Group physical machines and schedule multiple backups in one go

Information covered

• Purpose
• Description
• Create a group 
• Add physical machines to a group
• Remove a physical machine from a group
• Perform backup of a group
• Apply backup settings to a group
• View and manage recovery points of all machines in the group
• Delete a group

Purpose

Group multiple physical machines and conveniently manage their backup schedule and settings.

Description

The BMR device allows you to create groups and add physical machines to it. You can apply local backup settings for a group and it will apply to all the clients in the group, by default. You can also perform backup of an entire group of physical machines.

The ‘Groups’ sub-tab under the ‘Physical Machines’ tab displays all the groups created, with an overview of the backup integrity status, last backup time, and backup health.

Create a group 

You can create any number of groups. However, a physical machine can be assigned to only one group. 

To create a group,

1. Go to  ‘Dashboard’ > ‘Physical Machines’ > ‘Groups’.
2. Click ‘Create Group’.
3. Enter the name of the group in the ‘Group Name’ field and click ‘Create Group’.
   
   
4. The created groups appear in the 'Groups' tab.
5. Click in the required group section. The 'Manage User Groups' page appears.
   
   
6. Select the client machines from the list displayed in the ‘Choose host machines’ section.
7. Click ‘Save’.

Add physical machines to a group 

A group can contain up to 25 physical machines.

To add physical machines to a group,

1. Go to  ‘Dashboard’ > ‘Physical Machines’ > ‘Groups’. The created groups appear in the 'Groups' tab.
2. Click in the required group section. The 'Manage User Groups' page appears.
3. Select client machines from the list displayed in the 'Choose host machines' section under the 'Add' tab.
4. Click 'Save'.

Remove a physical machine from a group

Physical machines can be removed from a group. 

To remove phyisical machine(s),

1. Go to  ‘Dashboard’ > ‘Physical Machines’ > ‘Groups’. The created groups appear in the 'Groups' tab.
2. Click in the required group section and go to the 'Remove' tab.
3. Select the client machine(s) to be removed from the 'Choose host machines' section.
4. Click 'Remove'.

Perform backup of a group

Backup all the physical machines in a group, in one go, by initiating a full or incremental image backup of the group.

To backup a group,

1. Go to  ‘Dashboard’ > ‘Physical Machines’ > ‘Groups’. Here the groups are displayed.
2. Click 'Backup Now' or select 'Force Full Backup' checkbox in the required group to start the backup.

Apply backup settings to a group

Configure various local backup settings that will apply to a group and in turn to the associated client machines.

To apply local backup settings to a group,

1. Go to  ‘Dashboard’ > ‘Physical Machines’ > ‘Groups’. The created groups are displayed.
2. Click in the required group section. The ‘Backup settings’ page appears.
3. Set the backup interval and max backup speed. Choose the ‘Backup retention settings’ and schedule the backup.
4. Set the ‘Volumes’ you wish to backup as ‘All’ or select ‘Custom’ and specify the volumes you want to backup.
   

5. Click 'Save & Close'.

View and manage recovery points of all machines in the group

Click  to open the ‘Manage Recovery Points’ page for the physical machines in the group. In the ‘Manage Recovery Points’ page use the dropdown menu to select the physical machines from the group. 

Select the recovery points you wish to delete and click ‘Delete Recovery Points’ and click ‘Yes’ to confirm. These recovery points will be queued for deletion and removed from the BMR device in the same order. You can click ‘Refresh’ to view the latest status of the recovery points.

Delete a group

When you delete a group, the applied settings will be lost and all the client machines of that group will adopt global backup settings.

To delete a group,

1. Go to  ‘Dashboard’ > ‘Physical Machines’ > ‘Groups’. The created groups are displayed.
2. Click in the required group section.
3. Click 'Yes' in the confirmation window.