Configuration Management with Remote Deploy

Remote Deploy is a feature designed for configuration management on multiple computers. With Remote Deploy you can create, edit, and deploy configurations that are applied to selected computers, selected companies, or to all companies.

Configurations can include backup plans in case of common backup destinations presence for the companies configuration are to be applied to.

Before you Begin

The following is required to deploy configuration remotely:

  • Every target instance (the instance you intend to deploy the configuration to) must have a Backup Agent installed
  • Online Backup accounts for target computers must be added as users to your organization
  • An administrator can create or edit configurations applied to the companies to which this administrative account has access. If this administrative account has access to only a part of the companies to which the configuration is applied, this configuration will be available only as read-only

It is recommended to group computers (Online Backup accounts) in companies to simplify the deployment by using the same configuration. In this case, you can use the company backup destination for backup plans added to the configuration. In case you include more than one company in the configuration to which you are planning to add backup plans, make sure these companies have at least one shared backup destination you can use in these plans.

Manage Configurations

Remote Deploy is available in the Management Console, under RMM.

You can use grid view or switch to the tile-based dashboard.

Configuration Deployment Workflow

The basic workflow for configuration deployment is shown on the diagram below:

On the Remote Deploy under RMM you can create, edit, clone to re-use as a template, or delete the configurations. Also, you can import any configuration from one of the managed computers. By default, all configurations will be added in a disabled state. To deploy the configuration to the managed computers you will need to enable it. All enabled configurations will be automatically deployed to the selected computers. Online backup agents from the managed computers periodically request the applied configurations to deploy them. It may take up to 4 hours, depending on your environment. In case some settings or plans during deployment will conflict, the latest will be used.

Consider, on the computers where some plan is running at the moment the configuration is deployed, the start of the deployed plan will be postponed until the running plan will be completed.

If a computer has several connection issues at the time you have enabled new or updated configuration for selected computers, the configuration will not be deployed. After the connection issues have been resolved, you can forcibly apply the configuration for these computers to deploy the latest configuration.

Create New Configuration

To create a new configuration, proceed as follows:

  1. In the RMM menu, select Remote Deploy.
  2. Click Add Configuration. The New configuration pane appears. This pane helps you to create a configuration from scratch.
  3. Name the configuration.
  4. Select the operating system type or apply the configuration to all OS types. This setting is mandatory.

With the All types (Settings Only) option selected you can set configuration settings for all OS types, but no backup or restore plans can be configured under this configuration

  1. You should create different configurations depending on OS type to avoid issues related to format differences. Currently, image-based backup plans are supported only for Windows-based computers. Image-based plans are not currently supported for Linux and macOS-based computers

  2. Provide a short description of the configuration.

  3. On the Settings tab, specify configuration settings. You can protect configuration and CLI with a master password. You should enable the setting to edit it. The master password can only be set in case you set interface language. Consider, you have to enter this master password on every user's computer. Also, you can set the interface language, configure bandwidth for the local or cloud storages, and/or configure proxy settings, if necessary.

  4. On the Apply To tab you can set rules to apply the configuration to selected computers, selected companies, or to all companies. You may need to have multiple configurations for different computers.

    • To apply the configuration to all computers in specified companies select Apply to All Computers in Selected Companies. Click Add Companies to select companies from the list.

    For backup plans you should use one of the shared backup destinations. If there is no shared backup destination, you can only apply the configuration settings.

    • To apply the configuration to specified computers in selected company select computers from the list or add them with the Add computers button.

    For backup plans you can use the company backup destination.

    • To apply the configuration to all managed end-users select Apply to All Companies. In this case the configuration applies to all your end-users even in case these end users are not included in any company. By design, backup destinations for the end-users not included in any company will be assigned according to the following rules:
      • If an end-user have only one backup destination assigned, this backup destination will be selected for the backup plan even if the backup plan contains a different one
      • If an end-user have multiple backup destination assigned that do not match the backup destination from the backup plan, the backup destination will not be assigned and the following issue will be reported: Account is not specified

  5. Save your selection. You can edit your selection later.

  6. You can add the backup plan to be applied according to configuration settings on this step or save the configuration to add backup plans later.

  7. Click Create. Now you can see the configuration in the Remote Deploy grid. This configuration is created in disabled state. You should enable it to apply.

Edit Configuration

To change the configuration, on the Remote Deploy under RMM tab select the configuration and click Edit Configuration in the configuration menu

An administrator can edit a configuration only if this administrative account has access to all companies included in the configuration scope. In case this administrative account has access to some of the companies included in the configuration scope, this configuration is read-only. In case this administrative account does not have access to these companies, this configuration is not visible in the grid.

In case you are editing the configuration that is already enabled, it will be applied to all selected computers. All settings and plans will be overwritten in case of conflict and the latest will be used.

Add Backup Plan

To add a backup plan from scratch for one of your configurations, select the configuration and click Edit Configuration in the configuration menu On the Backup Plan tab, click + Add New Plan and select the type of plan you want to create from available options. Follow the wizard steps to create your plan. You can save the backup plan to the backup storage. In case you have enabled encryption, consider saving the encryption password in a safe place. You will have to specify the encryption password under restore. Refer to the following chapters for instructions on how to create backup plans:

All types (Settings Only)

You cannot add any backup plans to this configuration.

Windows

Linux

MacOS

Enable Configuration

To deploy the configuration you should enable it using the configuration menu.

On the Remote Deploy under RMM tab select the configuration and click Edit Configuration. Turn Enable the Configuration switch on.

When enabled configuration will be automatically applied to selected computers, selected companies, or to all companies as specified in the Apply to tab of the configuration menu. Consider, on the computers where some plan is running at the moment the configuration is enabled, the configuration deployment will be postponed until the plan run will be completed.

In case of a computer has several connection issues at the time you have set the default configuration for selected computers after the connection issues have been resolved, you can forcibly apply the configuration from the Management Console to be sure that those computers will have a default configuration too.

Note: if a configuration was not changed, it won't be re-applied. Workaround: you can make a minor change in the configuration to re-apply it.

Force Configuration Deployment

To forcible apply configurations for the selected computer:

  1. On the Remote Management under RMM select the computer and click the action button.
  2. Select Remote Deploy |Apply Configurations. All configurations that apply to this computer will be automatically applied. Online backup agents from the managed computers periodically request the applied configurations to deploy them. In case some settings or plans during deployment will conflict, the latest will be used.

Online backup agents from the managed computers periodically request the applied configurations to deploy them. In case some settings or plans during deployment will conflict, the latest will be used.

Clone Configuration

To clone the configuration select the Clone Configuration option in the configuration menu. You can then edit this configuration to change settings and add new plans, as necessary. Cloned configuration copy is disabled by default.

Import Configuration

You can import configuration from any of the managed computers to use it for all managed computers. This configuration will contain combined settings and plans that were on the selected computers at the moment you import the configuration.

To import configuration from a managed computer:

  1. On the Remote Deploy under RMM click Get Configuration button.
  2. Select the computer to get the configuration. Configuration from this computer appears on Remote Deploy under RMM in the list of configurations. This configuration will be named after the computer from which it has been imported. This configuration contains combined settings and plans that were on the selected computers at the moment you import the configuration. The imported configuration is disabled by default, you can edit it, as necessary, and then enable it to apply.

-OR- 4. On the Remote Management under RMM select the computer and click the action button. 2. Select Remote Deploy | Import Configuration. Configuration from this computer appears on Remote Deploy under RMM in the list of configurations. This configuration will be named after the computer from which it has been imported. This configuration contains combined settings and plans that were on the selected computers at the moment you import the configuration. The imported configuration is disabled by default, you can edit it, as necessary, and then enable it to apply.

Delete Configuration

To delete the configuration select the Delete Configuration option in the configuration menu and confirm this action. This cannot be undone.

Note: if a configuration has been removed, the plans that were already deployed to remote computers remain unchanged. To change these plans you will need to import the configuration from one of the users' computers, edit these plans, apply the configuration to the computers where these plans should be changed, and then enable this configuration.