The Sefthy Agent

The Sefthy Agent is the program you install on the server you want to protect. It does three things. It prepares the server for Disaster Recovery and runs the backup, it reports to the Console whether a restore would really start, and it verifies the application services after a restore.

Installation

At step 1 of the wizard you pick the operating system and press Generate the install command. The Console prepares a single line, with the enrollment token already in it. You copy it and run it on the server as administrator.

On Linux the command looks like this.

curl -fsSL https://static.sefthy.cloud/agent/<version>/sefthy-agent-linux-amd64 -o /tmp/sefthy-agent \
  && chmod +x /tmp/sefthy-agent \
  && sudo /tmp/sefthy-agent setup --console https://console.sefthy.cloud --token <token>

On Windows it is a PowerShell command that downloads the same executable and runs it with the same parameters. In both cases the command carries the download with it, so you do not have to fetch the binary first.

The token expires 24 hours after it is generated. If time runs out, Regenerate command mints a new one and invalidates the old.

On Linux the same command works on any distribution. On Windows it also works on the older versions, from Server 2008 R2 onward, and the command picks the right variant for that system by itself.

Detected data

As soon as it connects, the agent reads CPU, RAM, disks, network cards, BIOS or UEFI boot mode and MAC addresses. Then it authenticates against Sefthy storage and is ready for the first backup. On Windows it also adds the network driver the restored machine needs in order to answer on the network. On Linux it is not needed.

In the DR wizard the fields arrive already filled in, and you only confirm them.

Connector discovery

The agent looks for the connector on the server network, VLANs included. The Console then confirms that the device it found really is yours, and no secret travels on the network.

What happens next depends on the state of the device it found.

• If the connector is already configured, the Console proposes it in the wizard with its serial number and you confirm with one click.
• If it is still unconfigured, Activate and associate appears. The click sends it the configuration, in about two minutes it activates itself and stays linked to this DR. This works for an x86 ISO connector too, which has no serial number.

When the connector sits on another network and does not answer the search, manual pairing from the Console is still available.

Health and readiness

At regular intervals the agent sends a report on the state of the server.

• Connector reachable from the LAN
• Free disk space
• System clock
• DNS resolution
• Network cards detected
• VSS service state, Windows only
• Pending reboots, Windows only
• Other backup software installed, Windows only

Other backup products are the most frequent cause of VSS conflicts, which is why the agent lists them instead of simply flagging that something is wrong.

When the network cards on the server no longer match the ones recorded in the DR plan, the agent flags the drift and proposes the realignment. You accept or reject it, nothing changes without your confirmation.

Post-restore validation

For each DR you can define up to ten application checks. A Path or file that must exist, a TCP port that must listen, a Service that must be running, a Web address that must answer.

The web address has to point at the protected machine, so localhost, 127.0.0.1 or an IP address recorded on this DR. Only http and https are accepted.

The checks run inside the restored VM during the automatic test, and with Try now you can also run them on the production server to verify they are written correctly. The outcome lands in the restore test report, in the Application checks card, and stays separate from the boot and network verdict.

The same checks act as readiness gates in orchestration. Start the database, wait for port 1433 to answer, then start the web server.

Manual installation

You are at the Install Agent step of the wizard, the one with the packages to download and the Agent credentials. Always take the link from the Console, it is the right one for this DR.

Windows

1. Under Choose the operating system, below Windows, download the x86_64 package and extract it.
2. Run install.exe as administrator and complete the install wizard.
3. On first start the agent asks for a username and a password. They are the Agent credentials shown next to the downloads, double click a value to copy it. The main screen opens with the default backup schedule and the device registers itself.
4. Go to the Install Drivers step, click Install drivers and download NetKVM.zip. Extract the archive, run install.bat as administrator, then go back to the Console and click I installed the drivers.

Without those network drivers the machine restored in the cloud powers on but has no network, so they go on the production server well before a restore is needed.

Ubuntu and Debian

1. Below Linux, download the .deb package into /tmp to avoid permission problems.

   cd /tmp && wget -O Sefthy.deb <link from the Console>

2. Install the package with apt install ./Sefthy.deb. On a first install you are asked for a username and a password, they are the Agent credentials. If the agent is already installed, authenticate it with the login command.

   /opt/SefthyAgent/backup-tool login prompt

3. The device registers itself. At the Install Drivers step there is nothing to download on Linux, the drivers arrive with the first backup, so click I installed the drivers to move on.

On very recent kernels ask support before installing, the Console does not verify compatibility.

Other Linux distributions

The Sefthy Agent on Linux is in beta, in the Console the Linux option carries the BETA tag, and it is not supported at the same level as Windows.

1. Make sure wget and tar are installed on the system.

2. Below Linux, download the generic package. The button is labelled .tar.gz and the file you get is the .run installer of the agent.

   cd /tmp && wget -O Sefthy.run <link from the Console>

3. Make the installer executable and run it with chmod +x Sefthy.run && ./Sefthy.run.

4. Authenticate the agent with the Agent credentials.

   /opt/SefthyAgent/backup-tool login prompt

5. The device registers itself. As on Ubuntu, at the Install Drivers step click I installed the drivers to move on.

Once the device is registered and the drivers are confirmed, the wizard moves on to the connector and you can set up the backup schedule from the Console.