6️⃣Support Guide

Unless otherwise stated, AcuWorkflow Support is based on best effort, attempting to resolve issues within a 24 hour cycle. AcuWorkflow does not warrant that its products are defect free; however, AcuWorkflow does endeavor to fix its products to work as designed. It is important to note that our clients play a key role in this effort.

Upgrade Terms

  1. All updates, fixes, and enhancements are included free of charge in the annual subscription.

  2. While AcuWorkflow does make updated versions available, it is up to the customer to decide if they would like to install the upgrade or continue with the current version.

  3. However, AcuWorkflow does recommend updating the software at least once a year around the annual renewal time.

  4. The actual upgrade process consists of downloading the new version and running the installer, then selecting the “Upgrade Installation” option.

Please see section in Release Notes.

Upgrade Process

If you have decided to do an Upgrade the following will typically happen:

Upgrade

  1. All the executables archive, backup, console, export will be replaced with latest versions in the apps folder

  2. A new config.yml will be created containing your original settings plus any newly added options

  3. A time stamped config.yml will contain your original file prior to the upgrade

  4. A new catalog.db3 will be created containing your original catalog and any new database structures required in the data folder.

  5. A time stamped catalog.db3 will contain your original catalog prior to the upgrade

In the event you want to roll-back the Upgrade

In the event that something mishappened during the Upgrade process, you can re-instate by

  1. Rename config.yml as config.old.yml

  2. Rename latest timestamped config.yml as config.yml

  3. Rename catalog.db3 as catalog.old.db3

  4. Rename latest timestamped catalog.db3 as catalog.db3

In most cases that will reset the environment though sometimes you will also have to reset the original executables

Easiest way is to install your original copy via Setup to a temporary folder c:\smartbackuptemp and then copy the executables to current installed apps folder.

Reporting a Problem

Please submit a Support Request to AcuWorkflow, using our Support Request Form.

Call Rate Limits

SmartBackup makes use of the Smartsheet API and as such are bound by its limitations. The Smartsheet API currently imposes a rate limit of 300 requests per minute per Access Token. (Smartsheet reserves the right to change this limit at any time.) Certain resource-intensive operations, such as attaching a file or getting cell history, count as 10 requests toward the rate limit. If you exceed this rate limit, subsequent API requests (within a one-minute period) will return a 429 HTTP status code.

To this end SmartBackup deploys rate throttling when detected, which in general includes:

When Smartsheet rejects API call based on throttling

  1. Delay the current api call by 60s then retry

  2. If another reject, then delay current api call by a further 90s, then retry

  3. If still rejected log, display error and continue with next

Notifications and Alerts

In addition to the Console Dashboard, we have included the option to send a notification email to each User processed and/or the SmartBackup Administrator when any SmartBackup function runs. Configured through the admin Console UI, these notifications provide a summary of the job run and recent runs for Backups, Exports, and Archives.

SmartBackup also supports Alert notifications to an Incident Management System (IMS) informing you of problems with your operations in order to keep your backups, exports and archives running smoothly.

These notifications are for information purposes only. It's important to configure your task scheduler to use batch files with pre- and post-processing steps for custom alerts on job status. Alternatively, leverage one of the many Incident Management Systems (IMS) available to properly manage alerts, escalations, tracking, and job status reporting.

It is very important for SmartBackup Administrators to regularly confirm that backup copies are saved in the User Vaults and that export file copies are saved to the mapped drive configured in SmartBackup settings.

Also be sure to monitor the available disk space on the locations where the Export and Archive copies are being saved. If the disk space becomes full, then the Export and Archive functions will fail.

Setting up Alerts and Notifications

To setup notifications and alerts follow these steps:

  1. Click on Settings top right in Console UI

  2. Next click on “Notifications and Alerts" which will display the settings.

  3. Enable User notifications if you want to send individual status notifications to any User processed.

  4. Enable Administrator notifications if you want to send overall admin status to a administrator. You must supply a valid email address.

  5. Enable IMS Alerts if you want to send Alerts to an automated system and/or other recipients. You must supply one or more valid email addresses separated by commas.

  6. Save the settings

Alert Message Structure

Email alert messages are structured with keywords so that an automated system can take appropriate downstream actions.

Sample message

  1. Message Subject Line

  2. Message Body with structured keywords

  3. Optionally you can get more details and possible ways to correct from documentation site by looking up the MessageId of the Alert.

Email Alert Subject Line - single continuous line separated with semi-colons

Keyword
Message
Setting
Comments

ALERT

ALERT=SmartBackup;

Will always be SmartBackup

Ideal for ensuring IMS system act on SmartBackup alerts

Operation

Operation=Export;

Can be Backup, Export or Archive

Denote the Operation emitting the Alert

Message

Message=xxxxxxxxxx;

Alerting message

Short description of the Alert

Time

Time=2022/May/30 12:53:20

Alerting time

Time the Alert was emitted

Email Body - multiple lines structured as keyword=xxxx

Keyword
Message
Setting
Comments

Operation

Operation=Export;

Can be Backup, Export or Archive

Denote the Operation emitting the Alert

MsgID

MsgID=1234;

Message Identifier

Allows one to lookup Alert for more details.

Message

Message=xxxxxxxxxx;

Alerting message

Short description of the Alert

User

User=xxxx;

Can be a specific User or Job

Allow one to associate the Alert with a particular User where appropriate

Description

Description=xxxx

Alerting message with more information

Detailed message

Escalation and Notification Management

Alerts ideally should be automatically managed and escalated with an Incident Management System or Escalation Notification Platform. In the event that you currently do not have something managing alerts, or for that matter runtime escalations, some 3rd party Tools you may want to investigate:

  1. freshdesk

  2. DialMyCalls

  3. PagerDuty

  4. Signl4

  5. text-em-all

Alert Messages

The following conditions will alert.

MessageID
Condition
AlertMessage
Remedial Actions

SA01

Abnormal condition (error/job abort) was detected in Archive run.

CRITICAL - Abnormal condition detected in Archive Job, Operation aborted, please take immediate action.

One has to find reason why Job aborted. The Detail message in the alert should provide some description. Also start by looking at the Archive Job cmdline messages and the current Log file. Seeing who is the current or last processed Member(User) is always helpful.

SB01

Abnormal condition (error/job abort) was detected in Backup run.

CRITICAL - Abnormal condition detected in Backup Job, Operation aborted, please take immediate action.

One has to find reason why Job aborted. The Detail message in the alert should provide some description. Also start by looking at the Backup Job cmdline messages and the current Log file. Seeing who is the current or last processed Member(User) is always helpful.

SE01

A low free space condition (less than 1GB) has been detected on device you have allocated for export operations.

WARNING - Low on FREE storage, please take action

Please ensure you have enough free space on the device you are exporting to.

SE02

A no space condition has been detected on device you have allocated for export operations. All export operations will cease.

CRITICAL - No FREE storage on device, please take immediate action.

Please ensure you switch to a new device/folder location that has enough free space.

SE03

Reserved for future use

SE04

A duplicate folder in same parent folder condition has been detected. Export is aborted for affected User.

WARNING - Duplicate Smartsheet folder name, operation aborted for User.

No file system allow duplicate folder structures at the same level. Please ensure that you rename these. Since Folders effectively form the path, SmartBackup do not automatically rename these during export. Duplicate sheets on the other hand are automatically renamed by SmartBackup.

SE05

Abnormal condition (error/job abort) was detected in Export run.

CRITICAL - Abnormal condition detected in Export Job, Operation aborted, please take immediate action.

One has to find reason why Job aborted. The Detail message in the alert should provide some description. Also start by looking at the Export Job cmdline messages and the current Log file. Seeing who is the current or last processed Member(User) is always helpful.

SMTP Settings

SmartBackup perform notifications and alerts using the AcuWorkflow SMTP server or optionally your SMTP server.

Using your SMTP Server

To limit configuration options, SmartBackup mimic options available from GMAIL.

  1. Click on Settings, then Notifications and Alerts

  2. Turn On Use Own Server and supply details for your SMTP Server

  3. Send Test Message to confirm settings work

Configuration Settings:

  1. ServerName: e.g. smtp.domain.ext

  2. SerververPort: e.g 587

  3. SMTPUserName: e.g mylogin@gdomain.ext

  4. SMTPPassword: e.g mypass@01 Note! if you are using Gmail this should be an APP Password

  5. FromAddress: e.g mylogin@gdomain.ext

  6. SSL/TLS or TLS/STARTTLS: choose your option

Test if your email configuration works by sending Test Email message.

Test Message will be sent to Administrator email address. Please ensure Settings-options are saved before sending. Test Message will be sent via the AcuWorkflow SMTP Server if Own Server OFF or via your specified server when Own Server ON.

Using GMAIL as your SMTP Server

Note that GMAIL requires the following:

  1. Port: 465 (SSL/TLS) or 587 (TLS/STARTTLS)

  2. Password: Will not accept your normal Login Password. You have to enable 2F authentication, generate App password and supply that.

  3. more on App passwords

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