Onboard customers with CrashPlan for MSPs

Updated September 25, 2023 16:00

Overview

This article describes how to onboard customers as a CrashPlan for MSPs administrator.

Step 1: Add organizations

Organizations are a method for organizing users and applying shared settings. Create a separate organization for each customer. This configuration:

Ensures data privacy for your customers
Enables you to manage your customers separately
Streamlines your billing structure so you can easily determine what to charge each customer

For full instructions, see Add organizations for user management in CrashPlan.

Shared organizations compromise data privacy

If you add users from different customers to the same organization, any user with administrator permissions can view, modify, and restore data for all other users in that shared organization, regardless of the user's customer affiliation.

Step 2: Add users

Add a user for each person in the organization. The CrashPlan console offers a few different ways to add users, giving you flexibility to quickly add one user or add multiple users at once. See Add users from the CrashPlan console for details.

Use unique email addresses and passwords

Each person using CrashPlan needs their own user account with a unique email address and password. Sharing a user account among multiple people is a large security and data privacy risk because any person using the shared account can download backed-up files from every device under that user account.

User roles

CrashPlan includes a pre-existing set of user roles or privileges that can be applied to user accounts. Learn more about how to manage user roles.

Configure SSO for CrashPlan

Implementing single sign-on (SSO) provides secure authentication for users and simplifies the sign-in experience. For more information on setting up SSO with CrashPlan, see our article How to configure SSO in your CrashPlan environment.

Step 3: Deploy CrashPlan to devices

You can create deployment packages that install CrashPlan apps on your users' devices according to your specifications. Integrate your apps with SSO, for example, and install silently, without user intervention. For more detailed information, see our Deployment policies reference article.

You can also add devices manually as follows:

Sign in to the CrashPlan console: https://console.us2.crashplan.com.
Go to App Downloads.
Download and install the CrashPlan app. For detailed instructions, see Install the CrashPlan app.

Step 4: Sign in and complete setup

Sign in and complete setup

Once you've installed the CrashPlan app, sign in and complete setup to start backing up your data.

To sign in, enter your account's:
- Email: Email associated with the account
- Server address: clients.us2.crashplan.com
Click Continue, and enter your password.
Click Add destinations.
Select CrashPlan Central.
To back up to a local destination:
1. Select Add Local Destination.
2. Select the device or folder to which you want to back up, and click Open.
Click Save.
Click Done.
Your backup starts automatically.

What should you back up?

After you've added a destination, the CrashPlan app begins backing up. Learn more about how to verify you are backing up the most important data:

User files: CrashPlan app is designed to back up the files that matter to you, not system and application files. To be sure you are backing up the right files, see What should you back up?
External drives: To back up an external drive, see Back up external hard drives.

Step 5: Restore files

Now that you set up the CrashPlan account, users, and devices, test out restoring one or more files so that you're familiar with the process before disaster strikes.

Restore from the CrashPlan app

Restore from the CrashPlan app when possible, as it offers you the most flexibility. See Download files from the CrashPlan app for details.

Restore from the CrashPlan console

The CrashPlan console provides an option for restoring files when you are not near the device. See Download files from the web for details.

Step 6: Monitor the health of customer backups with status reports

Using the default settings, the CrashPlan app usually works quietly in the background. However, you can check the status of backups to make sure things are working as expected. Backup status is located in the following locations:

The CrashPlan app
The Reporting web app in the CrashPlan console. See Device status report use cases for more details.

Backup status emails

CrashPlan app backup status reports are sent via email and keep you informed about the health of all the backups in your environment.

See Configure device backup settings to learn how to adjust the timing for alerts.

Troubleshooting backup

If your back up status report indicates an issue with your backup, see What to do after receiving a backup alert to determine the cause and how to resolve it.

Step 7: Manage your subscription

Use the Account page in the CrashPlan console to manage your subscription, including:

Update your billing information
If you are having trouble updating your billing information, contact support@2checkout.com.
View your receipts

Your subscription renews automatically each month. You are charged based on the number of users with a computer that has data protected by CrashPlan (cloud or local).