Requirements
Before you can begin to automate installs of your branded backup client, a few things are required:
1. You will need a downloaded copy of your branded "myBrand_installer.exe" installer, and make it accessible to your RMM.
2. You need admin-level RMM access to the target computer, including the ability to push files to it, and to run those files as Administrator (local or domain should work).
3. The target computers need .NET 4.5.2 or newer installed on them. This is not something that can be automated through our software and is required for the software to install and run properly on the target computer.
Install Script Setup
Prior to pushing the silent install to the target computer, you will need to configure your RMM to create the silent install scripts. At the very base, the install script will run this:
myBrand_installer.exe /SP- /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /WPUSH /WACCOUNT "account_name" /WPASS "password"
Regarding the backup client's account name and password, you can register multiple computers under the same account name, and the backup software will keep track of the different computers based on their "COMPUTER@DOMAIN" names. Additionally, account names can't contain special characters or spaces, though you can use an underscore in the account name. You should not register two computers with the exact same name to the same backup account (e.g. two "Server" named computers at two different locations), as the software will not differentiate between them making restores difficult.
From there, you can include additional optional parameters:
/WFIRST "first name"
/WLAST "last name"
/WORG "organization name"
/WPHONE "(800) 555-1212 x123"
/WEMAIL "me@domain.com"
If /WFIRST is not supplied then it will default to "silent". This is the end user’s first name.
If /WLAST is not supplied then it will default to "silent" This is the end user’s last name.
If /WORG is not supplied then it will default to "silent". This is the end user’s organization.
If /WPHONE is not supplied then it will default to "silent". This is the end user’s phone number.
If /WEMAIL is not supplied then it will default to "silent". This is the end user’s email and its used for sending No-Data and No-Connection alerts so we suggest you specify it.
Here is an example of a script:
myBrand_installer.exe /SP- /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /WPUSH /WACCOUNT "VeryImpCinc" /WPASS "foo1Bar2s" /WORG "Very Important Customer, Inc."
Pushing and Installing
Once your RMM is creating the silent install scripts, the next step is to have it push the install script and installer executable to the same folder on the target computer, and run the install script. The backup client will be installed using the parameters given to it, and will install with the default settings and selections. For the backup selections, this will default to the "C:\Users\" folder, unless you have built your branded installer to use a custom selections file. Unique to silent installations, the backup client will default to Continuous backup mode, and should start a backup three hours after the time of installation.
Making initial Settings changes
Due to being in Continuous backup mode, the backup clients should connect for backup three hours after they are installed. Once they do this, you are then able to make settings changes from the BackupOps web console, Transfers page. Changes made from here will be picked up the subsequent backup, and it will begin using those settings immediately (though it will not interrupt a running backup).
In case you do not want to wait for this initial Continuous backup to push settings changes to the backup client, you can instead push settings changes via command line to the backup clients. The command to change the settings is:
myBrand.exe -settings "setting" "value"
Almost every setting in the backup client can be edited this way; the full list of .INI file settings and their valid values can be found in this .INI Settings article. Here are some noteworthy settings:
General:
doremote - Defaults to 1 (on), enables backup to your remote vault
dolocal - Defaults to 0 (off), enables backup to specified local destination
vault - Defaults to "\\?\C:\Program Files\myBrand\vault", destination for local backup
rigoroussync - Defaults to 0 (off), enables extra vault validation
Schedule:
schedule - 0 = Continuous, 1 = Mon-Fri only, 2 = Sat-Sun only, 3 = Daily
monfri - Start time for weekdays in 24-hr time. NOTE: uses a period, not a colon!
satsun - Start time for weekends in 24-hr time. NOTE: uses a period, not a colon!
delay - Defaults to 180; in Continuous mode, the time in minutes between backups.
fileage - Defaults to 4; in Continuous mode, the time in hours between backing up the same file again.
These can either be run individually, or you can create another script file that calls multiple settings changes in sequence. If you do set up a second script to do this and automate this process, you should make sure the initial silent install script has completed prior to running this "settings" script. The script itself should be pushed into the backup client's install folder, so it is in the same folder as the backup client engine.
Making initial Selections changes
Similar to making the initial settings changes, one option for this is to wait for the initial Continuous mode backup to begin after the silent install completes to make changes to the backup client's selections.
If you want to change them prior to this, and you have a few standard folders you will want to select on different types of systems, you can have some saved "default" .SEL selections files that match the folder selections for the different types of systems. For example, our default selection of the "C:\Users\" folder is often all that is needed on workstations where people save everything to their Documents and Desktop folders.
Here is a link to our documentation on .SEL syntax, which is a good starting location on preparing some initial default .SEL files.
In addition to making file/folder selections and exclusions, you can also edit and extend the default Regular Expressions exclusion filters. These are pattern-matching exclusions and can exclude based on file extension, full file name, and folder name. Currently these default to:
- <.*((\.((TMP)|(TEMP)|(LCK)|(LOCK)|(IPD)))|((Thumbs\.db)|(pagefile\.sys)|(hiberfil\.sys)|(ntuser\.dat)|(ntuser\.dat\.log)|(UsrClass\.dat)|(UsrClass\.dat\.log)))$>
- <.*((\\\.Trash)|(\\\.Trashes)|(\$Recycle\.Bin)|(\\RECYCLER)|(\\Time Machine Backup)|(\\Temp)|(\\Temporary Internet Files)|(\\System Volume Information)|(security.config.cch)|(\\MountPointManagerRemoteDatabase))((\\.*)|$)>
If for example, you wanted to exclude all .OST and .PST files from the backups, you would expand the first part of the first line (bolded section):
- <.*((\.((TMP)|(TEMP)|(LCK)|(LOCK)|(IPD)|(OST)|(PST)))|((Thumbs\.db)|(pagefile\.sys)|(hiberfil\.sys)|(ntuser\.dat)|(ntuser\.dat\.log)|(UsrClass\.dat)|(UsrClass\.dat\.log)))$>
- <.*((\\\.Trash)|(\\\.Trashes)|(\$Recycle\.Bin)|(\\RECYCLER)|(\\Time Machine Backup)|(\\Temp)|(\\Temporary Internet Files)|(\\System Volume Information)|(security.config.cch)|(\\MountPointManagerRemoteDatabase))((\\.*)|$)>
This is something we are happy to assist with.