The Retrospect backup system

BCS & CVS operate two Retrospect backup servers to perform regular automated backups of computers in the departments. One server handles computers located within Meliora Hall, the other handles computers outside of Meliora Hall.

Laptops and select desktops are backed up Monday-Friday between 8:30am and 6pm. Desktops are backed up the rest of the time, including on weekends.

All data transmission and storage is encrypted, and NOBODY has access to the servers/backed-up data besides myself.

Computers must be connected to a wired network (either within the BCS space in Meliora Hall or over at the Med Center) to be backed up. It is not possible for us to back up computers on any of the various wifi networks on campus or when the computer is off-campus.

Backed-up data is retained for ~12 months before the storage media are erased and reused. Data from any of the backups made of your computer during that time can be restored back to your computer.

What gets backed up?

Computers within Meliora Hall and laptops located outside of Meliora Hall typically have their entire boot drive backed up. Desktops outside of Meliora Hall (ie: URMC systems) often have separate boot and data drives...Retrospect treats these differently. Boot drives will always be backed up, but data drives will only be backed up upon request of the user. If you prefer to only have a specific folder or folders on your computer backed up, we can do that.

Excluding data from backups

If a folder with the name "nobackup" is found on a computer, that folder will be ignored by the backup server regardless of where it may be on your drive. If you have files you don't want backed up (or shouldn't be backed up), create "nobackup" folders as-needed and place the files in them. The server will also automatically ignore iTunes music folders and Dropbox-related folders.

Am I already running the Retrospect Client?

On a Mac, check the status icons in the top right corner of the desktop. On a Windows PC, check the status icons in the bottom right corner of the desktop. If you see a cube-shaped icon, that indicates that the Retrospect client is installed. If you hover your mouse pointer over the icon, it'll tell you your backup status. On a LInux system look at the "/var/log/retroclient.history" file...that contains info about your most recent backups.

Installing the Retrospect Client

To have your computer(s) backed up by the system, you need to install the Retrospect Client software on your computer(s).

MacOS

1. Download the client installation software here (only accessible from on-campus):

Mac OSX Retrospect client

2. Double-click the disk image to expand it. Then, run the "Install OSX Client" installer.

3. When the install ends, you should be shown the 'Retrospect Client' application. Click the 'On' button to turn on backups. When asked for a password, enter something simple (like 'chris').

4. During the install, OSX may ask if you want to allow the Retrospect software through OS X's network firewall. You want to allow this.

5. If you're running MacOS 10.14 or newer, there MAY be an additional step necessary to ensure full backups:

• Open "System Preferences" under the Apple at the top left of your screen.

• Click on "Security & Privacy" then "Privacy". In the column on the left select the entry "Full Disk Access" (you may need to scroll down the list a bit)

• Click on the lock to authenticate and allow changes
• You need to add two Retrospect apps to the "Full Disk Access" list. They are "/Library/PreferencePanes/Retrospect Client" and "/Library/Application Support/Retrospect/RetrospectInstantScan" (On more recent versions of MacOS one or both of these may already be in the list)
• To add these folders, click on the "+" button and use the file dialog box to navigate to them. The Library folder is located at the base/root level of your hard drive...it is NOT the Library folder inside your own home folder.

6. Once you've finished the install, let me know what the password is and I'll take care of things on my end (the password gets changed when I add the computer to the backup server).

Windows

1. Download the client installation software (only accessible from on-campus):

Windows Retrospect client

2. Double-click the download and run the installer.

3. During the install, Windows may ask if you want to allow the Retrospect software through Windows' network firewall. You want to allow this.

4. You'll also be asked to enter a password. Just enter something simple, like 'chris'.

5. After the installation of the software is complete we need to modify the firewall on your computer to allow Retrospect traffic to/from your computer. To do this, go to the search field in the bottom left corner of your desktop and type in "windows defender firewall". A list of options will appear, including the "Windows Defender Firewall" control panel. Select this.

6. In the Windows Defender Firewall window, click on the option "Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall" in the left side of the window.

7. In the resulting "Allowed apps" window, click on the "Change Settings" button. Scroll down the list of apps until you get to "Retrospect". You'll see two checkboxes next to it...be sure both are checkmarked (by default only one is usually checkmarked). Then click the "OK" button. you can now close all of the windows related to the firewall.

8. Once you've finished the install, let me know what the password is and I'll take care of things on my end (the password gets changed when I add the computer to the backup server).

Troubleshooting

If you find your computer running slowly after you install the Retrospect software, it may be due to a process the client runs that maintains a database of what needs to be backed up. It's usually only a problem on older computers. This process, called Instant Scan, can be disabled in the client to restore system performance.

On a Mac, go into System Preferences, and click on the Retrospect Client preference pane while holding down the Command key. This will display an extra tab in the preference pane called 'Advanced'. In this tab, you can disable Instant Scan.

On a Windows PC, open the Retrospect Client control panel. Once open, press CONTROL-A to force the 'Advanced' tab to appear. In this tab, you can disable Instant Scan.

Linux

Instructions for installing Retrospect on a Debian-based Linux system (like Ubuntu or Linux Mint) are here: InstallingRetrospectLinux