What's New in Retrospect – Retrospect Backup 19 + Retrospect Virtual 2022 + Retrospect Cloud Storage

Console Guide

Overview

What is this software?

Retrospect Virtual consists of two core software components:

  • Retrospect Virtual Console is the backup server software.

  • Retrospect Virtual Host Server is the backup client software for installing on your virtual environment. With Retrospect Virtual Guest Add-on or Retrospect Virtual Socket Add-on, you can protect your virtual environment. Retrospect Virtual Host Server can also be installed within a guest to provide application-level protection for a virtualized application.

Software Component Overview

Backup Server

Retrospect Virtual Console is a web-based centralized management console for managing backup and monitoring restoration.

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All the backup data, except for backups with Run Direct feature enabled, are compressed and encrypted before uploading to the Backup Server, while the restore process would require downloading the compressed and encrypted data onto the client computer for decryption and un-compression.

Backup Client

Retrospect Virtual Host Server lets you protect your virtual environment and specific virtualized applications within it, including:

  • VMware

  • Hyper-V

  • Microsoft Exchange Database

  • Microsoft Exchange Mailbox

  • Microsoft SQL Server

  • Oracle Database

  • Lotus Domino/Notes

  • MySQL

You can choose from the following backup destinations: Local and offsite destinations, e.g. local storage, on-premises backup server or backup server located in datacenter, and common cloud storages (Google, Amazon, Azure, etc.)

All the backup data are compressed and encrypted before uploading to the Backup Server, while the restore process would require downloading the compressed and encrypted data onto the client computer for decryption and un-compression.

Why should I use Retrospect Virtual Management Server to manage my backup users and system?

Monitor System Health and Backup/Restore Status, Anytime Anywhere the Retrospect Virtual Management Server user interface (UI) has been fully enhanced to provide you with a user-friendly and informative view of various kinds of information you need. Highlighted features including:

  • A dashboard to view the system usage and performance

  • Live Activities panel to view real-time status of backup, restore, etc.

  • Panels to view all log files of backup, restore Wide range of backup destination options to offer you with the greatest flexibility of backup destination, Retrospect Virtual Management Server now supports local drive, mapped network drive, FTP / SFTP server, and public cloud object storage as the backup destination for storing the backup data.

Cloud backup gives you two major advantages:

  • *Multi-destination Backup for Extra Protection* – you can now back up your database, files or data to both local drive and cloud destination. While local drive backup gives you the convenience of faster backup and restore as a result of the locally resided infrastructure, you can take a further step to utilize the cloud backup to give you an extra layer of protection in the event of a local drive corruption, where you will still be able to retrieve data from the cloud destination.

  • Eliminate Hardware Investment – with the increasingly affordable cloud storage cost, you can deploy on cloud platform and utilize cloud storage as your centralized data repository, or simply expand your cloud storage as a backup destination without having to invest on hardware.

  • Centralized Management Console for Users

Monitor and Manage Backup without Client Backup Agent our enriched features on the centralized web console offers users a one-stop location for running and configuring backup jobs, monitoring backup and restoring activities, and initiating a Run Direct restore.

Log in to Retrospect Virtual Management Server Server

Log in to Retrospect Virtual Management Server Web Console

  1. Enter the IP address or domain name on a web browser.

  2. Enter the system login name and password. The default login credential are:

    • Login Name: system

    • Password: system

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  3. Click the green Login button to login.

Download Client Backup Agents

You can choose the client software you wish to download as follows.

  1. On the Logon page, click the downward arrow on the top right hand corner.

    front page - download button

  2. Click on the Download button of the platform on which you wish to install the client backup agent.

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Change the Language

You can change the language shown on web console

  1. To change the display language, click on the dropdown box on the top right of the screen to select another display language.

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  2. Click on the desired language from the list.

Invoke Online Help

You can invoke the online help on most of the pages while navigating the Retrospect Virtual Management Server. The online help aims at providing instructions on operation on the corresponding page.

  1. Click on the question mark at the bottom right corner.

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    1. The corresponding online help page shows.

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    2. You can print the online help by clicking the print button at the bottom right corner. To exit, click X.

Managing License

Verify License Connectivity

The Retrospect Virtual Management Server server is required to access the Internet for license activation, daily license checks, and license CAL updates.

A single license key can only be used on one machine once it has been activated. If you use the same license key to activate another installation of Retrospect Virtual Management Server, you will get an error message. You would be able to run this copy of Retrospect Virtual Management Server for another 14 days. After the 14-day grace period has expired, the Retrospect Virtual Management Server service will stop working completely.

Manage License Key

To manage your Retrospect Virtual Management Server backup server license keys, do the following:

  1. Click the License icon under System Settings from your Retrospect Virtual Management Server web Console.

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/download.retrospect.com/site/docs/virtual_management_guide/image26.png

    1. Enter your Licensee Name and License Key on the Backup server license page. Both fields are case sensitive. Please enter them exactly as stated in your software receipt.

      • If you are using the evaluation license, you will be able to evaluate the Retrospect Virtual Management Server for 60 days. Just accept the default Licensee Name and License Key on the page to activate the license.

      • If you have already purchased a license, copy and paste the licensee name and license key into the relevant fields to activate the license.

    2. If a proxy server is required to access the Internet from Retrospect Virtual Management Server, check the Use Proxy checkbox. Refer to the Proxy Tab section for information on how to set up the proxy server.

    3. Press the Test button under Connection Test section to test the connection with the license server. You get a dialog box with the testing result. Click OK.

      https://s3.amazonaws.com/download.retrospect.com/site/docs/virtual_management_guide/image28.png

License Summary and Requirements

The License Details section on the Backup Server license page shows a summary of the quota used and licenses available for each of the modules you have subscribed.

Software

  • Retrospect Virtual Management Server: Per running instance

  • Retrospect Virtual Host Server: Per device to back up

Module

  • VMware Backup Module: Per Guest VM to back up & Per CPU socket

  • Hyper-V Backup Module: Per Guest VM to back up & Per CPU socket

  • MS Exchange Individual Mailbox Backup Module: Per mailbox to back up

License Evaluation Expiry

After the evaluation period expires (60 days after activation), the Retrospect Virtual Management Server service will automatically stop working. Although the service is still active, the Retrospect Virtual Host Server clients will not be able to connect to perform any backups or restores.

System Settings

Basic Backup Server Configuration

To manage your Retrospect Virtual Management Server basic backup server configurations, simply click the Basic icon under System Settings from your Retrospect Virtual Management Server environment.

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You can perform the following basic configurations on your Backup Server:

  • Manage general setup for Retrospect Virtual Management Server

  • Manage email settings and general email reports

  • Define destinations to store backup

  • Manage Administrator accounts

  • Customize languages

There are 5 tabs under basic server configurations, each of which is described below.

General

The following shows the General tab under System Settings > Basic. It is used for general setup of Retrospect Virtual Management Server. There are several groups of settings under the General tab, and they are described below.

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Host

This is the host name of your Retrospect Virtual Management Server. You can enter the domain name of your Retrospect Virtual Management Server in the format:

<www.mybackup.com:port_number>

-OR-

<IP:port number>

IMPORTANT: The host name will be the access link for your users to get access to the Retrospect Virtual Management Server. Since the host name will be used in various locations, such as welcome email, as a reference point for the users to access the Retrospect Virtual Management Server, it is important that you ensure the host name is accessible by users from external network environment.

System Home

This is the system home location of your Retrospect Virtual Management Server. This path is set to your installation home by default.

Listening to non-standard TCP/IP Port

If you like to run your own web server, or some other services using port 80 and 443. On your Retrospect Virtual Management Server server, you can change the listening TCP/IP port of Retrospect Virtual Management Server from port 80 and 443 to some other port numbers such as port 8080 and 8443, you can modify the connector settings from the Retrospect Virtual Management Server Console → System SettingsBasicGeneralConnectors, and modify your new port in the connector settings.

Listening to a single IP address

If the backup server has more than one network interface installed or has more than one IP address bind to a single network interface, you can configure Retrospect Virtual Management Server to use only a single IP address for backup services (by default the TCP port of all IP addresses available within the system are used and open). This has the benefits of sparing other IP addresses for other applications, e.g. Apache Web Server or Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). You can modify the connector setting from the Retrospect Virtual Management Server Console → System SettingsBasicGeneralConnectors, and modify the IP address in the connector settings.

Warning: Do not remove the last HTTPS connector in the Retrospect Virtual Management Server. If you remove the last HTTPS connector, you will not be able to login Retrospect Virtual Management Server again.

Restricting access to system page by IP address

For better security, you can restrict access to the Retrospect Virtual Management Server Console by IP addresses. To do so, please add IP restriction in your Retrospect Virtual Management Server Console → System SettingsAdvancedRuntime OptionsIP Restriction. You can enter a range of IPs or a specific IP in the restrict IP settings.

Installation a trusted SSL certificate

Default installation of Retrospect Virtual Management Server enables SSL (Secure Socket Layer) support using a dummy certificate. For your own security, you are advised to replace the pre-installed dummy SSL certificate with a secure SSL certificate from a trusted CA (Certificate Authority). To replace the non-secure dummy SSL certificate with a secure SSL certificate, you need to generate a CSR (Certificate Signing Request) and submit the CSR to your CA. Please perform the following in your Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

  1. Navigate to System SettingsBasicGeneralSSL certificate, click on the + button as highlighted below.

  2. Enter the CSR details, then click the Next button to proceed.

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  3. Generate a CSR to apply the SSL certificate from your trusted CA.

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  4. You will see a Pending status in the SSL Certificate page.

  5. When the SSL certificate is ready, click into the certificate entry and import the SSL certificate and CA certificate.

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  6. You will be able to see the status of the certificate as Ready and a valid Expiry Date.

  7. To apply the SSL certificate to your connector, click into the HTTPS entry.

  8. Add the SSL certificate to this connector as shown below.

  9. Click the Save button at the bottom right corner to save the settings.

Renew a trusted SSL certificate

When your SSL certificate is due to expire, you can renew your SSL cert via your CA’s website. Your CA may ask you to use the existing CSR that you submitted previously or submit a new CSR.

  • If you decided to use a new CSR, most likely the information on the old CSR is not up-to-date. Most CA will not consider this as a renew process and you need to start from the beginning of a certificate process described in previous section.

  • If you purchase a renew SSL certificate with the existing CSR, wait for your CA to sign the renew SSL certificate.

Note: The renewal process may be different for different CA. You need to follow your CA’s instruction on the renewal process.

The import step of a renewed SSL certificate is similar to the installation of a SSL certificate. Please perform the following in your Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

  1. Enter System SettingsBasicGeneralSSL certificate.

  2. Click into the certificate entry.

  3. Import the SSL certificate and CA certificate.

  4. You will see the date of “Expiry Date” is extended.

Email

The following shows the Email tab under System Settings > Basic. This is used for defining the various email settings that Retrospect Virtual Management Server uses to generate email reports to backup system administrator and backup users.

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There are several groups of settings under the Email tab, and they are listed below.

Multiple SMTP servers can be setup for Retrospect Virtual Management Server. If the first SMTP server is unavailable, the next SMTP server will be used. To avoid your report emails being filtered by the SMTP server or mail client, you need to enter a valid report sender in the email settings.

Note: If you don’t have an SMTP server, you can consider using a free SMTP such as Gmail.

Administrator Contact: This entry defines the administrative contact of Retrospect Virtual Management Server. Retrospect Virtual Management Server will send usage, error and all critical system alerts to all email addresses defined here.

Report Settings: This setting allows the Retrospect Virtual Management Server administrator to define the threshold for email reminder / alert low disk space on Retrospect Virtual Management Server and backup destinations. The default settings are 80% and 90% respectively:

  • Low Disk Space Reminder / Alert Report for Retrospect Virtual Management Server user home and system home drives:

    • Send Low Disk Space Reminder when total used space is over 80%. A Low Disk Space Reminder email is sent to the administrator 15 minutes when the disk usage has exceeded the preset threshold.

    • Send Low Disk Space Alert Report when total used space is over 90%. A Low Disk Space Alert email is sent to the administrator every 15 minutes when the disk usage has exceeded the preset threshold.

  • Low Destination Space Reminder / Alert Report for OneDrive and Google Drive destinations only.

    • Send Low Destination Space Reminder when total destination space is over 80%. A Low Destination Space Reminder email is sent to the administrator at 6:00 AM daily when the destination disk usage has exceeded the preset threshold.

    • Send Low Destination Alert Report when total destination space is over 90%. A Low Destination Alert email is sent to the administrator at 6:00 AM daily when the destination disk usage has exceeded the preset threshold.

Predefined Destinations Tab

The following shows the Predefined Destinations tab under System Settings > Basic. Predefined destination defines a list of local directories, FTP or cloud storages in which the Retrospect Virtual Management Server server, users and sub admin can be used to store backup is stored on cloud destinations.

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You can set predefined destination on the following destination storage:

  • Local / Mapped Drive / Removable Drive

  • Amazon Cloud Drive

  • Amazon S3

  • AWS S3 Compatible Cloud Storage

  • Google Cloud Storage

  • Google Drive

  • Microsoft Azure

  • OneDrive

  • OneDrive for Business

  • Rackspace

  • Open Stack

  • Dropbox

  • FTP

  • SFTP

  • Retrospect Virtual Management Server

Set up predefined destination on cloud storage

Retrospect Virtual Management Server allows setting a backup destination on some common cloud storage, local hard disk and FTP servers. The setup method is similar on different cloud storage. In the following example, we show you how to set up a predefined destination for Google drive. The steps for other destination storages are similar.

  1. Click the green Plus (+) button in the middle of the page to add a predefined destination. The following screen appears:

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  2. Enter the name of the backup destination. In our example, the name is GoogleDrive-1.

  3. Select Single storage destination as the type of predefined destination.

    Note: The option Destination pool is defined from a number of single storage destination.

  4. Select Google Drive from the Destination Storage dropdown box.

  5. If you do not have Google Drive, please click the link Sign up for Google Drive to create a Google account.

  6. Click the green Add (+) button at the bottom right hand corner of the page.

  7. Enter your login credential for Google Drive.

  8. A browser pops up and Google asks for your permission to access the storage. Click Allow.

  9. On the browser, a code is displayed. Copy this code, then switch to Retrospect Virtual Management Server to paste the code.

  10. Paste the code to the Authorization code field on the Add New Predefined Destination page in Retrospect Virtual Management Server. Click the green Add (+) button at the bottom right hand corner of the page.

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  11. You can see the newly created predefined storage GoogleDrive-1 appears under the Predefined Destination page.

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    1. When you create a backup set for a user, you will be able to see the new predefined destination.

For more examples on setting up other cloud storages, refer to Appendix: Setting up Cloud Storage.

Administrative Access Tab

The following shows the Administrative Access tab under System Settings > Basic. You can manage your system user accounts on this page.

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On daily operation, you may need to assign your operators or administrators to work on your Retrospect Virtual Management Server. You may have programmers to write API for your applications with the Retrospect Virtual Management Server. You may also want to hire some resellers so that you can expand your business. You will need to setup different system users with different role/privileges to work on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

Add a new system user
  1. Click the green Plus (+) button in the middle of the page to add a new system user. The following screen appears:

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  2. Enter the Name of the system user.

  3. Enter the Password of the system user. Enter the same password again at the Re-type Password field.

  4. Select the system user type from the Type dropdown Box. There are four types of system users:

    • Admin

      The Admin role has the same privilege as the build-in system account. For example, you can assign this account for your administrator(s) to configure or administer the Retrospect Virtual Management Server for you.

    • Read-only Admin

      The Read-only Admin role shares similar accessibility as its creator with Admin role, except with read permission only.

    • API

      The API role has full access right to the system; it has the same privilege as the build-in system account. This account is created for external application developers who can use this for API login authentication purposes.

    • Sub Admin

      The Sub Admin role has the full access right to the users that was created under this sub admin and has the right to manage the backup and restore jobs or activities similar as the system administrator with less admin options.

    • Table

      The following table provides a summary of the permissions of different system users in Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

      Permission Admin Read-only Admin API Sub Admin

      Read permission

      ✔*

      Write permission

      ✔*

      Login Retrospect Virtual Management Server

      Create new system users

      ✔*

      Profile page

      Backup User Settings page

      ✔**

      Export/Import profile

    • "*" API role has full access to the Retrospect Virtual Management Server which is similar as the Admin role through the API call, except login to the Retrospect Virtual Management Server interface.

    • "**" Sub Admin role has full access to the settings (except the Backup User Settings page) and users under this sub admin user only.

  5. Click the green Add (+) button at the bottom right hand corner of the page. The newly-created system user, System User 1, appears on the page.

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  6. Click the green Save button at the bottom right corner of the page to save the changes.

Sending a broadcast message

If you want to send broadcast message to other Sub Admin or Read-only Admin, do the following:

  1. Select the system users to whom you need to send the broadcast message. In our example, System User 1 is selected.

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  2. Click the Broadcast icon in the middle of the page. The following appears:

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  3. Enter the Subject and Message for the broadcast message.

    • You can select Text or HTML for the message body.

    • If you want to include an attachment, click Choose File and browse to the desired location to select the file you want.

      Click the Send button at the bottom right hand corner of the page to send the broadcast message. Click X to exit.

Managing System User

You can modify the setting of your system user by clicking into the system user’s name. You will see 4 tabs:

Each of these 4 tabs are described in detail below.

  • Profile Tab

    The profile tab is available to all Admin, Read-Only Admin, and Sub Admin users after they login.

    The following screen shows the Profile tab of the user used in our example, System User 1, the type of the user is Admin.

    You can change the Password and Type of the user on this page.

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    For Sub Admin users, the Profile page contains more settings.

    The Sub Admin profile page is different from the Admin profile page in the following 3 ways:

  • Another Sub Admin is possible to be delegated for a Sub Admin user through the interface.

  • A Hostname that is different from the hostname of the system admin needs to be defined for each Sub Admin user. Thus if you have multiple Sub Admin users, you will have multiple hostnames. In our example, the host name of the system admin is 10.23.6.89 while the hostname for the Sub Admin user, Sub Admin User 1, is reseller.mybackup.com.

  • A different connector can be applied for the Sub Admin users.

    Note: The hostname setup for a Sub Admin user is important, as Retrospect Virtual Management Server uses connecting hostname to determine which branding should be applied on the interface.

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    The Sub Admin user has fewer privileges as the full Admin user. In our example, the Sub Admin User 1 account shows a subset of the functions available when the Sub Admin user logs onto Retrospect Virtual Management Server and even within each subset a sub admin user has only access to certain functions:

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    Available functions for Sub Admin users.

    • Monitoring

    • Dashboard

    • Live Activities

    • Administration Logs

    • Basic

    • Users, Groups, & Policies

    • System Settings

  • Backup User Settings Tab

    The Backup User Settings tab is available to admin and sub admin users after they login, although for sub admin user they have read-only access. The administrator can assign the number of Retrospect Virtual Host Server licenses and add-on modules to each sub admin user.

    The following screen shows the Backup User Settings tab of the user used in our example, Sub Admin User 1, the type of the user is *Sub

Languages

The following shows the Languages tab under System Settings > Basic. You can select the language(s) available to your users.

To change the default language settings for the Retrospect Virtual Management Server web console, simply drag your preferred default language to the top of the list.

To select the language you want to make available to your users, simply click check the box next to that language.

Advanced Backup Server Configuration

To manage your Retrospect Virtual Management Server advanced backup server configurations, simply click the Advanced icon under System Settings from your Retrospect Virtual Management Server environment.

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You can perform the following advanced configurations on your Backup Server:

  • Restore data that has been automatically saved to the License Server.

  • Configure settings for proxy connection

  • Publish system and error messages to third party monitoring tools

  • Retrieve system files for troubleshooting

  • Configure run time options such as Java heap size, thread stack, etc.

There are 5 tabs under the Advanced system settings section, each of which is described below.

Proxy

The following shows the Proxy tab under System Settings > Advanced. It is used for defining whether Retrospect Virtual Management Server should use a proxy to gain access to the Internet.

Two types of proxy, HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS 4/5, are supported. You can use the Proxy Host and Port entries to define the location of your proxy server.

If the proxy server you are using requires user authentication, please use the Proxy Username and Proxy Password entries to set the username/password for your proxy server.

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If you need to exclude some hostnames and IP address for proxy connection, you can add those excluded hostname and IP address at the bottom of the page.

Note: Please make sure there are no traffic restrictions on the proxy server, which could affect backup/restore performance.

Logging

The following shows the Logging tab under System Settings > Advanced. There are two types of third party monitoring support, SNMP and Windows Event Log.

  • SNMP

    For the SNMP, you can download the MIB definition file and import to your SNMP application by clicking the Download button under Download MIB Files.

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  • Windows Event Log

    This feature is supported for Retrospect Virtual Management Server installations on Microsoft Windows platforms where the Windows Event Log service enabled. All Retrospect Virtual Management Server system log information such as errors, warnings, and information message types will also be written to the Windows event logs. The event log name is limited to eight characters.

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    The backup server’s administrator can view the logs entries using the Windows event viewer.

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File Explorer

The following shows the File Explorer tab under System Settings > Advanced. If administrator or support staff needs to retrieve system related files on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server server for troubleshooting, they can make use of the File Explorer feature to download log or configuration files from the server without having to login remotely using RDP or SSH.

The File Explorer feature is limited to access files/folder related to Retrospect Virtual Management Server:

  • Retrospect Virtual Management Server Application Home.

  • Retrospect Virtual Management Server System Home.

  • Retrospect Virtual Management Server User Home(s).

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All files download via the Retrospect Virtual Management Server File Explorer tab are compressed by default.

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Runtime Options Tab

The following shows the Runtime Options tab under System Settings > Advanced. It allows administrators to modify Java options such as Java heap size (maximum and minimum), thread stack size and IP allowed to access the Retrospect Virtual Management Server Console.

By default the maximum Java heap size is 1024MB and there are no restrictions on IP address access to Retrospect Virtual Management Server web console.

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Important: When editing the maximum heap size for Retrospect Virtual Management Server, ensure that there is sufficient memory reserved for the operating system. It is not recommended to set excessively high values for the maximum Java heap size, as this could result in Retrospect Virtual Management Server performance issues during internal Java VM garbage collection or memory recycling routines. For changes in Java heap size setting the Retrospect Virtual Management Server service needs to be restarted before it becomes effective.

Managing Backup/Restore

Backup / Restore Basic Configuration

To manage your Retrospect Virtual Management Server backup/restore basic configurations, simply click the Basic icon under Backup / Restore from your Retrospect Virtual Management Server environment.
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You can perform the following configurations for Backup/Restore:

  • Configure user home directories.

  • Configure free trial settings.

  • Configure backup data migration settings.

  • Define maximum number of concurrent VMs permitted to be started using Run Direct on Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

There are four tabs under basic backup/restore configurations, each of which is described below.

User Home

The following shows the User Home tab under Backup / Restore > Basic. It is used for configuring the user home directories for storing all the user data.

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If you click on the user home directory, the following appears:

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Enter the Home Directory path and check the box next to Password protected network drive if your user home drive is on a network drive.

QPS Ratio (Quota - Partition Size Ratio) is the ratio (in percentage) of the sum of all user quotas within a user home divided by the total size of the partition of the user home. You can see the Current QPS Ratio displayed in the form of a percentage. You can select the Maximum QPS Ratio from the dropdown list.

If the QPS ratio of a user home exceeds the Maximum QPS ratio after adding a user, the user will be added to the next available user home. Unlimited means that the QPS ratio is not checked and new users can be added to that user home. Not Used means that new users are never added to that user home.

After you have entered the desired information, click the Check (✔) at the bottom right hand corner of the page to exit the Home Directory details page. Then click the green Save button at the user home page to save your changes.

Free Trial Options

The following shows the Free Trial Options tab under Backup / Restore > Basic. It defines various free trial settings available in Retrospect Virtual Management Server:

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Trial users do not count towards the maximum number of users allowed within Retrospect Virtual Management Server under the paid software license, therefore it is possible to have an unlimited number of trial users within Retrospect Virtual Management Server. However, each trial user is limited to a maximum backup quota of 100GB for a period of 90 days. After expiration of the trial period, the backup quota will reset to a maximum of 500MB automatically.

To allow users to create a trial backup account from Retrospect Virtual Host Server, please enable the Enable Free Trial Registration option at the top of the page. If this feature is unchecked, the option to register for a trial account will not be available to end users.

The Backup Quota defines the maximum backup quota of trial backup accounts upon registration.

The Add-on Modules option defines whether you want to allow trial users to have different add-on modules.

The User will be suspended after <xx> days option defines the number of days after which the trial users will be suspended. In our example, the period is 30 days.

The Remove User <xx> days after registration option defines whether you want to remove trial backup users for certain number of days after registration. For example, you can use this option to tell Retrospect Virtual Management Server to remove trial backup users from the system automatically after backup users have registered for 60 days.

Run Direct

The following shows the Run Direct tab under Backup / Restore > Basic. It defines the maximum number of virtual machines started by Run Direct on Retrospect Virtual Management Server. Simply enter the number of virtual machine and click the green Save button to save your changes.

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Manage Backup Users

To manage your Retrospect Virtual Management Server users, groups, and policies, simply click the Users, Groups & Policies icon under Backup / Restore from your Retrospect Virtual Management Server environment.

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There are 4 tabs under managing users, groups, and policies, each of which is described below.

Backup User Tab

A backup account contains user’s account information, client type, backup modules and backup set settings, etc. A backup user account can be created by administrator or registered via the backup client application by the end user as a trial account (if this option is enabled).

The following screen shows the Backup User tab under Backup / Restore > Users, Groups & Policies. You can create a new user account on this tab.

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If Retrospect Virtual Management Server is deployed for internal use, as a system administrator, you need to determine the following when you create a backup account:

  • Backup client type, whether it is Retrospect Virtual Host Server

  • Backup destination

If you are a Managed Service Provider (MSP) or reseller you may require to take into consideration the following items when you create a backup user account:

  • Types of users, whether it is Paid or Trial

  • Backup client type, whether it is Retrospect Virtual Host Server. Also the modules subscribed by the client.

  • The backup destination and the subscribed quota

Create a New Backup User

To create a new backup user, do the following:

  1. Click the Create (+) button as highlighted below.

    Manage Bcakup Set

  2. The Add New User page appears.

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  3. Enter the Login Name, Password, and select the User Group by checking the desired user group. Click the Right Arrow () at the bottom of the page to proceed.

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  4. Enter the following information that appears on this page.

    • Alias: Another name of the backup user.

    • Home Directory: You can select Auto assigned or Manually assigned user home path. The user backup data will be stored here.

    • Subscription Type: There are 2 subscription types: Trial User and Paid User. Trial users can only have a maximum backup quota of 100GB within the trial period. Trial users are subject to automatic removal as defined by the l*Free Trial Options* tab under Backup / Restore > Basic. The automatic removal option can be disabled.

    • Suspend At: A scheduled date to suspend this user. For trial users, the suspension date is based on the settings in the Free Trial Options tab under Backup / Restore > Basic.

    • Status: There are 3 types of status for a user account: Enabled, Suspended, and Locked. Under normal circumstances, administrator may change the Enable or Suspended status of a user. The Locked status is referring to account lockout rules that are set inside the policy group, refer to the Managing Policy Groups section for more details. For example, if a user has 3 consecutive unsuccessful login attempts in 30 minutes, the user account will be locked out.

    • Upload Encryption Key: Once you enabled the encryption recovery option, the encryption key file is uploaded to the backup server. In case the user forgot the encryption key, you can still contact us to have it recovered. The recovered encryption key will be sent directly to the email address registered on the user account. Refer to the Encryption key section for further details.

    • Language: Preferred language for all email reports of the backup user.

    • Timezone: Time zone of the backup user.

    • Notes: A field for administrators to add notes for the backup user.

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      Click the Right Arrow () at the bottom of the page to proceed when you are done with the settings.

  5. Enter the following information that appears on this page.

    • Add-on Modules: You can select which add-on module to enable for the backup user. Some add-on modules has a text field after its name. For example, the number after Microsoft Exchange Mailbox defines the number of Exchange mailboxes that are allowed to be backed up under this user account.

    • Quota: Backup Quota of the account. Refer to the User Settings Tab section for details.

    • Client host limit: This is to limit the maximum number of hosts allowed in a client’s backup account, i.e. the number of devices that they can install Retrospect Virtual Host Server on. Refer to the User Settings Tab section for details.

    • Run Direct: Set the maximum number of VMs for VM Run Direct restore on Retrospect Virtual Management Server for this user. Refer to the Run Direct section for details.

      Click the Right Arrow () at the bottom of the page to proceed when you are done with the settings.

  6. This page allows you to add contact person information for this user. Click the + button to add new contact information.

  7. Enter the contact information such as Name, Email, Address, etc. In our example, the name of the contact is john.

    Click the + icon at the bottom right hand corner of the page to proceed when you are done with the settings.

  8. A new contact called is added.

  9. Click the + icon at the bottom right corner of the page to confirm. The newly added user appears on the Backup User tab as shown below.

  10. Click the green Save button at the bottom right corner of the page to confirm.

Managing Backup Users

After you have created a backup user in previous section, you can perform the following operation for your users such as:

  • Customize backup users profile settings

  • Customize subscribed modules

  • Create backup sets

  • View backup/restore reports

  • View usage statistics

  • Manage the policies applied to a user

  • Update client software via the auto update agent

  • Send broadcast message to users

  • Export usage to a CSV file

  • Export users

  • Rebuild storage statistic

Accessing the Backup User

Click the login name of the backup user account you want to manage from the Backup User tab.

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The backup user account opens. You will see 6 tabs (User Profile, Backup Set, Settings, Report, Statistics, Effective Policy), each of which is described in detail below.

User Profile

The User Profile tab contains user backup account settings information, subscribed modules, backup quota, subscription type, contact information and user group information. It is located under Users, Groups & Policies > Backup User. It is sub divided into four tabs, as described below.

General Tab

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  • New Password - Change or reset the password for this user, in case if they forgot the current password.

  • Alias – Update the alias for this user.

  • Subscription Type – Change the type from Trial User to a Paid User, for example after a user subscribes to backup service after a trial.

  • Suspend At – Scheduled date to suspend this user’s account.

  • Status – Suspend or enable locked accounts

  • Upload Encryption Key – Enable or disable the “Upload Encryption Key” feature.

  • Language - Preferred language for all email reports of the backup user.

  • Timezone – Update the time zone of the backup user.

  • Notes – Add or update notes about this user.

Backup Client Settings Tab

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  • Add-on Modules – Below is a short summary of the add-on modules available for both Retrospect Virtual Host Server

    • Microsoft Exchange Server: Backup and restore of Microsoft Exchange Server.

    • Microsoft SQL Server: Backup and restore of Microsoft SQL Server.

    • MySQL Database Server: Backup and restore of MySQL Database Server.

    • Oracle Database Server: Backup and restore of Oracle Database Server on Windows platforms.

    • Lotus Domino: Backup and restore of Lotus Domino.

    • Lotus Notes: Backup and restore of Lotus Notes.

    • VMware: Backup and restore of VMware guest VMs.

    • Hyper-V: Backup and restore of Hyper-V guest VMs.

    • Microsoft Exchange Mailbox: Backup and restore of Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes.

    • In-File Delta: When enabled only the changes since the last backup job is backed up.

  • Quota - backup quota reserved on the Backup Server. The backup quota of a VMware VDDK backup set should be set to a value that is higher than the provision size. Even if the backup only upload the actual usage, if the quota is smaller than the provision size, the backup would fail with quota exceed.

  • Per Destination – It refers to the backup storage quota on each cloud backup destination defined by the administrator. If no backup quota is assigned for that destination, the general quota will be used.

  • Client Host Limit - Set the maximum number of host machine or devices the backup user can install Retrospect Virtual Host Server on.

  • Run Direct – Set the maximum number of VMs for VM Run Direct restore on Retrospect Virtual Management Server for this user.

Contact Tab

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You can configure the client contact here for them to receive backup reports.

User Group Tab

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You can assign the user to an existing/assigned user group. When you drag the user group with the side button, it will affect the sequence of the policy rules that will apply to the user.

Backup Set

This menu is used to create backup set for this user account. In some cases, you may need to create backup sets first before you install a backup client on the client machine, or it may be an alternative for administrator to create/modify a backup set for Linux users with no graphical interface, or there may be access restrictions for administrator to access the backup machine again after the backup client installed.

The following shows the Backup Set tab under Users, Groups & Policies > Backup User.

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Accessing the Backup Set

Click the backup set name of the user account you want to manage from the Backup Set tab. It is sub divided into the following tabs:

  • General

  • Source

  • Backup Schedule

  • Continuous Backup

  • Destination

  • In-File Delta

  • Retention Policy

  • Command Line Tool

  • Reminder

  • Bandwidth Control

  • IP Allowed for Restore

  • Others

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Settings

The Settings tab allows user to backup client to log the backup events to the Windows event log. This feature is supported on Retrospect Virtual Host Server clients installed on Windows platform only.

Windows event log

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  • Log type – There are 3 log types: Error, Warning and Info. Select any of the 3 log types, they will be logged in the Windows event log.

  • Log option - Select the desired log option to be captured in the Windows event log. Currently there are 8 different log options: Profile, Backup, Restore, Service (CDP & Scheduler), Software Update, Report, Utilities, Login/Logout.

The backup/restore events are logged in the Windows event log and can be view from the Windows Event Viewer.

Report

The Report tab allows you to check the backup report and restore report for the backup user.

Click the Download report button at the bottom of the Backup Report page to download the complete report in PDF format. The report contains the following information in details.

  • Backup Job Summary

  • Backup Set Settings

  • Backup Logs

  • Backup Files

Statistics

The Statistics tab allows you to generate a graph of storage statistics for the user by modifying a few factors such as the backup destination, backup set and the period of the backup. The statistics shows the storage capacity of different backup sets on different dates.

  • Usage: The following options are configurable for generating statistics in your desirable view.

  • Selection a destination – select the backup destination of your choice

  • Select a backup set – you can choose a specific backup set or all backup sets

  • Period – select the period of time during which backups were performed

Effective Policy

The Effective Policy tab allows you to manage different policies. You must add your Retrospect Virtual Management Server user account to the policy group you want before you can see the effective policy for your user account. The Effective Policy tab is located under Users, Groups & Policies > Backup User. It is subdivided into 7 tabs, each of which is described below.

  • User Settings Tab: You can see the effective policy on user settings for this user on the User Settings tab.

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  • Backup Set Settings Tab: You can see the effective policy on backup set settings for this user on the Backup Set Settings tab.

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  • GUI Settings Tab: You can see the effective policy on Retrospect Virtual Host Server GUI settings for this user on the GUI Settings tab.

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  • Default Values Tab: You can see the effective policy on default values for this user on the Default Values tab.

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  • Preempted Values Tab: You can see the effective policy on preempted values for this user on the Preempted Values tab.

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  • Preempted Backup Sets Tab: You can see the effective policy on preempted backup sets for this user on the Preempted Backup Sets tab.

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Delete Backup User

To delete an existing user, select the user you want to delete, then click the Delete button as shown below. You will be prompted to confirm deleting the selected user, click OK to confirm.

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Warning: When you remove a backup user account, all the backup sets and backup data, as well as the backup user profile on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server will be removed.

Auto Update

The Auto Update operation relies on Auto Update function on the Retrospect Virtual Host Server. No new updates will be delivered to the backup machine if the backup machine is stopped, or the backup service on the backup machine is stopped.

For every 720 minutes or whenever the backup client service restarts, Retrospect Virtual Host Server will check with your Retrospect Virtual Management Server for any available updates. If any auto update instructions were found on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server, the update progress will be started.

To perform an auto update, select the desired user then click Auto Update as shown below.

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Broadcast

After you selected a list of users for broadcast, you will be able to send broadcast message to the selected users. This is useful when you need to send announcement such as server maintenance, applied latest patch or some promotion offers to your users.

To broadcast a message to users, select the desired users then click the Broadcast button as shown below. Edit the broadcast message then click the Send button at the bottom right corner to send the message.

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Backup User

You can select user(s) and trigger their backup machines to run the backup set(s). Select the desired backup user then click the Backup User button as shown below. Select the backup set you would like to start a backup on, then click the Run Backup button at the bottom right corner to trigger a backup.

The backup will start shortly and you can monitor the progress using the Live Activities feature. Refer to Backup Status for further details.

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Export Users’ Usage Statistics to CSV File

You can export the usage of your selected user(s) to a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file. This format can be imported into spreadsheets or other program/database for further analysis or billing purpose.

To export usage of users to CSV, select the desired user then click the Export Users’ Usage Statistics to CSV button as shown below. You will see a .csv file being downloaded.

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Export Users

This function handles export users to a file, import users from a file, and export user’s home directory to another user home.

You may use this function to migrate a user from an Retrospect Virtual Management Server to another Retrospect Virtual Management Server, migrate a user from the user home to another user home on the same machine. This function is limited to system user with admin role.

Select the desired user then click the Export Users button as shown below.

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The following screen appears:

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  • Move user home to – Export user from a user home to another user home.

  • Import users to – Import a previous exported user zip file into the user home.

  • Export users to file – Export user profile and backup files to a zip file format.

Note: Please schedule a time with your users when you need to migrate their user home to another user home/Retrospect Virtual Management Server. It is better to suspend the user, stop any running backup, and close the client interface before you perform the user export.

Since the move of a user from a user home to another user home would export the whole user profile and the backup data from a user to another user home. When moving a user account with large backup sets, it is expected to wait for a long period of time. So, it is suggested to perform 1 user export at a time, and during the export, please do not restart service or server. In case of power failure or server shutdown, the move user’s process would become fail.

Example: Case 1

Migrate users from one user home in D: drive to another user home in F: drive within the same Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

Assumptions:

  • The selected users in the user homes have small amount of backup files.

  • These users are located in D:\u001 . F:\u001 is the destination user home.

Steps:

  1. Login to the Retrospect Virtual Management Server by going to Backup/Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

  2. Select the user(s) that you need to migrate.

  3. Click the Export Users button.

  4. Make sure the radio button of Move user home to is turned on and select the dropdown box next to it. Choose the F:\u001.

  5. Click the Check (✔) button to proceed.

Example: Case 2

Export a user (including data) from one Retrospect Virtual Management Server and import to another Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

Suggestions:

  • Perform 1 user at a time.

  • Suspend this user before the export.

Assumptions:

  • The user that needs to be export is located in Retrospect Virtual Management Server1, while the destination backup server is Retrospect Virtual Management Server2.

  • When import the user into Retrospect Virtual Management Server2, make sure the username does not exist in any user home(s) in Retrospect Virtual Management Server2.

Steps:

  1. Login to the Retrospect Virtual Management Server1 by going to Backup/Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

  2. Select the user that you need to export.

  3. Click the Export Users button.

  4. Click on the Export users to file radio button and click on the Included backup files check box.

  5. Click on the OK button to proceed. The system will prompt you to save the file (users.zip) in your local machine. You need to have enough disk space to save the zip file. If the user account has large backup sets, it is expected to wait for a long period of time.

  6. Login to the Retrospect Virtual Management Server2 by going to Backup/Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

  7. Click the Export Users button.

  8. Click on the Import users to radio button and select the destination user home on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server2.

  9. Click on the Browse button under the Import users to radio button. Select your previous exported zip file (users.zip). If the overwrite option is selected, the user account on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server2 which has the same user name in the users.zip will be overwritten.

  10. Check the newly imported user in the Backup User page.

Manage User Groups

User Group is used in conjunction with Group Policies (see the next chapter Manage Policy Groups for details) for governing the behavior of client backup agent and the Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

The following shows the User Group tab under Backup / Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

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The default user group

By default, the user group named All Users has been created. All backup users will be put under the All Users user group by default after the user account has been created. When you click on one of the user groups, you will be able to see the followings:

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  • General Information – It shows the information of the user group, ownership, etc.

  • Assigned User – A list of users assigned to the group.

  • Assigned Policy – It shows a list of assigned polices to the user group. As the order of the policy would affect the actual applied to the user group, i.e. the policy on the top would probably overwrite the policy at the bottom of the list. If you want to arrange the order of the policies, you can simply drag the policy up and down.

For the All Users user group, it has a predefined policy called Default settings.

To add backup user to a user group

Backup user cannot be added to a user group in this menu. To do so, you can either:

Add a user to a user group when you first create the user account, refer to Create a New Backup User for further instructions.

-OR-

You can add user a to a user group after the account has been created, refer to User Profile for further instructions.

To add a new policy group to a user group

Follow the steps below to either add an additional policy group to the default user group (All Users) OR add a policy group to a newly created user group.

  1. Click the user group which you wish to add a policy group to.

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  2. Click the image button under the Assigned Policy section.

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  3. You will see a list of policy groups available for selection.

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  4. Select the desired policy group to add, then click the image button, and image button then the image button at the bottom of the page to confirm.

Manage Policy Groups

Policy Group is designed to simplify administration and to reduce the effort required for managing groups of backup users, e.g. security settings and backup set settings. It allows administrator to tailor features and services for different user groups. On a fresh Retrospect Virtual Management Server installation, there is a Default settings policy group and it is assigned to the All users user group.

The following shows the Policy Group tab under Backup / Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

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Warning: As all the default settings are stored inside this policy group, if you change the settings in this policy group, it would affect all users in your Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

In case you need to work on the policy settings for a group of user base on the default policy group settings, you can consider the followings:

  • Duplicate the Default settings policy group. Refer to the steps in To duplicate a policy group for details.

  • Create a user group for your selected users and apply the duplicated policy group to this new user group. Refer to the steps in To create a new policy group for details.

To create a new policy group

Follow the steps below to create a new policy group.

  1. Click the image button under the Manage Policy Group section.

    Create a new policy group

  2. Enter a name for the policy group.

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  3. Click the image button and then the image button at the bottom of the page to confirm.

  4. Go back to the Policy Group tab under Backup / Restore > Users, Groups & Policies, and you should be able to see the policy group name you have just created.

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  5. Click on the policy group for configuration. The configuration items are subdivided into 8 sections, each of which is described in the To configure a policy group section below.

To modify a policy group

After a policy group has been created, you can modify its settings by following the steps below.

  1. Navigate to the Policy Group tab under Backup / Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

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  2. Click on the policy group you wish to modify, then follow the steps in the To configure a policy group section below for further instructions on modifying the configurations.

To delete a policy group

Follow the steps below to delete a policy group.

  1. Navigate to the Policy Group tab under Backup / Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

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  2. Mark the checkbox of the policy group you wish to delete, then click on the image button as highlighted in the screen shot below.

    Delete a new policy group

  3. Click the image button at the bottom of the page to confirm.

To duplicate a policy group

Follow the steps below to duplicate an existing policy group. This is useful when you wish to apply the same configurations from a policy group to a group of users.

  1. Navigate to the Policy Group tab under Backup / Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

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  2. Mark the checkbox of the policy group you wish to duplicate, then click on the image button as highlighted in the screen shot below.

    Duplicate a new policy group

  3. You will immediately see the policy group is being duplicated, with the suffix “Clone at YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS” in the duplicated group policy’s name.

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  4. If you need to configure the duplicated policy group, follow the steps in the To configure a policy group section below for details.

To configure a policy group

This is the general settings of the policy group page, and the user group is a list of user group which is a list of user groups which has applied this policy.

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  • Name – the name of the policy group. The name is configurable.

  • Type – predefined as Backup User

  • User Group – displays the user group(s) with this policy group applied.

If you have changed the policy group name, click the image button then the image button at the bottom of the page to confirm.

To add backup user to a policy group

Backup users cannot be added to a policy group directly in this setting menu. To do so, you have to:

  1. Add the user to a user group first by following the steps in either case below:

    • Add a user to a user group when you first create the user account, refer to Create a New Backup User for further instructions.

    • You can add user a to a user group after the account has been created, refer to User Profile for further instructions.

  2. Assign the desired policy group to the user group by following the steps in To add a new policy group to a user group.

User Settings

This section allows you to manage user settings such as Quota, Invalid Login Attempt Limit, Password, Email Reports, Encryption Key, Client Host limit, Run Direct VM Limit and Advertisement.

Quota

Administrators can set a group storage quota to a user group.

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The following items can be set:

  • Quota limits calculation method - this defines if the quota limit is calculated by Compressed Size or Uncompressed Size.

  • Share quota among assigned users – when this feature is enabled, the set storage quota will be shared by all users within the user group and you can configure the following two settings.

  • Share storage quota – this defines the storage quota allowed for the user group.

  • Maximum percentage of shared size for each user - defines the maximum percentage of shared storage allowed for each user. For example, setting 50% means all users in the user group can occupy up to 50% of the assigned storage quota. If 100GB is the assigned storage, each user can store up to 50GB of the assigned storage quota. If the value is set to 100%, all users can fully utilize the storage until the assigned storage quota is full.

Important: The shared storage quota is allocated to users on a first-come-first-serve basis. If the shared storage quota remains unchanged when the number of backup user grows or there is a change on the maximum percentage of shared size for each user, it may cause issue like the one mentioned below.

Example

Settings: The shared storage quota is 100GB shared by 2 users with a maximum percentage of 50% of each user. In other words, each user is entitled to a maximum of 50GB of storage.

Current usage: Now, one of the users has used up 45GB of capacity

New setting: The maximum percentage of shared size for each user has adjusted to 30%.

Impact: In that case, that backup user has exceeded the new maximum percentage allowed for each user, which is 30GB. The backed up data will remain on the backup destination but that user will no longer be allowed to perform any new backup.

Best Practice: System administrator should consider upgrading the shared storage quota as the number of backup users in the user group grows or there is a change on the maximum percentage of shared size for each user

Invalid Login Attempt Limit

This setting allows administrator to apply conditions for the number of invalid login attempt allowed to the user group. The following conditions can be set after you turned on the image switch on the right.

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  • Maximum number of invalid login attempts allowed within specified period – this defines the maximum number of attempt allowed for invalid login within the set period time. The backup user account will be blocked after the set number of invalid login attempts have been reached.

  • Specified period (minutes) – this defines the period of time during which the set maximum number of invalid login attempt is allowed before the invalid login counter resets.

  • Blocking period for IP address and user that exceed the maximum allowed invalid login attempts – this defines the period of time during when the IP address and user that has exceeded the invalid login attempts will be blocked from logging in again.

Example:

If the following settings are applied:

  • Maximum number of invalid login attempts allowed - 3

  • Specific period – 5 minutes

  • Blocking period for IP address and user that exceed the maximum allowed invalid login attempts – 10 minutes

That means backup user can only enter a maximum of 3 times of invalid login within 5 minutes since the first attempt. If invalid login is made for the 4th time within that 5 minutes duration, the user account will be blocked for 10 minutes.

Password

This setting allows administrator to set up the password policy. The following items can be set after you turned on the image switch on the right.

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  • Password Age – defines the period of time when the login password of a backup user account expires. When the set period of time is reached, backup users will have to change their passwords before they can continue using the Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

  • Enforce password history (30 passwords remembered) – when this feature is enabled, the last 30 login passwords of each user are recorded and cannot be used again when users are changing a new password.

  • Complexity Requirements – you can customize the complexity requirements for the password to provide better protection for the users. Under the Default option, the selected item(s) will be the mandatory element(s) when backup users create their passwords.

Email Reports

This menu allows administrator to select what email reports to be sent to the users of a user group. Turn on the image switch on the right then select the desired email report(s) to send. By default, no email report is selected after you turned on this feature.

The table below lists out all types of email reports, together with explanation on what the email report is about, when it will be sent, what action backup user should take, and sample screen shot of the email and report. You can also add email recipients in the Bcc reports to email section so that the email reports will be sent to them as well.

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Backup Report

  • What is this email about: A full backup report in PDF format, showing the Backup Job Summary (backup size, backup source and destination, etc.), Backup Logs, Backup Set Settings, Backup Files, etc.)

  • When will you receive it: Backup Report is generated and sent to backup user every 15 mins (every :00, :15, :30 and :45 of an hour)

Depending on the backup size and backup finish time, the actual report sending time may be longer than 15 mins.

Restore Report

  • What is this email about: A full report in PDF format, showing the Restore Job Summary, Restore Logs and Restore Files

  • When will you receive it: Restore Report is generated and sent to backup user every 15 mins (every :00, :15, :30 and :45 of an hour)

Depending on the restore size and restore finish time, the actual report sending time may be longer than 15 mins.

Missed scheduled backup reminder

  • What is this email about: A reminder to alert the backup user about a scheduled backup failure.

  • When will you receive it: Any backups that are failed to start 6 hours after the scheduled backup time will be considered as missed schedule backup.

The report is generated and sent to backup users at the next :00 after it’s classified as missed scheduled backup (6 hours after backup failure)

Common causes for missed scheduled backups:

Server Side Issues

  • The Retrospect Virtual Management Server service is unresponsive

    • License error

    • Out of Java memory / threads

    • Out of space on Retrospect Virtual Management Server user home drive

    • Retrospect Virtual Management Server service is not started

    • Retrospect Virtual Management Server server is powered down

    • SSL certificate expired

  • The time zone on the Retrospect Virtual Host Server account user profile on Retrospect Virtual Management Server is set incorrectly. This will cause the scheduled backup time to run either later or earlier than the actual scheduled time but will trigger a missed backup notification.

  • There is no backup schedule configured for the affected backup set(s) or the schedule date and/or time is incorrect.

Client Side Issues

  • The Retrospect Virtual Host Server client machine was switched off, hanged or running in power saving mode.

  • The date/time, time zone, or locale on Retrospect Virtual Host Server client machine is set incorrectly.

  • A backup set and backup schedule was created on Retrospect Virtual Management Server but Retrospect Virtual Host Server client was not installed on the client machine or was uninstalled.

  • If the Retrospect Virtual Host Server runs on Windows machine, ensure the login credentials in the Windows User Authentication is correct or is kept updated.

User settings changed alert

  • What is this email about: A summary report showing the user settings that have been changed in details, with the old values and new values of the changed settings shown

  • When will you receive it: User Settings Changed Alert Report is generated and sent to backup user every 15 mins (every :00, :15, :30 and :45 of an hour)

Active Directory authentication failure report

  • What is this email about: A reminder to alert the backup user about a backup failure due to the incorrect Active Directory authentication.

  • When will you receive it: Shortly after the active directory authentication failure occurred

Backup Quota Reminder / Alert

  • What is this email about: A reminder to alert backup users about the backup quota has exceeded the set percentage. User can configure the percentage where the reminder/alert email is triggered when it is reached. By default, this percentage is preset as 80% when this feature is enabled.

  • When will you receive it: The backup quota reminder / alert email is generated and sent to backup user at 6:00am daily.

Trial User Reminder / Alert

  • What is this email about: A reminder to alert trial backup users their account is about to expire in the set number of days. Be default, the preset value of this setting is 7 when this feature is enabled.

  • When will you receive it: The trial user reminder / alert email is generated and sent to backup user at 6:00am daily.

Daily User Report

This appears as: "Email me consolidated email report only at this time daily)".

  • What is this email about: A consolidated report in PDF format, showing the following categories of information:

    • PROBLEMS – errors for System / Backup / Restore

    • ISSUES – potential issues that may cause problems on System/Security, Users or Backup Sets

    • ACTIVITIES – all Backup Jobs / Restore Jobs / Setting Changes performed

    • STATISTICS – statistics on User Account / Data Transfer / Disk Storage Usage

  • When will you receive it: The daily user report is generated and sent to backup user at the time defined by the system administrator in this menu

Inactive Backup Report

This appears as: "Email me inactive backup report when my backup set hasn’t run for this number of days)".

  • What is this email about: A report showing all backup sets under this backup user account that have not been run in the set number of day.

  • When will you receive it: Inactive Backup Report is generated and sent to backup user every 15 mins (every :00, :15, :30 and :45 of an hour)

Bcc reports to email

You can add email recipients in this section so that they will receive a blind carbon copy (bcc) of the email reports as well.

  1. Click the image button under the Bcc reports to email section.

    image

  2. Enter the name of the recipient, email address and other details if necessary.

    image

    • If you wish to encrypt the email, mark the Encrypt Email checkbox. You will be re-directed to another page to upload the Digital Certificate. Click the Choose File button to upload the digital certificate, then click the tick button at the bottom of the page to confirm.

      image

  3. Click the green + button at the bottom of the page when you are done with the settings.

  4. Click the tick OK button, then the green Save button at the bottom of the page to confirm the setting.

Encryption Key

Once you enabled the encryption recovery option. The encryption key file will be uploaded to the Backup Server. In case user has forgotten the encryption key, you can still contact us to recover the key.

Turn on the image switch on the right and then make sure the check box Uploaded encryption key after running backup for recovery is checked for this feature to work.

User settting - encryption key

Client Host Limit

The administrator is able to set the maximum number of host machine for a backup users account.

Turn on the image switch on the right and then enter the Maximum number of host as shown below.

User settting - client host limit

Run Direct VM Limit

Since version 7.9, administrator is able to set the maximum number of VM for Run Direct restore.

Turn on the image switch on the right and then enter the Run Direct VM Limit as shown below.

User settting - Run Direct VM Limit

Backup Set Settings

This section allows administrator to set up backup exclusion and backup destination visible to users. It has 3 sub-sections.

Destinations Visible to Users

There are two kinds of destinations backup users can choose from when creating a backup set, they are the Predefined Destination and Standard Destination. Only the destinations selected in this menu will be available for backup users to choose from when they are creating a backup set. This feature is disabled by default.

Below is a brief explanation on the differences between the Predefined Destination and Standard Destination.

Predefined Destination vs Standard Destination

  • Predefined Destination - the storage, belongs to the backup service provider, Retrospect Virtual Management Server will use for storing users’ backup data. The predefined destination can be a single storage destination on the local drive where Retrospect Virtual Management Server is installed, mapped drive, cloud storage or FTP server, or a destination pool with a mix of storage options mentioned above. Either case, it is the storage provided by the backup service provider. Before you can select a predefined destination in this menu, it must first be configured under the System Settings > Backup > Predefined Destinations. Refer to Predefined Destinations Tab for details on configuration.

  • Standard Destination – except for the Retrospect Virtual Management Server storage option, all other storage options under the Standard Destination belong to the backup users, whether it could be a single storage destination on the mapped drive, cloud storage or FTP server, or a destination pool with a mix of storage options mentioned above. Unlike predefined destination, standard destination storage belongs to the backup users themselves and therefore they can alter the storage options, combinations and storage size anytime they want.

To configure the Predefined Destination

  1. Turn on the image switch on the right under the Destinations Visible to Users section.

  2. Click on the image button under the Predefined Destination section.

    image

  3. Select the desired destination option, which has been defined in the System Settings > Backup > Predefined Destinations menu, by checking the box on the desired destination item.

    image

  4. Click the image button to confirm adding the predefined destination.

  5. If you have multiple predefined destinations to add, repeat steps 3 -4 until all desired destinations have been selected.

  6. Click the image and image buttons at the bottom of the page to confirm.

To configure the Standard Destination

  1. Turn on the image switch on the right under the Destinations Visible to Users section.

  2. Click on the image button under the Standard Destination section.

    image

  3. Select the desired storage option from the drop-down menu as shown below.

  4. Click the image button to add the selected standard destination storage.

  5. If you have multiple destination storages to add, repeat steps 3 – 4 until all desired storages have been selected.

  6. Click the image and image buttons at the bottom of the page to confirm.

  7. You will see the newly added destination shown on the list as shown.

Backup Set Types Visible to Users

The Retrospect Virtual Management Server supports a wide range of backup set types for backup and restore. This menu allows the administrator to select the backup set types to be displayed for backup users to choose from when they are creating a backup set on Retrospect Virtual Management Server or Retrospect Virtual Host Server. This feature is disabled by default.

  1. Turn on the image switch on the right under the Backup Set Types Visible to Users section.

  2. Click on the image button.

    image

  3. Select the Backup Set Type you wish to add from the drop-down menu as shown below.

  4. Click the image button to add the selected backup set type.

  5. If you have multiple backup set types to add, repeat steps 3 - 4 until all options have been selected.

  6. Click the image and image buttons at the bottom of the page to confirm.

Default Values

This section allows administrator to define the default values for numerous setting items. The default values set under this setting menu will be applied to the backup sets directly. However, users can still override the default values during new backup set creation. As opposed to Preempted Values, which will be introduced later in this chapter, is a set of predefined values by the system administrator where backup users have no right to override the settings.

All setting items under the Default Values tab are disabled by default. Click the image switch on the right of each setting item and then follow the steps below for configuration.

General

This section defines the default values of some general configuration items. The following table explains each setting item under the General tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Name

Defines the default backup set name when backup users create a backup set. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default backup set names for different backup modules. * What are the configurable items? Name – name of the setting item Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to * *Backup Set Name – default backup set name to be displayed when a backup set is created for the selected module(s).

Lotus Domino

Defines the path to notes.ini. Please exercise extra caution when changing this setting because an accidental or incorrect change of this path may cause unpredictable impact on running the Lotus Domino. Refer to the link for further information on this setting. * What are the configurable items? Name – name of this setting item Path to notes.ini – path name of the Path to notes.ini

Lotus Notes

Defines the path to notes.ini . Please exercise extra caution when changing this setting because an accidental or incorrect change of this path may cause unpredictable impact on running the Lotus Notes. Refer to the link for further information on this setting. * What are the configurable items? Name – name of this setting item Path to notes.ini – path name of the Path to notes.ini

MySQL Server

Defines the default Login ID, Host name, Port and Path to mysqldump for MySQL server backup module * What are the configurable items? Name – name of this setting item Login ID – login ID for accessing the MySQL server Host – host name of the MySQL server Port – port number * *Path to mysqldump – path name to the mysqldump utility

Oracle Database Server

Defines the default Login ID, Host name, Port and SID for Oracle Database Server module * What are the configurable items? Name – name of this setting item Login ID – login ID for accessing the Oracle Database server Host – host name of the Oracle server Port – port number * *SID – the unique identifier to the database instance

VMware Host

Defines the default VMware version, host name, port number and SSH port for VMware backup module * What are the configurable items? Name – name of this setting item Version – VMware version Host – host name of the VMware host Port – port number * *SSH Port – SSH port number

Backup Schedule

Setting up the backup schedule allows backup sets to run automatically at the specified time. This section allows administrator to define the default backup schedule. The following table explains each setting item under the Backup Schedule tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Backup Schedule

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Run scheduled backup for this backup set – to enable or disable the scheduled backup settings you set in this menu

Manage Schedule

  • Name – name of the scheduler

  • Type – frequency of running the scheduled backup

    • Daily – to run the scheduled backup everyday

    • Weekly – to run the scheduled backup on the selected days of a week

    • Monthly – to run the scheduled backup on a specific day in a month, or on a specific day in a specific week.

    • Custom – to run the scheduled backup on a specific day of your selection

  • Start backup at – specify a specific time to run the scheduled backup based on the frequency set in the Type menu above.

  • Stop – set the scheduled backup to stop either

  • Full backup is completed regardless of how much time it takes OR After the backup has started for the set time (1-24 hr) regardless if the backup is done

  • Run Retention Policy after backup – enable this feature if you wish the modified or deleted data after backup remains in the backup server for the set number of retention day

Destination

This section allows administrator to define the default backup destination for backup set. The following table explains each setting item under the Destination tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

This setting defines the default backup destination when backup users create a backup set. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default destinations for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Backup Mode – select the files transfer method during backup

    • Sequential – backup files are sent to the backup destination one by one, one after another.

    • Concurrent – multiple files are sent to the backup destination at the same time

  • Maximum concurrent backup destinations (only if you have selected Concurrent as the Backup Mode) – select the maximum number of files allowed for uploading to the backup destination

  • Predefined Destination – select the predefined destination you have configured in the Predefined Destinations Tab section.

In-File Delta

In-file delta technology is an advanced data block matching algorithm with the intelligence to pick up changes (delta) of file content between two files.

Using this algorithm, daily backup of large files over low-speed internet connection is made possible because it requires only the changes of information since the last backup to be sent over (assuming that the full backup of the file has been saved on the backup server already).

This section allows administrator to define the default In-File Delta type for backup set. The following table explains each setting item under the In-File Delta tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

This setting defines the default in-file delta setting for backup set. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default in-file delta settings for different backup modules.

  • Incremental In-file delta: Incremental Delta will facilitate ease of backup. The delta is generated by comparing with the last uploaded full or delta file. Delta generated with this method is smaller and uses the least bandwidth. However, for restoration, the full file and all deltas up to the required point-in-time are required to be restored and merged.

  • Differential In-file delta: Differential Delta will facilitate ease of restore. The delta is generated by comparing with the last uploaded full file only. Delta generated with this method will grow daily and uses more bandwidth. However, for restoration, the full file and a single delta is required to be restored and merged.

Destination * Name – name of the setting item * Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to * Default Type – type of backup method (Incremental or Differential)

Advanced settings * In-File Delta block size – defines the size of delta block used when detecting changes between last full or delta file and the file to be backed up. In-file delta backup with small block size * Produce a smaller delta file due to a more precise comparison * Require more processing power on the client machine * Comparison may take longer to complete * Require more Java memory In-file delta backup with large block size: * Produce a larger delta file due to a less precise comparison * Require less processing power on the client machine * Comparison will complete faster * Require less Java memory

For most cases, the default setting Auto will select the optimal block size for each file (depending on the size of the file).

File size Block size

Smaller than 2GB

4KB

2GB – 8GB

8KB

Larger than 8GB

16KB

Only apply In-File Delta to files larger than – defines the minimum file size a file to apply the in-file delta setting. If the size of a file to be backed up is smaller than the set value, the in-file delta setting will not apply and the whole file will be uploaded to the backup server.

It is not necessary to perform In-file delta backup on small files because backing up the whole file does not take long. Backing up the whole file instead reduces the time required to restore the file.

Upload full file when either of these conditions is met – a backup of the full file will be perform if the following condition is met:

  • Number of deltas is over – when the number of delta file exceeds the set value

  • Delta ratio (delta file size / full file size) is over – this setting is to ensure that a full file backup is performed for file with significant changes, as it is preferable to upload a full file instead to reduce the time required to restore the file

Weekly variations for overriding default type – override the default in-file delta setting in the Default Type field on selected day(s) of a week

Yearly variations for overriding default type and weekly variations – override the default in-file delta setting in the Default Type field as well as the setting in the “Weekly variations for overriding default type” section on a selected day in a week based on either of the following selection

  • Day of selected months in yearly variations - select a specific day in a month. On this specified day in the month defined above will the in-file delta variation setting override the default value.

Retention Policy

Retention policy defines the policies of persistent data management for meeting business data archival requirements. When a backup job is performed, for data that are modified or deleted on the client computer, their existing versions on the backup server (backup records) will be moved into retention area, while newly backed up files will be placed in the current data area.

Specifically, retention policy setting defines how long are the backup records kept in the retention area before they are deleted permanently from the backup server.

This section allows administrator to define the default Retention Policy for backup set. The following table explains each setting item under the Retention Policy tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

This setting defines the default retention policy for backup sets when they are created. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default retention policy for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

How to retain the files in the backup set, which have been deleted in the backup source – choose between Simple and Advanced setting, which is explained in details below.

Simple – enter a specific number of day or backup job number. The retained data will be removed from the backup destination permanently after the set number of day or set number of job is met.

Advanced – manage advanced retention policies by applying advanced settings

  • Daily: The past number of days on which different versions of your files are retained

    • Set the number of day(s) on which the old version of data will be stored

  • Weekly: The days within a week on which different versions of your files are retained

    • Select the day(s) in a week (Monday – Sunday) on which the old version of data will be stored

    • The number of weeks to repeat the above selection

    • Enter the number of week(s) for the above setting to repeat

  • Monthly: The days within a month on which different versions of your files are retained

    • Select a day in a month on which the old version of data will be stored. You can either set:

    • An exact day (1-31) or The (First/Second/Third/Forth/Last) of (Monday -Sunday)

    • The number of months to repeat the above selection

    • Enter the number of month(s) for the above setting to repeat

  • Quarterly: The day within a quarter on which different versions of your files are retained

    • Select a day within a quarter on which the old version of data will be stored. You can either set:

    • An exact day (1-31) or The (First/Second/Third/Forth/Last) of (Monday -Sunday)

    • Months of quarter

    • Select the desired combination of months of quarter

    • (January, April, July, October)

    • (February, May, August, November)

    • (March, June, September, December)

    • The number of quarters to repeat the above selection

    • Enter the number of quarter(s) for the above setting to repeat

  • Yearly: The day within a year on which different versions of your files are retained

    • Select a day within a year on which the old version of data will be stored. You can set the day by using one of the following methods:

    • Select an exact day (1 – 31) in an exact month (January – December)

  • Select the (First/Second/Third/Forth/Last) of (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Weekday/Weekend) in an exact month (January – December)

    • Select a day in a week (Monday – Sunday) in an exact week of a year (Week 1 - 53)

    • The number of years to repeat the above selection

    • Enter the number of year(s) for the above setting to repeat

  • Custom: A specific day on which different versions of your files are retained

    • Select a day on which the old version of data will be stored. You can set the day by using one of the following methods:

    • Select an exact day (1 – 31) in an exact month (January – December)

    • Select the (First/Second/Third/Forth/Last) of (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Weekday/Weekend) in an exact month (January – December)

    • Select a day in a week (Monday – Sunday) in an exact week of a year (Week 1 - 53)

    • Year

    • Enter a specific year for the day set above to execute the retention policy

Command Line Tool

This section allows administrator to configure a Pre-Backup or Post-Backup command. Command such as batch file to stop and start an application before and after a backup job is completed, or other command such as to shut down the computer when a backup job is completed can be configured.

The following table explains each setting item under the Retention Policy tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

This setting defines the default command line to execute before or after a backup is performed. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default command line for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Pre-Backup Command Line Tool – configure the pre-backup command line

    • Name – name of this command line setting.

    • Working Directory – directory which the pre-backup command will run at.

    • Command – Enter the pre-backup command to be run

  • Post-Backup Command Line Tool – configure the post-backup command line

    • Name – name of this command line setting.

    • Working Directory – directory which the post-backup command will run at.

    • Command – enter the post-backup command to be run

Reminder

This section allows administrator to enable the backup reminder feature where users will be reminded to run a backup job when they log off or shut down their computers. The reminder feature is only available on Windows platform.

The following table explains each setting item under the Reminder tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

This setting defines whether the backup reminder is on for backup users when they log off or shut down their computers. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different settings for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Remind me to backup during Windows log off or shut down – turn on or off this feature

  • Computer name – you can specify the computer’s name for this reminder to apply on

Bandwidth Control

This section allows administrator to limit the data transfer rate when performing backup and restore jobs.

The following table explains each setting item under the Bandwidth Control tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

This setting defines the default settings on limiting the data transfer rate when performing backup and restore jobs. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different settings for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Limit the transfer rate when performing backup and restore tasks – click to turn on or off this feature

Mode

  • Independent: Each backup and restore job has its assigned bandwidth

  • Share: All backup and restore jobs are sharing the same assigned bandwidth

Existing bandwidth controls – configure the bandwidth control details

  • Name: Name of the bandwidth control setting item

  • Type:

    • Always – apply the bandwidth control settings at all times

    • Only within this period – configure a specific start time and end time on a day of a week for this bandwidth control setting to take place

  • Maximum transfer rate |Enter the maximum transfer rate allowed, in the unit of Kbit/s, Mbit/s or Gbit/s.

IP Allowed for Restore

This section allows administrator to IP ranges that are allowed to perform restore. The following table explains each setting item under the IP Allowed for Restore tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

This setting defines the default settings on IP allowed for restore. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different settings for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • IP Allowed for Restore– configure the IP ranges allowed for restore

    • From – restore allowed from this IP value

    • To - restore allowed up to this IP value

Others

This section allows administrator to configure other default settings. The following table explains each setting item under the Others tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Temporary Directory

The temporary directory is used for various purposes, such as storage of temporary spooled file, remote file list, local file list, temporary delta file and other files of temporary nature.

Administrator can define the default location of the temporary directory. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different temporary directory locations for different backup modules.

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Platform – the platform on which this setting will apply on

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Temporary directory for storing backup files – location of the temporary directory you wish to set.

  • Remove temporary files after backup – the temporary files after backup if this option is selected

Archived Log Deletion

Administrator can define whether the archived log files will be deleted after backup by default .This feature is only applicable to Oracle Database Server Backup module.

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Delete the archived logs after backup – turn on or off this feature

  • Delete archived logs that are older than the following days – set the number of day(s) that the archived logs will be deleted when exceeding this number

Compressions

Compressing data before they are backed up brings faster backup and restore time and save storage space on the backup destination. Compression does not apply on Run direct backup sets for Hyper-V and VMware even this feature is on.

Administrator can define the default compression type for backup set. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default compression types for different backup modules.

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Select compression type – select the desired compression type among No Compression, Normal and Fast (Compressed size larger than normal)

Encryption

For better security reason, backup users can choose to encrypt their backup data with an algorithm, mode and key of their choice. Encryption does not apply on Run direct backup sets for Hyper-V and VMware even this feature is on.

Administrator can define the default encryption setting for backup set. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default encryption settings for different backup modules.

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Encrypt Backup Data – enable or disable this feature

  • Default (Machine Generated Random) – the system will randomly generate an encryption key

  • Custom – define your own algorithm, encryption key, method and key length.

Preempted Values

This section allows administrator to define the predefined values for backup users’ backup sets. The preempted values set under this setting menu will be applied to the backup sets directly. Backup users can add additional values on top of the preempted values when creating a backup set but CANNOT remove the preempted values preset by the system administrator.

All setting items under the Preempted Values tab are disabled by default. Click the image switch on the right of each setting item and then follow the steps below for configuration.

image

Mode

In all the setting items in the Preempted Values section, there is a Mode setting item that contains 3 options on how this preempted values are applied to user defined settings.

  • Prepend – the preempted values will be applied as the first user defined settings

  • Append – the preempted values will be applied as the last user defined settings

  • Override – override all user defined settings

Note: In some preempted value settings, "Override" mode is set as default and cannot be modified, e.g. Reminder, as administrator should take full control of the policy settings. However, prepend and append mode are available for some non-administrator related features, such as backup schedule, where users defined settings can also be considered.

Backup Schedule

Setting up backup schedule allows backup sets to run automatically at the specified time. This section allows administrator to pre-define default backup schedule(s) for backup users. The following table explains each setting item under the Backup Schedule tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Schedule

Predefine backup schedule(s) for backup sets. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to pre-define different backup schedules for different backup modules. Within a backup schedule setting, multiple scheduled times can be added.

Backup Schedule

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Run scheduled backup for this backup set – to enable or disable the scheduled backup settings you set in this menu

Manage Schedule

  • Name – name of the scheduler

  • Type – frequency of running the scheduled backup

    • Daily – to run the scheduled backup everyday

    • Weekly – to run the scheduled backup on the selected days of a week

    • Monthly – to run the scheduled backup on a specific day in a month, or on a specific day in a specific week.

    • Custom – to run the scheduled backup on a specific day of your selection

  • Start backup at – specify a specific time to run the scheduled backup based on the frequency set in the Type menu above.

  • Stop – set the scheduled backup to stop either

    • Full backup is completed regardless of how much time it takes

    • After the backup has started for the set time (1-24 hr) regardless if the backup is done Run Retention Policy after backup – enable this feature if you wish the modified or deleted data after backup remains in the backup server for the set number of retention day

Destination

This section allows administrator to predefine backup destination for backup sets. The following table explains each setting item under the Destination tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Pre-define backup destination when backup users create a backup set. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default destinations for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Backup Mode – select the files transfer method during backup

  • Sequential – backup files are sent to the backup destination one by one, one after another

  • Concurrent – multiple files are sent to the backup destination at the same time

  • Maximum concurrent backup destinations (only if you have selected Concurrent as the Backup Mode) – select the maximum number of files allowed for uploading to the backup destination

  • Predefined Destination – select the predefined destination you have configured in the Predefined Destinations Tab section.

In-File Delta

In-file delta technology is an advanced data block matching algorithm with the intelligence to pick up changes (delta) of file content between two files.

Using this algorithm, daily backup of large files over low-speed internet connection is made possible because it requires only the changes of information since the last backup to be sent over (assuming that the full backup of the file has been saved on the backup server already).

This section allows administrator to predefine the In-File Delta settings for backup set. The following table explains each setting item under the In-File Delta tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Predefine In-File delta setting for backup set. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to pre-define different in-file delta settings for different backup modules.

What kind of in-file delta type are there?

  • Incremental In-file delta: Incremental Delta will facilitate ease of backup. The delta is generated by comparing with the last uploaded full or delta file. Delta generated with this method is smaller and uses the least bandwidth. However, for restoration, the full file and all deltas up to the required point-in-time are required to be restored and merged.

  • Differential In-file delta: Differential Delta will facilitate ease of restore. The delta is generated by comparing with the last uploaded full file only. Delta generated with this method will grow daily and uses more bandwidth. However, for restoration, the full file and a single delta is required to be restored and merged.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Default Type – type of backup method (Incremental or Differential)

Advanced settings

In-File Delta block size – defines the size of block used when detecting changes between last full or delta file and the file to be backed up. * *_In-file delta backup with small block size*_ Produce a smaller delta file due to a more precise comparison Require more processing power on the client machine Comparison may take longer to complete Require more Java memory * *_In-file delta backup with large block size:*_ Produce a larger delta file due to a less precise comparison Require less processing power on the client machine Comparison will complete faster Require less Java memory

For most cases, the default setting Auto will select the optimal block size for each file (depending on the size of the file). The Auto setting will set the block size according the following criteria:

File size Block size

Smaller than 2GB

4KB

2GB – 8GB

8KB

Larger than 8GB

16KB

Only apply In-File Delta to files larger than – defines the minimum file size a file to apply the in-file delta setting. If the size of a file to be backed up is smaller than the set value, the in-file delta setting will not apply and the whole file will be uploaded to the backup server. It is not necessary to perform In-file delta backup on small files because backing up the whole file does not take long. Backing up the whole file instead reduces the time required to restore the file.

Upload full file when either of these conditions is met – a backup of the full file will be perform if the following condition is met:

  • Number of deltas is over – when the number of delta file exceeds the set value

  • Delta ratio (delta file size / full file size) is over – this setting is to ensure that a full file backup is performed for file with significant changes, as it is preferable to upload a full file instead to reduce the time required to restore the file

Weekly variations for overriding default type – override the default in-file delta setting in the Default Type field on selected day(s) of a week

Yearly variations for overriding default type and weekly variations – override the default in-file delta setting in the Default Type field as well as the setting in the “Weekly variations for overriding default type” section on a selected day in a week based on either of the following selection * Day of selected months in yearly variations - select a specific day in a month. On this specified day in the month defined above will the in-file delta variation setting override the default value.

Retention Policy

Retention policy defines the policies of persistent data management for meeting business data archival requirements. When a backup job is performed, for data that are modified or deleted on the client computer, their existing versions on the backup server (backup records) will be moved into retention area, while newly backed up files will be placed in the current data area.

Specifically, retention policy setting defines how long are the backup records kept in the retention area before they are deleted permanently from the backup server.

This section allows administrator to pre-define the Retention Policy for backup set. The following table explains each setting item under the Retention Policy tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Pre-define the retention policy for backup sets when they are created. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default retention policy for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • How to retain the files in the backup set, which have been deleted in the backup source – choose between Simple and Advanced setting, which is explained in details below.

  • Simple – enter a specific number of day or backup job number. The retained data will be removed from the storage destination permanently after the set number of day or set number of job is met.

  • Advanced – manage advanced retention policies by applying advanced configurations

    • DailyThe past number of days on which different versions of your files are retained – Set the number of day(s) on which the old version of data will be stored

    • WeeklyThe days within a week on which different versions of your files are retained – Select the day(s) in a week (Monday – Sunday) on which the old version of data will be stored

      • The number of weeks to repeat the above selection

      • Enter the number of week(s) for the above setting to repeat

    • Monthly

      • The days within a month on which different versions of your files are retained

      • Select a day in a month on which the old version of data will be stored. You can either set: An exact day (1-31) or The (First/Second/Third/Forth/Last) of (Monday -Sunday)

      • The number of months to repeat the above selection: Enter the number of month(s) for the above setting to repeat

    • QuarterlyThe day within a quarter on which different versions of your files are retained

      • Select a day within a quarter on which the old version of data will be stored. You can either set: An exact day (1-31) or The (First/Second/Third/Forth/Last) of (Monday -Sunday)

      • Months of quarter: Select the desired combination of months of quarter

        • (January, April, July, October)

        • (February, May, August, November)

        • (March, June, September, December)

      • The number of quarters to repeat the above selection: Enter the number of quarter(s) for the above setting to repeat

    • YearlyThe day within a year on which different versions of your files are retained

      • Select a day within a year on which the old version of data will be stored. You can set the day by using one of the following methods:

        • Select an exact day (1 – 31) in an exact month (January – December)

        • Select the (First/Second/Third/Forth/Last) of (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Weekday/Weekend) in an exact month (January – December)

        • Select a day in a week (Monday – Sunday) in an exact week of a year (Week 1 - 53)

      • The number of years to repeat the above selection: Enter the number of year(s) for the above setting to repeat

    • CustomA specific day on which different versions of your files are retained

      • Select a day on which the old version of data will be stored. You can set the day by using one of the following methods:

        • Select an exact day (1 – 31) in an exact month (January – December)

        • Select the (First/Second/Third/Forth/Last) of (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Weekday/Weekend) in an exact month (January – December)

        • Select a day in a week (Monday – Sunday) in an exact week of a year (Week 1 - 53)

      • Year: Enter a specific year for the day set above to execute the retention policy

Command Line Tool

This section allows administrator to configure a Pre-Backup or Post-Backup command. Command such as batch file to stop and start an application before and after a backup job is completed, or other command such as to shut down the computer when a backup job is completed can be configured.

The following table explains each setting item under the Retention Policy tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Predefine command line to execute before or after a backup is performed. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to pre-define different command line for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Pre-Backup Command Line Tool – configure the pre-backup command line

    • Name – name of this command line setting.

    • Working Directory – directory which the pre-backup command will run at.

    • Command – Enter the pre-backup command to be run

  • Post-Backup Command Line Tool – configure the post-backup command line

    • Name – name of this command line setting.

    • Working Directory – directory which the post-backup command will run at.

    • Command – enter the post-backup command to be run

Reminder

This section allows administrator to enable the backup reminder feature where users will be reminded to run a backup job when they log off or shut down their computers. Reminder feature is only available on Windows platform.

The following table explains each setting item under the Reminder tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Pre-define to turn on the reminder so that backup users will be reminded to perform backup when they log off or shut down their computers. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different settings for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Remind me to backup during Windows log off or shut down – turn on or off this feature

    • Computer name – you can specify the computer’s name for this reminder to enable on

Bandwidth Control

This section allows administrator to pre-define the limit for data transfer when performing backup and restore jobs.

The following table explains each setting item under the Bandwidth Control tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Pre-define the settings on limiting the data transfer rate when performing backup and restore jobs. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to pre-define different settings for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Limit the transfer rate when performing backup and restore tasks – click to turn on or off this feature

    • Mode

      • Independent: Each backup and restore job has its assigned bandwidth

      • Share: All backup and restore jobs are sharing the same assigned bandwidth

    • Existing bandwidth controls – configure the bandwidth control details

      • Name: Name of the bandwidth control setting item

      • Type

        • Always – apply the bandwidth control settings at all times

        • Only within this period – configure a specific start time and end time in a day of a week for this bandwidth control setting to take place

      • Maximum transfer rate: Enter the maximum transfer rate allowed, in the unit of Kbit/s, Mbit/s or Gbit/s.

IP Allowed for Restore

This section allows administrator to predefine IP ranges that are allowed to perform restore. The following table explains each setting item under the IP Allowed for Restore tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Pre-define the IP allowed for restore. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to pre-define different settings for different backup modules.

Destination

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • IP Allowed for Restore– configure the IP ranges allowed for restore

    • From – restore allowed from this IP value

    • To - restore allowed up to this IP value

Others

This section allows administrator to pre-define other configurations for backup sets. The following table explains each setting item under the Others tab, with a brief description of what the setting is about and all the configurable items.

Follow Link

Administrator can pre-define whether to turn on the Follow Link feature. When this feature is on, not only the symbolic link or junction point will be restored, the directories and files that the symbolic link or junction point links to will also be restored. This feature is only applicable to File Backup module.

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Follow link of the backup files – check the box to enable this feature

Volume Shadow Copy

Enabling the Volume Shadow Copy option will allow backup of local files that are exclusively opened during the backup process (e.g. Outlook PST file).

Some requirements of the Volume Shadow Copy option include:

  • Volume Shadow Copy can only be applied for local drive; exclusively opened file on network shared drive cannot be backed up even with the Volume Shadow Copy option enabled.

  • Volume Shadow Copy is available on Windows platforms (e.g. Vista / 2008 / 2008 R2 / 2012 / 2012 R2 / 7 / 8 / 10).

  • The user using the backup application must have administrative privileges to access the Volume Shadow Copy service on a computer.

  • At least one of the partitions on the machine must be in NTFS format.

For more technical information on Volume Shadow Copy, please refer to the following page from Microsoft for details: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785914(WS.10).aspx

Administrator can pre-define whether to turn on the Volume Shadow Copy feature by default .This feature is only applicable to File Backup module.

What are the configurable items?

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Enable Windows’ Volume Shadow Copy for open file backup – check or uncheck to enable or disable this feature

File Permissions

By enabling this option, file permissions of the operating system files will be backed up. File permission defines, for example, the right to view or change a file by the system owner/group/individual.

Administrator can pre-define whether to turn on the backup of File Permissions by default .This feature is only applicable to File Backup module.

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Backup files’ permissions – check or uncheck to enable or disable this feature

Archived Log Deletion

Administrator can pre-define whether the archived log files will be deleted after backup by default .This feature is only applicable to Oracle Database Server Backup module.

What are the configurable items?

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Delete the archived logs after backup – turn on or off this feature

    • Delete archived logs that are older than the following days – set the number of day(s) that the archived logs will be deleted when exceeding this number

Compressions

Compressing data before they are backed up brings faster backup and restore time and save storage space on the backup destination. Compression does not apply on Run direct backup sets for Hyper-V and VMware even this feature is on.

Administrator can pre-define the default compression type for backup set. Multiple settings can be created in this menu if you wish to define different default compression types for different backup modules.

What are the configurable items?

  • Name – name of the setting item

  • Applied Modules – modules to apply this setting to

  • Select compression type – select the desired compression type among No Compression, Normal and Fast (Compressed size larger than normal)

Preempted Backup Sets

This section allows you predefine a backup set that will be run a default backup set for backup user with this policy group setting. Backup user CANNOT remove this preempted backup set from their backup job once it is preset by the system administrator.

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Create a preempted backup set

Follow the steps below to create a preempted backup set

  1. Click the + icon under the Preempted Backup Sets section.

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  2. Enter the Name of the new backup set, the Platform on which the backup set will run on, and select the backup set type from the Type dropdown box.

    • Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux

    • Backup Set Types: IBM Lotus Domino Backup, IBM Lotus Notes Backup, MS Exchange Server Backup, MS Exchange Mail Level Backup, MS SQL Server Backup, MS Hyper-V Backup, MySQL Backup, Oracle Database Server Backup, VMware Backup

      In our example, the new backup set is called default-backup-set-name-2 which is a File Backup type that will be run on Windows.

      Click the Next () button at the bottom right corner of the screen to continue.

  3. Specify the backup source for the new backup set. The selection items of this page varies depending on the backup set type you have chosen. Below is an example of creating a File Backup set.

  4. You can apply filters to the backup source, select other backup source or deselect backup source. Click to get redirected to the relevant section in the previous chapter for configurations details.

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  5. Click the Next () button at the bottom right corner of the screen to continue.

  6. If necessary, add a Backup Schedule for this backup set by sliding the Run scheduled backup for this backup set option to the right and clicking the + button.

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    • Enter the information of the new backup schedule you want to add. Click the Add (+) button at the bottom right corner of the screen to continue.

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      • The new backup schedule, Backup-Schedule-1 in our example, can be seen under the Manage schedule list.

        Click the Next () button at the bottom right corner of the screen to continue.

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  7. Add a new backup destination for this backup set.

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/download.retrospect.com/site/docs/virtual_management_guide/image207.png

    • From the Backup Mode dropdown box, select either Sequential or Concurrent. In our example, we select Sequential.

    • Add a Predefined Destination set by your backup service provider by clicking the Add (+) button.

      Check the box next to the predefined destination you want, then click Add (+) in the bottom right corner of the screen to continue.

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    • The new predefined destination, Group Storage in our example, can be seen under the Predefined Destination list.

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      If you would like to choose other standard destination, you will have to configure in the client backup agent (Retrospect Virtual Host Server) after you finish creating the backup in Retrospect Virtual Management Server.

      Click the Next () button at the bottom right corner of the screen to continue.

  8. Select to enable or disable to encrypt the backup data. If you choose to enable this feature, you can select either Default or Custom for the Encryption Type. Refer to Others section under the Default Values section for details on configuration.

  9. Enter the Windows User Authentication information. This is needed for backup set with backup schedule and network shared drive selected as backup source. Enter the domain name and user name for Retrospect Virtual Host Server to access the network location.

    Click the Add (+) button at the bottom right corner of the screen to continue.

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  10. A new backup set called default-backup-set-name-2 is created and can be seen in the Preempted Backup Sets list. Click the Save button at the bottom right corner of the screen to save your changes.

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Important: If you do not click the Save button, your new backup set will not be saved.

Manage Windows Active Directory Integration

The following shows the Windows Active Directory Integration tab under Backup / Restore > Users, Groups & Policies.

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When this feature is enabled and Retrospect Virtual Management Server fails to authenticate a user logon using its own records, a user authentication will be dispatched to Windows Active Directory automatically. This means that if an AD is presented in the network, it is only required to create a user account once in the Windows Active Directory. The same user account can also be used on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server server. This is because Retrospect Virtual Management Server will create this user account automatically after authenticating this logon using AD. The user account created will be of the type Paid (unless the user logon using Retrospect Virtual Host Server).

To enable and configure the Manage Windows Active Directory Integration feature

  1. Click the image switch on the right to turn on this feature.

  2. Enter the Domain name and Domain controller IP of the machine where the active directory is hosted.

  3. Click the image button at the bottom of the page to confirm.

Monitoring Activities

Set up a Read-only Admin Account for Operators

For daily monitoring on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server Console, you can assign your staff/operators with a read-only admin role account. This read-only admin role system account shares similar accessibility as its creator, except it has read- only permission. This feature is designed to help you with monitoring on the backup and restore jobs, Live Activities on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server server, Administration logs and Reporting etc.

Follow the steps below to create a system user with read-only admin role:

  1. Click on the Basic icon under the System Settings section on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server main page.

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  2. Navigate to the Administrative Access tab, then click on the image button under Manage System User to create a new system user.

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  3. Fill in the details of the system user profile on the page as shown below. Make sure you have selected Read-only Admin under the Type field.

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  4. Click the image button then the image button at the bottom of the page to confirm. The system user with read-only admin role has been added.

Dashboard

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The dashboard is a one-stop overview providing important information that the system administrator should have attention to, for example, system errors/warnings, the system health conditions and real-time activities of the system. With this information, system administrator can quickly identify the potential issues that might pose thread to the Retrospect Virtual Management Server system and therefore can react accordingly to fix the issues. Below is a summary of the information that the dashboard section provides.

To Dos

It contains system announcement, errors and warning such as “Missed Backups”, “Failed Backups”, “System Errors”, “API Errors” and “Email Errors”. Administrator or operators can base on these messages to take corresponding actions.

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Viewing options
  • Selectable Logs Period

    You can select to display the log entries of the errors and warnings from a period of time you selected. Click the drop-down menu on the right under the Errors and Warnings section to select the desired period of time.

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    Besides selecting Today and Yesterday from the above mentioned drop-down menu, you will see a chart illustrating the number of errors for different types of errors/warning within the selected period of time.

    In the chart below, for example, the vertical axis denotes the number of errors/warnings while the horizontal axis denotes the date. The lines on the chart in different colors correspond to the different types of errors/warnings as shown in the number counter below the chart in their respective colors.

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  • Selectable Number of Row per Page

    You can also select the number of rows (i.e. the number of entries) to display on each page. Click on the drop-down menu as shown in the screen shot below to select the desired setting.

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Missed Backups

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This page shows all details on all missed backups from all backup users using this Retrospect Virtual Management Server server. Missed backup refers to backup jobs that were failed to perform according to the set backup schedules. Any backup jobs failed to perform backup 6 hours after the scheduled backup time is considered as missed backup.

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  • Login Name: Login name of the backup user

  • Owner: Ownership of the backup account

  • Backup Set: Name of the backup set that has missed the scheduled backup

  • Destination: Backup destination of the missed backup

  • Job: Date and time when the backup job was classified as a missed backup

  • Status: Status of the missed backup job

Failed Backups

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This page shows all details on all failed backups from all backup users using this Retrospect Virtual Management Server server. Failed backup refers to backup jobs that are not performed successfully. The backup failure could be caused by various reasons, such as storage capacity on the backup destination, Internet connection between the client backup agent and the Retrospect Virtual Management Server server/backup destination, user interruption during backup, etc.

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  • Login Name: Login name of the backup user

  • Owner: Ownership of the backup account

  • Backup Set: Name of the backup set that failed to back up

  • Destination: Backup destination of the failed backup

  • Job: Date and time when the backup job failed to back up

  • Status: Status of the failed backup job

System Errors

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This page shows all details of system errors related to backup/restore for this Retrospect Virtual Management Server server. System errors include, for example, fail login attempt, login authentication failed, etc.

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  • Timestamp: Date and time when the system error recorded

  • Login Name: Name of backup user in relation to the system error

  • Owner: Ownership of the backup account

  • Message: Message showing the system errors in details

API Errors

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This page shows all details of API errors for this Retrospect Virtual Management Server server.

  • Timestamp: Date and time when the API error recorded

  • Login Name: Name of backup user in relation to the API error

  • Owner: Ownership of the backup account

  • Message: Message displaying the API errors in details

Email Errors

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This page shows all details of email errors for this Retrospect Virtual Management Server server. Email errors could be caused by invalid email entered by the backup users, storage capacity of the backup user’s email account, etc.

  • Timestamp: Date and time when the Email error recorded

  • Login Name: Name of backup user in relation to the Email error

  • Owner: Ownership of the backup account

  • Message: Message displaying the Email errors in details

Overview

This is an overview of the system resource and system settings. These are useful information for administrator or support staff to collect machine information. This information include “Java virtual machine”, “Java VM version”, “vendor of the Java”, “Java version”, “Operating System”, “CPU Architecture”, “Number of Processors”, “Committed Virtual Memory”, “Physical Memory”, and “Swap Space”.

In addition, a list of system settings such as “VM Arguments”, “Class Path”, “Library Path”, “Boot Class Path” and “System Properties” are shown for reference.

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CPU

In the CPU page, you can see the current CPU utilization, the percentage that system and application occupied

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There are two parts of information from this page.

CPU Usage Chart

The CPU Usage shows the daily usage of the machine’s CPU where the Retrospect Virtual Management Server is installed, with the vertical axis denotes and CPU utilization rate while the Y axis denotes the time.

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Usage Distribution

This chart shows the CPU usage distribution in percentage on System and Application.

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Memory

This is a graphical view of the memory pool/managers usage on this machine.

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  • Heap memory: The heap memory is the runtime data area from which the Java VM allocates memory for all class instances and arrays.

  • Non-heap memory: Non-heap memory includes a method area shared among all threads and memory required for the internal processing or optimization for the Java VM.

  • Par Eden Space: The pool from which memory is initially allocated for most objects.

  • Par Survivor Space: The pool containing objects that have survived the garbage collection of the Eden space.

  • CMS Old Gen: The pool containing objects that have existed for some time in the survivor space.

  • Code Cache: The HotSpot Java VM also includes a code cache, containing memory that is used for compilation and storage of native code.

  • CMS Perm Gen: The pool containing all the reflective data of the virtual machine itself, such as class and method objects. With Java VMs that use class data sharing, this generation is divided into read-only and read-write areas.

  • Reference: Oracle JConsole documentation

Storage

This is a local storage and predefined destination usage overview.

  • Disk Usage

    Under the Disk Usage section, it shows all the drives on the machine where the Retrospect Virtual Management Server is installed. You can see the capacity used (Used) and capacity remain (Free) for each drive.

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    You can select to view the entries in the Disk Usage section by sorting the Drive Letter or Free Storage

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  • Predefined Destination Usage

    Under the Predefined Destination Usage section, it shows all the predefined destinations that you have added under the System Settings > Basics > Predefined Destination.

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    You can select to view the predefined destination entries by sorting the Destination Name or Free Storage.

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Live Threads

This page shows all live threads that are running on this machine.

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  • Live Threads: Active process threads

  • Peak: The largest number of live threads record in the above period

  • Daemon Threads: Threads that are handled in the background

  • Total Threads Started: The total number of started threads

You can use mouse over at aby point of the curve to obtain the number of live threads at the particular time.

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If you click on the Details button below the Live Threads icon, you will see a breakdown of all live threads that are running on this machine. It is shown as thread groups for developers or administrators reference.

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Live Activities

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You can check on recent backup and restore status with the progress monitor in percentage.

Backup Status

This section shows a list of backup job(s) that is currently running or has finished within the past 1 hour.

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Restore Status

This section shows a list of restore job(s) that is currently running or has finished within the past 1 hour.

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Administration Logs

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You can check on the SNMP logs, list of notifications/announcements/alerts, and activities log (system logs) and audit trails.

SMTP Log

You can see a list of SNMP log message in this page. You need to enable the SNMP log in SettingsAdvancedLoggingEnable SNMP Service, and need to download the MIB definition file and pass to your SNMP machine.

Message History

This page contains a list of notifications, announcements and alerts.

Activities Log

In this page, you will see a list of activities/system logs generated by the system events, or other user activities.

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Audit Trails

In this page, you can see the activity logs of all users on this server.

Backup / Restore Logs

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You can check on a list of backup and restore jobs, backup errors, backup set logs, and activities logs.

Backup Jobs

Here is summary of the backup jobs.

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Restored Jobs

Here is a summary of the restored jobs.

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Backup Errors

Here is a summary of the backup errors encountered by all backup users.

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Backup Set Log

Here is a summary of backup set logs of all the backup users.

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Activities Log

Here is a list of user backup/restore related system activities logs.

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Appendix

Error Code 1011 and 1012

Internal Error 1011

This error could occur when one of the following conditions is true:

  • The license key has been used on more than one machine.

  • Change of network card of the server machine or moving the Retrospect Virtual Management Server system to a new server.

Solution:

In the cases where the license key was used on a second server for testing purposes, please use an evaluation key instead.

Alternatively, please shutdown the Retrospect Virtual Management Server service on the second server, and then contact our Support Engineer with your "License Name" and "License Key", and we shall update the license server to allow your key to be used again.

In the cases where the network card of the server machine is changed, or an Retrospect Virtual Management Server relocation has been performed. Please also contact our Support Engineer with your "License Name" and "License Key", and we shall update the license server to allow your key to be used again.

Please also verify if the machine in concern contain any software that would create virtual MAC address, for example, VPN software. If yes, please disable them such software, and notify us again.

Internal Error 1012

Internal Error 1012 can occurs when one of the following conditions is true:

  • The license key has been used on more than one machine.

  • Change of the MAC address, local / remote IP address, or local port that Retrospect Virtual Management Server is installed on.

Solution:

Persistent 1012 license errors can occur if your Retrospect Virtual Management Server server is operating in a network environment where network traffic is routed to the Internet via multiple external IP addresses. For example, network load balancing is implemented using, i.e. a dual WAN router, Round Robin routing, or network card with multiple external IP.

System Job

Here is a summary of the system jobs on the Retrospect Virtual Management Server. For the daily job, it is scheduled at 06:00, while others will be performed hourly and quarter-hourly.

Quarter-hourly Job

Job Name Description Email

Low Disk Space Alert

When the disk space of the user home or system home is over 80%, email will be sent to administrator. Once the alert email is sent, email will not be sent within the next hour.

Inactive Backup Set Report

Email users when backup set has not been run for a number of days. (The number of days can be set in policy group.)

Settings Change Report

When user’s profile or backup set settings is changed, Email will be sent to user.

Restore Job Report

Send restore job report to user.

Backup Job Report

Send backup job report to user.

Remove Deleted Backup Set

This job scans removed backup sets from the storage.

Hourly Job

Job Name Description Email

Missed Backup Report

Email will be sent if scheduled backup job has not been started after 6 hours.

Remove Migrated v6 Data

(Version 7.7 or later) When v6 backup data has completely migrated to v7 format, this job will remove the old v6 backup data.

License Check

License validation check.

Daily Job

Job Name Description Email

Backup Quota Reminder Report

It will send report to user when the backup quota is over 80% or backup quota is full.

Trial User Reminder Job

It will send report to trial users when trial users are going to expire or to those expired trial users.

Low Destination Space Reminder

It will send disk space reminder email to administrator. It monitors the local and cloud storages such as Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.

Configuration Archival

Perform Retrospect Virtual Management Server system configuration, user profile, and runtime settings to our cloud.

Remove Trial User

Expired trial users will be removed by this job.

Logs Removal

This job removes expired log entries such as backup error, backup job, CDP backup job, advertisement log and system logs etc.

Meter license usage

Upload meter license usage to our cloud.

Daily User Report

If the user group your account belongs to has the Daily User Report selected in the Policy Group setting, you will receive a daily user report generated by the Retrospect Virtual Management Server system.

The daily user report is an interactive report to provide you with detailed information activities, statistics, problems or issues that your account is associated with.

There are two major types of reports you can find from the email, the Backup/Restore Report and the Daily User Report.

To access the Backup/Restore report

Download individual Backup or Restore report

  1. The content in the email shows a list of Backup and Restore jobs performed associated with your user. Simply click on the Download link in the individual backup or restore job item as highlighted in the screen shot below.

  2. You will be prompted to enter the password of your backup user account as shown below. Click on the Download button after entering the password.

  3. The Backup or Restore report in .zip format will be download.

Download Backup and Restore reports at once

  1. All backup reports and restore reports are grouped separate .zip attachments and are named as BackupReports.zip and RestoreReports.zip respectively.

  2. Unzip the downloaded file and you will find all the backup or restore reports.

To access the Consolidated Report

  1. Click on the attachment DailyUserReport.html from the email to download the file.

  2. Launch the file with your Internet browser and you will see a screen similar to this.

About the Daily User Report

The daily user report has 4 major sections which are PROBLEMS, ISSUES, ACTIVITIES and STATISTICS.

All unsuccessful activities including system jobs, backup jobs, and restore are recorded under the PROBLEMS section. There are 5 tabs under this category.

  • System: This page shows the consolidated data for system job errors with the following details. All same type of system job error will be grouped as one entry.

    No. Sequential number of report item

    Events

    Type of system job error

    Start Time

    Start time of the first occurrence of the particular type of system job error

    End Time

    End time of the last occurrence of the particular type of system job error

    Total No. of Occurrence

    Number of occurrence of the particular type of system job error

  • Backup

    This page shows all the unsuccessful backup jobs with the following details.

    User Name of the backup user

    Backup Sets

    Name of the failed backup set

    Start Time

    Start time of the failed backup job (in backup server’s time zone)

    End Time

    End time of the failed backup job (in backup server’s time zone)

    Job Status

    Status of the failed backup job, e.g. Missed Backup

    Job@Destinations

    Backup time in client time zone

    Total No. of Errors

    Total number of backup error for the particular backup set

    Last Successful Backup

    Time of the last successful backup job for the particular backup set

  • Restore

    This page shows all the unsuccessful restore jobs with the following details.

    User Name of the backup user

    Backup Sets

    Name of the failed backup set

    Start Time

    Start time of the failed restore job (in backup server’s time zone)

    End Time

    End time of the failed restore job (in backup server’s time zone)

    Job Status

    Status of the failed restore job, e.g. User interrupted

    Job@Destinations

    Restore time in client backup agent’s time zone

    Total No. of Errors

    Total number of restore error for the particular backup set

  • System / Security

    This page shows the consolidated data for system or security issues with the following details.

    Event Type of system / security issues

    Users

    Name of the backup user for the particular type of system/security issue

    Start Time

    Start time of the first occurrence of the particular type of system/security issue

    End Time

    End time of the last occurrence of the particular type of system/security issue

    No. of Occurrence

    Number of occurrence of the particular type of system/security of a backup user

    Remote IP Address

    IP address where Client Agent Application is installed

    User Agent

    Type of the Client Agent Application (Retrospect Virtual Host Server)

  • Users

    This page shows a list of backup users whose account’s storage quota is 90% or above full.

    Event Type of the issue

    Type

    User’s subscription status, whether it is a paid or trial user

    User

    Name of the backup user

    Used/Quota (%)

    Storage used / Storage Quota (Utilization rate)

    Last Login

    Last login time of user

    Registration Date

    Backup account’s registration date and time

    Last Backup

    Date and time of the last backup job performed

    Days Left

  • Backup Sets

    This page shows a list of missed scheduled backup and backup sets that have not been backed up for 14 days or more.

    Events Type of the issue

    Users

    Name of the backup user

    Backup Set

    Name of the backup set

    Destination

    Location of the backup destination

    Creation Date

    Date and time when the backup set was created

    Last Backup Job

    Number of day when a backup job was last performed

    Last Successful Backup

    Time of the last successful backup job for the particular backup set

  • Backup Jobs

    This page shows a list of all backup jobs activities.

    Users Name of the backup user

    Backup Set

    Name of the backup set

    Destinations

    Location of the backup destination

    IP Address

    IP address where User Agent Application is installed

    Backup Duration

    Start time / End time of the backup and duration of the backup

    Backup Status

    Status of the backup job

    Backup Size

    No. of files [Compressed size / Uncompressed size]

  • Restore Jobs

    This page shows a list of all restore jobs activities.

    Users Name of the backup user

    Backup Set

    Name of the backup set

    Destinations

    Location of the restore destination

    IP Address

    IP address where User Agent Application is installed

    Start Time

    Start time of the restore job

    End Time

    End time of the restore job

    Restore Duration

    Duration of the restore job

    Restore Status

    Status of the restore job

    Restore Size

    Number of files restored (Downloaded size)

  • Setting Changes

    This page shows a list of the settings changed by backup users.

    Users Name of the backup user

    Field

    The field that has been changed

    Old Value

    Old Value before the change

    New Value

    New Value after the change

    Time of Changes

    Time of the changes made

    IP Address

    IP Address of the machine which initiated the changes

  • Users This page shows a list of statistics data regarding the backup user account.

    Users Name of the backup user

    Alias

    Another name of the backup user

    Registration Date

    Date and time when the backup account was registered

    Last Backup

    Number of day when a backup job was last performed with the particular user account

    Last Login

    Date and time when user logged in to the particular account

    Data Size

    Total size of backup data (Compressed size/Uncompressed size)

    Retention Size

    Total size of data in retention area (Compressed size/Uncompressed size)

    Yesterday’s Upload

    Total size of backup uploaded by the particular backup user yesterday

    Standard Quota

    Storage quota set for the particular backup user

    Total Backup (No. of Files/Size)

    Total backup performed by this user

    Total Restore (No. of Files/Size)

    Total restore performed by this user

  • Data Transfer

    This page shows a list of statistics data regarding data transfer for backup jobs and restore jobs.

    Users Name of the backup user

    Backup Set

    Name of the backup set

    Destinations

    Backup Destination of the particular backup set

    IP Address

    IP address of the client backup agent running the backup / restore

    Start Time

    Start time of the particular backup / restore

    End Time

    End time of the particular backup / restore

    Backup Duration / Restore Duration

    Duration of the backup / restore for the particular backup / restore

    Backup Status / Restore Status

    Status of the particular backup / restore job

    Backup Size / Restore Size

    Backup size / Restore size

  • Disk Storage Usage

    This page shows a list of statistics data regarding disk storage usage.

    Destination Backup destination used by the backup user

    Data Size

    Size of data backed up to the particular backup destination

    Retention Size

    Size of retention area on the particular backup destination

    No. of Backup Sets

    Number of backup set(s) on the particular backup destination

    Since

    The data and time when the particular backup destination was created

Daily Report Viewing Option

There are two viewing options for the daily report, namely the WEB VIEW and PRINT VIEW, which can be altered by click the corresponding icon at the top right corner.

The WEB VIEW is an interactive style report where data is presented under different categories while user navigates through the report.

The PRINT VIEW is a one-page report listing all the data from the different categories from the WEB VIEW report.