Identify and resolve device issues in the Code42 console
Who is this article for?
Incydr Professional and Enterprise, yes.
Incydr Basic and Advanced, yes.
CrashPlan Cloud, yes.
Other product plans, yes.
CrashPlan for Small Business, no.
Overview
There are several tools available to help an administrator identify devices that may need attention. This article describes how to use the Code42 console and reports to identify devices that may require intervention.
Use Code42's reports
Use Code42's reports to gather information about backup health and storage in your Code42 environment, including finding devices that require administrator action. These reports can identify devices that may need attention by displaying key indicators like:
- Device alert status
- Completed backup percentage
- Date of last completed backup
- Code42 app version
For more information, see Device status report use cases.
Use the Code42 console
Email warnings
The Code42 cloud sends out warning emails if a client isn't able to reach any backup destinations after a certain time period. The default is to send a warning message after three days and a critical message after five days. A warning email indicates that further investigation is needed.
You can configure the number of days that trigger either warning or critical emails in the organization Reporting settings.
Endpoint dashboard
The Endpoint dashboard helps you identify device issues by showing endpoint activity throughout your entire Code42 environment, including endpoints that aren't reporting security events.
User and device overview
Each user can have multiple devices, and each device can back up to multiple destinations. The Users and Devices overview screens combine the information for multiple backups into one progress bar. Progress bars can be found in the following locations:
The color of the progress bar denotes the state of the backup. By default, if the color is:
- Green - the destination has received new data within the past three days.
- Yellow - signals a warning state, meaning the destination hasn't received any new data in three days.
- Red - signals a critical state, meaning no new data in seven days.
Connection and backup statistics
The Code42 console displays a device as online when it’s turned on and authenticated with the Code42 cloud. Use the Last Backup Activity, Backup Progress, and Completed fields to identify issues with the backups.
Last backup activity
The Last Backup Activity column of the Devices Overview displays the amount of time since any backup activity was detected on the device.
Last activity
Click a device to open the device details and view Last Activity statistics. The Last Activity field displays the time elapsed since the device sent backup data to the destination. If there hasn't been activity for multiple days:
- Verify that the computer has been turned on and connected to the Internet.
- Access the client device to verify that it’s connected to the Code42 cloud or to the PRO Cloud and is operational.
- Run a network connection test over port 4287 to the destination's IP Address to verify connectivity.
Completed
Open the device details to view Completed statistics. The Completed field represents the time elapsed since the device reached 100% backed up. If this field shows that the last 100% backup happened many days or weeks ago, the device is likely sending new files, but a small number of files may be locked and preventing backup.
For troubleshooting these situations, follow these articles:
Troubleshooting
Connection issues
If a user's device is unable to connect to the authority server, Code42 cannot accurately report security events, file activity, or statistics regarding backup completions occurring on that endpoint.
Causes
The most common reasons that a device cannot connect to the authority server include:
- The user is on extended leave, and his or her endpoint is powered off or is not actively in use.
- The user has left the organization but has not been deactivated.
- The user has received a new device and no longer needs to use the previous endpoint.
- Other applications installed on the device are interfering with connectivity.
- Communication between the Code42 app installed on the device and the authority server is blocked.
- The user has uninstalled the Code42 app or has stopped the Code42 service.
- An administrator is using deep packet inspection to examine traffic from devices to the Code42 cloud.
Solutions
To resolve device connectivity issues, take the following actions:
- If employees have access to the Code42 app, verify that the employee is able to connect to backup destinations and the Code42 service. Make sure that all backup destinations are available. Use the status messages displayed in the Code42 app to help diagnose any issues.
- Verify that endpoints are reporting security events as they should.
- Verify employee status with managers or your organization's Human Resources department. Remember that users who are custodians of legal holds cannot be deactivated.
- Deactivate devices that are no longer used to connect to Code42.
- Verify that employees use the replace device wizard to associate their previous device's backup archive with their new device and prevent backups from starting over.
- Verify that you have created exceptions for Code42 in any antivirus, security, or endpoint detection and response (EDR) applications your organization uses, and that those exception are valid and working correctly.
- Verify that the IP addresses and ports used by Code42 are open and that there is no deep packet inspection on Code42 traffic on port 4287. Verify that network traffic settings are optimized for where your employees work.
- Deploy the Code42 app so that it cannot be uninstalled.
- Disable client visibility on user devices or deploy the Code42 app using the DEVICE_CLOAKED argument in deployment scripts.
Backup issues
Even though an endpoint may be able to connect to the authority server, it may not be able to successfully complete a backup.
Causes
The most common reasons that a device cannot complete a backup include the following:
- The file selection is incorrect.
- The file selection may include files that are constantly changing (such as log files).
- The file selection may include temporary files that no longer exist at the next backup session.
- Files are locked, or the Code42 app doesn't have the correct permissions to back up those files.
- Users may have paused backups.
- If CPU throttling is restricted, the Code42 app may not have the CPU resources required to complete a backup.
- If network throttling is restricted (either in the Code42 app or by your organization's network settings), the Code42 app may not have enough bandwidth to send the backup data.
- The frequency between backup sessions is too short when compared to the size of the backup set, making the Code42 app unable to complete a backup before the next backup begins.
Solutions
To resolve device backup issues, take these actions:
- If employees have access to the Code42 app, verify that the employee is able to connect to backup destinations and the Code42 service. Make sure that all backup destinations are available. Use the status messages displayed in the Code42 app to help diagnose any issues.
- Verify that the file selection is correct. After verifying the backup set, review the device backup history log for files that aren't backed up and adjust file exclusions to exclude temporary files or files that are constantly being updated.
- Verify that the Code42 app has the necessary permissions (especially for Mac devices).
- Ask employees to restart backups. If needed, you can disable users' ability to pause backups.
- Increase the amount of CPU processing available for backup activity.
- Increase the network bandwidth available for backup activity. You can update network settings in the Code42 console to address Code42 app network usage.
- If the employee is backing up large files that frequently change, consider updating the backup frequency setting to allow more time between backup sessions.