Trigger backups when events occur on Windows desktop computers

Beginning with Windows Agent 9.30 and Portal 9.30, Image and Local System backups can be triggered by system events on computers with supported Windows desktop operating systems.

On each computer, only one Image or Local System backup job can have a Windows event backup trigger. The backup trigger can be a:

• Log On trigger, where a backup starts automatically when a user logs on to the computer.

  or

• Shut Down trigger, where a backup starts automatically when the computer starts to shut down or restart.

  When you create a Shut Down trigger for a backup job on a computer, the agent automatically disables Fast Startup on the computer. If you re-enable Fast Startup on the computer, the agent will disable it. If you remove the trigger, the agent will not re-enable Fast Startup on the computer.

  When a computer has a Shut Down trigger, a message box appears on the computer when it starts to shut down or restart. The message box states that a backup is in progress and the system will shut down or restart after the backup is finished. The user then has the option to cancel the backup and shut down or restart the computer immediately. If the user does not cancel the backup, a "Shutting down" or "Restarting" message remains on the screen until the backup finishes and the computer shuts down or restarts. In rare cases (e.g., a seed backup), the computer might shut down before the backup is finished.

  Note: If a user is connected to the computer using a remote connection, the user will not see a message box at shut down and will not be able to cancel the backup.

For each backup trigger, you can specify whether there should be at least 12 hours or 24 hours between triggered backups and specify a retention type for the resulting backups.

Triggered backups run in addition to scheduled and ad hoc backups for a computer. However:

• If a backup is triggered when a scheduled or ad hoc backup is running for the backup job, the triggered backup does not start. If the trigger is a Shut Down trigger, the computer shuts down or restarts after the scheduled or ad hoc backup finishes.

• If a scheduled or ad hoc backup starts while a triggered backup is running for the backup job, the incoming backup is queued or, if started by an intra-daily schedule, skipped.

• If a backup is triggered when a computer shuts down, and a scheduled or ad hoc backup for another backup job on the computer is already running, the computer might shut down before the scheduled or ad hoc backup is finished.

Backups cannot be triggered on computers with Windows Server operating systems.

To trigger a backup when an event occurs on a Windows desktop computer:

1. Do one of the following:

   • On the navigation bar, click Computers. Find the Windows desktop computer with the Image or Local System backup job that you want to trigger, and click the row to expand its view. On the Jobs tab, find the job that you want to trigger. In its Select Action menu, click View/Add Schedule.

   • Create a new Image or Local System backup job that you want to trigger. The View/Add Schedule dialog box appears when you save the job.

   IMPORTANT: Do not try to create a trigger on a computer that already has a backup trigger for a job; you will not be able to save your changes. Only one backup job on a computer can have a backup trigger.

2. In the View/Add Schedule dialog box, click Windows Event Backup Triggers.

   If a Windows Event Backup Triggers section does not appear in the dialog box or trigger options are disabled, you cannot create a trigger for the backup job. This can occur if the Windows Agent version does not support triggers or if the computer has a Windows Server operating system.

3. In the Windows Event Backup Triggers area, select the Run backup on Windows Event option.

4. In the Event list, do one of the following:

   • To run the backup job when a user logs on to the computer, click Log On.

   • To run the backup job when the computer starts to shut down, click Shut Down.

     Note: When you create a shut down trigger for a backup job on a computer, the agent disables Fast Startup on the computer. If you re-enable Fast Startup on the computer, the agent will disable it. If you remove the trigger from the backup job, the agent will not re-enable Fast Startup on the computer.

5. In the Retention list, click a retention type.

   The retention type specifies the number of days a backup is kept on the vault, how many copies of a backup are stored online, and how long backup data is stored offline. See Add retention types.

   The 24-Hours and 48-Hours retention types are only available for intra-daily schedules. See Schedule a backup to run multiple times per day.

6. In the Between triggered backups, wait at least x hours list, do one of the following:

   • To wait at least 24 hours after a triggered backup on the computer before triggering another backup, click 24.

   • To wait at least 12 hours after a triggered backup on the computer before triggering another backup, click 12.

   The number of hours applies to any triggered backups on the computer. If you remove a trigger from one backup job and add a trigger to another backup job on the computer, the next triggered backup will not start until after the specified number of hours.

7. Click Save.

   If an error message states that another backup job on the computer has a Windows Event trigger, click OK. You cannot save the new trigger or any other changes that you made in the View/Add Schedule dialog box. Before you can create a trigger for this backup job, you must remove the trigger from the other backup job on the computer.