4 4 3 Beefalo:Configuration

From SEPsesam
<<<Back
Activities
User Manual
Next>>>
Window


GUI configuration options

You can access the configuration options from the menu bar -> Configuration. Configuration provides different settings and parameters that define SEP sesam look and feel as well as its behavior. The following functions are available by selecting the Configuration option in the menu bar.


Defaults

The options in the Defaults window allow you to change UI mode, customize GUI font and tables, set the preferred date format, retention periods for logs and restore tasks, define advanced settings (Extras), configure default permissions, and add or modify SEP sesam keys in the global settings.


General tab

  • Common (available in ≥ SEP sesam 4.4.3 Beefalo V2):
    • Show SEP sesam web client landing page on startup: By default, SEP sesam Web UI landing page is opened when the GUI is started. Deselect the check box to prevent it from opening automatically when starting SEP sesam GUI.
    • Use HTTPS for opening links in the external browser: By default, SEP sesam GUI opens the external links by using the HTTP protocol. By selecting the check box, you can enforce the usage of HTTPS protocol for external links. In this case, you have to accept the Sesam REST server security certificate.
  • UI Mode: You can select the appropriate UI mode: simple or advanced. (The former advanced GUI mode is now replaced by simple mode, while the former expert mode is replaced by advanced mode.) The appearance of the user interface does not change depending on the mode, but simple mode hides complex features and shows the user only a basic subset of options. Advanced mode provides all the features of SEP sesam, such as expert restore options, log level setting, etc. For details, see Selecting UI mode.
  • Restore Settings: You can select the Restore mode – restore interfaces that are available for restore and displayed in the context menu and toolbar (as of ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion V2). It is recommended to use the web-based Restore Assistant instead of the Legacy restore (deprecated) option, which refers to the GUI restore wizard. Compared to the GUI restore wizard, the online Restore Assistant provides some additional advanced restore options and allows you to restore your data from anywhere with the appropriate permissions. You can also keep both interfaces available by selecting Display both possibilities.
  • Filter panels: You can select that filters are displayed/visible the whole time by enabling the option Show filter panels by default.
  • Help: The field Link to WEB help file sets the path to the SEP sesam Wiki main page, thus providing the latest updated version of help topics online. Use the Test It button to check the access to help files.


Fonts and Tables tab

You can customize your SEP sesam GUI appearance by changing:

  • Font: The predefined GUI font is plain. You can select Choose button to change the default font, font style and/or size.
  • Tip
    You can reset GUI font settings to SEP sesam default at any time by using the Reset to Default button.
  • Font used in tables and trees: You can change the default font (proportional) to non-proportional (monospaced).
  • Table Striping: You can change the appearance of GUI tables by selecting one of the zebra striping tables from the drop-down list.
  • Date range (available in ≥ SEP sesam 4.4.3 Beefalo V2): You can set the date range for the displayed data by specifying the Maximum number of days for which the SEP sesam GUI will show the data. By default, it is set to -1 = unlimited.


Display Format tab

Under the tab Display Format, you can change the default setting for the date format as well as default setting for data size units. The data size can be specified either with decimal (KB, MB, GB, TB) or binary prefix (KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB, etc.). For details, see Changing data size units.


Install/Update tab

The tab Install/Update allows you to set the desired Update mode. By default, SEP sesam does not check, download and install updates. An icon (yellow ) notifying the user that an update is available is shown for the respective client and a popup notification on hover suggests that there is a new version available.

Depending on SEP sesam version (Beefalo V1 or v. ≥ Beefalo V2), the following options are available:

  • Turn off (hide from all users) (available in ≥ Beefalo V2): If selected, the install and update feature is not shown in the GUI. No install/update options are visible for any of the users, not even the administrator until this mode is switched on.
  • Do not check or install automatically (default) (in Beefalo V1: Do not download or install any updates): If selected, updates are not checked, downloaded nor installed when a new version is available.
  • Check automatically, but install manually (in Beefalo V1: Download updates automatically, but install manually): If selected, updates are checked by using index.txt from SEP Download Center to get the list of all available packages, but you have to download and install them manually.
  • Check, download and install automatically (in Beefalo V1: Download and install updates automatically): If selected, updates are automatically checked, downloaded and installed, based on SEP sesam NEWDAY, when a new version is available in the SEP Download Center. This option may not be recommended depending on the configuration of your SEP sesam environment and its activity.

You can also update your SEP sesam Clients by using a SEP sesam custom package source which may be stored locally, on the network drive, or is available at specified URL. The advantage of using a custom package is that you have full control over the version that is getting installed. For details, see Using custom SEP sesam package source.


Retention Periods tab

You can set up the retention period in days for SEP sesam logs, readability check logs, calendar sheet entries and restore tasks. The retention period is the time period for which the SEP sesam retaines specified data. Once the retention period expires, the data is removed from the database and is no longer available. Click the arrows to increase or decrease the predefined retention time per file.

  • SEP sesam logs: The default value for preserving the SEP sesam log files is 7 days.
  • Readability check logs: The default value for preserving the readability check log files is 2190 days.
  • Calendar sheet entries: The default retention time for old calendar sheet entries is 35 days.
  • Restore tasks: The default retention time for old restore tasks is 7 days.


Extras tab

Under the Extras tab, the following settings can be activated:

  • Switch off the scrolling for warning "30 days remaining for maintenance authorization": You can switch off the scrolling for notification about the pending expiration of updates. If there is no update permission, the notification never appears. After installing update, this option is reset.
  • Provide selection of "broken backups" in the restore wizard: If this option is checked, you are allowed to perform a restore from incomplete, broken, or interrupted backups. By default, this selection is not provided.
  • Number of trace log lines to display: The default value for trace log lines is 60. Click the arrows to increase or decrease the number of lines.
  • RSS notification polling interval: The default polling interval for RSS notification is 720 minutes. Click the arrows to increase or decrease the polling interval.
  • Compress LIS files: By default, the LIS files are compressed after 14 days. You can change the number of days after which the LIS files are compressed or deactivate the checkbox to prevent compression of LIS files.
  • Globally activate Changed Block Tracking (CBT): By default, the CBT is enabled to provide change tracking thus saving disk space with optimized block level incremental and differential backups of VMDKs. Note that disabling CBT globally will affect your backup performance and use more disk space. For more details, see Changed Block Tracking (CBT).
  • Log Download: In SEP sesam ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can set the maximum size of the log files archive. The default is 25 MiB (0 = unlimited).
  • Task name template: You can configure your own template to define the desired syntax of the backup task name. The backup task name is then generated automatically according to the new template whenever you create a new backup task. The template applies to all backup task types, except in the case that a different template has been entered directly into the SEP sesam database to be applied to the specific task type. For more details on template usage, see Task Name Template – Backup.


Permissions tab

You can configure the default permissons (ACLs) for all top level locations by simply selecting or adding the relevant user or group (ADMIN, OPERATOR, BACKUP or RESTORE), and enabling or disabling access (to locations) per user/group. For details on how to configure ACLs for a specific location or client, see Using Access Control Lists.


Settings tab

The Settings tab displays an overview of all internal GUI settings. You can insert or modify the keys, for example, to set up customized retention policy. For details, see Customizing retention policy.


Media types

Media Types window lists all media types defined in SEP sesam. Entries in black font are the media types currently used. They were set up in the database at the installation of SEP sesam and – contrary to the user defined media types (green font) – cannot be erased nor changed.

  • Media Type: Shows SEP sesam internal identification of the media type.
  • Drive Type: Shows SEP sesam internal drive types.
  • Capacity: Presents storage capacity of allowed media and drive combination. This combination determines which media can be inserted into which drives.


Command

You can create and define your own commands to be used for various tasks within SEP sesam environment.

When configuring a new command, you have to define the following:

  • Name: Enter the name for a new command.
  • Client: Select a client, on which the command will be executed.
  • User: Enter a user name of the user with sufficient access to execute the command on the client.
  • Command: Enter the complete command (and parameters, if required), e.g., eventlog.ps1.

Optionally, you can specify additional parameters for the command, which are appended to the end of the command line. Note that additional parameters for a command can also be specified when creating a command event.

As of version ≥ 5.0.0.15 Jaglion V2, you can also specify an abort command. Abort command will be run if the command event is cancelled during its execution. You can pass special parameters to the abort command using the placeholders $PID and $CMD. They will be replaced with the process ID, or the command parameters of the original command.

You can cancel a command event in Web UI (Monitoring -> All Results) or in the GUI (Main Selection -> Job State -> All Results). Select the active command event and then click Cancel in the menu bar.

Warning
Be careful with the abort command. It must not disturb or abort important processes or SEP sesam executions.


Note
When defining your own commands, some security considerations apply and are explained in Access restriction of command events.

Remote server (Master GUI only)

This option is used for the server administration of the Master GUI. It is possible to both configure or remove SEP sesam Servers or add new servers to the backup tree (menu bar -> Configuration -> Remote Server).

Note
The Remote Server option is only available in the SEP sesam Master GUI.
  • Server Name: The name of the SEP sesam Server in the network.
  • Connection: Shows if the Server is connected to the network (green = ON, red = broken, gray = OFF).
  • GUI Build: Displays the GUI version.
  • Operating System: OS of the SEP sesam Server.


The Master GUI allows the administrator to control all SEP sesam Servers in the SEP sesam environment.

When adding a new server to the SEP sesam Master GUI, the following parameters must be set.

  • Server name: Enter the name of the SEP sesam remote Server that you want to administer by using the master GUI.
  • Connection: You can set the connection to the server (ON or OFF).
  • Port: Define the port number for the client-server connection.
  • Note: Optionally, you can add a comment.


User Permissions

The User Permissions item is only visible if policy-based authentication is activated (default). For details, see Configuring Policy-Based Authentication.


In the User Permissions you can configure the user authorization. Options are admin (the only user role with full control over the SEP sesam), operator (monitors the SEP sesam Server backup status), backup (only allowed to start backups) and restore (only allowed to start restores). The assignment of permissions is user- and client-specific. If a non-authorized user or non-authorized client tries to create a GUI connection, it is rejected.


Note 1:

If the name resolution for the selected client is not complete (IP name and reverse lookup of the IP address), the connection is also rejected!

Note 2: Alternatively the SEP sesam program sm_setup can be utilized to assign user permissions:

  • Adding a user permission:
  • sm_setup allow_gui -u *|<user> -c *|<client> -m admin|operator|restore
  • Removing a user permission:
  • sm_setup disallow_gui -u *|<user> [-c *|<client>] [-m *|admin|operator|restore]
  • View permissions of users or clients:
  • sm_setup get_policy [-m user|client]

Permission Management

Introduced in v. 4.4.3, SEP sesam provides different authentication methods that are mutually exclusive. For details, see About Authentication and Authorization.

Depending on which authentication mode is active, one of the following options is shown:

  • Policy-based authentication is enabled by default. You can switch to database-based authentication by using the Activate Authentication button in the Permission Management window. If you choose not to activate the database-based authentication, policy-based authentication stays enabled. Policy-based authentication is configured in User Permissions (see previous menu option). For details, see Configuring Policy-Based Authentication.
  • When you turn on database-based authentication by using the Activate Authentication button, upon the restart of a GUI and SEP sesam client, you can use any of the 5 available tabs: Users, Groups, External Groups, Sources and Activation. You can create users, modify their settings, such as adding a user to the group or removing it from the group, delete users, create external groups and add the authentication sources for the LDAP/AD authentication. You can also deactivate the database-based authentication. For details on LDAP/AD authentication, see Configuring LDAP/AD Authentication.

Email Settings

The email settings allow to configure the email accounts that can be used for sending emails from the SEP sesam interface or from the command line. The default email account is sesam.


By clicking New, the Email Account window opens:


  • Account: Name of the account (mandatory)
  • Customer: Name of the customer
  • Sender: Email address of the sender
  • SMTP server: Name or IP address of the outgoing mail server
  • SMTP user: User name for SMTP server
  • Password: Password for the mail server. Password is mandatory if SMTP server requires authentication.
  • SMTP port: Optionally, specify the SMTP port.
  • Recipient: Email address of the recipient
  • CC: Email address for copy of the email
  • BCC: Email address for hidden copy of the email
  • SSL: Optionally, you can select to connect securely via SSL or TLS.

If no SMTP user name is specified, it is assumed that no authorization is required at the SMTP server.

Interfaces

User interfaces are configurable programs, intended for system administrators that can use them to create their own commands. They can be used to perform additional actions, such as exporting a database, restarting a database, and sending emails. The following interfaces are available: pre (sbc_pre), post (sbc_post), alarm (sm_alarm), disaster (sm_disaster) and notify (sm_notify). The pre/post-interface might affect backup execution; when creating a script, have in mind that any pre/post script should not take a long time to complete as it can delay the backup.


User interfaces can be programmed using any text editor. To use an interface, you have to activate it first and create your own commands. From the Interfaces menu, select the interface you want to activate; if you are configuring a pre/post interface, you have to select a client too since these two interfaces are created for each client individually and are only executed on the selected client. The interface script window opens, allowing you to configure the desired action. Once done, click Save to activate the interface. The interface is saved to the <SESAM_ROOT>/bin/sesam directory. For details, see Using Pre and Post Scripts.

Alternatively, you can activate the user interfaces by using the templates that are available in the SEP sesam directory <SESAM_ROOT>/skel/templates. To activate an interface, you have to copy its corresponding template file to the directory <SESAM_ROOT>/bin/sesam. The templates are only active and executed on the client.

If the email configuration is set, SEP sesam interfaces send messages by email. The default email account is sesam. For details, see How to configure Mail Notification.

SEP sesam allows the use of Pre-, Post-, Alarm-, Notify-, and Disaster interfaces to be combined into scripts.


PRE interface

Before a backup starts, an administrator can specify special actions to be executed before and during the backup activity. For example, the system can generate messages to quickly notify the administrator of either backup job success or failure. Pre-interface can be used to create commands that will stop or start the selected programs; for example, it may be used to stop the database before it is backed up.

POST interface

Once the backup is finished, some special actions may be required (e.g., notifications/messages, program end/start, restart databases etc.). These actions can be programmed by using the post-interface.

Alarm interface

The SEP sesam system needs no special administration during normal operation once SEP sesam Clients are set up and backup tasks are scheduled (except for the restore). If any functional errors occur, e.g., failure of a certain backup, this event is automatically passed on to the alarm interface. This interface is programmable to filter desired messages and their transmission to the authorized person.

If a license violation has occurred and the alarm interface is activated, an email with the license violation information is sent to the SEP sesam account. The license violations occur when you exceed the conditions set in your license, such as the maximum volume size, the maximum number of configured clients, not licensed backup task types (e.g., BSR), etc. The 16th day upon receiving the violation alarm SEP sesam backups are temporarily stopped until the issue is fixed, while the restores are still available. To avoid license violations, review your license; go to SEP sesam GUI -> Help -> License info. For details, see License administration.

Note
  • Do not use commands which require input from the user, such as OK buttons. Commands that require user interaction may cause interruption of backups during the night.
Notify interface

Similarly, there is a procedure for successful backups and restores which uses the sm_notify. This can be programmed as needed.

Disaster interface

The term disaster refers to a catastrophic failure or complete destruction of the SEP sesam Server and its data. The SEP sesam disaster interface must be properly configured to help carry out the disaster recovery process. To prepare for a possible breakdown of the SEP sesam Server, a self-backup of the SEP sesam installation must be performed. For details on how to prepare, see SEP sesam Server Disaster Recovery.

The disaster interface sends an email describing the recovery procedure in the event of disaster and an attachment containing the SEP sesam bootstrap database with all essential data for the disaster recovery. The sm_disaster file is located in:

  • Linux: <SESAM_BIN>/skel/templates/sm_disaster
  • Windows: <SESAM_BIN>/skel/templates/sm_disaster.ps1

As an alternative to using Interfaces in the GUI, the disaster interface file can also be copied to SESAM_BIN>/bin/sesam/sm_disaster and modified according to the needs of each environment. For details, see SEP sesam Server Disaster Recovery.

See also

Using Access Control ListsAbout Authentication and AuthorizationUsing Pre and Post ScriptsHow to configure Mail NotificationSEP sesam Server Disaster Recovery


Copyright © SEP AG 1999-2024. All rights reserved.

Any form of reproduction of the contents or parts of this manual is allowed only with the express written permission from SEP AG. When compiling and designing user documentation SEP AG uses great diligence and attempts to deliver accurate and correct information. However, SEP AG cannot issue a guarantee for the contents of this manual.