See also Ahsay Licensing

See also Ahsay Backup with Multiple Machines per Account

See also Ahsay Disaster Recovery

http://download.ahsay.com/sales/notice_20120921.pdf

http://download.ahsay.com/sales/ASC_OEM_On-Site_Edition.pdf

Web Interface → Manage Log → Backup Job

Web Interface → Manage System → Software License

Upgrade Guide: http://pedia.ahsay.com/display/2/kb/article.aspx?aid=2686

If you are using RDR, upgrade that first.

# Declare locations
OBS_HOME=/opt/obs; export OBS_HOME
OBS_HOME_BAK=/opt/obs.bak; export OBS_HOME_BAK

# Stop services
/etc/init.d/obsr stop

#Create backup less user data - you should back it up too if you can
tar -czvf /root/obs_backup.tgz --exclude="/opt/obs/user/*" /opt/obs

# Uninstall the old version leaving data and configuration intact
sh $OBS_HOME/bin/uninstall.sh

# Delete old folder if it exists and rename $OBS_HOME to $OBS_HOME_BAK
rm -rf $OBS_HOME_BAK
mv $OBS_HOME $OBS_HOME_BAK
mkdir $OBS_HOME

# Move into $OBS_HOME, download the latest version and extract it
cd $OBS_HOME
wget http://www.ahsay.com/download/customer/software/obs/current/obsr-nix.tar.gz
tar -xzvf obsr-nix.tar.gz

# Copy original files into the upgrade installation
/bin/cp -avr $OBS_HOME_BAK/conf/*.xml $OBS_HOME/conf/
/bin/cp -avr $OBS_HOME_BAK/logs $OBS_HOME/
mv $OBS_HOME_BAK/user $OBS_HOME/
/bin/cp -avr $OBS_HOME_BAK/system $OBS_HOME/
mv $OBS_HOME_BAK/rps-system $OBS_HOME/
mv $OBS_HOME_BAK/rcvshome $OBS_HOME/

sh $OBS_HOME/bin/install.sh

Finally, logon to the AhsayOBS Web Management Console and press the Update button here:

Manage System → Software License → Update

Note that these upgrade instructions do not include handling customizations such as branding.

Note that AUA must be reenabled after an upgrade.

After upgrading to the latest version, check the Release Notes to see if there are any hotfixes you need to appy:

http://www.ahsay.com/download/customer/document/aobs-release-notes.htm

# Declare locations
OBS_HOME=/opt/obs; export OBS_HOME

# Stop services
/etc/init.d/obsr stop

# Install patch/hotfix
cd $OBS_HOME
wget http://download.ahsay.com/support/hot-fixes/6/obsr-nix-hotfix.zip
unzip obsr-nix-hotfix.zip    #overwrite all files
rm obsr-nix-hotfix.zip

# Restart services
/etc/init.d/obsr start

https://help.ahsay.com/display/2/kb/article.aspx?aid=2593

The Upgrade Guide has notes on updating the AUA configuration.

https://help.ahsay.com/display/2/kb/article.aspx?aid=2375&n=1&docid=73123

http://forum.ahsay.com/viewtopic.php?t=4914

http://forum.ahsay.com/viewtopic.php?t=6004

The upgrade files supplied by the standard OBSR installation package contain non-customized files. See this FAQ for customization details.

Enable AUA:

OBS_HOME=/opt/obs; export OBS_HOME
cd $OBS_HOME
mv webapps/obs/liveUpdate/index.xml.disable webapps/obs/liveUpdate/index.xml

Customize AUA:

vim webapps/obs/liveUpdate/index.xml

You can kick off the update on the client by restarting the AUA service.

• Use separate disks
  • OS
  • OBS System
  • OBS User Homes
    • Divide users over multiple User Homes
• Mount filesystems with noatime option

http://www.ahsay.com/jsp/en/home/index.jsp?pageContentKey=ahsay_downloads_latest-software_download-ahsayobs-ahsayrps

http://pedia.ahsay.com/article.aspx?article=1786&p=16

During the installation, you might use manual partitioning like:

yum update -y
reboot

yum -y install wget vim-enhanced ntp acpid

See Static IP Address.

Verify the hostname and IP address are set in /etc/sysconfig/network and in /etc/hosts.

Linux Timekeeping

chkconfig ntpd on
service ntpd start

Set selinux to Permissive mode and set the system to relabel on the next reboot:

vim /etc/selinux/config

SELINUX=permissive

echo 0 >/selinux/enforce
touch /.autorelabel
sestatus -v

cat >> ~/.bash_profile << EOF

alias ll='ls -l'
alias la='ls -A'
alias l='ls -CF'
alias ls="BLOCK_SIZE=\'1 ls --color=auto"
alias free="free -m"
export GREP_OPTIONS='--color=auto'
PS1='\[\033[00;36m\]\u\[\033[00m\]@\h:\[\033[05;33m\]\w\[\033[00m\] \$ '
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups
EOF

Expose only TCP port 80 and 443 (Ahsay) plus UDP 123 (NTP) to the public.

The built-in CentOS firewall only allows port 22 (SSH) by default and blocks all other traffic.

iptables -I INPUT 3 -p udp --dport 123 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT 3 -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT 3 -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT

/sbin/service iptables save
iptables --line-numbers -nL

If your backup server has an interface directly connected to the Internet, you should consider Arno's Firewall.

Disable the built-in firewall:

service iptables stop
service ip6tables stop
chkconfig iptables off
chkconfig ip6tables off

Arno's Firewall

I don't remember what these very important notes were for:

NAT_LOCAL_REDIRECT=1
NAT_FORWARD_TCP="80>209.104.9.38~9080 443>209.104.9.38~9443"

wget http://www.ahsay.com/download/customer/software/obs/current/obsr-nix.tar.gz
OBS_HOME=/opt/obs; export OBS_HOME
mkdir $OBS_HOME
mv obsr-nix.tar.gz $OBS_HOME
cd $OBS_HOME
tar -xzvf obsr-nix.tar.gz
sh $OBS_HOME/bin/install.sh

Login to the new backup server using a web browser. Use a fully qualified domain name, an IP address won't work. That means you must have DNS configured or have a 'hosts' file entry for the FQDN to resolve properly.

The default username/password is system/system - change them to 'admin' and your own password:

Manage System → Server Configuration → Login Name

Depending on how you partitioned the drive when you installed the OS, you may need to add a new logical volume for OBS to use. Ideally, the OBS 'homes' will be separate from the host OS so if a disk is filled, the server won't crash.

Assuming the entire installation disk was used as a LVM PV (physical volume), this command will use the rest of it to create a new LV (logical volume) for OBS 'homes':

lvcreate -n lv_obs_homes -l 100%FREE vg_backup

mkfs.ext3 /dev/vg_backup/lv_obs_homes

Edit /etc/fstab and add add a line to mount the new LV with the 'noatime' option:

vi /etc/fstab

/dev/mapper/vg_backup-lv_obs_homes    /mnt/obs_homes       ext3    defaults,noatime    0 0

mkdir /mnt/obs_homes/{system,user}

Manage System → Server Configuration → System Home

• /mnt/obs_homes/system

Manage System → Server Configuration → User Homes

• /mnt/obs_homes/user

rsync -av /usr/local/obs/system root@192.168.1.6:/opt/obs/

rsync -av /usr/local/obs/user root@192.168.1.6:/opt/obs/

https://help.ahsay.com/display/2/kb/article.aspx?aid=2437&n=1&docid=67930

Install a new disk drive, then create one large partition and format it:

fdisk /dev/sdb

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb1

You want to mount the new space using the disk's UUID as a best practice. Run this command after the format has finished to determine the UUID:

blkid

Edit /etc/fstab to mount the new partition with the 'noatime' option.

vi /etc/fstab

# additional storage for OBS
/dev/mapper/vg_backup-lv_obs_homes           /mnt/obs_homes         ext3    defaults,noatime    0 0
UUID=40a09cc6-47d7-4061-b93b-a30d45659075    /mnt/obs_homes_2       ext3    defaults,noatime    0 0
UUID=299dc4c1-0652-47d3-bbe5-bcf1788647d0    /mnt/obs_homes_3       ext3    defaults,noatime    0 0

mount -a
mount

Then you can assign the new space for user homes in the web interface:

Manage System → Server Configuration → User Homes

• /mnt/obs_homes_2
• /mnt/obs_homes_3

http://forum.ahsay.com/viewtopic.php?t=5746

Remember to choose HTTPS for SSL encryption of communications between backup client and backup server.

http://eval.ahsay.com/obs/jsp/user/wizard/install/index.jsp?os=unix.jsp

http://peakbackup.blogspot.com/2008/01/here-are-some-nice-to-knows-about.html

http://forum.ahsay.com/viewtopic.php?t=2736

Log into machine to be backed up giving yourself web management access in the process:

ssh -X -l root hostname.example.com

If you see an error in forwarding X11, it should go away after the next step. This is important to be able to run the GUI interface (below). You will have to log out, then back in for X11 (graphics) forwarding to work properly.

Install necessary libraries for a headless Linux server as client:

yum install libXi libXp libXtst Xvfb xorg-x11-xauth

Install OBM:

cd ~
wget http://obs1.sonoracomm.com/obs/download/obm-nix.tar.gz
mkdir /usr/local/obm
cd /usr/local/obm
tar -xzvf ~/obm-nix.tar.gz

./bin/install.sh >install.log
cat install.log				# look for errors
ps -ef | grep obm
chkconfig --list |grep obm

For all Linux/Unix backup jobs, it is suggested to verify the Temporary Directory and to exclude it from being backed up.

http://wiki.contribs.org/X11_Forwarding_on_SME

On 64-bit SME 8 servers, you might have to install the requisites with this command:

yum install libXi libXp libXtst Xvfb xorg-x11-xauth --enablerepo=base --enablerepo=updates

You will need to enable X forwarding:

mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/ssh/sshd_config/
cd /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/ssh/sshd_config/
echo X11Forwarding yes > 50X11Forwarding
echo X11UseLocalhost yes > 50X11UseLocalhost
expand-template /etc/ssh/sshd_config
/etc/init.d/sshd restart

On SME Servers, which use runlevel 7, you must also enable automatic startup with these two commands:

ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/obmaua /etc/rc7.d/S99obmaua
ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/obmscheduler /etc/rc7.d/S99obmscheduler

You also need to run these pre and post backup commands in order to back up the MySQL databases properly:

Use the GUI method if you can, but don't fight it.

Use the Text Console method if you can't use the GUI (Configurator.sh)

Use the Web Console method only if you have to.

Be sure to edit the backup sets afterwards in the web interface to verify these settings:

• Backup sources as appropriate
• Backup schedule as appropriate
• Run scheduled backup on computers named field must have a hostname
• Retention period set to 90 days
• Compression type normal
• Local copy (L1 backup) on or off
  • Local copy has separate retention settings
  • Use a separate backup job if L1 captures more files
• Pre and post scripts
  • Dump MySQL maybe

This also works on headless Linux backup client servers with the prerequisite packages (listed above) installed.

Assuming you forwarded X in the SSH command line (-X) when you connected to the Linux backup client machine, we start the GUI interface like this:

sh /usr/local/obm/bin/RunOBC.sh

If you get errors with X11 forwarding:

• Make sure the requisite packages listed above are installed on the headless host.
• Make sure the SSH daemon on the headless host to be backed up has X11 Forwarding enabled
• Restart the SSH daemon if a change was made

vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

X11Forwarding yes

service sshd restart

We start the text interface like this:

sh /usr/local/obm/bin/Configurator.sh

You can run a previously created job like this:

sh /usr/local/obm/bin/RunBackupSet.sh "BACKUP_SET_NAME"

You can create a backup account and backup job using the web interface, but it's easier and more common to use the client software on the backup client machine.

You may want to enable the Trial feature of your OBS. This makes it very easy to create new accounts and backup jobs all from the client machines.

http://eval.ahsay.com/obs/jsp/user/wizard/install/index.jsp?os=windows.jsp

Download from http://obs1.sonoracomm.com

1. Weekly System State Backup → Microsoft Windows System Backup
2. Nightly MSSQL Backup → MS Exchange Server Backup
3. Nightly Files Backup → File Backup

C:\Documents and Settings
C:\Program Files\CYMA
C:\Program Files\QuickPen
C:\Users

https://help.ahsay.com/openArticle.aspx?aid=2459&p=16

http://partners.ahsay.com/

• Turn off circular logging
• Do full backups on MS Exchange

https://help.ahsay.com/openArticle.aspx?aid=2632&p=16

https://help.ahsay.com/openArticle.aspx?aid=2709&p=16

1. Stop OBSR
2. Move the user to the new User Home
3. Restart OBSR

service obsr stop

mv /opt/obs/user/[username] /mnt/obs_homes_1/

service obsr start

Moving to a different server is slightly different.

1. Stop OBSR on original server
2. Move the user to a temporary folder
3. Restart OBSR on original server
4. Stop OBSR on new server
5. Rsync (copy) the user folder to the new server
6. Start OBSR on new server
7. Delete temporary folder

https://help.ahsay.com/openArticle.aspx?aid=2311&p=16

http://forum.ahsay.com/viewtopic.php?t=4410

http://forum.ahsay.com/viewtopic.php?p=22911

You may see in Task Manager a process CDPService.exe which may use a lot of memory and CPU. For clients not using CDP, disable that service like this:

sc config "OBCDPService" start= disabled & net stop OBCDPService

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190190.aspx

Microsoft System databases such as 'master', 'msdb' and 'model' must remain set to the SIMPLE recovery model. Therefore, you can only do Full backups on these databases reliably (no Transaction Log backups).

For other databases, particularly larger databases, you can also use Transaction Log backups. Set the recovery mode of each database to FULL (not SIMPLE) with the OBM client. Right-click on the database name in Sources to change.

See Microsoft SQL Server Backup.

Use a pre-backup script to close Outlook. This is probably very useful with Terminal Servers.

https://help.ahsay.com/openArticle.aspx?aid=2556&p=16

If you see something like:

The writer vetoed the shadow copy creation process during the backup preparation state.
(VSS_WS_FAILED_AT_PREPARE_BACKUP)

See: https://help.ahsay.com/openArticle.aspx?aid=2863

http://www.altaro.com/blog/sbs-2011-backups-failing-vss-error-0x800423f3-event-id-8230-spfarm-spsearch/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa579094%28v=exchg.140%29.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb331968%28EXCHG.80%29.aspx