Backup and Restores Test

A backup is a copy of data that is used to restore and recover that data after a system failure. If a backup job fails, then all the data that could not be backed up cannot be recovered at the time of system failure, thus resulting in significant data loss. This is why, it is imperative that administrators be instantly alerted if any backup or restore job fails.  This is exactly what the Backup and Restores test does! This test monitors each configured backup directory (local and/or remote), tracks the backups job and restores from every directory,  and reports the count of backup and restore jobs that succeeded and/or failed on that directory. This way, the test notifies administrators as soon as a backup or restore job fails and also points them to the exact directory where the failure occurred. Detailed diagnostics provided by this measure also lead you to what exactly caused the backup or restore activity to fail, thereby enabling you to resolve issues quickly and ensure smooth operations.

Target of the test : A Microsoft SharePoint Server

Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each Dir Path configured for monitoring

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters Description

Test period

This indicates how often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which the test is to be configured.

Port

The port at which the host server listens.

Fetch Farm Measures

Typically, farm-level metrics - eg., metrics on farm status, site collections, usage analytics - will not vary from one SharePoint server in the farm to another. If these metrics are collected and stored in the eG database for each monitored server in the SharePoint farm, it is bound to unnecessarily consume space in the database and increase processing overheads. To avoid this, farm-level metrics collection is by default switched off for the member servers in the SharePoint farm, and enabled only if the server being monitored is provisioned as the Central Administration site. Accordingly, this parameter is set to If Central Administration by default. This default setting ensures that farm-level metrics are collected from and stored in the database for only a single SharePoint server in the farm.  

If you want to completely switch-off farm-level metrics collection for a SharePoint farm, then set this parameter to No.

Some high-security environments may not allow an eG agent to be deployed on the Central Administration site. Administrators of such environments may however require farm-level insights into status and performance. To provide these insights for such environments, you can optionally enable farm-level metrics collection from any monitored member server in the farm, even if that server is not provisioned as the Central Administration site. For this, set this parameter to Yes when configuring this test for that member server. 

Domain, Domain User, Password, and Confirm Password

If the Fetch Farm Measures flag of these tests is set to No or to If Central Administration Site, then this test should be configured with the credentials of a user with the following privileges:

On the other hand, if the Fetch Farm Measures flag of these tests is set to Yes, then the user configured for the tests not only requires the four privileges discussed above, but should also be part of the following groups on the eG agent host:

  • Administrators

  • WSS_ADMIN_WPG

  • IIS_USRS

  • Performance Monitor Users

  • WSS_WPG

  • Users

It is recommended that you create a special user for this purpose and assign the aforesaid privileges to him/her. Once such a user is created, specify the domain to which that user belongs in the Domain text box, and then, enter the credentials of the user in the Domain User and Password text boxes. To confirm the password, retype it in the Confirm Password text box.

Dir Path

Provide the full path to the backup and/or restore directory to be monitored. Multiple paths can be provided as a comma-separated list. For example – C:\BackupSite,C:\RestoreSite,D:\BackupDir. Your specification can include both local and remote directories. For example - C:\BackupSite,C:\RestoreSite,\\192.168.9.70\backup\250216. However, bear the following points in mind when including remote directory paths in your specifications:

  • While specifying the path of a remote directory, make sure that your specification
  • begins with \\(two forward slashes) followed by the IP/hostname of the remote server in which the directory resides. This should be followed by the full path of the remote directory to be monitored. For example - \\192.168.9.70\backup\250216.
  • Your Dir Path specification can include the path to multiple remote directories. Each of these directories can be in a different remote server. However, all these remote servers should operate in the same domain.
  • A single user in the remote domain should have access to all the remote directories configured against Dir Path.

Remote Server Domain

This parameter is applicable only if the Dir Path specification includes one/more remote directories. In this case, against Remote Server Domain, specify the domain to which the servers hosting the remote directories belong. If your Dir Path specification does not include any remote directories, set remote server domain to none.

Note:

  • Only a single domain name can be specified against Remote Server Domain.
  • For proper results, all the servers that host the remote directories configured against Dir Path should belong to the Remote Server Domain you specify.

Remote Server User Name and Remote Server Password

These parameters are applicable only if the Dir Path specification includes one/more remote directories. In such a case, against these parameters, specify the credentials of a user who fulfills the following conditions:

  • Should be a valid user in the Remote Server Domain that you have configured;
  • Should be a user who has at least Read-only access to all the remote directories configured for monitoring against the Dir Path parameter.

However, if the Dir Path specification does not include any remote directories, then you can set both Remote Server User Name and Remote Server Password to none.

Confirm Password

Confirm the Remote Server Password by retyping it here. This parameter again is applicable only if the Dir Path specification includes one/more remote directories.

Detailed Diagnosis

To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability
  • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Failed backups

Indicates the number of backups to this directory that failed currently. 

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.

If this measure reports a non-zero value, then use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to figure out which backup jobs failed, when the failure occurred, what error caused the failure, what backup method was employed, who initiated the backup, and many other details regarding the backup jobs that failed. Using these details, you can troubleshoot the failure easily.

Successful backups

Indicates the number of backups to this directory that succeeded presently.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be high.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know which backup jobs succeeded.

Failed restores

Indicates the number of restores from this directory that failed currently.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.

If this measure reports a non-zero value, then use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to figure out which restore jobs failed, when the failure occurred, what error caused the failure, what restore method was employed, who initiated the backup, and many other details regarding the failed restore jobs. Using these details, you can troubleshoot the failure easily.

Successful restores

Indicates the number of restores from this directory that succeeded presently.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be high.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know which restore jobs succeeded.

Use the detailed diagnosis of the Successful backups measure to know which backup jobs succeeded.

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Figure 1 : The detailed diagnosis of the Successful backups measure