Standalone full to local disk with a managed agent

[drichman]

I would like to make a standalone full backup to a local hard drive on a computer with the Windows Agent that is managed by a B&R server. When I right click the agent and choose Backup>Standalone full backup or Backup>Backup to another location, I get the popup message "please contact your systems administrator to preform a backup".

How do I, as the system admin, get a full backup on a physical standalone drive?

[Dima P.]

Hello Dean,

If the agent is controlled by Veeam B&R console UI should be operating in lock down. Try to start standalone full backup via command line:

"C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe" /standalone

[drichman]

I get the following error in the command window:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>"C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe" /standalone
Failed to perform operation: Unable to run Standalone command: this backup agent is managed by backup administrator.

[Dima P.]

Hello Dean,

Can you please clarify if this agent is being managed by Veeam B&R server or Veeam Availability Console? Thank you in advance!

[drichman]

B&R server (with Enterprise Manager)

[Dima P.]

Dean,

Understood, thank you. In case agent is controlled by Veeam B&R server most of the operations (except Backup Now and Restore options are being disabled), mind me asking why you need to trigger backup creation from the client (i.e. agent) and not via Veeam B&R server? Cheers!

[drichman]

All systems backup to a central B&R repository, so I am trying to get a stand alone full on a physical hard drive that I can keep offline should I not have access to the central repository. Of course, I will also need the ability to restore the machine to a bare metal system should something happen to the original laptop.

[Dima P.]

Thanks for the clarification. If I remember correctly for managed agents the ability to perform standalone full backup to another location should not be blocked. Try the following command:

"C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe" /standalone <location>

where location is a path to a folder. Cheers!

[drichman]

As noted earlier in the thread, I get the following error then attempting to run that command:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>"C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe" /standalone d:
Failed to perform operation: Unable to run Standalone command: this backup agent is managed by backup administrator.

[Dima P.]

Dean,

Thank you for the clarification. Let me check the described behavior with RnD folks and I'll get back to your with the investigation results. Cheers!

[drichman]

Any update?

[Dima P.]

Hello Dean,

Sorry for the delay. Confirmed that standalone full backup options (same repository and different location) are not available when agent is running in managed mode. I'll note an improvement request based on your post and discuss your use case with RnD folks.

[drichman]

Can I take some of the backup files from the B&R server repository for that job and copy them to a stand alone disk to be used as a restore point in case of an emergency?

[Egor Yakovlev]

Yes, just make sure you copy .vbk(full backup) from the chain and not just .vib increments.
Also if you want to do that on a schedule, might want to check Backup Copy Job.
/Cheers!

[smistry]

My company has Veeam Backup & Replication configured and setup to automatically push the Veeam agents and the default backup job to all new clients.
When we logon to a work-station we only have the ability to create a full backup image to the associated repository.
The option to create a standalone image to another location is not available.

How can you change the deployed Agent policies to allow all the options that are available in the standalone Veeam Windows Agent? Surely the System Administrator should be able allow all of this options, especially the ability to create a standalone image to any location we choose. This would make sense.

[HannesK]

Hello,
and welcome to the forum.

Correct, if an end user tries to store a backup to another location, he gets the "please contact your system administrator to perform a backup".

Please see the answer above from the responsible product manager: it's an open feature request and we count your request +1

Best regards,
Hannes