Local Backup

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What is an Agent? From where can I download it?

Agent is a software application that has to be installed on your computer for backup. This is a one-time installation only. IDrive BMR server detects the agent installed on the computer and auto-starts the scheduled backup.

Note: Auto-update functionality is supported for backup agent version 4.2.0 (BMR server firmware version 8.3.0 and above) and above. You can disable the auto update via your system's IDrive BMR tray icon.

Download the Agent software and install it on the computer that you want to backup.

How do I backup my computer to the IDrive BMR server?

You can perform full, incremental and manual backup including backup of multiple hard drives and partitions using IDrive BMR. Moreover, you can backup data, even when your computer is up and running, with minimal computer resources.

Steps to perform backup of client machines:

1. Download the agent and install it on the system you want to backup.

Note: You can download the backup agent from the IDrive BMR server web interface or the IDrive BMR website.

2. When you download the agent from the IDrive BMR web interface, the server will auto-detect the agent.

   In case you downloaded the agent from the IDrive BMR website, you will be prompted with the following options:

   1. Select 'No' (recommended) if you want to automatically connect to any BMR server on your network.
      
   2. Select 'Yes' if you want to connect the client to a specific server and click 'Yes' to confirm. Enter the IP address. This is useful when you want to connect to a specific server in a network having multiple BMR servers installed.
      

3. After the agent installation is completed, reboot your computer to enable faster incremental backups using the change block tracking driver.
4. IDrive BMR server detects the agent and starts full backup automatically for the first time as per schedule.
1. For subsequent backups perform the following steps:
   1. Sign in to IDrive BMR. You can see the list of computers on the home page.
   2. Click displayed at the left of the computer name and select 'Backup' or 'Full image backup' from the drop-down menu to start the backup.

How can I exclude certain volumes from being backed up?

You can exclude certain volumes from being backed up by specifying the volumes that you want to backup in the 'Volumes' section when applying the 'Backup Settings'. Select the radio button 'Custom' and specify the drives separated by commas. C: Drive is considered for backup by default and therefore does not need to be specified.

Note: Be sure to specify the correct volumes for backup, especially when modifying global settings for backup. If volumes that do not exist are specified, the backup will fail.

Can I perform simultaneous backups?

Yes, you can perform simultaneous backups. In the 'Physical Machines' tab, under 'Global Server Settings', specify the 'Max simultaneous backups' in the respective field. You can start any number of backups at the same time, as well as set the number of recently active clients here. However, the higher the number of simultaneous backups more will be the time required to complete the backup.

Can I delete old backups from the IDrive BMR server?

Yes, you can delete old backups from the BMR server. Schedule the cleanup operation from the 'Cleanup time window' section. You can schedule cleanups daily or on weekdays / weekends by selecting the days and hours as required from this section. The server will perform automatic cleanup as per the schedule and delete old backups from the server.

Can I control network bandwidth during backup operations?

Yes, you can control network bandwidth between the IDrive BMR server and client machines during backup operations. Go to the 'Physical Machine' tab, click the 'Backup Settings' button and set 'Max local network backup speed' to the required speed. You can also schedule backups in the 'Schedule backup window' section.

The syntax to schedule the speed is:

Set the 'Max backup speed for local network' as '60;10@Mon-Fri/8-18', if you want the default speed limit of 60 MBit/s and 10 MBit/s during working hours i.e. Mon-Fri, 8am to 6pm.

What is the local backup speed that I can expect?

The max local backup speed is dependent on various factors such as the disk-read speed on the client machine, local network infrastructure, on-going simultaneous backups, and so on. Under ideal conditions, like with a good network infrastructure, you can expect a good speed of up to 850 MiB/s. However, in an average condition you can expect around 200 MiB/s.

You can also set the network bandwidth for backup operations via 'Backup Settings'.

What is global soft file system quota? How do I set it?

During cleanups, the server will look at the space used by the file system of backup folder. If the used space is higher than the global soft file system quota, the server will try to delete old backups till the used space is reduced to the specified quota.

You can specify the quota via a percentage of total space. For example, let the size of the backup device be 1 TB. If you set the global file system quota to 90%, the server will delete old backups when the used space reaches 900 GB.

Can I change the local backup settings for my client machines?

Yes, you can change the local backup settings for your client machines from the 'Backup Settings' section in the 'Physical Machines' tab. Also, you can apply separate settings to the created groups, which will be applicable to all the associated client machines.

To apply local backup settings,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and go to the 'Physical Machines' tab.
2. Click 'Backup Settings' button.
3. By default all client machines will be selected. You can also apply settings for the individual client machine. Select 'Clients' and choose the required client machine from the 'Choose your Clients' drop-down list.
4. To apply local backup settings for full and incremental image backup, change the following options in the respective tabs:
   1. Select backup category: Choose the appropriate option from the dropdown to modify global, client or group settings.
   2. Set backup interval: Set the desired interval between backups.
   3. Max backup speed: Specify bandwidth throttle by selecting 'Don't Limit' or 'Limit To' to set the local network usage during backup.
   4. Volumes: Set the volumes you wish to backup as 'All' or select 'Custom' and specify the volumes you want to backup'.

Note: Take care to specify the correct volumes for backup, especially when modifying global settings for backup. If volumes that do not exist are specified, the backup will fail.

1. 5. Backup retention settings: Use the slider to set the minimum and the maximum number of full/incremental image backups, the server should retain for a client.

6. Schedule backup window: Schedule your backups daily or on weekdays / weekends and set the time from this section. You can also select the 'Force a full image backup after every' option and specify the time.
7. Click 'Save & close'.

Note: You can also schedule local backup from the 'Schedule Backup' section under the 'Backup Settings' tab.

Is it possible to schedule local backup for my clients?

Yes, you can schedule local backup from the 'Schedule Backup' section under 'Backup Settings' from the 'Physical Machines'. Schedule backups daily or on weekdays/weekends or customize backups by selecting the days and hours as required from this section.

What is a group? How can I create a group?

A group is a collection of client machines organized together by the Admin. You can create up to 30 groups and one client machine cannot be added to more than one group. Additionally, you can apply local backup settings to the created group, which will be applicable to all the associated client machines.

To create a group,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and click 'Groups' on the 'Dashboard' tab.
2. Click 'Create Group'.

3. Enter the name of the group in the 'Group Name' field.
4. Select the client machines from the list displayed in the 'Choose host machines' section.

5. Click 'Create group'.

How can I add client machines to an existing group?

You can add up to 25 client machines to an existing group.

To add,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and click 'Groups' in the 'Dashboard' tab. The created groups appear in the 'Groups' tab.
2. Click in the required group section. The 'Manage User Groups' page appears.
3. Select client machines from the list displayed in the 'Choose host machines' section under the 'Add' tab.

4. Click 'Save'.

Can I perform backup of a group?

Yes, you can perform full or incremental image backup of the created groups. All your client machines associated with the group will be backed up in one go.

To perform full or incremental image backup,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and click 'Groups' in the 'Dashboard' tab. The created groups appear in the 'Groups' tab.
2. Click 'Backup Now' or 'Force Full Backup' in the required group to start the backup.

You can view the status of backups in the 'Activities' section.

How do I apply local backup settings to a group?

To apply local backup settings to a group,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and click 'Groups' in the 'Dashboard' tab. The created groups appear in the 'Groups' tab.
2. Click in the required group section. The backup settings page appears

3. Set the backup interval and Max backup speed. Choose the 'Backup retention settings' and schedule the backup.

4. Click 'Save'.

Is it possible to remove client machines from a group?

Yes, you can remove client machines from a group. Once the client machine is removed from a group, it will automatically adopt the global backup settings.

To remove client machines,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and click 'Groups' in the 'Dashboard' tab. The created groups appear in the 'Groups' tab.
2. Click in the required group section and go to the 'Remove' tab.
3. Select the client machines to be removed from the 'Choose host machines' section.

4. Click 'Remove'.

How do I delete a group?

To delete a group,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and click 'Groups' in the 'Dashboard' tab. The created groups appear in the 'Groups' tab.
2. Click in the required group section.
3. Click 'Yes' in the confirmation window.

Note: When you delete a group, the applied settings will be lost and all the client machines of that group will adopt global backup settings.

Can I receive notifications on backups?

Yes, you can receive notifications on the backup status for physical machines, virtual machines, and network shares.

To receive notifications on backups,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface.
2. Click 'Settings' on the menu bar.
3. Go to the 'Mail' tab.
4. Under 'Backup Report Notification' section, add the email address in the 'Send backup report(s) to' field

Is it possible to receive notifications on my BMR server health?

Yes, you can receive critical system-related alerts, health status of storage drives, status of various running services, etc. on your registered email address. You can change the registered email address from the 'Settings' tab.

To change the registered email address,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface.
2. Click 'Settings' on the menu bar.
3. Go to the 'Mail' tab.
4. Under the 'Server Alert Notification' section, click
5. Enter the new email address and click 'Save'.

You can also add additional email addresses to which the alerts need to be sent.

To add additional email addresses,

1. Go to the 'Server Alert Notification' section.
2. Enter the additional email addresses separated by a comma in the 'Additional Email' field and click to add.
3. Click 'Save'.

Can I view the activity logs of my BMR server?

Yes, you can view the activity logs of your BMR server. For user convenience, logs are divided into backup, group, IDrive Cloud, cloud seeding and restore logs.

To view activity logs,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and click 'Logs'.
   

   Under the 'Physical Machines' and 'VMware' tab, you can view backup, restore, and group logs. Under 'NAS' tab you can view share, backup, and restore logs. Go to the 'System' tab to view server activity logs.

2. Click on the required sign in the respective tabs to view detailed information.

Note: You can export the logs in CSV, Excel and PDF formats. Click 'Export' in the respective tabs and click the required format from the drop-down list to download the logs.

Why does the BMR server report 'Server rejected' for a client computer and does not backup that computer?

This issue occurs when there is more than one BMR server connected to the same Local Area Network (LAN). Because of security reasons, the agent software will allow only one server to identify it and select the client computer for backup. If the other server tries to identify the agent software and run a backup on a client computer, the process will fail and the server will report this message. However, you can contact the support team if you want to add this client computer to a particular BMR server within the same LAN.

Why does the agent software installer crash while installing on a Windows OS?

While installing agent software on Windows (mostly in Server 2008/Vista) OS, the installer may crash with an error as shown in the image below:

The agent software requires 'Universal CRT' dependency to run successfully. This may not be present on your restore computer if the operating system is not up-to-date. For more information about dependency, refer the knowledge base article on the Microsoft support site.

To resolve the issue,

1. Enable 'Automatic update' on your Windows OS where you want to run the agent software. This will ensure the OS is updated to the latest available Service Pack.
   

   Note: Wait until all available updates for your operating system are installed.

2. Go to 'Start' -> 'Control Panel' -> 'Programs & Features'.
3. Right-click on 'Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable..' and click 'Change'.
   

4. Click 'Repair' to run repair installation.
5. Reboot the computer.
6. To verify if the application is working fine, after reboot, go to 'Services' and check the status of 'IDrive client service for backups'. You will come across either of the following scenarios:
   1. If the status is displayed as 'Running', then the agent software is working fine.
   2. If the status is not displayed, then right-click the 'IDrive client service for backups' and click 'Start' to start the service manually. If the manual start also fails, contact BMR support for further assistance.

Can I force a full image backup?

The first image backup that is initiated on the BMR server is always a full image backup. If you try to force a full image backup the second time, although the BMR server displays full image backup in the UI (i.e. backup progress in a raw format), synthetic full backup is disabled automatically.

The server identifies this backup and initiates an incremental backup. Therefore, even if the user forces a full backup, in the back end, the client tray will display it as 'incremental image backup'.

How do I delete a client machine from the IDrive BMR server?

Before you delete a physical machine or ESXi host/vCenter server from the BMR server, we recommend you to uninstall the agent software from the machine and then remove it. If you remove the machine without uninstalling the agent software, the server will detect the agent and will add the respective client machine again to backup.

To remove a physical machine from the BMR server,

1. Sign in to the IDrive BMR server web interface. The list of client machines appear under the 'Clients' tab.
2. Perform any of the following operations:
   1. To remove multiple client machines, select the machines, click 'With Selected' and click 'Remove'.
   2. Click displayed against the computer name and select 'Remove' from the drop-down menu.
3. Click 'Ok' in the confirmation window.

Can I perform a manual cleanup?

Yes, you can initiate a manual cleanup to delete old files that are no longer needed.

To initiate manual cleanup,

1. Sign in to the BMR server and go to the 'Statistics' tab.
2. Under the 'Storage Volume Usage' section, select the cleanup type from the dropdown menu.
3. Click the 'Cleanup' button.

4. In the popup that appears click 'Confirm'.

Can I schedule a full image backup on the BMR server ?

Yes, you can schedule a full image backup for a time period specified by you on the BMR server. However, full image backup will take more time to complete and consume more storage space.

To schedule full image backup for your physical machines,

1. Sign in to the BMR server.
2. In the 'Physical Machines' tab, click the 'Backup Settings' button.
3. In the window that appears, select the 'Force a full image backup after every' option and choose the appropriate time period from the dropdown.

4. Click 'Save'.

Once this is completed, the full image backup will be initiated.

To schedule full image backup for your VMware servers,

1. Sign in to the BMR server.
2. Go to the 'VMware' tab, click.
3. In the window that appears, select the 'Force Full Image Backup' option and choose the appropriate time period from the dropdown.
4. Click 'Save'.

Your full image backup will be initiated.

How can I configure / update backup settings?

You can configure / update backup settings from the 'Dashboard' tab.

To modify global settings for physical machines,

1. Sign in to the BMR server.
2. Go to the 'Dashboard' tab and click the 'Backup Settings' button.
3. Select backup category from the dropdown.
4. Set the backup interval, max backup speed, and backup retention settings.
5. Schedule the backup by specifying the days and time.
6. Click 'Save'.

To modify client settings for physical machines,

1. Sign in to the BMR server.
2. Go to the 'Dashboard' tab and click the 'Backup Settings' button.

   Note: You will be notified if the client follows global settings.

3. To customize the client settings, click the 'Follow Customized Settings' button.
4. Select the backup interval, max backup speed, backup retention settings.
5. Schedule the backup by specifying the days and time.
6. Click 'Save'.

To modify group settings for physical machines,

1. Sign in to the BMR server.
2. Go to the 'Dashboard' tab and click the 'Backup Settings' button.
3. Select 'Modify group settings' from the dropdown.
4. Set the backup interval, max backup speed, and backup retention settings.
5. Schedule the backup by specifying the days and time.
6. Click 'Save'.