Disksync requires three pieces of software in order to function properly. Two of these are managed by you (the customer). This is a brief overview of how they all work together.

Agent
This is the software that runs on your server. It manages your schedules, retention settings, and vault connections.

Agent Console
This is used for connecting to the Agent that runs on your server. It is how you configure your backup jobs and other Agent settings.

Vault
This piece is managed entirely by ThePlanet, but this is where your backups are stored. It also keeps a copy of your Agent configuration in the event that you need to reinstall the Agent, such as after an OS reload. The credentials provided to you in the welcome letter for new Disksync accounts are for the Vault. Where to use them will be explained later.

Steps to Setup Disksync

1. Install the Agent on your server
This process varies depending on your Operating System.

A. Linux
Download the Agent


B. Windows
Download the Agent
Open http://downloads.theplanet.com/disksync/Agent-Windows.exe in a browser, download and execute. Follow the prompts and select any plugins if necessary. There is no graphical interface for the Agent itself. Once it is installed, you will see a VVAgent in the windows services.

NOTE: You will need a license for any plugins you choose to install. These are sold separately.

2. Install the Agent Console on your Desktop
The Agent Console is only available for Windows. You can download it from here:
http://downloads.theplanet.com/disksync/AgentConsole.exe

3. Connect your Agent Console to the Agent on your Server
After you open the Agent Console, you will see an icon on the left pane labeled "Workspace". Right click on this and select "New Agent".
Description: This is only a name for your Agent. You can put anything here.
Network Address: This is the IP address of your server
Port: 808 (The Agent on your server listens on this port, leave this as default)
User Name/Password: This is the Administrator or root account of your server, depending on the Operating system you are running on your server.
Domain: leave this blank

Click on "Get Status" to verify that your Agent Console can communicate properly with your Agent using the information you provided. If successful, you will see a dialog box with some general information about your server. If not, then you will see an error message. If you see an error, verify that the information provided here is correct and that there is no firewall blocking communication. As long as all goes well, click "Okay" and this will add the Agent to your Agent Console.

NOTE: If you have a firewall in place, ensure traffic on TCP port 808 is allowed.

4. Register your Agent with your Vault account
In the Agent Console, right click on your Agent select "Agent Configuration". Under the first tab "Vaults", click on "New". Click on "Next" through the prompts.

If this is the first time you are setting up Disksync, be sure to select "Register as a new computer". Otherwise, use "Register as an existing computer".

The profile name for the vault is only a name. This can be anything, its simply a name for the Vault server.

"New Address" is the IP address or hostname of the Vault server. The server on which your Disksync account will be provided to you in the welcome letter. It will be one of the following:
disksync01.dllstx3.theplanet.com (70.85.125.18)
disksync02.dllstx3.theplanet.com (70.85.125.19)
disksync03.dllstx3.theplanet.com (70.85.125.20)
disksync01.hstntx2.theplanet.com (209.85.111.50)

After you've entered the Vault server, click add to add it to the list of Vault connections. There is only going to be one connection, so click Next.

Use the default settings for the ports to use. These are the ports that the Vault listens on for your Agent, and Disksync will not work if these are changed. So click Next for this prompt.

The following prompt has reasonable defaults. This is for reconnection timeouts, attempts, and whether or not to encrypt over the wire. You can change, but you will probably prefer the defaults. So just click Next here.

The next prompt is for your Vault account information. This is the credentials we provide you in Disksync welcome letters. Simply enter that information and then click Next, and then click Finish.

As long as all the Vault IP and account credentials were entered correctly, you will be brought back to the Agent Configuration window with a new Disksync Vault listed. Now that this is done, click 'Ok'.

5. Setting up a new job
Right click on your Agent again, and click "New Job". Click on Next on the first prompt. You will be asked for a job name, and then it will ask you what you want to back up. Here you will need to check the box "Data Files", then click on "Add" to select what you want to back up. What you select here is up to you. If you select a directory, you will be asked if you want to back up the directory recursively, or files in the directory matching a given pattern.

The next prompt will ask if you want to enable/disable quick scanning and deferring. The defaults should be reasonable. Quick file scanning tells your Agent to not scan for unchanged files which have already been backed up. Deferring limits the backup time to within the the given backup window. This may be important to leave enabled since Disksync may cause increased load which can hinder performance during peak hours.

You will then be asked if you wish to enable encryption for your safesets (aka. backups). If you choose to do so, you will need to provide the algorithm to use and a passphrase. You will need this same passphrase in order to restore from encrypted safesets. If it is lost, we cannot recover it for you.

Log options should have reasonable defaults. This screen just says how detailed the logs should be and how often to purge them.

6. Scheduling your Job
Right click on the Agent, and select "Schedule Entries". This will give you a window for listing the added schedules. To add one click on New and follow the prompts. The prompts should be pretty straight forward for this, but there is one aspect that might not make sense at first; retentions.

By default, the Agent is configured with a Daily, Weekly, and Monthly retention. Without going into too much depth, this is basically to make it easier for simple schedules. For example if you wish to backup once a day every day, then you would use a Daily retention. For once a week, you would use Weekly. And for once a month, you would use Monthly. You can define your own retention settings at any time and also create more complicated schedules.

7. Restoring
Once the schedules are set up, then the Disksync install is complete. The only thing that you may need to do after this point is either change a backup job setting, or run a restore. To run a restore, simply right click on the backup job and select Restore. Follow the prompts to select which safeset to restore from and what data to restore. If you chose to use encryption for the safesets, it will ask you for the passphrase here.


That should cover everything for help with setting up a new Disksync account. Feel free to let me know if anything should be added!

Hey there
I'm trying to setup DiskSync Agent Console in Windows, but when i right click on the Agent and select "Configure Agent" i get the message: "The parameter is incorrect" and i can't go on.
I've already succeded with conneccting to the Agent on my server (when i click on "Get status" everything seems to be ok) but i can't continue with the next step
Could you help?
Thank you very much