Group "policy" vs client settings (file backups)

#1

It seems to me that under certain conditions the group settings do not override the settings on the client.

Steps to reproduce (linux server, win client):

  1. I have a client that for instance backs up C:\dirA
  2. I will move the client to a new group that is configured to back up C:\dirB and has “Allow client-side changing of the directories to backup” turned off
  3. the clients backups continue to be made from dirA. dirB is not backed up. dirA is also shown on the client config page which is now greyed out

Same goes for exclusions and inclusions, etc.

  • at what point will the group settings override client settings, if at all?
  • if it does not happen automatically, what is the correct procedure to delete or reset the client side so that it will apply the group settings from server?
#2

I find on new clients if you haven’t put them into a group before their first connection they’ll do a first backup with default settings before re-running a backup with their group settings.

The Settings | Permissions | Allow client-side changing of settings: is also a factor
The Settings | Separate settings for this client is also a factor

#3

I don’t know how i would put them into a group before the first connection . But i have worked out that if you press cancel upon configuration during client install, all works fine with group.

My question is - what to do with computers that are already making a backup from wrong directories an ignore group excludes and which do not want to apply group settings that they belong to. There must (should) be a way to either enforce this from the server side (preferred) or to reset client side settings so that it will reapply settings from server.

“Allow client-side changing of the directories to backup” and “Allow client-side changing of settings” are off for this group.
no “Separate settings for this client”

#4

Set your Default to a very limited backup, perhaps something common to all your groups. After that runs you can change the client to the proper group. Unless the Client is allowed to make changes, UrBackup will send the correct group settings for the next backup. You can either wait for the first unwanted backup to be automatically deleted or manually delete it after you get good backups with the correct group settings.

It may also be possible to Disable automatic backups on the File and Image Backups tabs under the Default settings, which would prevent that first unwanted backup, but I haven’t tested that yet.

#5

Yes - as i said, i have figured out how to prevent the first unwanted backup now.

My question was - and remains - how to apply group settings to a computer that is already doing a backup from wrong directories.

Again: “Allow client-side changing of the directories to backup” and “Allow client-side changing of settings” are off for this group. No “Separate settings for this client”.

Urbackup does not send (or the client does not accept) group settings and the clients continue to do tha backups of wrong directories and use wrong excludes.

#6

What I described is how it works for me with several offices, all using groups. (All clients are Windows.) The first backup uses the Default settings, after that the client has been added to the group and the group setup is used for the next (scheduled) backup. This has been the case since at least 2.1.x series; I don’t remember if I used Groups before that.

Do only certain clients exhibit this behavior?
Does stopping the unwanted backup work?
Have you tried deleting the UrBackup Client completely from the client computer (not the server) and reinstalling?

#7

I can understand that, but it is not relevant to my questions at all. I do not have a problem with the initial setup for “clean” clients.

I have a problem with clients that were once configured individually (folder selection, excludes, etc) which i now wish to move to a group. Despite the clients having been moved to a group, the group policy (if it can be called as such) is never applied. The clients in question continue to make backup according to their previous configuration. And by “continue” i do not mean “finishing an ongoing backup”, but they make a new backup every day with old conf for weeks now.