Managing Salesforce API Usage
Overview
OverviewEfficient API consumption is vital for integrating Flosum Backup & Archive with Salesforce for handling data. This guide presents essential information for understanding and optimizing API usage.
Backup & Archive employs REST, Bulk, Bulk with PK Chunking, and Metadata APIs, selecting the most efficient API for the task. Although Salesforce doesn't impose any limitations on the Backup & Archive integration, it is essential to consider your org's API limits, as Backup & Archive will contribute to them. For more information on Salesforce's API limits, see the following article.
How to request an API Limit increase?
At the end of this article are instructions for contacting Salesforce Support to request a temporary API Limit increase for your org. Skip to the following section to see these instructions.
APIs Used Based On Record Count
Flosum adheres to Salesforce's recommendation of using Bulk API v1 with PK Chunking when appropriate. The following table shows which APIs are employed depending on the number of records in the job. Bulk API v2 is not used since it doesn't support PK Chunking.
0 to 999,999
REST
1,000,000 to 9,999,999
Bulk v1
10,000,000+
Bulk v1 pk-chunking
Backup & Archive API Quotas
To prevent surpassing your Salesforce org's API limits, Flosum lets you modify your Backup & Archive API Quotas. Review Salesforce resources for usage details to set your preferred API Quotas for REST and Bulk APIs. You can adjust these quotas individually for each org in the General Settings section of Backup & Archive. For instance, setting an 80% API Quota ensures Backup & Archive stays within this limit. Refer to the following article for instructions on changing this limit. Overview of General Settings
Determining API Usage
Salesforce Admins should initially assess API usage in their environment to determine the appropriate API quota. The total number of Bulk and REST APIs used per 24-hour period is limited by Salesforce, depending on the license type. It's crucial to consider other applications within your organization that use API calls.
To effectively monitor your organization's API usage and limits, Salesforce offers valuable resources:
API Usage section of the System Overview page in Setup.
API Requests, Last 24 Hours item in the Organization Detail section of the System Overview page in Setup.
API Request Limit per Month, a usage-based entitlement, displays your org's aggregated API calls over 30 days. This information is available on the Company Information page in Setup.
The Company Information, Storage Usage, and Bulk Data Load pages provide insights into the number of APIs used, daily limits, and the total number of files and attachments.
These resources will help you understand your Salesforce organization's API usage patterns and facilitate informed API Quota strategy decisions with Backup & Archive.
Creating a Salesforce API Limit Increase Request
To ensure a smooth first full backup with Flosum Backup & Archive, you may need to temporarily increase your Salesforce API limits, especially for BULK API calls. This article provides a step-by-step guide for submitting an API limit increase request to Salesforce Support.
Why This Matters
During the initial full backup, Backup & Archive consumes a large volume of API calls (REST and BULK). Customers have experienced quota limits being reached, which can interrupt both the backup process and other integrations. A temporary increase in the limit prevents this disruption.
How to Submit the API Limit Request
Go to Salesforce Help
Click Contact Support
Select Create a Case
Case Details
Use the following information to complete the case form:
Subject: Requesting a Temporary Increase in Daily API Request Limit
Product: Sales
Topic: Feature Activation & Limits
Instance Type: Production
Org ID: [Provide your Org ID]
Preferred Time Zone: [Your Time Zone]
Severity: 2 (Major functionality impacted; not a complete outage)
Suggested Case Description
Copy and paste this into the Description field of your support case:
Hi Salesforce Support,
I would like to request a temporary increase in our daily API limit in accordance with Salesforce Article 000382675.
We are implementing a backup process using the Flosum Backup & Archive app, which utilizes REST and BULK APIs to back up all records and files in our Salesforce org.
Answers to required questions:
Are you the System Admin authorized to make this request?
✔️ Yes.
Are you aware of the Usage-Based Entitlement feature for this limit?
✔️ Yes.
What is your Organization ID?
[Paste your Production Org ID]
(Navigate to Setup > Company Information > Salesforce.com Organization ID)
Please describe the emergency and business impact:
Our backup solution and existing integrations rely on API availability. Without increased limits, we risk backup failure and potential business disruption.
How many additional API calls are you requesting?
🔺 Temporary increase by 40–50% above current allocation.
How was this limit calculated?
REST API: ~1,000 calls per 1M records
BULK API: ~1 call per 2M records
(Estimates based on our object sizes and backup patterns)
How long do you need this increase?
📅 Maximum of 2 weeks, to accommodate the initial full backup.
What actions will you take to prevent this issue in the future?
We will continue following Salesforce best practices but require this temporary buffer due to large-scale data operations.
Additional Required Details
Integration Type:
✅ Integration (not a data migration)
Application Used: Flosum Backup & Archive
APIs Used: REST API & BULK API
Total Records Affected: All records and files in the production org
ETL Tool: N/A
Operation Type: Query
Peak Load: Potentially full org data volume
Custom Indexing Needed? No
Do you understand this is an R&D request program? ✔️ Yes
What would be required for Bulk API 2.0 adoption? Add pk-chunking support
Batch Size: Default
Submitting a well-structured API increase request is key to a successful full org backup with Flosum Backup & Archive. Follow the guidance above to expedite Salesforce support approval and avoid unexpected API-related disruptions.
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