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Limit backup traffic for remote users

Updated

This article applies to CrashPlan Professional, Enterprise, MSPs, and Small Business.pngOverview

When large numbers of users work remotely, network traffic may overwhelm your virtual private network (VPN). This article describes several options for reducing the impact of remote users' CrashPlan backup traffic:

Considerations

  • Once a user's initial backup is complete, the incremental daily backups typically do not consume much bandwidth. The steps in this article have the largest impact on users who have not completed their initial backup yet or have not connected to the VPN recently.

Option 1: Adjust CrashPlan network settings

The CrashPlan console provides many options for controlling how and when user devices send backup data to CrashPlan.

To adjust network settings:

  1. Sign in to the CrashPlan console.
  2. Select Administration > Environment > Organizations.
  3. Select an organization from the list on the Active tab. You may need to expand the parent organization.
  4. From the action menu in the upper-right, select Device Backup Defaults.
  5. On the General tab, deselect Use device defaults from parent (if necessary).
  6. Select the Network tab. Choose one or more settings to update:
    • Limit backup traffic by defining Sending limits. You can choose to apply the same rate limit at all times, or set a schedule that applies different rate limits for peak and off-peak business hours. You can also add Network overrides to apply different rates to different networks.
    • Add to the Excluded network interfaces to prevent backup over specific networks.
  7. Click the Push icon push.png to apply this setting to all devices.
  8. Click Save.

For additional details, see our Network settings reference guide. 

 Minimum sending limits

When setting network sending limits, do not set a rate lower than 0.10 Mbps or 100 Kbps. Rates lower than 0.10 Mbps can prevent devices from communicating with the CrashPlan cloud, which can stop backups and future configuration changes. To stop backup entirely, do not adjust sending limits. Instead, you can only allow backups at specified times.

Option 2: Enable split-tunnel VPN

If your network configuration allows for split-tunnel VPN, this is often the quickest way to reduce or completely eliminate CrashPlan network traffic from your VPN. With a split tunnel, you can choose to route CrashPlan network traffic through the device's local Internet connection instead of the VPN. 

The specifics for how to configure split-tunnel VPN depend on your VPN provider, your network topology, and your CrashPlan deployment model. However, the general goal is to either:

  • Allow CrashPlan traffic to bypass the VPN, or
  • Send CrashPlan traffic directly to our IP addresses.

Refer to your VPN provider's support documentation for specific details. See External resources below for links to split-tunnel instructions for common VPN providers.

Option 3: Adjust backup settings

 Limiting backups is a temporary solution

Do not limit the backup window or reduce backup frequency as a long-term solution for controlling network traffic. Introducing limits puts files at risk during the times backup is disabled, and also reduces CrashPlan's ability to collect files for monitoring and legal holds.

However, the steps below can be an effective short-term strategy to address immediate bandwidth concerns.

Backup schedule

To limit CrashPlan network traffic during peak business hours, you can define a schedule to only allow backups to occur at specific times or on specific days.

To define a schedule:

  1. Sign in to the CrashPlan console.
  2. Select Administration > Environment > Organizations.
  3. Select an organization from the list on the Active tab. You may need to expand the parent organization.
  4. From the action menu in the upper-right, select Device Backup Defaults.
  5. On the General tab, deselect Use device defaults from parent (if necessary).
  6. Select the Backup tab.
  7. Next to Backup will run, select Between specified times.
  8. Enter start and end times outside your peak business hours.
  9. (Optional) Select only certain days of the week for backup to run.
  10. Click the Push icon push.png to apply this setting to all devices.
  11. Click Save.

For additional details, see our Backup settings reference guide.

 Tell users to keep devices connected and powered

For backups to successfully complete during off-peak hours, users must keep their devices powered on (not sleeping) and connected to the network.

Backup frequency

To limit CrashPlan backup frequency, you can reduce how often incremental backups occur.

To change backup frequency:

  1. Sign in to the CrashPlan console.
  2. Select Administration > Environment > Organizations.
  3. Select an organization from the list on the Active tab. You may need to expand the parent organization.
  4. From the action menu in the upper-right, select Device Backup Defaults.
  5. On the General tab, deselect Use device defaults from parent (if necessary).
  6. Select the Backup tab.
  7. Scroll down to the Frequency and versions section. Next to Backup changes every, select a longer interval (for example, Every hour or Every 4 hours instead of every 15 minutes).
  8. Click the Push icon push.png to apply this setting to all devices.
  9. Click Save.

For additional details, see Frequency and versions. 

Backup exclusions

As a longer-term solution for conserving network bandwidth, you can re-evaluate which files are selected for backup. For a detailed review of what to back up and how to apply backup exclusions, see:

More help

If you have questions about which option is best for your CrashPlan environment or need help with any of the steps above, contact our technical support team.

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