Active Backup for Business not visible for Users

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Active Backup for Business not visible for Users

Greetings All,
My understanding of ABB was that either
  1. the Admin would control all backups and then a User had access to the recovery Portal to recover as they wished. Or,
  2. Each user could backup their own areas and recover as they please.
My expectation was that (2) would apply for me, if only because recovery from a bare metal backup is more complex for a non-technical user. [Regarding 1), as the Admin user on the Syno, I can add the pc as a File Server, but only for one user. Therefore I cannot backup the other users on the PC.]


However, I cannot set the Permissions such that the Users can run the ABB programme. For the Shared Folder, Read access is set as follows for the user group Family:
1617812030442.png


For the application itself, the Privileges are set as follows:
1617812165450.png


So, by default everyone can theoretically run it (grant to all users by default) and the Family group is explicitly set to allow the application ABB.

So what am I missing, because the Family group users do not see ABB in their app list?

Thank you!
 
The family users need to have access to ABB and ABB Portal, but not the ABB shared folder.

Only ABB Portal will add an application link to the DSM portal, for standard users. For admin users the ABB and ABB Portal are added.
Thanks fredbert...

This is as I thought. However my problem is that I cannot give the Family users access to the ABB. I did as pêr my post, but I am missing a step somewhere...
thanks
John
 
However my problem is that I cannot give the Family users access to the ABB. I did as pêr my post, but I am missing a step somewhere...
Its what @fredbert said:

Only ABB Portal will add an application link to the DSM portal, for standard users. For admin users the ABB and ABB Portal are added.

So unless your user/group is "admin" class, they will only have access to the portal UI not the main ABB UI.
 
Its what @fredbert said:

Only ABB Portal will add an application link to the DSM portal, for standard users. For admin users the ABB and ABB Portal are added.

So unless your user/group is "admin" class, they will only have access to the portal UI not the main ABB UI.
Thank you both.
So to rephrase you, a non-Admin cannot access the ABB. Therefore the non-Admin user can only recover data that is already backed up.

For me, this implies that a Syno Admin cannot back up a different PC User's data (i.e. except his/her own) with the File Server option.

Further, the Syno Admin can only backup all Users on a PC with the ABB PC option. i.e. a bare metal backup.

Am I right there, or have I gone wrong somewhere? (There is some specific vocab in both your replies that I fear escapes me...)

Thanks!
 
For me, this implies that a Syno Admin cannot back up a different PC User's data (i.e. except his/her own) with the File Server option.
If your Syno admin knows the "admin" account of that destination pc she/he can make an SMB connection to the PC and make a backup of any destination on that device.

For example, if you have admin access to that device you can C$ (admin share) to any destination and target it for "pull" backup using File Server method. Like so:

Keep in mind that this will work with the "Administrator" account not just an "admin class" account on that machine.

Screenshot 2021-04-07 at 23.19.26.png


But in the end, you can backup a specific folder, and not just depend on a bare metal agent option
 
If your Syno admin knows the "admin" account of that destination pc she/he can make an SMB connection to the PC and make a backup of any destination on that device.
Well, this is it, I can't!
In my case, the User data is not on the system drive C:, but rather F:.

I tried F:, although that failed telling me I didn't have permission to access files.
As for the Users, I can only see JW, the Admin account on the PC and the default. Not the other users.
1617830783413.png


So I conclude I can only backup one User. (Who's PC username and pass I gave during the creation of the File Server.)
What gives?
 
Further, the Syno Admin can only backup all Users on a PC with the ABB PC option. i.e. a bare metal backup.
Going back to this bit.

Giving standard users access rights to the ABB package:
  1. Does not give them an ABB package icon in DSM
  2. Does not give them access to the ABB administration GUI in DSM
  3. Using the PC ABB Agent: It does give them the ability to use their account from the PC and so that PC's backup is accessible in the ABB Portal to them*
In conclusion, the ABB privilege enables standard users to install and run the PC agent.


The ABB Portal privilege enables the standard user to access ABB web portal (obviously!) and restore or download from the backup tasks for their NAS account.

*and any admin user. Using the ABB Portal, an admin user can access all PC backups, regardless of the user that created them.
 
Last edited:
Thank you both for your time.
I puzzle why Synology would neuter their product in this way. Surely the objective of a backup solution is quick and easy backups for individual users data (in a family or business setting), but if a standard user does not have access to the ABB app then this is impossible.
If Syno had another package to sell, then this could make sense, but in this case that is not the case, so it all seems unnecessarily restrictive to me... (I would love it if someone could explain the logic of Synology approach to me here...)

So... time to explore the world of Agents. As an initial question, with the Agent there are two options: PC and Physical Server. The only difference between them at a first read seems to be that Physical Server is more flexible, giving the user the ability to restore their physical machine as a VM. (Now this would appear to be a fantastic idea... Bring it back as a VM and then having the ability to access my data that way, leaving me to do a fresh install on my metal, would appear to be marvellous.)
Is that correct? (about the only difference) If so, why bother with the PC option at all???
 
Is that correct? (
Correct

If so, why bother with the PC option at all???
You have to understand that ABB is mainly a "business" tool aimed mainly for the IT Admins to handle pc backups of the business devices. The fact that you can use this at home now is cool, but from the permission perspective, nothing has changed. So, you will have to either use the File Server option and pull the data (not sure why you can't see the F drive tbh), or simply manage the PC backups yourself (the agent method).
 
Hi, sorry to wade into the conversation so late, but are your 'family' users logging into gui to open an app or are they doing it through the agent, right clicking agent in system tray, selecting 'backup status', then this window appears:
1617892622767.png

Clicking on restore portal opens gui in browser that needs logging into, but doesnt show dsm just goes straight to restore portal. I couldn't tell you it will work but it is the documented way
 
My bad. AFAIK the agent is necessary to do the backups but if you want to tailor your backups then you need to create a template first. This step is often a sticking point for people as it is never made clear when to do it. In settings, there is a template tab, you can set user (conditions) and user level (type), schedule, what to backup, compression and encryption. When you log into the agent, it matches the template to the username used to log in. I have never done it as a non-admin, but I imagine if you set the template as available to non-admin user it will be. Templates are the only method of customising backups and it requires a login to the agent to select it on PC
1617960963771.png
 

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