Using Sethost to change backup server without reinstalling

The config.sys file on a customer's AhsayOBM or AhsayACB installation contains information pointing the customer to a specific AhsayOBS server. If you need to change customers between AhsayOBS servers without inconveniencing the customer, it is possible to change the server hostname for an installed client by modifying the config.sys file.

SetHost

MyClient makes the SetHost tool freely available to allow you to modify customer config.sys files. The free version of this tool displays some MyClient branding on the command-line output which may appear in customer backup reports. An unbranded version of the tool, as well as Linux and Mac OS X versions are available freely to any current MyClient Enterprise subscriber.

Copyright (C) 2013-2014, MyClientGlobal.com Ltd.
EVALUATION PURPOSES ONLY - FIVE SECOND DELAY

Usage: sethost path\to\config.sys command [arguments]

Available commands:
    http  $address     Set the client hostname to http://$address
    https $address     Set the client hostname to https://$address
    display            Display current hostname and port
		

Applying SetHost remotely

It is possible to initiate SetHost remotely to change the customer's backup server without any further intervention. If you have an existing remote administration tool in place, this would be suitable; otherwise, commands can be run in bulk via careful application of pre/post-commands or AUA scripts.

For instance, you might choose to host SetHost on your website, and arrange to run a command like bitsadmin /transfer samplejob http://your-website/sethost.exe C:\sethost.exe && sethost.exe https my-obs-server && del c:\sethost.exe to download, execute, and then remove SetHost on the customer's machine.

To run this command via pre-/post-commands, you could create an Enforcement backup set across all customers. However this doesn't necessarily solve any issue with one customer running different backupsets across different computers, and may interrupt any currently-running backup jobs.

To run this command via AUA, you would need to modify your AUA deployment to run this script. There are several ways this can be achieved - one is by adding additional exec ant tags in e.g. aua-client-update.xml. However this process can be quite brittle and, if deployed alongside a regular OBM/ACB update, does not necessarily accommodate for updating rebranded client software.

See Also

For more information about implementing RDR, please see Implementing AhsayRDR »

For more information about config.sys files, please see Configuration File Decoder »