or the Runs tab. As a Platform Admin, you can stop all currently running policies. Once a policy run is stopped, it cannot resume from its last point. You must restart the policy from the beginning to rerun it.

To stop all the smart archiving policy runs:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, click Global Stop/Disable, and then click Stop All Runs.

   To verify that all runs have stopped, under the Policies tab, check the Last Run Status column to ensure that all runs have stopped.

   

Edit Smart Archiving Policy

After a smart archiving policy has been created, you can change the settings or archive criteria.

To edit the smart archiving policy:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, under Policies, locate the policy you want to edit, click ••• icon and then click Edit.

   Edit <Policy Name> Archive Policy page appears.

   

4. In the <Policy Name> Archive Policy page, update the settings as needed, and then click Save.

   

Delete Smart Archiving Policy

If you decide that the smart archiving policy is no longer needed, you can delete it.

To delete the smart archiving policy:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, under Policies, locate the policy you want to delete, click ••• icon and then click Delete.

   The policy is deleted and removed from the Policies list.

   

Manage Smart Archiving - Runs

This section outlines the actions you can perform on the smart archiving Runs from the Active Artifactory Instance. It includes view, stop all runs and downloading run reports.

Authorization

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
View All Smart Archiving Runs
Stop All Smart Archiving Policy Runs
Download and Review Smart Archiving Run Report

View All Smart Archiving Runs

This section outlines how to view the status of both past and ongoing smart archiving runs. It provides guidance on how to review specific details, including the items that have been archived, the associated timestamps, the status of each archive operation, customizing table columns, and applying filters to view the desired information.

To view the smart archiving policy runs:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Runs tab, under Runs, locate the Run Id you want to learn about it.

   In this list, you can review a comprehensive history of executed archive policies, including the start time, number and physical size of archived items, and run status. The list is sorted chronologically, with the most recent run at the top. For more information on run statuses, see the following table.

4. To view a report on a specific policy run, locate the run, and then click Report icon.

   A zip file will be downloaded containing one .csv files. If the report is for a dry run, it will show the items that would be archived in a real run. If it’s for an actual archive run, it will detail what was archived.

Archive Runs Table Fields

The following table describes the columns of the archive runs table fields.

Customize Table Columns

Arrange the table columns according to how you want to view them.

To display and arrange the columns:

1. From the Table header, click Customize Columns icon at the end.

2. Select which columns to display in the Customize Columns pop-up and drag and drop to reorder them.

3. Click Apply.

   

Apply Filters to Sort Run Results

You can apply the filter to the run results to easily access your desired view.

To apply filters:

1. Click the Filter icon in the top-right corner of the table header.

2. Apply the following fields as you want to sort:

3. To remove applied filters, click Clear all.

   

Refresh Archive Runs

If you don't see the latest created runs in the list, you can refresh the runs to view them.

To refresh runs, click the Refresh icon in the top-right corner of the table header.

Stop All Smart Archiving Policy Runs

This topic outlines how to stop all smart archiving policy runs. You can perform this action from the policies tab and runs tab. As a Platform Admin, you can stop all currently running policies. Once a policy run is stopped, it cannot resume from its last point. You must restart the policy from the beginning to rerun it.

To stop all the smart archiving policy runs:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Policies tab, click Global Stop/Disable, and then click Stop All Runs.

   To verify that all runs have stopped, under the Policies tab, check the Last Run Status column to ensure that all runs have stopped.

   

Download and Review Smart Archiving Run Report

This section outlines how to download a smart archiving run report. The report is in CSV format and lists all archived packages with relevant information. You can review the list to learn about the archived packages.

To download the smart archiving run report:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. On the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Runs tab, under Runs, locate the run for which you want to download the report, and then click the Download icon.

   

   A zip file is downloaded that includes a .csv file.

4. Review the downloaded report. For more information, see Smart Archiving Run Report Overview.

Smart Archiving Run Report Overview

The downloaded CSV report provides a detailed summary of the archive process, including information on the policy used, the status of the run, and the packages processed.

The following are available in the archive report:

Search and Restore Archived Packages

This section outlines the actions you can perform on the global search bar from the Active Artifactory Instance. It includes searching and restoring archived packages.

Authorization

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Available from Version 7.123.	Application User
Search Archived Packages
Restore Archived Packages

Search Archived Packages

This topic outlines how to search archived packages. Perform a dedicated search for archived packages in the Active Artifactory Instance. The search results indicate the original repository of each package found.

Authorizations

Context	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
Global Context
Project Context

To search the archived packages:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. Click Archive from the Search dropdown list.

3. Do one of the following:

   • Free-Text Search

     Enter thepkgType: as <your desired package>, and then click Search icon.

     

   • Advanced Search

     1. Click Filter icon at the right end of the Search field.

        The search dropdown window appears.

        In the search dropdown window, ensure that Packages is selected in the upper-right section of the window.

     2. Enter search criteria for archived packages, as described in the following table.

3. After entering the search criteria, click Search to display results.

   

Customize Table Columns

Arrange the table columns according to how you want to view them.

To display and arrange the columns:

1. From the Table header, click Customize Columns icon at the end.

2. Select which columns to display in the Customize Columns pop-up.

3. Click Apply.

   

Restore Archived Packages

Restore is a non-destructive process, ensuring that none of the restored packages are deleted from the Archive Artifactory Instance.

To restore the archived packages, follow these steps:

1. Search Archived Packages

2. From the list of Search Archived Packages results, do one of the following:

   The following table describes the criteria for Original Location and New Location.

• Single Package Restoration

  1. Locate the package you want to restore, and then click Restore icon.

  2. Select Original Location or New Location, enter the repository name, and then click Restore.

     

• Multiple Package Restoration

  1. Select the checkbox in line with the packages you want to restore, and then click Restore.

  2. Select Original Location or New Location, enter the repository name, and then click Restore.

     

Manage Restore Runs

This section outlines the actions you can perform on the Restore Runs from the Active Artifactory Instance. It includes view, stop all runs and downloading run reports.

Authorization

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
View All Restore Runs
Download and Review Restore Run Report

View All Restore Runs

This topic outlines how to view the status of both past and ongoing restore runs. It provides guidance on how to review specific details, including the items that have been restored, the associated timestamps, the status of each restoration operation, customizing table columns, and applying filters to view the desired information.

To view restore runs:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. Click Restored tab.

   

   The restored runs list is displayed.

Restore Table Fields

The following table describes the columns of the restore table fields.

Customize Table Columns

Arrange the table columns according to how you want to view them.

To display and arrange the columns:

1. From the Table header, click Customize Columns icon at the end.

2. Select which columns to display in the Customize Columns pop-up.

3. Click Apply.

   

Apply Filters to Sort Run Results

You can apply the filter to the run results to easily access your desired view.

To apply filters:

1. Click the Filter icon in the top-right corner of the table header.

2. Apply the following fields as you want to sort:

3. To remove applied filters, click Clear all.

   

Refresh Restore Runs

If you don't see the latest created runs in the list, you can refresh the runs to view them.

To refresh runs, click the Refresh icon in the top-right corner of the table header.

Download and Review Restore Run Report

This topic outlines how to download a restore run report. The report is in CSV format and lists all archived packages with relevant information. You can review the list to learn about the restored packages.

To download the report:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. From the Restored tab, under Restored, locate the run for which you want to download the report, and then click Download Icon.

   

   A zip file is downloaded including one or more .csv files.

   Possible Download icon statuses are as follows:

Icon	State	Description
	Enabled	Indicates the report is available for download
	Hover	On hovering the mouse pointer
	Selected	Indicates the download icon is clicked
	Disabled	Indicates the report is not available

Restore Run Report Overview

The downloaded CSV Restore Run Report provides a detailed summary of a package restoration process. It includes key information about the restoration status, runtime details, and the packages processed.

Monitor Smart Archiving and Restore

This section outlines monitoring archive storage, archive and restore runs.

Authorization

Activity	Platform Admin	Project Admin Note: Applicable within the scope of your project context.	Application User
Monitor Smart Archiving Storage Info	Note: This option is shown from the Global Context only.
Monitor Smart Archiving and Restore - via UI and Logs

Monitor Smart Archiving Storage Info

This topic outlines how to view Archive Storage Info and provides guidance on detailed insights into optimization after successful archival.

To view the Archive Storage info:

1. From the Administration module, select Artifactory > Retention Policies.

2. In the Retention Policies page, click Archive.

3. Click any of the following tabs, and then click Archive Storage Info link from the top right of the page.

   • Policies

   • Runs

   • Restored

     

4. The Archive Storage info provides the following details:

   

Monitor Smart Archiving and Restore - via UI and Logs

This topic outlines how to monitor archive and restore runs from the UI and their logs.

To monitor archive and restore, in the Active Artifactory Instance:

• From the platform UI

  After initiating an archive or restore operation, you can monitor its progress and view the status of archive and restore operations from the respective runs.

  • View All Smart Archiving Runs
  • View All Restore Runs

• From Artifactory Logs

1. From the Projects dropdown list, click All Projects.

2. From the Administrator module, select Monitoring > Artifactory Logs.

   The Artifactory Logs page appears.

   

3. From the View System Logs dropdown list, select artifactory-service.log.

4. View the logs.

Related Topics

• Retention Policies
• Cleanup Policies
• Manage Platform Deployments
• Stages Lifecycle
• Log Files Location and Naming