General agent settings 

Within the General Settings section, you can control:

Backup volumes Recommended setting: Specify the desired volume(s) to include in this backup This field specifies which volumes to include in the backup.  You can enter comma-separated specific drive letters to be backed up (i.e. C,E,F) or you can opt to set this field to blank, which backs up all volumes.  Note: When Backup Volumes is set to blank, the agent backs up all supported volumes, including potentially unwanted volumes such as external USB drives. We recommend that you specify desired volumes, so the agent captures only those specified volumes. This reduces the risk (for example) of a USB drive being unintentionally added to the backup. (The blank ('all') setting automatically excludes unsupported volumes, Windows container base images, locally attached volumes configured for local cache storage, iSCSI mounted recovery volumes from the appliance, and virtual drives created by Recovery Center.)

Compression Recommended setting: disabled on local LAN appliance connection You can choose to pre-compress data sent to the server over the network.  Compression is a relatively CPU-intensive operation and is only intended to accelerate backup operations in limited network bandwidth conditions (like Direct-to-Cloud backups.)   Enabling compression on local LAN appliance connections is not recommended and will cause backup times to run much longer than normal.   Agent data compression is automatically enabled by default when operating in Direct-to-Cloud mode and disabled when operating in regular appliance mode.  Agent data compression is optimized by default for typical WAN connectivity and Direct-to-Cloud backups. When to use compression Enabling agent data compression can significantly affect the amount of time necessary to complete a backup, but it is not as straight forward as you might think.  Compression of data requires time and CPU overhead, for both the protected system sending and the vault or appliance receiving.  If the compression overhead outweighs transmission time over a high-speed connection (like a LAN or very fast Internet connection), then backups may take longer with compression enabled. Typical compression ratio with average Windows data is about 1.5:1, which means that 3GB of data compresses down to about 2GB to be sent over the network.  In general: Network speeds below 20Mbps will benefit (have faster backups) with compression enabled. Network speeds over 100Mbps will suffer (take longer to complete backups.)  Network speeds in between 20Mbps and 100Mbps may either benefit or suffer, depending on the compressibility of the data and the data compression level chosen. Data compression configuration parameters Compression supports three new configuration parameters in aristos.cfg   USE_COMPRESSION=<true/false>  This parameter explicitly enables or disables compression when transmitting data to the receiving appliance or vault.  If not present, the value defaults to TRUE when operating in Direct-to-Cloud mode and FALSE when operating in appliance mode.   COMPRESSION_LEVEL=<1-9>   Sets the compression level to be applied by the compression algorithm.  Higher levels result in more compression (smaller data size) at the expense of higher CPU overhead on both the protected system and the receiving vault or appliance.  Compression levels higher than 3 are not recommended, as the resulting data size differential is small compared to the much higher CPU overhead required during the backup. If not specified, the default Compression Level is set to 3.   Compression_ALGORITHM=<zlib>  Sets the underlying compression algorithm to be used to perform data compression.  Currently only ‘zlib’ is supported, but this may be extended in the future to enable other compression types.

FastDelta Recommended setting: enabled for large files like SQL or Exchange databases.  FastDelta is a proprietary block change detection algorithm that dramatically improves the backup performance of large database applications like Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL. FastDelta is an optimized method for determining block changes to be sent during the backup.  Enabling FastDelta can reduce backup times from hours to minutes for larger Exchange and SQL deployments. Because the agent no longer has to scan entire database files to find blocks that have changed since the last backup, it is now able to quickly determine only the changed blocks within the database since the last backup. FastDelta works best when dealing with large files like SQL and Exchange databases. We recommend enabling FastDelta for those types of servers. How to enable/disable FastDelta NOTE: FastDelta is turned OFF by default.  To enable FastDelta on any of your Microsoft SQL or Exchange servers which are exhibiting long backup times, perform the following steps: 1. Stop the agent on the protected system. From the Services app on the target machine, stop and disable the agent service.  2.Navigate to the agent installation folder. 3. Open the aristos.cfg file with administrative privileges. 3. In the aristos.cfg file, update USE_FASTDELTA to true.  Optionally, you can change USE_FASTDELTA to false if you want to disable it.  Save the aristos.cfg file 4. Start the agent service on the protected system

Remember to save agent settings when configuration is complete.

Advanced agent settings  

Number of connections controls how many parallel transmission threads are used when uploading data to the server.  This setting is dynamically scaled by default based on the number of CPU cores and generally does not need to be modified.   If you are running the agent in Microsoft Azure and experiencing backup disconnections, it may be necessary to reduce the number of connections to keep from over-saturating the NAT gateway.  Recommended setting for protected systems running in the Azure cloud is 4.

Ignored mount points excludes specific volumes that are mounted within another volume. Ordinarily, if you include a drive letter (C: for example), any volume mounted within that volume would automatically be included in the backup. However, if you should need to exclude certain mount points (Terminal Server Profile Disks, for example), you can specify the path to each mount point here, separated by semi-colons. (i.e. C:\Users)

CSV (Cluster Shared Volumes) By default, support for Microsoft Cluster Shared Volumes is disabled.  Use this setting to enable CSV.   Enabling CSV provides specific support for backing up Cluster Shared Volumes in a Microsoft Failover Cluster. During each backup, whichever host in the Failover Cluster is the master for a Cluster Shared Volume will perform a backup of the volume. Over time, each host in the cluster will eventually take backups of each volume. Consult the Protected Systems Details page snapshot history for a record of which volumes were backed up by each server over time.  For more details about support for Cluster Shared Volumes see this knowledgebase article.

Remember to save agent settings when configuration is complete.

When enabled, the Local Cache Settings will generate a repository of block data on a local storage device. This helps accelerate recovery of Direct-to-Cloud endpoints.

Path: Specifying a path enables the local cache settings and designates the location where the data repository will be maintained.   For USB or other locally attached storage locations, specify the path with a drive letter. (For example:  Z:\LocalCache) For network share locations, specify the path with a UNC location. (For example:  \\MyServer\Shared\LocalCache)

Username and Password are only required if you are using a network share path.   The toggle controls both username and password, since they are required together.    Username specifies the user account when storing local cache on a network share location. Password specifies the passcode when storing local cache on a network share location. Note: This password is never displayed or stored on the appliance or vault. This password (a) may be updated on the agent by entering a new value or (b) may be deleted by disabling the username and password fields. Remember to save agent settings when configuration is complete.

Manage bandwidth throttling 

Warning: Applying changes to the agent configuration while a backup is in progress may cause the running backup to fail. Please read the following information before applying changes to the agent configuration.

Manage agent throttling of Direct-to-Cloud network vault traffic

Since we released Direct-to-Cloud, your most frequent request has been for a means to limit the bandwidth of the agent.  

Agent 2.27 now supports a new configuration file option NETWORK_MBPS=xx.x. 

Adding this setting to the agent configuration file (aristos.cfg) will limit the total network upload speed of the agent during backups.  Fractional values in megabits per second are supported.  (i.e. NETWORK_MBPS=1.5 etc.)

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Note: This article explains how to manage agent throttling of Direct-to-Cloud vault traffic.

For instructions on how to manage throttling the replication traffic between an appliance and a vault, see Replication throttling between an appliance and a vault

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Network bandwidth throttling 

Agent 2.27 and newer features the capability to set a maximum outbound bandwidth limit and perform throttling of network upload usage.  This is useful for Direct-to-Cloud deployments, to ensure that backup traffic does not negatively impact user experience and to prevent the agent from overwhelming the Internet connection.

Agent 2.x

To configure network bandwidth limits for Agent 2.x, modify the aristos.cfg file in the agent installation directory and add the following option:

NETWORK_MBPS=<limit> where <limit> is a whole or fractional numeric value expressed in Megabits per Second (i.e. NETWORK_MBPS=1.5 or NETWORK_MBPS=5, etc.)

Agent 3.x

To configure network bandwidth limits for Agent 3.x, modify the config.json file in the agent installation directory and add the following:

“send_mbps_per_second” : “<limit>” where <limit> is a whole or fractional numeric value expressed in Megabits per Second (i.e. NETWORK_MBPS=1.5 or NETWORK_MBPS=5, etc.)

Optionally, you may specify a separate network bandwidth setting for full backups.  If no bandwidth setting is specified for full backups, they will default to the settings applied to Incremental backups above:

“send_mbps_per_second_for_full” : “<limit>” where <limit> is a whole or fractional numeric value expressed in Megabits per Second (i.e. NETWORK_MBPS=1.5 or NETWORK_MBPS=5, etc.)

Agent 3.x Settings Format

Note that Agent 3.x uses a new configuration file format from previous agent releases.  Where Agent 2.x and earlier utilized a flat text file containing key names and values, Agent 3.x uses a JSON formatted structure that requires proper syntax to be present when modifying settings.

JSON is a structured format containing one or more keys with associated values.  JSON objects contain sets of key/value pairs bracketed within ‘{‘ and ‘}’ characters to denote the beginning and end of the content.  Keys and values are separated by ‘:’ and each set is separated by a comma.  The value of a key may be another JSON object, allowing for nesting of complex values and objects within the JSON.

As an example, the network bandwidth settings described above would be represented as:

{

    “send_mbps_per_second” : “1.5”,

    “send_mbps_per_second_for_full” : “5”

}

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Disk IO throttling 

Agent 2.23 and newer features the ability to limit the maximum Disk IO operations on a per-volume basis during backup operations. 

Limiting Disk IO is primarily useful in preventing the agent from impacting user performance during backups, particularly on virtual instances where physical disk storage is shared among multiple virtual systems. For more details on how to use Disk IO throttling, see Agent Simple Disk I/O Throttling.

Note: The <limit> defined below is expressed as a whole number integer in MB/sec (MegaBytes per Second).  Limits are per-disk-volume, and data is read in parallel across all protected volumes on the system during a backup.

Note that fractional values are not allowed.  Entering a fractional value will cause the setting to be entirely ignored by the agent.

Agent 2.x

To configure Disk IO throttling for Agent 2.x, add the following two values to the aristos.cfg file in the agent installation directory:

MAX_READ_MB_PER_VOLUME=<limit>
and
MAX_READ_MB_PER_VOLUME_FOR_FULL=<limit>

Agent 3.x

To configure Agent 3.x Disk IO throttling, add the following keys to the config.json file in the agent directory:

“max_read_megabytes_per_second_per_volume” : “<limit>
and
“max_read_megabytes_per_second_per_volume_for_full” : “<limit> 

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CPU Priority 

Agent 3.0.0 and newer support setting the CPU priority under which the agent will execute on the protected system. 

Note:  We do not recommend adjusting this setting unless you are directed to do so by Axcient Support.

To configure this option, edit config.json in the agent installation directory and set the following key:

“cpu_priority” : “<priority>”

<priority> may be one of: “High”, “AboveNormal”, “Normal”, “BelowNormal” , or “Idle”

The default Agent CPU priority value is “BelowNormal”

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Warning: Applying changes to the agent configuration while a backup is in progress may cause the running backup to fail.  (For example, if you change the specified backup volumes.)

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Modify the aristos.cfg file 

Update agent settings 

You may sometimes need to update agent settings after the installation process. 

For example, you can update the following details in the aristos.cfg file:

• A list of backup volumes.
• The IP address of the appliance.

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Find the aristos.cfg File 

The aristos config file is located in one of the following two locations (if the agent was installed in the default location):  

• 32-bit Systems:  C:\Program Files\Replibit\aristos.cfg
• 64-bit Systems:  C:\Program Files (x86)\Replibit\aristos.cfg

Before modifying aristos.cfg, make sure you stop and disable the service or the file will be write protected.

The default configuration is shown below:

1. From the Services app on the target machine, stop and disable the agent service.

2. Navigate to the agent installation folder.

3. Open the aristos.cfg file with administrative privileges.

4. Update settings in the aristos.cfg file. 

For example:

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Modify volumes to backup 

The BACKUP_VOLUMES= line of the config file is an inclusion list.  By default, the list will be blank, prompting a backup of all detected NTFS volumes.  To set your inclusion list, specify the volumes you would want to back up, separated with commas.  Please see the below image for an example:

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Modify the number of worker threads 

The number of worker threads per processor core is set to 4.

In some cases, you may need to reduce that number by manually specifying the number of threads.  To modify the number of worker threads:

1. Stop the service
2. Open the aristos.cfg file with notepad
3. Add the line NUM_WORKERS=X where X is the number of threads
4. Save the file
5. Start the x360Recoverservice

Note: Lowering the number of worker threads will reduce the speed of the backup.  If the backups start overlapping, you may need to increase the time between snapshots

When you are finished, save the file and restart the agent service.

Exclude agents

Exclude an agent from antivirus scans

Modern antivirus solutions (especially heuristic-based solutions like Sentinel One) are highly complex. Axcient strives to interoperate with all major antivirus vendors, and we perform extensive testing where possible. But wild and crazy things still happen from time to time. In the rare event that you need to explicitly exclude your antivirus utility from scanning the x360Recover agent, you may make the following exclusions to your scanning settings.

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Exclude the agent installation folder 

The simplest way to exclude the agent from antivirus scanning is to exclude the agent installation folder entirely.  

• By default, the agent installation folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Replibit
• Be aware this location may have been changed during installation.  
• The agent installation path can be found in the Windows Registry at HKLM\\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Replibit\Agent

If you wish to make a more targeted exclusion rule, exclude the following files inside the agent installation folder from scanning:  

agentservice.exe
efsvss-2003-x64.exe 
efsvss-2003-x86.exe 
efsvss-2008-r2-x64.exe 
efsvss-2008-r2-x86.exe 
efsvss-2008-x64.exe 
efsvss-2008-x86.exe 
FastDelta.exe
ManagementService.exe
uefi-check.exe
UpdaterService.exe

You must also exclude the Analysis Tool, which is within a subfolder of the agent installation folder:

AnalysisTool\AnalysisTool.exe

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Exclude AutoVerify / bootVM checks  

During the nightly boot check, a communications driver is injected in the system image to create a COM port for communicating between the running VM and the appliance.  

On rare occasions, some antivirus scanners block the installation of this driver and prevent Autoverify operations from completing successfully.  

To prevent antivirus scanning from interfering with AutoVerify operations, add a scanning exclusion for:

C:\Windows\System32\axcomsvc.exe

Note:  This file is not installed into the production environment. It is only deployed temporarily during nightly boot checks within the virtual machine image, and discarded afterward.

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Troubleshoot agents 

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Still have questions? 

To contact Axcient Support, please log in to the x360Portal or call 800-352-0248 

If you want to increase the depth of your x360Recover knowledge, consider enrolling in our hands-on certification courses for x360Recover Direct-to-Cloud and x360Recover BDR (formally Replibit), which include interactive walkthroughs and quizzes  

And don't forget that you can always schedule a free, live, 15, 30 or 60-minute session with an Axcient expert, to review any specific question you might have: Free live training