This article contains the information required to install SiteManager Platform, activate SiteBackup, and create scheduled backups.
Introduction
This document contains all the steps that you will need to start creating backups with Macrium SiteBackup.
- Ports used by SiteManager Platform
- Recommended System Configuration
- Installing SiteManager Platform
- Adding SiteBackup Agents
- Scheduling Backups with Macrium SiteBackup
- Definitions
- Schedules
- Repositories
- Active Backups
- Restoring with SiteBackup
Ports used by SiteManager Platform
|
Purpose |
Protocol/Port Number |
Traffic Direction |
|
Agent Communication Port |
51515 (Configurable) |
Incoming to server |
|
Web Interface Port |
2904 (Configurable) |
Incoming to server |
|
Remote Agent Installation |
445 - SMB (File and print) |
Outgoing from server |
|
Agent to Repository Traffic |
445 - SMB |
Outgoing from agent |
|
Active Directory Integration |
368/636 -LDAP (Configurable) |
Outgoing from server |
Recommended System Configuration
The Macrium SiteManager Platform server is light on resources, however, we acknowledge that a list of minimum system requirements can be helpful when configuring a test environment. Below are the recommended system requirements for Macrium SiteManager Platform, however, SiteManager Platform can run on specifications below those stated:
Memory - 2GB available to the SiteManager Platform server
Network - Gigabit network recommended
Storage Capacity - 20GB disk space available for server components
The Macrium Site Manager server requires Windows 7/Windows Server 2008R2 or above operating system.
Installing SiteManager Platform
For more detailed information about installing SiteManager Platform, see this article.
First, run the macrium_remote_mgnt_x64.exe on the system where Macrium Site Manager will be installed. Site Manager contains a web server, meaning that once it has been installed and configured, it can be accessed from other computers using a supported browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge).
You can specify additional components to install on the ‘Installation Options’ page:
Macrium Image Guardian will prevent third-party modification of protected images. This will prevent ransomware from encrypting Macrium backup files, and accidental or malicious deletion.
viBoot enables Macrium image files to be used to instantly boot a virtual machine. This enables near-instant failover when a backed-up computer experiences a disaster, and testing image files to ensure that they are bootable. viBoot requires Microsoft Hyper-V or VirtualBox running on a minimum of Windows 8.0 or Windows Server 2012 as the hypervisor for the virtual machine.
Once the installation has been completed, launch Macrium Site Manager locally on the computer where it was installed to complete the first-time setup wizard. The first page will display the product that will be enabled, select ‘Backup and Restore’:
On the next page, if you do not already have a SiteBackup Seat license, select ‘Start Trial’ to start a 30-day SiteBackup trial. Alternatively, if you already have a SiteBackup Seat license, select 'Add key' and enter the license when prompted. Finally, select ‘Next’ to continue with the wizard:
On the final page of the wizard, select the type of setup that will be performed. ‘Secure Setup’ is recommended for production environments, while ‘Simple Setup’ can be used for test environments.
Depending on the type of setup that was selected, you may be prompted to log in once the page has refreshed. You can log in with any Windows domain or local credentials:
Adding SiteBackup Agents
For more detailed information about adding SiteBackup Agents, see this article.
First, the computers that you want to manage should be added to SiteBackup. To do this, select the ‘Computers’ page from the left-hand navigation menu. Select ‘Add’ to open the ‘Add Computers’ wizard. There are several options here to add computers:
Once the computer has been added, it will be shown as ‘Disconnected’ since the SiteBackup Agent has not been installed. Select the computer(s) that were added, using the checkbox shown next to each computer, then select ‘Install Agent’.
As mentioned in the ‘Ports used by Site Manager’ section of this guide, the remote install will use Windows File and Print Sharing to copy the installer to the target computer. If this isn’t available, you can use the ‘More Actions’ dropdown menu, then ‘Manual Agent Installation’ to download the .msi files for the SiteBackup Agent installer to run on the target computer manually. When the installation has been completed, you will be prompted to enter the Site Manager server’s network details to establish the agent connection.
The computer will now show as ‘Connected’ in the central console.
The computer can be expanded to show additional information that we have collected from the agent computer:
This information can be used to filter between the computers in the ‘Tags’ menu on the left-hand side. Select ‘Configure’ at the top of this menu to create your own tags and groups, this will make it easier to view certain computers and create backups. In the example below I’ve created groups based on which office they are located in, you can implement these groups and tags however you want!
Scheduling Backups with Macrium SiteBackup
Now that you’ve added the computers that we want to manage, you can start creating backup schedules to make sure these computers are backed up automatically. There are three parts to scheduling a backup, working the way down the left-hand navigation menu:
Definitions
For more detailed information about creating definitions, see this article.
Definitions control which computers will be backed up, and which partitions are included from those computers.
To create a backup definition, first select the ‘Definitions’ tab, then select ‘New Definition’. In the window that opens, select the type of backup that you want to create, and the method that will be used to select the computers. There are two ways to select which computers will be included in the definition:
Select Computers - will present a list of all computers being managed by SiteBackup. The checkbox next to each computer can be used to include them in the definition.
Select Tags - enables you to select the user-created or pre-defined tags discussed above. All computers that are a member of this tag will be included in the definition. The tag membership will update dynamically in the future; if a new computer is added to a tag, it will be automatically included in future backups of the definition.
On the ‘Disk Selection Rules’ page, specify the partitions that you want to include in the definition. To ensure that this is scalable, disks and partitions are selected using rules. Two popular options can be selected using the radio buttons at the top of the page. If these are not suitable, you can specify additional include and exclude rules using the ‘Custom’ option:
The ‘Matching Partitions’ tab will show you exactly which computers and which partitions are included in this definition. If a partition is red, it is not included in the definition and will not be backed up when this definition is run; if a partition is green, it is included in the definition and will be backed up when this definition is run.
On the final page, you can specify additional options that will be applied when the backup runs. Select ‘Finish’ to create the definition. The definition will now be shown in the list of existing definitions; you can create as many definitions as you like:
Schedules
For more detailed information about creating schedules, see this article.
Schedules control when the backups are performed automatically. Schedules enable us to achieve our recovery point objectives (RPO) by ensuring that you have a recent backup that can be restored. To create schedules select the ‘Schedules’ tab on the left-hand navigation menu. The first time that you access this page, you will be prompted to ‘Create New Schedule’ where you can create a custom schedule; or ‘Create Default Schedules’ which will create a set of industry-standard schedule templates that can be modified to be a better fit for your environment. If you select ‘Create Default Schedules’, you can still create your own custom schedules at any time. Any existing schedules can be edited by selecting the schedule, then selecting ‘Edit’ in the top-right corner of the page:
To create new schedules select ‘New Schedule’ above the list of existing schedules. On the ‘Triggers’ page, you can specify the type of backup that you want to create and how often the backups will be created:
You can specify as many triggers as you like, enabling simple to complex schedules:
On the ‘Retention Rules’ page, specify how many backups (or how long) backups will be retained in the destination for each computer. This may depend on how much storage you have available and how far back you need to restore.
Tip: It is important to note that if a full backup is deleted, either manually or by retention rules, all appended backups (incremental and differential backups in the same backup set) will also be deleted.
On the final page of the wizard, you specify additional options for this schedule. Once you are happy with the schedule, select ‘Finish’.
Repositories
For more detailed information about creating repositories, see these articles.
Repositories are where the backup will be stored. Click ‘New Repository’, there are several types of repository that can be selected. Which repository you choose will largely depend on the infrastructure that is available.
Tip: Network share is the commonly chosen repository because it is a really flexible option and lets you use your existing storage infrastructure. Local repositories are local to the computer being backed up and will often provide the fastest restore times helping meet recovery time objectives (RTO), but they are not shared with the Site Manager so remote restores cannot be performed.
The second page of the wizard is used to specify where the repository is located, and credentials that will be used to access the repository. The exact steps will change depending on the type of repository that is being created:
On the final page of the wizard, you can specify some additional options for this repository. Once you are happy with the settings you have specified, select ‘Finish’. The repository will then be shown in the list of existing repositories. Selecting a repository will show more information about the repository, including disk usage, Macrium Image Guardian (MIG) status, recent changes to backups, and a forecast of backups that will be performed to this repository:
Active Backups
For more detailed information about the 'Active Backups' page, see these articles.
Finally, the ‘Active Backups’ tab will show a list of all the repositories that have been created and any activity that is associated with that repository. Select the relevant repository, then click ‘Scheduled Backup’:
In the window that opens, select the definition, what will be backed up, and the schedule, when the backups will be performed, then select ‘Finish’:
Your backups are now scheduled and will be performed when the schedule next triggers!
Restoring with SiteBackup
You now have disk images of the systems that you are managing with SiteBackup. This article does not cover restoring these images in the event of disaster, but the resources below can help further: