Frequently Asked Questions

General

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What is IDrive BMR?
What is BMR web console and what operations can I perform from here?
Can I perform power operations of BMR server via web interface?
Can I view and change my profile information?
Which network ports are to be used for IDrive BMR server and client computer?
How do I perform manual cleanup of IDrive BMR server storage space?
What is the hardware configuration of the IDrive BMR server?
How do I configure network settings for my IDrive BMR server?
Is it possible to change the time zone for the IDrive BMR server according to my location?
What happens when I reset the network settings?
Data backed up to the IDrive BMR server is reliable for restore?
What are the system requirements for IDrive BMR?
What does 'Firewall Checkpoint' do?
I am unable to save mail settings. Why is that?
How do I connect a specific client machine to the IDrive BMR server?
Are the settings for physical machines and VMware machines different?
Are backup settings and global server settings applicable for VMware machines?
Can I link my BMR cloud account with my IDrive account?
   
   

What is IDrive BMR?

IDrive BMR is an onsite bare-metal restore solution. You can perform full, incremental and manual backup of a computer including multiple hard drives and partitions. The backed up data is saved in the form of a single file (known as an image) onsite. You can maintain a ready-to-use, bare-metal restore (BMR) capability with each image-based backup. In addition to local backup, IDrive offers cloud replication, which lets you transfer backups stored on your IDrive BMR server to your cloud account. This advanced solution allows you to restore backed up data to multiple computers at the same time.

 

What is BMR web console and what operations can I perform from here?

BMR web console is a centralized management system that lets you manage all your backup, recovery and cloud replication requirements. You can access IDrive BMR server, add your computers and ESXi/vCenter to the BMR server and schedule their data backups/restores from anywhere.

You can also,

  • Perform local backup and restore operations
  • Organize physical and VMware machines into groups, and apply separate settings for them
  • Create up to four virtual instances of your machines on the BMR server instantly
  • Enable cloud replication of your local backups and also schedule them as required
  • Change the global server settings, backup settings and mail settings
  • Manage control panel related settings
  • View the health status of your drives and devices, and review storage utilization
  • View system logs and logs of all backup, restore and cloud replication activities of physical and VMware machines

 

Can I perform power operations of BMR server via web interface?

Yes, you can perform power operations of BMR server from the 'Settings' tab via the web interface.

To perform,

  1. Go to 'Settings' and click 'Control Panel'.
  2. Click 'Power Options'.
  3. Following are the two available power options:
    1. Restart - Click to restart server
    2. Restart Option
    3. Shutdown - Click to shutdown server
    4. Shutdown Option

 

Can I view and change my profile information?

Yes, you can change your email address and password from the IDrive BMR server web interface.

To change account password,

  1. Click the username displayed on the top-right corner of the page and click 'Change Password'.
Change Password
  1. Enter new password and confirm the same in the 'Change Password' window.
Change Password
  1. Click 'Change Password'.

 

Which network ports are to be used for IDrive BMR server and client computer?

Following network ports are to be used for IDrive BMR server and client computer:

For IDrive BMR server:

Port Usage Incoming/Outgoing
55414 HTTP web interface Incoming
35623 UDP broadcasts for discovery Outgoing

For client computer:

Port Usage
35622 UDP broadcasts for discovery
35623 Commands and image backups

 

How do I perform manual cleanup of IDrive BMR server storage space?

You can perform manual cleanup only when you have utilized 80% of storage space. An option to perform manual cleanup, with a drop-down list to select the percentage of storage space to be cleaned up, will be enabled.

To perform manual cleanup,

  1. Log in to the IDrive BMR server web interface and click 'Statistics' -> 'System Health'.
  2. Select the percentage of storage space to be cleaned up from 'CleanUp Percentage' drop-down list.
  3. Click 'Cleanup'.
  4. Click 'Confirm' in the confirmation window.

Note: During manual cleanup the server will restart couple of times and the web interface will be unavailable.

Storage Volume

 

What is the hardware configuration of the IDrive BMR server?

The IDrive BMR server is designed for better performance and reliability, therefore hardware components are chosen accordingly. It is optimized to support the backup appliance and its workload.

Hardware configuration of IDrive BMR server (6TB models or higher):

  • Processor: Features Intel Xeon series CPUs
  • Memory: Latest DDR4 memory modules with ECC

    Note: Error-correcting code memory (ECC memory):

  • ECC Memory: Type of computer data storage that can detect and correct the most common kinds of internal data corruption. It is mainly used in scientific or financial computing to prevent data corruption.
  • Storage Drives: Enterprise-grade storage hard drives for best performance and high reliability
  • Network: Features two network Ethernet ports to provide redundancy
  • Power Supply: Equipped with a server grade power supply known for high reliability
  • Form Factor: Rack mountable and ideal for your existing server rack infrastructure

Hardware configuration of IDrive BMR server (4TB models):

  • Processor: Features Intel Core CPUs
  • Memory: Non-ECC DDR4 memory modules
  • Network: One network Ethernet port
  • Power Supply: Desktop grade power supply
  • Form Factor: Mini tower

 

How do I configure network settings for my IDrive BMR server?

During initial login, by default the server will be configured to DHCP mode. You can change the default settings from the 'Settings' tab.

To change network settings,

  1. Log in to the IDrive BMR server web interface.
  2. Go to the 'Settings' tab and click 'Control Panel'.
  3. Under 'Network Settings' tab, click against the required ethernet port entry. The 'Network Settings' window appears.
  1. Select 'IP Mode' as 'Static' and provide the required information such as IP address, Netmask and Gateway in the respective fields.
  2. Click 'Apply Settings'.

To change DNS settings,

  1. In the 'Network Settings' tab, select 'Use the following DNS server address' under 'DNS settings' section.
  2. Provide primary and secondary DNS server address in the respective fields and click 'Apply'.

 

Is it possible to change the time zone for the IDrive BMR server according to my location?

Yes, you can change the time zone for the IDrive BMR server according to your location.

To change,

  1. Login to the IDrive BMR server web interface.
  2. Go to the 'Settings' tab and click 'Control Panel'.
  3. Go to 'Time Zone' tab and choose your region from the 'Select Time Zone' drop-down list.
  4. Select your country and zone.
  5. Click 'Save'.

 

What happens when I reset the network settings?

When you click 'Reset Network' under the 'System Settings' tab, the following actions take place:

  • Both the network interfaces on this server will be set to DHCP mode.
  • Server will reboot to apply the changes. Ensure no backups are in progress at this time.
  • After reboot, the server will try to obtain DHCP provided IP from your network.

 

Data backed up to the IDrive BMR server is reliable for restore?

Yes, all data backed up to the IDrive BMR server is reliable for restore. To ensure reliability of the backed up data, IDrive BMR server runs an immediate data integrity check after each volume is backed up. You can check the backup integrity status from the 'Dashboard' tab in the IDrive BMR server web interface. The data integrity check ensures that only the reliable copies of data are stored during backup and can be restored.

 

What are the system requirements for IDrive BMR?

IDrive BMR currently supports bare-metal backup only from client computers running on Windows OS.

Following are the system requirements for IDrive BMR:

Operating Systems:

  • Windows Vista (with all Windows updates installed)
  • Windows Server 2008 (with all Windows updates installed)
  • Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Windows 7
  • Small Business Server 2011 (with all Windows updates installed)
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows 10
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2016

File System:

  • IDrive BMR supports backup from only NTFS formatted volumes

Disk Partition Style:

  • MBR
  • GPT
Note:
  1. You can backup dynamic or logical volumes in MBR disk.
  2. Bare-metal restore of these volumes is not supported.
  3. You can still recover data from these backed up volumes by using the 'File Restore' option. Refer steps to recover backed up data using file restore option.
  4. Bare-metal restore is not supported for the data backed up from client machines with RAID-based storage. However, you can still perform file-level restore of the backed up data to the client machine.

 

What does 'Firewall Checkpoint' do?

Firewall Checkpoint is a function within the BMR server that helps you check firewall restrictions, if any. Through this function, network restrictions on services such as email delivery, cloud replication and so on are identified.

To check these settings,

  1. Log in to the IDrive BMR server web interface.
  2. Click 'Settings' displayed on the menu bar.
  3. Go to the 'Control Panel' tab.
  4. Scroll down and click 'Check Now' in the Firewall Checkpoint section.

Status of settings:

Successful - This means that there are no firewall restrictions and you can continue to use all services related to BMR. Successful - There are no firewall restrictions and you can continue to use all services related to BMR

Failure - This means that the port has been blocked Failure - The port has been blocked


If you receive a failure alert, contact your network admin to unblock the network firewall. Here are the port details:

  • General Firewall Settings - Unblock Port '80' and Port '443' for 'www.idrive.com' and 'www1.idrive.com' servers.
  • Mail Settings - Check your Mail Server Port details and unblock the port, if blocked.
  • Cloud Replication - Contact the BMR support team to receive the Port details. Then share this information with your network admin to unblock the respective ports.

 

I am unable to save mail settings. Why is that?

This could be because the port number used to connect to the mail server may have been blocked. You can check whether the port is blocked or not from the BMR server.

To check,

  1. Log in to the IDrive BMR server web interface.
  2. Click 'Settings' displayed on the menu bar.
  3. Go to 'Mail' -> 'Mail Server Settings' tab.
  4. Click 'Firewall Check Now'.

Contact your network admin to unblock the port, if it is blocked.

 

How do I connect a specific client machine to the IDrive BMR server?

Download the IDrive BMR installer on your machine. During installation, the installer will prompt you to enter a Server Identity Key.

To add the identity key,

  1. Log in to the IDrive BMR server web interface.
  1. On the right-corner of the 'Physical Machines' tab, click the 'Add Client' button to add a physical machine.
  1. To add a VMware ESXi host, click 'Add ESXi host'. Similarly, to add a vCenter server click 'Add vCenter Server'.
  1. The server's Identity Key along with the following message will be displayed.
  2. Enter the identity key in the 'Enter the server identity key' field on the IDrive BMR installer and click 'Next'.
  3. Once this is complete, your backup will be automatically initiated.

 

Are the settings for physical machines and VMware machines different?

Mail settings and all control panel related settings for physical machines and VMware machines are common. However, backup settings and global server settings are applicable only for computers configured under physical machines.

 

Are backup settings and global server settings applicable for VMware machines?

No, backup settings and global server settings are only relevant for physical machines.

 

Can I link my BMR cloud account with my IDrive account?

If you have an IDrive Enterprise account and a BMR cloud account, you can contact BMR support to link both these accounts. This lets you directly access your BMR cloud account from IDrive, without the need to enter your BMR user credentials every time, to login.

 

 

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