Viewing and Managing Computers
Remote computers are viewed and managed from the Computers page of Site Manager, under the Backup Group heading on the left hand side column. This page displays a list of all managed computers and relevant status information:
This view is divided into a number of tabs, each representing a set of computers in particular states. Underneath the tab, there is a toolbar with functions appropriate to each state.
Toolbar Buttons
Each tab shares seven common toolbar buttons. They are:
- Add - Adds new computers to Site Manager. See the section later on this page for details.
- Remove - Removes selected computers from Site Manager.
- Install Agent - Uses remote MSI tools to install or reinstall the remote agent on computers.
- Update - If automatic update of Agents is turned off in settings, this button can be used to initiate Agent updates
- Refresh - Updates computer data from the selected computers
- View Log - Shows backup, restore and clone logs from the selected computer in the View Logs page
- Export - Exports the computers table data as CSV. This can be imported into other tools.
Additional Toolbar Buttons
Each tab has a set of additional options for recovering agents in that state. The list of tabs, description of what each state means and which toolbar options are available is listed below:
| Agent State | Description | Additional Toolbar Buttons |
|---|---|---|
| All | All computers added to Site Manager are shown in this view. | None - to recover computers in error states, first go to the tab for that specific error. |
Connected Connected (Reboot Required) Connected (Update Required) | The computer is online and running a remote agent. |
If the status is Connected (Reboot Required), the computer is online, as in the Connected status, but there is a reboot pending due to an agent upgrade. The Agent will continue to function normally but will not use the CBT driver until it's rebooted. Connected (Update Required) Agents are running out of date Agent software. These Agents will either update automatically or require the Update function to be used depending on the Site Manager settings |
| Initializing | The Agent is negotiating their connection with the Site Manager Server. | None - Initializing Agents cannot be interacted with until they enter the Connected state |
Installing Agent Upgrading Agent | The Agent is in the process of installing or upgrading Agent software | None - These Agents cannot be interacted with until the install or update operation is completed. |
| Unlicensed | The computer does not have an appropriate standalone or Macrium Agent License. |
|
| Unauthorized | Mismatch between the passphrase on the Agent and Server |
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| Disconnected | The Site Manager agent is not connecting to the server | Agents in this state may not have an Agent installed or may be experiencing communications issues. To resolve this, the Agent can be installed by the Install Agent function or manually on the Agent computer. If the agent is already installed on the computer, see the Troubleshooting Agent Communications page for more details. |
| Error | The agent or computer has encountered an error which needs manual intervention | If a computer is in an error state, there will be a short description of the error as part of the status. For example Error: Failed to upgrade agent. |
Computer Details
Each managed computer row can be expanded to show detailed information on the computer. To open or close the computer detail information, click the ? marker on the left hand side of the computer row. The information is divided into tabs, as follows:
Disks
The disks and partitions on the computer are shown here, to help in determining how and what to backup from this computer.
Legacy
The legacy tab contains information from agents about standalone Macrium Reflect installations. This tab is included to help with the transition of backup scheduling from being locally scheduled on each computer to being centrally scheduled on the Site Manager.
A list of .xml backup definitions and script files stored locally on the computer are listed here and may be run manually from Site Manager with the 'Run Now' option.
After pressing 'Run Now' a dialog will pop up to select the type of backup (Usually Full, Differential or Incremental but may have other options for different backup types) and confirm the backup:
Adding a new computer to Site Manager
If there are any problems with adding computers, the Troubleshooting Agent Communications section has details of all ports, services and network requirements for adding agents to Site Manager.
Using the Add button on the toolbar in any tab of the computers view will display a list of methods to use to add computers to the Site Manager server.
The different methods available are:
Scan Network
This mechanism runs a network search using Windows Networking. The results of this may vary depending on Windows version and network conditions.
Once the scan has completed, the following computer list is shown:
Columns may be filtered and sorted as in other Site Manager tables. To add computers, check the computer names to add and click the + Add button.
If the computers to be added are not listed, they can be added manually using the Add Unlisted Computers button or the network search repeated using the Refresh List button.
Once the computers have been selected, the dialog will show progress and the result of adding them:
The Site Manager Agent is not installed as part of the Add Computers dialog. If the Agent is not already installed on the added computers, it must be installed using the Remote Install feature below or manually before the newly added computers can be managed.
Add Computers by Domain
This option allows a Windows Active Directory domain to be queried for available computers. Selecting this option will bring up the following dialog to select the domain to query:
The domain can be determined by the domain the Site Manager user is joined to, the domain that the logged on user is part of or manual entry of a domain.
Once an option has been selected, the search is performed and the results are displayed as for the Network Search method above. The domain search will include computers which have domain accounts but currently offline.
Add Computers
If an Agent has been previously connected to this Site Manager server or has been manually configured to connect to this Site Manager server will notify the Site Manager server that they are attempting to connect to it. To see the list of Agents attempting to connect and add them, use this option.
Add Computers Manually
Computers can also be added manually by a list of NetBIOS or IP addresses. Computers added in this way are not validated and it is possible to add computers which don't exist to Site Manager.
Adding Computer by IP Address
Site Manager requires the NetBIOS name of a computer to allow Agent communications. If a computer is added by IP Address, the Site Manager server will attempt to determine the name of the computer by reverse DNS lookup. If this does not work, the add operation will fail.
Installing the Site Manager Agent
Adding a computer to Site Manager will add the computer in the Disconnected state unless the computer has had the Site Manager Agent installed and configured to connect to this Site Manager Server.
This can be done remotely via the Site Manager user interface or manually by installing the Site Manager Agent MSI installer.
Installing the Agent via Remote Install
If Site Manager is on a domain or the appropriate steps have been follow, the Agent software can be remotely installed on the client to be managed. See Troubleshooting Agent Communications for a detailed guide to network and firewall requirements for this process.
Steps to Remote Install
Installation Credentials
Administrator level access to the computer is required to install an Agent. If available, the credentials used to log in to Site Manager will be used. If Site Manager is configured to allow anonymous access, the installation process will prompt for credentials before attempting install.
Additional credentials may be configured in the Settings page.
- Select the computers to perform a remote install on. This can be in any tab.
- Press the Install Agent button in the toolbar
- Select 'Confirm' in the dialog that pops up to attempt install or cancel to exit
- Site Manager will attempt the install and show the status of each computer.
Once each install has finished, the status will be displayed. If all computers succeeded then only 'Done' will be available
Problems with Remote Installation
If there are any issues in installing the agent on any computer, this will be shown in the results:
All failed installs can be retried simultaneously via the Retry Failed Installs button or on an individual computer basis by using the Retry buttons in the table next to the install status. Each failed computer has a help icon that can be clicked to provide detailed information about the failure.
If retrying the installation on a computer (or computers) which failed the install due to credential errors, Site Manager will prompt for new credentials:
Once new credentials have been entered and OK pressed, reinstallation will be attempted using the new credentials.
Other possible errors are:
| Install Error | Description | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| No Credentials Available | The installation cannot proceed because there are no cached credentials to try. This only occurs when attempting the install when the Management Console is set to allow anonymous login and the password prompt is cancelled on attempting the install | Retry the install and enter credentials when prompted |
| Credentials Rejected | None of the entered or cached credentials were accepted by the computer as valid. This may occur if the computer is not part of a domain and the computer is configured to only allow unelevated access remotely. | Retry the install with different credentials or attempt a manual installation. |
| Remote Install Not Available | The install process connected to the WMI server successfully, but the WMI installer component is not installed. This typically occurs on Windows XP machines as later editions have this component installed automatically. | Install the Remote Installer WMI component on the remote machine and try again. |
| WMI Not Available | Could not find a WMI process to connect to. Either the computer is offline, not a Windows machine or WMI remote access is blocked for security reasons | Check the computer status and try again or manually install the agent. |
| Operating System too old | The computer connected but is below the Windows version required for the Agent. | Upgrade the OS on the computer or use a different computer. |
| Installer Error - 1234 | The installer ran, but returned an error code and was not successful. The number in place of 1234 is the code from the installer | Contact Macrium support or try a manual install. |
| Install Failed | A general failure in installation. | Retry the install or contact Macrium support. |
| Computer not present on network | The computer name could not be resolved to an IP address by either DNS lookup or LLMNR broadcast. | Check that the computer is present on the network and that DNS is correctly configured |
| File sharing unavailable | The computer IP address could be lookup up, but an attempt to connect to the Windows administrative share failed (\\computername\admin$) | Check that the computer is present on the network and that Windows share traffic is not blocked |
Installing the Agent Manually
If Remote Install is not available, the Agent can be installed manually. See Agent Manual Install for more details.
Adding Computers With Agents Preinstalled
When a Site Manager Agent is installed, it is configured with the information required to access the Site Manager server. This is provided automatically when the Agent is installed via the Site Manager Install Agent function or manually if the Agent has been installed via MSI installer file. If the Agent is properly configured, it will enter the Connected state automatically when added to Site Manager. If the Agent has been configured with the incorrect details (or details for another Site Manager server), the agent must be reconfigured by either reinstalling the Agent via the Install Agent function or running the Agent Configuration Tool on the Agent itself.
If the Site Manager has been configured with a different security passphrase than the one configured in the Security Settings page of the Site Manager server, it will enter the Unauthorized state.
To fix this and manage the agent, you can set the correct passphrase on the Agent using the Agent Configuration Tool, reinstall the Agent (remotely or manually) which will reset the passphrase, or supply the old passphrase in Site Manager. When this is done, Site Manager will connect to the agent using the old passphrase and update the passphrase to the appropriate one for the current installation.
To set the passphrase, select the computer in the Unauthorized tab by checking the appropriate box in the computers list and press the Set Passphrase button. This will open the passphrase editing dialog:
To set a passphrase, uncheck the Use default passphrase box and enter the passphrase in the box. Press OK to apply the passphrase.
If the passphrase is correct, the computer will connect and enter the Managed state. If it is incorrect an error will be shown:
Removing Clients from Site Manager
To remove computers from Site Manager, select the computers to remove from any tab via the checkboxes and press the Remove button in the toolbar:
This will bring up a confirmation dialog box, including information of any computers which are part of currently scheduled backups or Backup Definitions:
To remove these computers, press Confirm.