Squirrel Global Settings - Archive Config

Overview

This document provides a detailed overview of the configurable system settings within the Squirrel archiving platform. Each setting plays a specific role in managing data archiving behavior, file lifecycle policies, storage destinations, and user environment configuration. Site-scoped overrides on top of these tenant-wide defaults are configured via Site Custom Policies and exclusion controls live on the Document Library Exclusions page.

Important:
Do not modify any system settings unless you’ve consulted this guide - or preferably, your SmiKar representative. Incorrect settings may impact system functionality and are changed at your own risk.

---

System Settings Explained

Below is a list of all configurable settings, what they do, and how they should be used.

Setting Name	Value	Description
ArchivesDeleteAfter	0 (disabled)	Specify the amount of days to delete the archive file from Azure Blob storage. 0 = don’t delete.
AutoIncludeNewSites	No	Determine whether to automatically include new Sites in the archiving policy.
AzureArchiveTierAfter	0 (disabled)	Number of days before moving files from their current storage tier to the Azure Archive tier for long-term storage. Set to 0 to disable. Warning: Files in Azure Archive Blob tier may take up to 24 hours to rehydrate.
Azure_Container	squirrel-archive	Specify the Azure container name.
Azure_ResourceGroup	SQUIRREL-RG	Specify the Azure Resource Group.
Azure_StorageName	squirrel	Specify the Azure Storage Name.
Azure_StorageTier	cold	Specify the Azure Access Tier to be used for archive (hot, cool, or cold).
BaseURL	https://company.smikar.com/	Base URL for the company’s Squirrel site. Used for the URL creation process.
CompanyName	company	Company name.
Email_Alerts	support@company.com	Customer email alerts.
Email_Billing	accounts@company.com	Customer billing email details.
Exclude_Filetype	.abc, .xyz	Do not archive files of these file extensions (comma separated).
IntelligentAutoPolicy	Disabled	AI-powered lifecycle policy monitors the environment and automatically adjusts the archive policy to ensure storage stays within licensed limits. Associated with SharePoint_StorageLimit and SharePoint_StorageBuffer.
LastAccessed	0 (disabled)	Specify the number of days since a file was last accessed before it is eligible for archiving.
LastModified	730 (2 years)	Specify the number of days since a file was last modified before it is eligible for archiving.
MinFileSize	10240	Do not archive files smaller than this size (bytes).
MIP_ExcludedLabels	MIP label1, MIP label2	Do not archive files marked with these MIP labels (case-sensitive). Such files will be excluded from archiving. Comma-separated.
OrphanedRestorePath	https://company.sharepoint.com/sites/orphaned/restore	Specify a location to restore orphaned files if the original location no longer exists.
SharePoint_StorageBuffer	20%	Specify the storage buffer to keep free within the licensed storage limits. Associated with Intelligent Auto Policy and SharePoint_StorageLimit.
SharePoint_StorageLimit	10	Specify the total SharePoint storage available under current Microsoft licensing (in TB). Used by the platform to manage archiving.
VersionLimit	500	Specify the maximum number of versions to archive along with the file. 0 = skip version archiving.
Wildcard_exclusion		Do not archive files if the filepath contains any of the following values (separated by commas).

---

Best Practices

• Always document changes made to system settings for future reference or support queries.
• When in doubt, consult support@smikar.com before making changes.
• Do not edit core settings like baseurl after deployment without SmiKar’s assistance.

---

Common questions

Q: What's the difference between LastModified and LastAccessed?

• LastModified is the more reliable signal for "this file is cold" - it changes only when someone edits the document. LastAccessed changes every time the file is read, which sounds useful but isn't always trustworthy: many automated processes (search crawlers, antivirus, search indexing, backup tools) touch files without a human reading them, which can artificially keep them looking "active". Most production Squirrel deployments rely on LastModified (default 730 days / 2 years) and leave LastAccessed disabled.

Q: Which Azure_StorageTier should I pick?

• hot for files you expect to restore frequently (fastest restore, most expensive), cool for occasional restores within ~30 days, and cold for compliance / long-term archive with infrequent restores. For most archive workloads cold gives the biggest cost saving without making restores painfully slow. Combine with AzureArchiveTierAfter to move older files into the deeper Azure Archive tier - but note Archive-tier files take up to 24 hours to rehydrate.

Q: What does IntelligentAutoPolicy actually do?

• When enabled, Squirrel watches the tenant's SharePoint storage consumption and automatically adjusts the archive policy to keep usage within the SharePoint_StorageLimit minus SharePoint_StorageBuffer window. If consumption approaches the limit, the policy archives more aggressively (lower LastModified thresholds). If consumption is well under the limit, it relaxes. This avoids the situation where a manually-tuned policy stops working because the tenant grew.

Q: I changed a setting - when does it take effect?

• Setting changes take effect on the next scheduled archive cycle (typically nightly). Setting changes that affect exclusion behaviour (Exclude_Filetype, Wildcard_exclusion, MIP_ExcludedLabels) start excluding new candidates immediately; they don't retroactively un-archive files that were previously processed.

Q: Can I exclude a single SharePoint site from archiving without affecting the whole tenant?

• Yes - set per-site policies on the Site Settings page, or use Document Library Exclusions to scope out specific libraries or folder paths within an otherwise-included site.