Guide to installing your Self-Hosted WholesaleBackup Server to host backup data

Just a few quick steps to get started with your free trial

It only takes a few minutes to install and test a WholesaleBackup Server.

Check System Requirements here.

Step 1: Download Server Installer File

Click here to DOWNLOAD SERVER INSTALLER file

Next, run the setup as a user with Administrative privileges.

After completing the simple install wizard a GUI will pop up, which you’ll use to install the service, register it with us, configure settings, and verify everything is working.

Step 2: Register server

As the last step of the wizard, you need to register the software.  Simply fill in your contact information, making sure it is all correct, and click on the Register button to activate the software.

Step 3: Install service

The “Install Service” tab is where you install the actual WholesaleBackup Windows service.  You’ll need to provide a Windows account/password with Domain Administrator (or Administrator) privileges.  You’ll also need to provide an inbound TCP port to listen for backup/restore/registration requests.

 You will also need to configure your external firewall to forward TCP traffic on the registration port you specified when you created a white label WholesaleBackup client to the port you specify here on this server (they can be the same port or different ones, it’s up to you).

At the bottom of this form, you should specify where you want your client's backup data to be stored, which can be on a local disk or a network share.  You can manually specify the location in the text input control or click on the button to the right [...] and interactively select the location.

The above screen capture shows that the registration service will run as Administrator, listen on TCP port 443, and all user's data will be stored in C:\Program Files\WholesaleBackup\userdata. TCP port 443 is the default HTTPS port, so if you have a web server such as IIS running on this server, you would need to choose a different port number for the Registration Software.  The “Check Port” button is a simple way to see if a given port is currently in use on this server.

 Please note that the user you specify on this form (which the backup service is run as) must have read/write/delete privileges to the contents of this folder.

 After the service is installed a generic 'self-signed' SSL certificate named WSBU.pem, which is valid until 2028, will be created in the installation folder.  Before deploying your server, you can replace this default certificate with a signed SSL certificate appropriate for your FQDN and then restart the service. Installing your own custom SSL certificate is optional and documented here.

Step 4: Verifying access

On the “Verify Access” tab you will test FQDNs, Dynamic DNS addresses, IP addresses, firewalls, and TCP access to WholesaleBackup Server from the Internet.  Simply fill in the fields and click the “Perform…” button.  If the tests succeed you will be taken to the final step in the installation process.  If the test fails you will be provided with information on what went wrong (for example your firewall is not forwarding TCP traffic back to this server or the FQDN does not resolve on the Internet).

You can verify your server is running and accessible at any time from a web browser by visiting your FQDN on the public TCP port you forward to the server, using HTTPS and a special URL.  For example, in the example above, you would use the following URL: https://backup.2xdata.net:443/wsbutest which will return the current date/time and the version # of the WholesaleBackup Server software.  If you use server monitoring/alerting software, such as Nagios, you can use your URL to regularly test that your WholesaleBackup Server is reachable and running and alert you if it isn't.

Step 5: Configure where backup accounts should be kept

The software is installed and now ready to use, however, at a minimum, we strongly encourage you to go to the Settings->Local tab and double-check that you are happy with where metadata backups will be written to.  You may also wish to configure email alerts on the Settings & email tab.  These settings and more are covered later in this document.

Step 6: Create a custom branded client that connects to your backup server

Now create your custom white label software client installer using the white label build form located in the Backup Ops Web Console under the "Brands" tab, and start deploying branded backup accounts!

Click here if you need to REGISTER an account

Click here to SIGN-IN if you have an account

Step 7: Download & install your new client

Download your new client from the link in the email that will be sent to you when the build process is complete, in addition, you can always download your client installer directly from the "Your Brands" page in the Web Console. View guide for installing and running the first backup.

Step 8: Monitor backups using the Server and the Web Console

You can use your WholesaleBackup Windows Backup Server to monitor and manage all of your accounts and backups.

Check out our guides for using the WholesaleBackup Server here:

• Monitoring accounts using the Dashboard
• Managing accounts using the Dashboard
• WholesaleBackup Server Guide

In addition, you can also use the cloud-based Backup Ops Web Console to build, monitor, manage and support all of your backup accounts and data. Just go to https://dash.backupops.com

Check out our guides for using the WholesaleBackup Web Console here:

• WholesaleBackup Web Console: Your Brands
• WholesaleBackup Web Console: Storage
• WholesaleBackup Web Console: Transfers
• WholesaleBackup Web Console: Users & Views (New Update)
• WholesaleBackup Web Console: Reports (New Update)