SA - Bimonthly Backup Review
This document provides an overview on how to review the status of SA endpoint backups
Bi-Monthly Review
- Set up a Google Sheet to do your review; there is an example in the CI team folder: Sample Google Sheet
- Copy/Paste the information from the backup report into your Google Sheet: http://sa-tsm-a1.salabs.wisc.edu/epreport/
- Add all of the BigFix endpoints to a tab where you can cross-reference against the existing backup nodes
- Not every endpoint that shows up in BigFix will have a backup node since most shared machines do not have them
- Identify any single-user machines where we might have missed setting up a backup node
- Identify any existing nodes that aren't backing up and try to find a way to get them backing up again
| Problem | Possible Reason | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Endpoint is active in BigFix but does not exist in Spectrum | Node was never created | Create the backup node on the server using the directions above and action out the Spectrum baseline in BigFix |
| Endpoint is active in BigFix but does not exist in Spectrum | Node was never created but Spectrum software was deployed | If the Spectrum baseline was pushed out without the node existing on the backup server it will break the Spectrum client as it will try to log into the backup server but there will be no node for it to log into; you will probably need to uninstall Spectrum on the endpoint and start over |
| Node exists in Spectrum but not BigFix | Endpoint was likely decommissioned | If the backup node hasn't been active for a long period of time and the endpoint no longer exists in BigFix it is probably safe to remove the endpoint from the backup server |
| Endpoint exists on both servers but hasn't backed up recently | The endpoint may not have been on long enough to back up but has reported into BigFix | Determine if it's a single user or shared machine. If it's a single user machine it could be an older machine that they still have but it isn't turned on much, if at all. If it's a shared machine like at Glass Lab, SLH, or WVDL it may not be on enough for it to complete a backup. Additionally, if a machine is ever re-imaged it will need to be recreated in Spectrum as the certificate thumbprint will change so even though the node name is the same the re-imaged device won't be able to log into it. |
| Node exists in Spectrum but shows no activity or backup data | Something may have been misconfigured when the node was created like the password being typed in wrong or something is broken with the client and it's not able to back up | In this case it's usually best to start over by removing the node from the server and recreating it. You can check installed applications in BigFix to see if the endpoint has the correct Spectrum software installed. If that looks correct you can recreate the node and see if it starts backing up. |
| Mac is not backing up, but has previously | Scheduler is not running and/or set to run automatically; this could happen if the backup software was installed manually |
There is a BigFix fixlet that is part of the deployment baseline named "DS - Config - IBM Spectrum/Storage Protect - Set As Startup Item - 8.1.21 (macOS)" that can be run to try to get the scheduler running again. |
Exemptions from Backups
- Shared machines are not usually good candidates for having a backup node since they aren't always on enough to get backed up and they aren't someone's primary machine. We can create nodes for these types of machines but in general it is OK to exclude them.
| Machine | Usage |
|---|---|
| SA-1TDJHL3 | Glass Lab Shared Laptop |
| SA-GXHZ903 | SLH Shared Laptop |
| SA-2413QL3 | BSL3 Computer |
| SA-4SDJHL3 | BSL3 Computer |
| SA-DRDJHL3 | BSL3 Computer |
| SA-2TDJHL3 | BSL3 Computer |
| SA-2GFDHG3 | Shared Machine |
| SA-3F6TRG3 | SLH Shared Laptop |
| DoIT-6DZ8ZM2 | Scott Buckingham |
| IRI-HT78ZM2 | Amy Kuehn Old Laptop |
| IRI-JJF8ZM2 | Tadashi Old Laptop |
| PAT-VM-B213 | Pat VM |
| SA-1T99Q04 | Control Works Laptop |
| SA-BOX-VM |
Collin VM |
| SA-GXHZ903 |
IRI Shared Desktop |
| SA-HYWGGX7F77 |
Collin Mac |
| SA-JW42XD3 |
Scott Buckingham |