Restore Policy Intent or Retire a Policy

Policy rollback and archive solve different problems. Rollback proposes earlier policy intent for another review. Archive removes this policy’s configuration from the receiving products. Neither operation restores a database or rolls back a software installation. Restoring database contents is an operator recovery task, not a policy rollback. Closing a draft abandons only proposed changes. It does not withdraw approved output.

Refer to history and states and revisions first.

Before You Begin

Complete these prerequisites before restoring or archiving a policy:

• Identify the policy and the intended outcome: restore earlier intent or retire its contribution.
• Confirm policy:rollback and applicable owner/editor access for rollback.
• Confirm policy:archive and the retirement impact for archive.
• Arrange an authorized operator’s withdrawal check if you lack audit access.

Restore Earlier Policy Intent

You need policy:rollback and applicable policy owner/editor access. Choose an earlier governed revision, not the current revision or an arbitrary saved snapshot. A governed revision records approved intent. A draft snapshot records saved proposed work.

To restore earlier policy intent, follow these steps:

1. Inspect current governed and open-draft information.
2. Identify the earlier governed revision that contains the intended policy content.
3. Select Roll back when the action is available.
4. Select the intended earlier governed revision in the dialog.
5. Review the warning about existing open draft work.
6. Enter a reason for restoring that revision.
7. Acknowledge replacement if an open proposal exists.
8. Confirm the rollback decision. Rollback creates a new In Review proposal from the selected content.
9. Open the resulting draft and Change History to check its content and the version selected for rollback.

The current governed revision remains unchanged. Follow review before the restored proposal can become governed. If you edit that proposal, save and resubmit the corrected work before approval. Replacement confirmation applies only to the exact open draft head shown by the server. If that head changes, inspect the newer work before confirming again. Do not treat successful rollback as immediate target recovery.

If you cannot identify the correct source revision, stop. Ask an authorized reviewer to confirm the intended content. For direct clients, follow the exact rollback preconditions in the application programming interface (API) reference.

Archive a Policy

You need policy:archive and a clear retirement reason. Confirm the policy identifier and impact on shared protection before proceeding.

To archive a policy, follow these steps:

1. Inspect the current governed revision and any open draft.
2. Review affected targets and shared contributions.
3. Select Archive when the action is available.
4. Enter a nonblank reason.
5. Confirm the retirement decision. Policy closes applicable open work and starts asynchronous withdrawal.
6. Inspect policy detail and the withdrawal operation.
7. Follow withdrawal verification.

For direct clients, use POST /policies/{policy_id}/archive with reason and the current governed-policy ETag in If-Match. Do not substitute a draft token. Do not send archivedBy. Policy derives the actor from trusted identity. Refer to canonical API examples.

An initial archive response does not prove completed withdrawal. Withdrawal removes this policy’s contribution from applicable target output. Archive completion does not prove that every shared location became unprotected. Other policies can retain protection over shared resources.

Verify or Stop

Reload the policy and check Change History for the rollback or archive request before repeating a command that timed out. If Policy reports changed content or a conflicting Policy Integration Manager (PIM) object identifier, send the error to your Policy administrator. The administrator can follow recovery.

For draft-only abandonment, use close an open draft.