Best Practices

Table of Contents

Blocking

Blocking a user works exactly as deactivating a user and should be treated as a destructive operation.

Information

When you block a user:

• All the user's computers are deactivated. See Deactivate Computer.

• The user's available backup destinations for all computers are completely removed.

• The user is no longer allowed to:
      • Log into existing computers
      • Add new computers
      • Log in via the web console to perform web restores

How To Block a User

1. Search for the user you'd like to block.

2. From the navigation menu, click Block User.

How To Unblock a User

1. Search for the user you'd like to block.

2. From the navigation menu, click Unblock User.

3. If you'd like to additionally reactivate the user's computers, see How To Reactivate a Computer.

Deactivate Computer

Deactivate a computer when a computer is reassigned, decommissioned, lost or stolen.

Information

Deactivating a computer results in the following:

• Computer is instructed to permanently disconnect from PRO Server and stops backing up.
If the computer is not connected at time of deactivation, the computer receives the disconnect instruction immediately upon reconnection.

• UTBackup (CrashPlan) desktop displays the Login screen.

• Backup archives stored on UTBackup Server destinations are removed based on the UTBackup Server's data retention settings.

• Backup archives stored on UTBackup Client or local folder destinations are removed immediately.

• The UTBackup Client seat license is freed for use elsewhere.

How To Deactivate a Computer

1. Click the Organizations tab.

2. Click the user whose computer you want to deactivate.

3. On the user's page, click the computer that you want to deactivate.

4. From the navigation menu, click Deactivate Computer.

5. Click OK in the message box to confirm that you want to deactivate this user's computer.

How to Reactivate a Computer from the UTBackup PRO Server

1. Click the Organizations tab.

2. Click the user whose computer you want to reactivate.

3. With the user's page displayed, from the navigation menu, click Show Deactivated Computers.

4. Click the computer that you want to reactivate.

5. From the navigation menu, click Activate Computer.

6. Click the User check box under Backup Destinations to re-enable backup.

7. Click Save.

How to Reactivate a Computer from the UTBackup (CrashPlan) Desktop

1. Launch the UTBackup (CrashPlan) desktop

2. Select Existing Account

3. Enter the user's credenials and log in

Tip

In order to reactivate a computer from the UTBackup (CrashPlan) desktop, the user must be active.

Deactivate Org

Deactivate an org to remove an org you are no longer using. When you deactivate an org, all active users and computers within the org are also deactivated. See Deactivate User and Deactivate Computer.

Deactivate User

Use the Deactivate User option to remove a user's access to UTBackup globally (for example, when an employee has left the company).

Information

When you deactivate a user:

• All the user's computers are deactivated. See Deactivate Computer.

• The user's available backup destinations for all computers are completely removed.

• The user is no longer allowed to:
• Log into existing computers

• Add new computers

• Log in via the web console to perform web restores

How To Deactivate a User

1. Click the Organizations tab.

2. Click the user you want to deactivate.

3. From the navigation menu, click Deactivate User.

4. Confirm that you'd like to move forward with deactivation.

How To Reactivate a User

1. Search for the user you'd like to reactivate.

2. From the navigation menu, click Reactivate User.

3. If you'd like to additionally reactivate the user's computers, see How To Reactivate a Computer.

Moving a User

User accounts can be easily moved between organizations within a parent/ child org hierarchy.

Information

Moving a user results in the following:

• Computers associated with the user account will follow the user and inherit any custom settings on top of their previous org's settings.

• If default settings are left in place on each org there should be no change when the user is moved.

• When org settings are different, policies will merge (a default org setting) and any conflicting settings from the previous org will persist.

• To enforce the current org's policy choose “publish” or “save and publish" from the org's default client settings screen.

How to move user accounts within an org structure

1. Click the Organizations tab.

2. Click the user you want to move.

3. From the navigation menu, click Move User.

4. Select the desired destination org from the drop down list.

5. Click the Move button

How to move user accounts between parent orgs

1. Only UTBackup service admins may move a user between parent orgs

2. Request assistance from the UTBackup service Admins or through the ITS Help Desk and provide the user account name with its destination org or department.

Pausing UTBackup

Overview

Use the below instructions to pause the UTBackup (CrashPlan) engine for a specified period. Pausing in the engine prevents inbound and outbound backup, meaning that you can't restore or back up while the engine is paused.

Information

Considerations

• Pausing your backup (which you can do on the Backup tab by simply clicking the Pause icon on the end of the progress bar) only prevents backing up to a single, selected destination.

• Pausing the UTBackup (CrashPlan) engine (which you do in the command line) prevents backing up to all destinations and halts incoming backups from other sources.

• In the command line you can specify a time period after which the UTBackup (CrashPlan) engine automatically resumes.

How It Works - Pause CrashPlan on All Platforms

1. Open UTBackup and double-click on the logo in the upper right. A text input area appears at the bottom of the application window.

2. In the input area, type: pause

Information

• You can specify the number of minutes to pause by entering pause n, where “n” is the number of minutes to pause. For example, pause 30 will pause the system for 30 minutes.

• If you do not specify a time period, CrashPlan pauses for 60 minutes.

3. Press Enter.

How It Works - Pause UTBackup on Windows

In addition to the above method, in Windows you can also use the UTBackup (CrashPlan) system tray to pause the UTBackup (CrashPlan) engine for a specific period.

1. Right-click on the UTBackup (CrashPlan) system tray icon.

2. Select Sleep from the menu.

3. Select a duration.

4. Click OK.

How It Works - Resume the UTBackup (CrashPlan) Engine

Follow these instructions to resume CrashPlan after you've paused it.

1. Open UTBackup (CrashPlan) and double-click on the logo in the upper right to open the input area.

2. In the input area, type: resume

3. Press Enter.

Reconnecting an Existing Backup

Overview

If you are reformatting a hard drive, upgrading your operating system, or setting up a new computer, you can avoid having to repeat another possibly lengthy, initial backup. Instead, follow these instructions to move your computer's ID (GUID) to the reinstalled OS or new computer.

Before You Begin

Warning

After reconnecting, do not de-select files from your backup selection. Similarly, do not remove the backup source. UTBackup removes the de-selected files or the files from the backup source from your archive during the next maintenance, which theoretically could be immediately. You do not have a chance to confirm this operation. There is no way to reverse this operation or recover these removed files.

Make sure the computer with the old ID is no longer in use.

If your original computer crashed or failed and you need to restore files, restore files first before resetting the GUID.

Your files on the new computer must be in the same locations as they were on the old computer.

1. In the UTBackup desktop, go to Settings > Account.

2. Copy the computer ID to someplace safe.

3. Now you can format the hard drive, upgrade the OS, or start up your new computer.

4. Download latest version of UTBackup client. If you are not switching over to a new computer, first run UNinstaller to remove all traces of the old UTBackup client on this computer.

5. Install UTBackup

If you need to restore files, open UTBackup client and restore your files now.

Open UTBackup and double-click the logo in the upper right. A text input area appears at the bottom of the application window.

7. In the input area, type: guid [Old Computer ID].

8. Press Enter. The UTBackup desktop closes. When you re-open the desktop, UTBackup uses the computer ID you specified, allowing it to sync up and avoid re-transmitting the initial backup.

Once you have reset the computer ID, you will see the "new" computer listed under your account.

Update your UTBackup Web Portal Bookmark

The UTBackup web portal URL has been simplified.

All you have to do is type in or bookmark the following service URL: https://utbackup.utexas.edu.

Previously documented service URLs will continue to function normally though we encourage everyone to use this simplified address.