Information covered

Purpose

Install the backup agent on the client to enable its detection by the device and perform backups.

Note: Backup agent installation is only required for physical machines. IDrive BMR offers agentless backup for VMware machines.

Operating systems compatible with the IDrive BMR backup agent

Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Small Business Server 2011.

*The agent installed on certain older operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and the 32-bit version of both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008R2 do not have Changed Block Tracking driver, therefore, the incremental backups on these operating systems will be relatively slower.

System Requirements

Every volume chosen for backup must have at least 15% free space
A minimum of 1 GB of RAM is required for installing the agent and performing backups
The client and virtual machines must use the NTFS file system
The volumes chosen for backup must be internally-connected local hard drives and not network-attached storage devices, mapped drives, or removable drives
You can backup dynamic or logical volumes in MBR disk. However, Bare-Metal Restore of these volumes is not supported. You can still recover data from these backed up volumes by using the File Restore option.

Note:

Backup and restore of dynamic (simple, mirrored, spanned, striped), logical, and Microsoft storage space (Raid-5 with resiliency type-parity) is supported for 8.4.0 and above. However, bare-metal recovery of dynamic OS disk with GPT partition is not supported.
(In case you have upgraded to version 8.4.0 or above, make sure to install the latest backup agent that supports the latest backup features and perform at least one image backup. If you attempt restoring exclusively from older versions where the OS disk is dynamic, you may have OS boot issues. Similarly, use the updated WinRE Recovery Media Builder to create and upload a new WinRE recovery media to the BMR device.).
The CBT feature is not supported for certain older operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and the 32-bit version of both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008R2.

Networking requirements

Use the network ports listed below to ensure connectivity between all active firewalls of your client/VM and the IDrive BMR device:

Port 35622 (for UDP broadcasts for discovery)
Port 35623 (for commands and image backups)

Note: On successful installation, the installer will create an inbound port-allow rule for the IDrive BMR device on Windows Firewall.

Pre-installation note

To complete the installation process, you will be required to reboot your system. This is crucial for ensuring fast incremental backup using the changed block tracking driver. Ensure all your work is saved and close any running application before you install the agent.

Installation steps

Sign in to the IDrive BMR web interface with your credentials.
Click Downloads > Backup Agent > EXE to download the backup agent. Alternatively, you can also download the backup agent from the IDrive BMR website.
Run the installation.
When you download the agent from the IDrive BMR web interface, the device will auto-detect the agent.

In case you downloaded the agent from the IDrive BMR website, you will be prompted with the following options:

Select No if you want to automatically connect to any IDrive BMR device available on your network (recommended).
Select Yes if you want to connect the client to a specific device. This is useful when you want to connect to a specific device in a network having multiple IDrive BMR devices installed.
Enter the IP address and proceed with the installation.
On download completion, the installer will prompt you to perform a system reboot. Click Restart Now to proceed.

Note: Reboot is recommended to ensure faster incremental backups.
After reboot, the backup agent will auto-start the initial full backup of your computer, as per the schedule.

Note: By default, the backup schedule is set from 6:00 PM to 7:00 AM. You can edit this schedule as required.
In the rare instance that the agent fails to auto-detect the client, click the Having trouble adding a client? link for instructions.

Antivirus Settings

In case it is not auto set on installation, set a network-level Inbound port-allow rule for the port used by the client to connect to IDrive BMR device
Set a service-level exception for IDriveBMRClientBackend
Whitelist the application path: \Program Files\IDriveBMR\IDriveBMRClientBackend.exe (This is the default application path. In case you have downloaded the backup agent in a different folder, specify the path of that folder.)