Administrator Guide
Last updated
Last updated
This section describes the functions performed by a SmartBackup Administrator. As a SmartBackup Admin, you are responsible for managing user backup, export, and archive operations. You are also responsible for setting up schedules, batch files, and tasks that determine when Backups, Archives or Exports are run.
SmartBackup includes the following key functional areas:
A - Each user's Smartsheet area; including Home, Workspaces, folders, and data.
B - Each user's designated Backup Vault area.
C - Your organization's designated Archive storage area.
D - Your organization's designated Export storage area.
Backup - Obtains a list of all worksheets in A, it then decides what to backup based on what was recently modified and creates a copy of those items in B, the Vault.
Restore - At any time, a user can restore a backup copy from their vault by copying it back to their primary A Smartsheet area.
Archive - A "vault clean-up" process can be run which takes the least recently used Sheets from B and manifests it as XLSX sheets in the designated C area, which is typically a local filestore.
Recall - At any time a SmartBackup Admin can recall an archive copy by importing it back into the associated user's primary Smartsheet area A.
Export - At any time the SmartBackup Admin can run the Export component that will export all sheets that meet the export criteria for all active and enabled users in the Member list.
Import - As needed, a SmartBackup Admin can restore exported files by importing them into Smartsheet.
Creates an exact copy from the source sheet, dashboard, or report. Because it is maintained within Smartsheet all settings and formats are preserved. The vault contains date/time stamped folders each containing the backup copies.
Copies valut contents to an external drive, then once the files have been archived, SmartBackup can be configured to remove the copies in the valut.
This ensures that the vault does not have too many copies over time.
Creates a snapshot copy of the sheets that meet the criteria and saves them to the designated drive. Export is ideal for creating snapshot versions of sheets, or to create external copies of the data fir disaster recovery, or business continuity purposes.
When can Backup, Export, and Archive be run?
On-demand
Anytime you can Click on Run Now in Console UI or click on the relevant .exe from Windows Explorer
Schedule
Create a schedule using Windows Task Scheduler or any other task scheduling tool. Typically this would define a cycle, such as "daily at 5pm" or "every Wednesday" or after a specific event.
Before any process can run properly, you should:
Configure SmartBackup, see Setup Guide.
This section describes generating an API access token for the integration of Smartsheet into SmartBackup.
Note: while the process for generating User API Tokens and sysAdminAPI Tokens are similar, sysadmin tokens can only be generated by a user with Smartsheet Admin rights.
To generate or re-generate a SysAdmin API Token follow these steps:
Log into Smartsheet with an account that has Smartsheet Admin rights, then click on Profile button, usually bottom left.
Confirm that you can see the “Admin” section at the top of the list. This will indicate that you have sysadmin rights.
Next click on “Apps and Integrations" which will display the Personal Settings Form.
Click "API Access" which will allow you to Manage your API Tokens.
Click "Generate new access token" which will provide you with the SysAdmin API Token
Should you deploy SmartBackup in an environment where cloud API calls is controlled with a Proxy server like Forcepoint, you must create rules on the Proxy Server to bypass the following domain calls:
license.acuworkflow.com
smartsheet.com
api.smartsheet.com
api.smartsheet.eu
Proxy Server condition is typically observed when SmartBackup abends or displays "API Token or VaultID incorrect" though you know you have supplied the right information. Again it is because SmartBackup is trying to make API calls to Smartsheet and the Proxy Server prevents outbound API calls.
SmartBackup Administrators can further customize the platform by editing the config.yml file or by using Settings in the Console.
Please ensure when using the Console that you click on SAVE THE SETTINGS to affect any changes
1. GENERAL
1.1
Smartsheet Region
Select the Smartsheet Region that your organization is hosted in using the dropdown list. Contact AcuWorkflow Support for information on switching to the US GOV region.
US
2. BACKUP
2.1
When off, do not include any attachments.
When this switch is off, then attachments will not be included for Backup operations. Switch to "On" if you would like to include attachments in the Backup operations.
OFF
2.2
Add SheetID
If turned ON, SmartBackup will add the SheetID to the file name of the backup copy.
OFF
2.3
Create User Backup Vaults
Click this button to generate or refresh the Backup Vaults for all Active and Enabled Members in the Member list.
2.4
Remove User Backup Vaults
Click this button to remove existing User Backup Vaults for all Active and Enabled users in the Member list. Note that this will also delete all backup copies in those Vaults.
3. ARCHIVE
3.1
Remove Backups if archives is successful
When ON, the backup copy in the Vault will be removed after it was successfully archived.
OFF
3.2
Path to where archives are saved
Specify the path to where you want to pool your archives. Path can be specified with or without trailing slash
c:\smartbackup\user\archives\
4. EXPORT
4.1
When OFF do not Export any Attachments
When ON, attachments of exported sheets will also be exported.
OFF
4.2
Soft Limit for exporting Attachments
Soft limit can be set to limit number of exported attachments. Only for Enterprise Edition.
10
4.3
Path to where exports are saved
Specify the path to where you want to pool your exports. Path can be specified with or without trailing slash
c:\smartbackup\user\exports\
5. NOTIFICATIONS & ALERTS
5.1
Notify User with status via email
When ON, every "Enabled" user will receive an email summary of operations performed for their account. Care should be taken because some users may find it intrusive.
OFF
5.2
Notify Administrator with overall status via email
When ON, "Administrator" user will receive an email summary of operations performed. Please supply valid email for Administrator.
OFF
5.3
Email address for SmartBackup Administrator
Supply valid administrator email address
5.4
Alert Incident Management System (IMS) via email
When ON, "IMS" system will receive an email when alert condition occurs. Multiple addresses can be supplied separated by commas.
OFF
5.5
Email address for IMS system
Supply valid IMS email address
SmartBackup Business and Enterprise Editions include a set of advanced features, management tools and technical support to achieve the highest levels of scalability, security, and uptime. It reduces the risk, cost, and complexity in deploying, and managing a large compliment of Smartsheet users.
Business and Enterprise Editions run in sysAdmin mode by default. In sysAdmin mode you can:
SmartBackup sysadmin mode allows you to automatically provision Users from Smartsheet directly.
Sysadmin mode allows you to automatically provision Backup Vaults for each user.
The standard name for a provisioned Backup Vault is zz!~!-VAULT-do not delete!-:123456789012345. This is a standard SmartBackup name to identify a Workspace as a Backup Vault, where:
zz!~!-VAULT-do not delete!-: is a hardcoded name to identify it as a Backup Vault.
123456789012345 is the generated Smartsheet ID for each User, and is available from the Members screen.
This way, even in sharable conditions, each User Vault will be easily identifiable.
When automatically creating Backup Vaults for each User a set of rules are applied:
If a VaultID is provided, it is checked for validity and that it links to a Workspace with the standard name.
If a VaultID is not provided or is invalid, a scan is done to see if a Workspace with standard name exists, if so VaultID and links are updated respectively.
If no Workspace can be found, a new Backup Vault with a standard name is created and a VaultID and links updated respectively.
When automatically deleting Backup Vaults for each User a set of rules are applied:
If a VaultID is provided, it is checked for validity and that it links to a Workspace with the standard name. If so, it will be removed and VaultID and links are removed.
If VaultID is not provided or is invalid, a scan is done to see if a Workspace with standard name exists, If so, it will be removed and VaultID and links are removed.
SmartBackup was designed to run when required. Therefore each component can run completely independently or in conjunction with other components. The SmartBackup Administrator can select how and when to run each of the functions. The Backup, Archive and Export components run as a CMD program, and can be accessed in various ways, as described below.
SmartBackup can be controlled via a web user interface called the Console. To invoke the Console double click on console.exe or click on the SmartBackup shortcut. After a short while a web page will be shown.
If you're not familiar with the Command Prompt in Windows, officially called the Windows Command Processor and often abbreviated to CMD. It is the command line interface for Windows operating systems. A command line interface is a way of interacting with a computer directly using text commands.
There are a few ways to open the Command Prompt in Windows. Below are the most convenient:
Type "cmd" into the Start menu to search for it. Then click to invoke it
Press Windows key + R to open the Run box, then type "cmd" and hit Enter to open it
Or, using Windows Explorer, naviagte to the apps directory where you have installed Smartbackup and then type CMD in top line which will open it.
Type cd followed by the path where you have installed SmartBackup cd c:\smartbackup
Now you can invoke Backup function by typing backup which will start running a backup job. Simarlarly you can do the same with Archive or Export functions.
SmartBackup can be used with Windows Task Scheduler for scheduled automations.
This means if, for example, you want to run a Backup job every Monday at 18h00, you will have to create a task within Task Scheduler to do that. Please see Task Scheduler guide below on how to create scheduled tasks for SmartBackup.
One can use the Scheduling wizard in the Console (sub menu Schedule top right) to help define and manage tasks in Task Scheduler.
Great flexibility exists since operations could be invoked from other applications. You may perhaps have an Enterprise Job Scheduler or customized job operations applications. Typically these applications offer facilities to invoke cmdline programs e.g. archive.exe -a=5
PowerShell is specifically called-out since it is one of the go to tools for system administrators. If your commands are embedded in a .bat file you can simply from PowerShell enter cmd.exe /c "c:/path/mybat.bat".
Invoke SmartBackup by clicking on the desktop shortcut or double click console.exe in the \apps folder. The following browser view will be shown after a slight delay by the Console Server. On day zero, a warning will be displayed, and all values will be unpredictable until the first backup run has been completed.
Sub menu - Click to view sub menu actions or Stopping the Console Server. It is a good practice to stop the Console Server when finished.
Main Menu - Show the primary actions around Backup, Archive and Exports
SmartBackup Vault Area - From Home screen this tile represents a view of the Vault area. When you click on it, the Tenants view will first be shown from where you can select the Vault of a given Tenant which will take you into the Vault within Smartsheet
SmartBackup Archive Area - From Home screen this tile represents a view of the Archive area. When you click on it, a Windows Explorer view will be opened on the root directory where archives are stored.
SmartBackup Export Area - From Home screen this tile represents a view of the Export area. When you click on it, a Windows Explorer view will be opened on the root directory where exports are stored
Smartsheet View - From Home screen this tile represents a view of your Smartsheet backup environment. It refreshes on every backup and maintains a copy of the frequency of your Smartsheet sheet changes. This information is valuable in determining the optimum backup set
Click Backups on main menu on the left.
Run Now - Click on this to run Backup on demand. After a slight delay a message will appear that a Backup process has started.
Schedule - Click on this to view or create a Schedule for backups. The Windows Task scheduler is use for this purpose. If set Backups will be run according to the schedule.
Option - When clicking on the dropdown a slider option becomes visible that you can set. Backup uses this to determine the backup set. For example if set to 10 it means backup only sheets that was modified in last 10 days. When using the scheduler or when you invoke the backup component directly this option is effected by using the -d argument. For example backup.exe -d 15 means backup all sheets modified in last 15 days or backup.exe -d 999 effectively means backup all sheets
Run Status - Tile shows when last backup was taken. If any serious errors were encountered a red message will be shown, conversely a green message will be shown..
See previous runs - a calendar view will be shown with entries when last ran for backups, archives or exports
Backups to date - Table view of all backups to date
Source Link - when clicked will show the source sheet within Smartsheet for which the backup was done
Target Link - when clicked will show the backed-up copy within the Vault
Search - You can search the Backup Catalog
SmartBackup can be invoked using indows Task Scheduler for scheduled automations.
Please see Task Scheduler guide below on how to create scheduled tasks for SmartBackup.
Your environment may require you to check "run with highest privileges" in Task Scheduler
Install SmartBackup, see .
Obtain a license, see .
Setup your Member Vaults via the process.
You will need to have an active annual subscription in order to successfully run any SmartBackup functions. for pricing and subscription information.
Now that you have the SysAdmin token, you can copy it and paste it into the sysAdminToken field in the Members screen in SmartBackup for the Account. See
Each of these functions can be run with different settings, for example: backup -d=30 will start the function and will backup all sheets that were modified in last 30 days. The available settings for each function are shown in the .
