Private Cloud destinations

BackupAssist Cloud Backup allows you to back up to a private cloud. This private cloud can be a server or NAS device with WebDAV enabled. WebDAV is an extension of the HTTP protocol that allows clients to perform remote Web content authoring operations. For backups, this means it can be used to transfer data from BackupAssist to a remote server or device.

WebDAV setup overview

Below is an overview of the tasks performed in setting up WedDAV:

  1. Enable the WebDAV protocol in the device or server's internet hosting software.
  2. Create a folder / container in the device or server for the backup job's destination.
  3. Get a destination URL from the device or server's internet hosting software.
  4. Create a WebDAV backup job using the URL from step 3.

Setting up a private cloud server

The steps required to set up WedDAV will depend on the type of server or NAS device you are using. Detailed information about these steps can be found online and will often be supplied by your device or server's vendor.

ClosedShow: private cloud set up

For Apache, you can find detailed instructions online, like the examples below:

For NAS devices, you can find detailed NAS vendor instructions online, like the examples below:

  • How to set up WebDAV for Synology

    • If you follow the instructions in the link above, you willbe provided with a WebDAV access URL with port number 5005 (http) or 5006 (https). You can use that as the Server URL required when you set up the WebDAV destination in BackupAssist. Alternatively, you can create a shared folder inside it that will serve as the destination, within which the Backup Container will reside.

  • How to set up WevDAV for QNAP

    • If you follow the instructions in the link above, you will have set up one or more Shared Folders with WebDAV access. You can use any of these folders as your WebDAV backup destination, within which the Backup Container will reside. For example, if folder was called "backup" on a QNAP NAS named webdavhost, the Server URL required when you set up the WebDAV backup in BackupAssist will be http://webdavhost/backup.

ClosedShow: Private cloud IIS set up

This page explains how to set up and configure Microsoft Internet Information Server with WebDAV so that is can be used as a private cloud destination for BackupAssist.

Step 1 - IIS Installation

The first thing to do is enable Internet Information Server (IIS) on your Windows Server. This will allow you to run the WebDAV extension for HTTP.

  1. Run the server's Add Roles and Features Wizard.
  2. Select the Server Roles tab
  3. Check the Web Server (IIS) box.
  4. Expand Web Server Role (IIS) > Web Server > Common HTTP Features. Make sure that WebDAV Publishing is checked.
  5. Expand Web Server Role (IIS) > Web Server > Security. Make sure that Windows Authentication is checked.
  6. Expand WebServer (IIS) > Web Server > Performance. Check Dynamic Content Compression.

    7. IIS Server role selection

  7. Complete the wizard steps by clicking Next.

Step 2 - IIS Configuration

Next you need to configure WebDAV on IIS and assign the required permissions and access.

  1. Open IIS Manager from the Server Manager Tools Menu
  2. Go to <server name> Sites > Default Web Site. In the example below, the <server name> is WebDAVHost
  3. Double-Click WebDAV Authoring Rules.
  4. In the Actions pane on the right, click Enable WebDAV. When you do this, the Add Authoring Rule… option will appear in the Actions Pane.
  5. In the Actions pane on the right, click Add Authoring Rule...
  6. Grant Read and Write permissions to the appropriate group according to your usage scenarios and security requirements. For example, to grant every user permission to back up to this server, in the Add/Edit Authoring Rule dialog select the options All content, All users, and the Permissions: Read, Source, Write. Press OK.
  7. Go to <server name> Sites > Default Web Site.
  8. Double-click on Authentication.
  9. Enable Windows Authentication. We also recommend disabling anonymous authentication. Once it is enabled, you will see the Providers… link in the Actions panel.
  10. Open Providers... and use the Move Up / Move Down buttons to move the NTLM entry to above the Negotiate entry. Press OK.

    11. IIS WebDAV setup

  11. Go to <server name> and double-click Default Document. Press Disable from the Action pane.
  12. Go to <server name> and double-click Output Caching > Click Edit Feature Settings.... from the left pane.
  13. Uncheck Enable cache and Enable kernel cache.
  14. Click Finish

Step 3 - Setting up storage Folders

The final step is to create a backup destination using IIS for Cloud Backup jobs to use if the WebDAV destination is selected.

  1. Open IIS Manager.
  2. Go to <server name> Sites >Default Web Site.
  3. Right-click the default website and select Add Virtual Directory.
  4. In the Alias field, type in "Storage". This alias, combined with the host URL, will be the value you enter in the Server URL field in the Set up destination step, when creating a BackupAssist WebDAV backup job. For this example, the Server URL value will come out to be http://WebDAVHost/Storage.
  5. Specify a suitable Physical Path, for example: I:\WebDAV.
  6. Click Finish.

To get the URL required by BackupAssist, you can right-click the storage you created in IIS and select the browse button sub menu to open the storage with the URL used by IIS.

Note: On WebDAV 8 and newer do not use the same name for the alias in IIS and the Container name in BackupAssist as this could cause the job to fail.

Step 4 - Create a backup to the WebDAV destination

Once you have created your storage, you can use it for private cloud backup jobs. Just create a BackupAssist Cloud Backup job and select WebDAV as the destination and configure WebDAV it in the Set up Destination step.

In the Set up Destination step you will need to fill i the following details:

  • Backup Container: Provide a name for a backup destination folder. BackupAssist will create this folder in the virtual directory that you created in IIS, when you click Check Destination. The container name can be anything you want, for example the server name or job name.

    • The name can only be made of lower case letters and numbers. No capital letters, spaces or special characters allowed.

  • Server URL: This will be http://server_name/alias as per the configurations you set when configuring your virtual directory.
  • User Name and Password: This is what you will use to access your IIS server.
  • Encryption Password: This is the password to encrypt your backup files. You will need this to do restores and the password cannot be recovered if lost.