Protect a System

Topic

This article describes the Protect a System wizard.

Environment

• Datto SIRIS
• Datto ALTO

Description

The Protect a System wizard allows you to pair one or more production systems with your Datto appliance for backup and disaster recovery protection. You can access the wizard from your Datto device's GUI.

NOTE  The workflows described in this article do not apply to the protection of external NAS shares. To back up a NAS share, see our Getting Started With NAS Guard article.

Prerequisites

Before pairing a new system, you will need to configure it for communication with the Datto appliance.

• For agent-based endpoints, follow the article that matches your protected machine's operating system:
  • Installing the Datto Windows Agent
  • Installing the Datto Linux Agent
• If you would like to learn how to back up a virtual machine without installing agent software, see our Getting started with agentless backups article.
• If you wish to protect a virtual machine that is running an operating system that you cannot back up using Datto's standard agent-based or agentless methods, follow the Universal VM Backup article.

Procedure

• Getting Started
• Select Backup Type
• Select System(s)
• Set Local Backups & Retention
• Set Offsite Replication
  • Devices on Cloud Replication Plans
  • Devices on SIRIS Private Plans
• Set Verification Schedule
• Set Email Notifications
• Save as Template
• Review & Confirm
• Next Steps
• Troubleshooting

Getting Started

1. To start the wizard, click the Protect tab in the Datto device UI.

2. If this is not the first agent on the device, you will see the Backup Agents page. Click the Add a New Agent button to continue. If this is the first agent on the device, it will open the Protect a System wizard directly.

   NOTE  If your device has reached its agent limit, you will not see the Add a New Agent button. For further information, see Agent limits on BCDR devices

Select Backup Type

3. You will see the Protect a System window. If you are adding an agent-based system, click Protect agent-based system.

   

   To pair an agentless system, see the Pairing a Target System for Agentless Backups article. For Universal VM Backups, follow the Universal VM Backup article.

Select System(s)

4. The Select System(s) screen will appear, and the wizard will prompt you for the following information:

   • Hostname or IP Address: Enter the address of the machine that you would like to protect. You can protect multiple systems by entering each IP address or hostname, separated by commas. Alternatively, you can use the Import multiple systems to back up option to import a list of IP addresses or hostnames from a file. The file must be in the Comma-separated values (CSV) format.

   • Agent Settings: This option allows you to use the backup settings from another system already paired with your Datto appliance. Alternatively, you can use the configuration from a template or another agent. For more information about templates, see our Cloud Agent Templates article.

     NOTE  Templates are unavailable for SIRIS Private replicated snapshots.

     • If you wish to use pre-existing settings, select Use template or another agent. Then, from the Existing template or agent dropdown, choose the protected system or cloud template from which to copy agent settings.

     • If you do not wish to copy settings, select Use new settings. You will be prompted to enter settings in the Agent Creation stage of the process.

   • Encryption This option allows you to encrypt the backups for the new agent. If you choose the Encryption Backup option, you will be prompted to create a decryption passphrase for the agent. See How to Encrypt Backups for important information about encrypting backups on a Datto appliance.

     • Encrypted agent backups are not compressed and so may take up more space.
     • Restores of encrypted agents can take longer than non-encrypted agents.

     NOTE  If you are protecting multiple systems, the settings you choose in this stage and during the Agent Creation stage will apply to all agents you have selected.

5. When you finish configuring settings, click Next. The Datto appliance will pair itself with the protected systems you selected.

Set Local Backups & Retention

6. When the Local Backup screen appears, use the dropdowns in the Set the interval and schedule for local backups fields to configure backup schedules for all machines protected by your Datto appliance.

7. If you would like your protected systems to back up on weekends, check the box next to the Create Saturday and Sunday backups field, and select a weekend backup schedule for the agents.

8. Use the Set the retention for local backups option to configure the retention policy for this agent. See Understanding the Retention Process for an overview of how retention works on a Datto appliance.

9. When you finish configuring settings, click Next to continue.

Set Offsite Replication

10. Next, you'll have the opportunity to configure the frequency with which your Datto appliance replicates backups to the Datto Cloud. The following steps depend on the type of service plan that you purchased for your appliance. Select a service plan type to continue:

Set Verification Schedule

11. Configure the screenshot verification schedule, and click Next.

    NOTE   The default screenshot schedule setting is All Offsite Points; do not use this option if your Datto appliance does not replicate to a Datto Cloud server or a target SIRIS.

    NOTE  Screenshot verification is not available for Universal VM Backup.

Set Email Notifications

12. Configure your email notification preferences for the protected system(s). See Configuring Alert, Warning, And Log Digest Emails On A Datto Appliance for more information about this feature.

Save as Template

13. If you did not configure the agent from a template in the Select System(s) section of this article, you will have the option to save the agent's configuration as a cloud template for later use. Select Yes or No.

    • If you select Yes, you will be prompted to give the template a name.
    • Enter a name that is descriptive and easy to remember.

14. Click Next to proceed.

Review & Confirm

15. Your Datto appliance will display a summary of the configurations you requested. Click Finish to commit the changes.

16. You will be redirected to the pairing status page. As the wizard pairs each system, it will report the outcome of the pairing attempt in the Status field. Once pairing completes, you can select Return to Agent Overview to return to the Protect tab of your Datto appliance's GUI, where you will see entries for the newly-added agents, or you can select Pair Additional Systems to protect additional production machines with your Datto appliance.