3️⃣Setup Guide

SmartBackup accesses your Smartsheet data via a Smartsheet User API Token when running the Business Edition License or via a Smartsheet sysAdmin API Token when running the Enterprise Edition license.

When running Business Edition, you will need to manually generate and define a Token for each user, making it only applicable for personal or small team use. This approach is not suitable for larger groups and this is why a single Smartsheet sysAdmin token is used for the Enterprise Edition. This sysAdmin Token can then be used to act on behalf of other users in your Smartsheet environment.

Process

A typical SmartBackup setup will include the following steps:

Business Edition

  1. Starting the Console.exe and set your run mode (3 minutes)

  2. Obtaining a Smartsheet User API Token (3 minutes)

  3. Creating a Smartsheet Workspace that will become the Backup Vault (5 minutes)

  4. Configure the users to be backed-up using token (5 minutes to a few days, depending on the time to gatther this information from the otehr users)

  5. Reviewing run time options (10 minutes)

Enterprise Edition

  1. Starting the Console.exe and set your run mode (3 minutes)

  2. Obtaining a Smartsheet sysAdmin Token (3 minutes)

  3. Follow Members list "Refresh" process to obtain a list of all users and the Settings > Backup "Automated Backup Vault Configuration" process (5 minutes)

  4. Reviewing run time options (10 minutes)

Run Mode

Choose your run mode. For Starter or Business Edition it should always be use sysAdminToken OFF. For Enterprise Edition it should always be use sysAdminToken ON

NOTE: From Release 8.0.0 onwards, the Enterprise Edition defaulst to "sysAdminToken ON", and for that reason, the option is no longer displayed in the Console.

In the Enterprise Edition, the Members mode is selected by default. Tenant mode is no longer available as an option in the Console when running Enterprise Edition R8.0.0 or higher.

  1. Click on SETTINGS

  2. Switch the use-sysadmin-Token ON or OFF (Starter and Business Edition only)

  3. Always SAVE THE SETTINGS after modifying it

  4. A Red DOT will either appear next to Tenants (sysadmin OFF) or Members (sysAdmin ON)

use sysAdmin ON requires you to be licensed for the Enterprise Edition.

Starter and Business Edition

Configuration and setup for Starter and Business Edition exactly the same.

Setup requires the following configuration steps to be completed once for each User:

  1. Configure the User as a Tenant within SmartBackup. Who needs backing up?

  2. Configure a Backup Vault within Smartsheet for the User. Backup Target?

User as Tenant

A Tenant is a person you manually add to SmartBackup in order to run operations (backup, archive, export) for them. You need to obtain the User API Token for this person to get access to their Smartsheet data. Only those Tenants marked as Enabled will be processed.

  1. Click on Tenants.

  2. Click on the edit pen to overwrite a sample entry with the User's details.

  3. Entry must be marked as Enabled to be active.

  4. Complete the entry by providing the User API Token and VaultID for that User.

  5. Repeat this process for any additional Users to be enabled, when running Business Edition.

User API Token

Please refer to section called obtaining API Tokens in the Administrator Guide for a more details.

  1. Login to Smartsheet, click on "Account", which is usually located in the bottom left corner of teh Smartsheet interface.

  2. Select "Apps & Integrations", then "API Access", then click on "Generate Token".

  3. NOTE: When the API Token has been generated it will show up in this window ONLY ONCE! Be sure to copy and save this API Token in a safe place, and in a tool like Notepad, so that the format is maintained.

  4. This API Token becomes your TenantToken in the tenantfile entry in the SmartBackup Console. In this way, SmartBackup knows who you are and can conduct backup, archive, and export operations on your behalf.

VaultID

Follow the steps in next section to create the Backup Vault which will provide you with the VaultID.

This Backup Vault will be used to store backup copies of your Smartsheet Sheets, Dashboards, and Reports when the Backup function runs.

Backup Vault

For each Starter Edition or Business Edition Users, you will need to configure a Smartsheet Workspace that will act as the "Backup Vault". To do this:

  1. Login to Smartsheet, select Workspaces, right-click and then select Create New Workspace.

  2. Give the Workspace a suitable name, such as SmartBackup Vault.

  3. Right-click on the new SmartBackup Vault Workspace and select Properties.

  4. Copy the Workspace ID and then paste it in the VaultID field in the Tenant File in the SmartBackup Console. This lets SmartBackup know that the workspace is the designated Target Backup area.

Cheatsheet

Visual cheat-sheet to complete details for each Tenant. Note this is not required for Enterprise Edition.

Enterprise Edition

The Setup process for the Enterprise Edition is largely automatic. Please follow the following steps for the initial configuration or when required.

  1. Provision Users from Smartsheet, therefore all Licensed Users will become SmartBackup Members.

  2. Provision Backup Vaults for all Enabled Users.

Provision Users

A Member is a User you want to run backup, archive, or export operations for. Unlike Tenants, you only need one Smartsheet SysAdmin API Token to access all Smartsheet Users. Once-off or periodically, you can refresh the User list from Smartsheet to obtain the latest list of Smartsheet Users for your Organization.

Only those Members with a SmartBackup Status of "Enabled", and with a Smartsheet Status of "Active" will be processed. [New for SmartBackup R8.0.0 onwards].

  1. Select Members, then paste the sysAdmin Token and click SAVE.

  2. Click on “Refresh Now”, and after a short delay, if the sysadmin token is correct then you will see a green "Licensed Users from Smartsheet" success message appear in the top right corner. If there is an error, it typically means that there is an issue with the token.

  3. The Members list will now display the latest list of Smartsheet Licensed Users together with their SmartBackup Status, their Smartsheet Status, and the total number of Sheets that each User Owns.

  4. Note that from SmartBackup R8.0.0 onwards, if a User owns more than 1,000 Sheets, when doing a Refresh on initial installation, or after a "New" Install, the SmartBackup Status for those Users will automatically be set to "Blocked", and they will not be eligible for any SmartBackup operations. In this case, you should review the way those Users are using Smartsheet, and find out why they own so many Sheets, because the total Sheet count may have an impact on your ability to reliably backup your organization's data. If it seems that the User's Smartsheet environment is in order, then you can go ahead and change their SmartBackup Status to "Enabled". Then when the Member list is later Refreshed again, SmartBackup will remember the SmartBackup Status and will not reset it to Blocked.

  5. In SmartBackup R8.0.0 we have added a new column called "Smartsheet Status". To be processed by SmartBackup, each User must have a SmartBackup Status of "Enabled" and a Smartsheet Status of "Active".

Provision Backup Vaults

A Backup Vault is the Workspace within Smartsheet designated as the target Backup area for each Enabled User.

The standard name for a provisioned Backup Vault is:

zz!~!-VAULT-do not delete!-:1234567890123456

...where the number appended designates the unique Smartsheet ID assigned to that User. This UserID is visible on the Members screen. [All versions prior to 6.0.1 still use the old naming convention zz!~! SMARTBACKUP Vault do not delete!]

  1. Click on Settings then Backup.

  2. Click on “Create User Backup Vaults”, and a Vault will automatically be created for every "Enabled" and "Active" Member in the Member list. A green message will display success.

  3. Optionally the button "Remove User Backup Vaults" can be used to automatically remove the Vault for every "Enabled" and "Active" Member. A green message will display success.

Refer to the auto provisioning section in the Administrator Guide for more information on automated provisioning.

Platform Configuration

Administrators or advanced users can configure the Platform further using the optional settings.

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