Shutting down the PC after backup with Agent Server

[Bonny]

Hello everyone!

This is not my field, so apologies if any errors were made.

I want to protect my parents' PC, and I found recommendations for Veeam Agent for Windows (since it's free and very good). I have to say, I was impressed by it. However, things started to go downhill when I tried to configure a second backup job (as I wanted to have two backups on different hard drives), and the app gave me the message: "Free edition does not support multiple jobs." Fair enough, I thought, so I went to check how much a paid edition would cost. I quickly realized I couldn't find any pricing directly on your website, as you're not really targeting the home consumer market, and the prices I did find were far far beyond my budget.

After some research, I found Veeam B&R and decided to give it a try. I thought I could set it up on a mini PC I have and use it to manage the backups, but I had no luck understanding how to get it working. So, for now, we settled on using Macrium Reflect to back up the data, though it left me with a bit of a sour taste.

Recently, I decided to give it another try, and I discovered that I could potentially create a license for the Agent from B&R to upgrade it to a higher tier ("Server" was my goal, as I saw that with it I could choose two hard drives as backup destinations). As long as I have fewer than 10 instances, it’s still in the "free" range—at least that’s my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong). However, I couldn't figure out how to create a license for the Agent. I couldn’t even add an Agent to the software since I don’t have the admin user password (and I'm honestly afraid to reset it).

But then, a miracle happened! I found out about the NFR license. I thought it was perfect, and based on a post I found here, it seemed like it could be used for personal use. I applied for one with my details and received it! I reinstalled the Agent on my parents' PC, loaded the license file, and... it worked! Fantastic news!

I set up the backup jobs, and it was just as smooth as I remembered. The UI is great, and I love how minimal the software feels. But then something started bothering me. I realized that the option to shut down the PC after the backup was missing! I deleted and recreated the jobs countless times, exploring every option I could find, but no "what to do after backup" option was available.

I did some more Googling and found this post: veeam-agent-for-windows-f33/server-agen ... 81631.html. It made sense, considering that servers are supposed to be running 24/7. I had some hope regarding the VBR script method, but unfortunately, I don't have that option since none of my jobs are "managed by the backup server."

So, to my conclusion: How can I shut down the PC after the backup job(s) is/are done? I really like Veeam Agent (and so do my parents), but I don’t want to complicate things too much. Are there any methods I can use to achieve this? I understand that the NFR license isn't eligible for support, but I hope to get some guidance to shed some light on the issue.

Thanks in advance for your time and attention!

[Mildur]

Hi Alex

Thank you for your kind words

Shutting down the computer after the backup is only available for Veeam Agents running in "Free" or "Workstation" mode, not in "Server" mode.

If you managed the Agent on your parents computer by a Veeam Backup & Replication server, then I suggest to create a backup policy with type workstation. This will allow you to set "Once backup is taken, computer should" to "Shutdown".
For your second copy of your backup to an external disk, use backup copy jobs from Veeam Backup & Replication.

But without a Veeam Backup & Replication server, you have to run your Agent in Free or Workstation Edition to be able to shutdown the computer after the backup.

Best,
Fabian

[Bonny]

May I ask the reason behind not leaving the checkbox on the Server edition though?

The two external disks have to be connected to which computer? The one hosting B&R or the one with the installed Agent on it?
Can I create two policies with type "workstation" instead of copying? For more flexibility I mean. Let's say scheduling different backup days, etc.


I'm trying right now to configure the Agent as I just re-installed B&R on a MiniPC I had close.

In the meanwhile, of course, I thank you <3

[Mildur]

Hi Alex

It makes less sense for server machines to have the same scheduling options as agents on workstations. Servers run 24/7 and typically do not need to be shut down at random times after a backup has finished.

I believe we can keep it simple if your only goal is to have two different USB disks with different backup sets. A single backup job could work. You can use Veeam Agent for Windows with a single backup job and the rotated disk option.

The same backup job will run every day, but your parents can rotate the two backup disks between backup sessions. Shutdown after backup will be available in the schedule options.

Best,
Fabian

[Bonny]

Sadly leaving them to manually rotate the drives isn't reliable, as they aren't really tech savvy so I'm sure they'll forget soon enough.

It makes sense for servers to "randomly" getting shut down, but I was also referring to the removal of the "post execution" scripts. We could do so many things with that (for example, a script that executes before the backup would serve to shut down all Docker containers, then a post execution one to start them again).

However, I finally managed to get my hands on the PC again after the weekend, and I'm experimenting with B&R with a pre-installed agent.
My plan is to create a "server" backup job on B&R towards one of the two hard drives, then after this I create a workstation one using the second hard drive as target, this time setting up "shutdown after backup" action (leaving some breath space for the first one to end).
Quite convoluted but this should work, right?

PS: The more I use your software, the more I'm convinced this level of polish is matched only by Acronis True Image, the software we had before (only to have it failing at restoring backups, which for a backup software, was undesiderable!). I'm flabbergasted

[Bonny]

Apologies for the double post, but I wanted to update you all on my progress—this might help others who find this topic via Google.

In the end, I added another PC (for testing the jobs) and a spare NAS (as a destination) to try out some configurations, and so far, everything is running smoothly.

Currently, here’s what I have set up:

A PC (let’s call it PC1) that backs up to three destinations: on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to HDD1 as a "server job"; on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday to HDD2 as another "server job"; and daily to the NAS as a "workstation job" (set to start two hours after the previous backups, hoping that’s enough time). This "workstation job" also handles the shutdown for PC1.
Another PC (let’s call it PC2) that backs up to an internal HDD at 12:00 as a "server job" and has a "workstation job" at 23:30 (only backing up an almost-empty folder) that handles shutdown (this PC2 is ideal for testing).
So far, everything seems to be working fine, although I didn’t expect it to be quite this "complex." It would be helpful if we could use the "run after backup" option even for local "server jobs" when activating the Agent with a license—this would eliminate the need for a separate device just to use B&R. That said, now that the jobs are configured, I could probably remove my mini-PC.

For now, thanks for the help!