Overview
This article describes how to onboard customers as a CrashPlan Managed Service Provider.
Existing partners only
At this time, CrashPlan is not accepting new partners for the managed service provider program. This article applies only to existing partners.
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.
Step 3: Add devices
To protect all of your data, it's important to back up all your devices. First, ensure your devices meet our system requirements.
Download and install
After confirming your hardware and software meet our system requirements, add devices 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.
Replace a device
When you get a new device, the CrashPlan app's replace device feature helps you transfer files to the new computer and continue backing up where you left off. See Replace your device to learn more.
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
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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:
- Select Add Local Destination.
- 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:
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:
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).
Additional resources
Explore the support site for additional information and resources.
Articles for Managed Service Providers
At the top of each article, under Who is this article for, look for articles with CrashPlan Cloud checked at the top of the page. Make sure you are using the Cloud version of the article. However, some articles describe features that are not available in the Managed Service Provider program. The green check for CrashPlan Cloud means the article applies to Managed Service Providers.
Need further help? Contact CrashPlan Cloud support to get help from our technical support team.