Day 5: Automating Your Backups

Welcome to Day 5 of your Magnus Box journey! Today you'll put your backups on autopilot: schedules that fit your clients' working hours, automatic retries when a job fails, and retention rules that keep the right backups without wasting storage. Let's make your backup strategy run like clockwork!

⏱️ Time to complete: 30 minutes

🎮 Achievement Unlocked: Automation Wizard

▶️ Prefer video? Watch the Day 5 guide to automating your backups.

Create your backup schedule

Recommended schedule pattern

Here's a proven starting point:

  • File and Folder backups: daily, in the evening
  • Disk Image backups: weekly, at the weekend

💡 Pro Tip: Evening backups keep the impact on your client's business low while still protecting the day's work.

Add a schedule

Schedules belong to a Protected Item. You can edit them in the Magnus Box Application or in the Magnus Box Web Portal.

  1. Open the Protected Item's schedule settings.
  2. Click the plus button to add a new schedule.
  3. Choose a frequency:
    • Hourly
    • Daily
    • Weekly (you can pick several days)
    • Monthly
    • Yearly (pick one or more months; handy for year-end and compliance backups)
    • Once only
    • Periodic (runs every set interval; use Offset to stagger devices so they don't all start at once)
  4. Add event-based triggers if they help:
    • When PC starts
    • If the last job was Missed: catches up on missed backups as soon as the device comes back online. Great for laptops.

If a device is offline when a backup is due, the job shows as Missed in the Web Portal, so you'll know it didn't run.

Retry failed jobs automatically

Turn on the retry option in the schedule (on the Time tab in the Web Portal) and set how often and how many times to retry. It's ideal for backups that fail now and then because of a flaky connection.

  • A job waiting to retry shows as In Progress (retry).
  • If a retry succeeds, the job ends with a Warning status, so you can still see that something went wrong first.

You can also set retries for every device at once in a policy. See Policy Settings.

Advanced options

  • Skip if already running: skips a new job if the previous one for the same Protected Item and Storage Vault is still running.
  • Cancel if still running after: stops a job that runs longer than the time limit you set.
  • Limit Storage Vault Speed: caps how fast the app reads from and writes to the Storage Vault, so backups don't flood your client's connection.
  • Random job delay: adds a random delay of up to 300 minutes, so a whole client site doesn't start backing up at the same moment.

Performance settings

If a backup slows an endpoint down, these settings help:

  • Limit Storage Vault Speed to control bandwidth
  • Limit backup to use only 1 disk thread to reduce disk load on older or busy machines
  • Prefer temporary files instead of RAM (slower) for endpoints that are short on memory

💡 Pro Tip: Start with the defaults, then adjust based on the endpoint's performance and your backup windows. Each of these settings makes the backup slower, so only turn them on when you need them. See Slow backup jobs.

Retention policies and storage management

How retention works

  • Retention rules decide which backups are kept and for how long.
  • Rules set on a Storage Vault are the default for everything in it.
  • Rules set on a Protected Item override the Storage Vault's rules for that item.
  • A retention pass removes backups that fall outside your rules and frees up the space.

⚠️ Warning: If you shorten retention, backups outside the new rules are deleted at the next retention pass. Double-check before you save.

To change retention, see How to edit retention policies for Storage Vaults.

Understanding storage allocation

  • Workstation License: 1 TB storage included
  • Server/NAS License: 3 TB storage included
  • Storage is pooled across your entire account
  • Data Packs automatically added for overages
  • Monthly true-up billing for additional storage used

💡 Pro Tip: Your total storage allocation is pooled, meaning if you have 2 workstations (2 TB) and 1 server (3 TB), you have 5 TB total to use across all devices.

Monthly storage reporting

  • Automated monthly usage reports
  • Detailed breakdown per account
  • Easy client billing management
  • Track storage trends
  • Identify high-usage accounts

Managing storage effectively

  1. Monitor usage
    • Review monthly reports.
    • Track each client's usage.
    • Spot growth trends and plan capacity.
  2. Bill your clients
    • Use the per-account breakdown for accurate billing.
    • Pass through storage costs as needed.
    • Track overage costs per client.
  3. Optimize storage
    • Review high-usage accounts.
    • Adjust retention policies as needed.
    • Balance retention against cost.

Recommended retention strategies

  1. File and Folder backups:
    • Keep daily backups for 30 days.
    • Keep weekly backups for 3 months.
    • Keep monthly backups for 1 year.
  2. Disk Image backups:
    • Keep the latest 4 weekly images.
    • Keep one monthly image for 3 months.
    • Consider longer retention for critical systems.
  3. Microsoft 365 backups:
    • Keep daily backups for 30 days.
    • Keep weekly backups for 90 days.
  4. Clients with long-term or compliance needs:
    • Add a yearly retention rule (for example, one backup each year for the number of years they must keep records), paired with a yearly schedule.

Best practices

Timing your backups

  • Schedule file backups outside business hours.
  • Stagger backup times across clients.
  • Use Random job delay or a Periodic schedule with an Offset for large deployments.
  • Leave enough time for each backup to finish.

Resource management

  • Watch the impact on the endpoint.
  • Set sensible speed limits.
  • Balance backup frequency against performance.

Monitor your automated backups

  • Check Recent Activity daily.
  • Look out for Missed, Warning and Error jobs in Job Logs.
  • Keep an eye on how long jobs take.
  • Set up email reports so problems come to you. See Recent activity digest (Email Addresses).

Next steps

Tomorrow, we'll explore your command center and white-label branding. Here's what to expect:

  • Dashboard and Devices page
  • Activity monitoring with Recent Activity and Job Logs
  • White-label setup
  • Making the Web Portal and app your own

Common questions

What's the best time to run backups?

We recommend daily file backups in the evening, and Disk Image backups at the weekend when systems are quieter.

How do I stop backup jobs from overlapping?

Turn on Skip if already running and set Cancel if still running after (we recommend 23 hours).

A backup failed overnight because the internet dropped. Do I have to rerun it by hand?

Not if you turn on the retry option in the schedule. The job retries by itself and ends with a Warning if the retry succeeds.

Can I limit the impact of backups on performance?

Yes. Use Limit Storage Vault Speed for bandwidth, and Limit backup to use only 1 disk thread for disk load.

How does storage billing work?

Storage usage is automatically calculated at the end of each month. You'll receive a detailed report showing usage per account, and any necessary Data Packs will be automatically added to your billing.

How can I track storage usage for billing my clients?

Monthly reports provide a detailed breakdown of storage usage per account, making it easy to accurately pass through storage costs to your clients.

Need help?

Our support team is here for you:

🏆 Achievement Summary

  • Portal Master ✓
  • Backup Initiate ✓
  • M365 Guardian ✓
  • System Shield ✓
  • Automation Wizard ✓
  • Next achievement: Command Center Captain (Day 6)
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