LANBak  2.0
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Flux2Fusion LANBak Client 2.0 

Configuring LANBak Client

After you have installed LANBak Client you must configure and start the software.  The Client is not started by default.  You configure the Client software using the LANBak Client Manager program (you can find this program in the 'LANBak' start menu folder).

When you start Client Manager you will see the following:

Use the tabs to view each options page.  Each tab is discussed in detail below:

Folders

This tab shows the folders currently defined in the backup schedule.  Any folder listed will have all it's contents (including sub-folders) backed up according to the defined schedule).  In addition, if real-time monitoring is enabled, any file within these folders, when modified, will be automatically backed up as and when changes occur (i.e. each time a file is saved).

By default, backup is only performed on all 'My Documents' folders on this computer (one for each defined user).  You can add additional folders using the 'Add' button. 

You can disable real-time monitoring of folders if you so wish.  When enabled, real-time monitoring has no noticable impact on system performance.  It is enabled by default.

Excluded Folders

This tab allows the exclusion of particular folders from the backup schedule.  No check is made to confirm that the specified folders are indeed subfolders of the current backup schedule.  Use the 'Add' and 'Remove' buttons to specify and remove excluded folder paths.

Excluded File Types

You can exclude particular file types by extension from the backup schedule using this tab.  Type the file extension you wish to excluded into the box and click the 'Add' button (you do not need to include a period '.').

Schedule

This tab defines the automatic backup / verify period for this machine.  Each time the backup schedule runs, the LANBak software attempts to backup all files found within the specified schedule folders (with exclusions).  File versions previously backed-up are ignored. 

You can specify the following schedule information:

  • Start time.   This is the time that the backup and verify process should start - This is a 24h time. 
  • Interval.  The interval for this schedule.  Current options are Daily, Weekdays or Weekly.
  • Start time randomizer.  Use this option to spread the backup load on the network across a number of hours.  By default this is set to '5' hours.  For instance, if the Start time is set to 9:00am and the Randomize hours are 5 then the backup scheduler may start the backup process any time between 9am and 1pm.

Primary Server (multi-server installations only)

If you have multiple LANBak Servers installed on your network, you can specify a particular server as the Primary Server for this computer.  Typically, it is not necessary to configure LANBak Client to use a particular LANBak Server.  The LANBak agent on the client computer will automatically choose an appropriate LANBak Server to use when the system is started for the first time (this is the default behaviour).  Explicitly specify a named LANBak Server on this page is only appropriate for multi-server installations.

Also on this tab is a slider bar that can be used to adjust the slow connection threshold value which used by LANBak to determine the connection speed to the primary server (typically a dial-up link).  If a link is deemed slow, LANBak will postpone the backup of files until the primary backup server can be reached over a high-speed link (typically, the LAN link).

Options

Within the 'Options' page you can specify the following:

  • Backup copied files in real-time.  If real-time monitoring is enabled, any file copied into one of the folders specified on the 'Folders' page will be automatically backed up in real-time.
  • File size limits.  You can limit the size of files that will be backed up by LANBak.  You can also apply the limit to on-demand backups if you wish.

About

This tab shows version and copyright information.

Starting LANBak Client

When you have finished setting the configuration options in Client Manager, click the OK button.  Your chosen settings will be saved and you will then be prompted to start the LANBak Client services.  Click 'OK' to start the system.

When starting for the first time, LANBak Client will attempt to find all active LANBak Servers on the network.  This process takes around 1 minute to complete.  Once complete, the Client software chooses a LANBak server as it's 'Primary Server'.  This server will be where all backed up data for this computer is stored.  By default, the server with the most free disk space available for backups at the time of discovery is chosen as the primary.

Large Installations: A network can have any number of machines configured as LANBak Servers, effectively allowing unlimited backup space on the LAN.  If you are considering installing more than 1 LANBak Server on your network, please contact lanbak@flux2fusion.com for information and support.

Initial automatic, sheduled backup

Following the configuration of LANBak Client using the Client Manager application, the backup agent will initiate an automated system backup within the next preceeding hour.  This will also occur at any time in the future if LANBak Client is reconfigured. 

If you require centralized configuration of your client machines though the use of login scripts, please contact support at lanbak@flux2fusion.

Next: Using LANBak Client to backup, preview and restore files...