- Adding Computers to SiteBackup
- Add Computers Attempting to Connect
- Installing the SiteBackup Agent
- Installing the SiteBackup Agent Remotely
- Installing the SiteBackup Agent Manually
- Adding Computers with Agents Preinstalled
Overview
Remote computers are viewed and managed on the 'Computers' page of SiteBackup. This page lists of all the computers that are being managed by SiteBackup:
Adding Computers to SiteBackup
To add computers to SiteBackup, select 'Add' on the top of the 'Computers' page:
This will open the 'Add Computers' wizard, displaying the several ways that computers can be add to SiteBackup:
- Add Computers Attempting to Connect
Add Domain Computers
SiteBackup can search Active Directory to find domain joined computers. To connect to Active Directory, users can choose a domain login provider or enter the connection details manually.
For a manual connection, enter the name of the domain controller and the credentials of a user authorized to perform searches, the domain field is used in domain forests where the domain of the user differs from the target domain. The connection will be verified before the next step of the wizard.
The tree view on the left side of the page can be used to navigate around the domain organizational units. Selecting an organizational unit will display the member computers in the table. The checkbox next to each system, or at the top of the column, can be used to select individual systems or all systems that are part of that organizational unit:
The final page of the wizard displays the computers that have been added to SiteBackup:
Add Network Computers
SiteBackup can search for computers on the network it is connected to. Users can then select computers from the search results to add to SiteBackup.
Add Computers Attempting to Connect
SiteBackup Agents that have been configured to communicate with a SiteBackup server will have already established the communication channel with the SiteBackup server. For security reasons, by default, the computer still needs to be added from the server side for SiteBackup to begin managing the computer. This behaviour can be configured on the 'Agents' page of the SiteManager Platform settings, read more about this here.
The 'Select Computers' page will display any computers that have been configured to communicate with the SiteBackup server. Users can select computers to be added to SiteBackup using the table on this page:
If there are no computers attempting to communicate with the SiteBackup server, this option will be disabled on the 'Add Method' page of the wizard.
Add Comptuers Manually
Computers can be added to SiteBackup manually if the user knows the NetBIOS, DNS name, or the IPv4 or IPv6 IP address of the target computer. DNS names and IP addresses will be resolved to a NetBIOS name by SiteBackup. Multiple computers can be added using a semicolon (;) separated list, whitespaces are ignored in this list:
The table on the 'Results' page shows the sucess of the name resolution. Agents with resolved NetBIOS names are added to SiteBackup. Unsuccessful IP address lookups will also be reported.
NetBIOS and DNS names are not checked to allow offline computers to be added.
Installing the SiteBackup Agent
Adding a computer to SiteBackup will add the computer in the 'Disconnected' state unless the computer already has the SiteBackup Agent installed and configured to connect to this SiteBackup server.
The SiteBackup Agent can be installed remotely on the 'Computers' page of SiteBackup or manually as discussed in this article.
Installing the SiteBackup Agent Remotely
If SiteBackup is on a domain or the appropriate steps have been followed, the agent software can be remotely installed on the client to be managed. See Troubleshooting Agent Communications for a detailed guide to network and firewall requirements for this process.
Installation Credentials
Administrator-level access to the computer is required to install an agent. If available, the credentials used to log in to SiteManager Platform will be used. If SiteManager Platform is configured to allow anonymous access, the installation process will prompt for credentials before attempting the installation.
Additional credentials may be configured on the 'Settings' page.
The checkbox next to each computer, or the top row of the table, can be used to select individual computers or all computers respectively:
Click 'Install Agent', the window that opens will display the systems where the remote install will be attempted. Select 'Confirm' to start the installation:
SiteBackup will then attempt to perform the remote installation for the selected computers:
Once each install has finished, the status will be displayed. If all the installations are successful, only the 'Done' button will be displayed. If the remote install fails, an error message will be displayed with an option to retry the failed installs:
This article contains further assistance troubleshooting failed SiteBackup Agent installs.
Installing the SiteBackup Agent Manually
If the SiteBackup Agent cannot be remotely installed on a target computer, the agent can be manually installed instead using MSI installer files downloaded from the 'Computers' page. This article contains more information about installing the SiteBackup Agent manually.
Adding Computers with Agents Preinstalled
When a SiteBackup Agent is installed, it is configured with the information required to access the SiteBackup server. This is provided automatically when the agent is installed via the SiteBackup 'Install Agent' function or manually if the agent has been installed via MSI installer file.
If the agent is properly configured, it will enter the 'Connected' state automatically when added to SiteBackup. If the agent has been configured with the incorrect details (or details for another SiteBackup server), the agent must be reconfigured by either reinstalling the agent via the 'Install Agent' function or running the Agent Configuration Tool on the agent itself.
If the SiteManager Platform has been configured with a different security passphrase than the one configured in the 'Security' page of the SiteManager Platform settings, it will enter the 'Unauthorized' state.
To fix this and manage the agent, you can set the correct passphrase on the agent using the Agent Configuration Tool, reinstall the agent (remotely or manually) which will reset the passphrase, or supply the old passphrase in SiteManager Platform settings. When this is done, SiteBackup will connect to the agent using the old passphrase and update the passphrase to the appropriate one for the current installation.
To set the passphrase, select the computers by checking the appropriate box in the computers list and press the 'Set Passphrase' button in the 'More Actions' dropdown. This will open the passphrase editing dialog:
To set a passphrase, check the 'Use custom passphrase' option and enter the passphrase in the box. Press 'Confirm' to apply the passphrase.
If the passphrase is correct, the computer will connect. If it is incorrect an error will be shown:
