The Move data to a remote server using SMB/CIFS archive method connects to a share on the target server with Server Message Block protocol. SMB/CIFS is mainly used on Microsoft Windows Networks.

When deployed from the Azure Marketplace, you can use Azure File storage shares for Backup and Archive Policies. This is very useful as you can change the quota for the file storage dynamically, so the cumulative size of the audit trails is not limited to the OS disk size. You can set up this share as normal SMB shares in your Backup and Archive policies. You can obtain the parameters for the policy from the Azure portal.

Caution: When you try to create backups and archives from SPS to NetApp devices using the CIFS protocol, the operation may fail with a similar error message: /opt/scb/mnt/14719217504d41370514043/reports/2010": Permission denied (13) '2010/day/' rsync: failed to set times on. To overcome this problem, grant the SPS user "Full Control" access rights to the CIFS share on the NetApp device.

1. Navigate to Policies > Backup & Archive and click in the Archive policies section to create a new archive policy.

2. Enter a name for the archive policy.

3. Enter the time when the archive process should start into the Start time field in HH:MM format (for example 23:00).

   You can add the start time for additional archive processes.

   Caution: When specifying an additional start time, ensure that the previous archive process finishes before the new archive process starts.

4. To archive the data collected on more than once a day, click . You can schedule multiple archive times.

   NOTE: In case an archive process is not finished before the next one would start, the next archive process waits for the previous process to be completed.

5. Fill the Delete data from SPS after field. Data older than this value is archived to the external server.

   NOTE: The archived data is deleted from SPS.

6. Select Move data to a remote server using SMB/CIFS from the Before deleting data from PSM radio buttons.

   Figure 165: Policies > Backup & Archive — Configuring archiving

   

7. Enter the username used to log on to the remote server into the Username field, or select the Anonymous login option.

   Usernames can contain space.

8. Enter the password corresponding to the username into the Password field.

   NOTE: SPS accepts passwords that are not longer than 150 characters and supports the following characters:

   • Letters A-Z, a-z

   • Numbers 0-9

   • The space character

   • Special characters: !"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<>=?@[]\^-`{}_|

9. Enter the name and directory path of the share into the Share field. Use the following format:

   share_name/path/to/directory

   You can use backslashes and forward slashes as well.

   SPS saves all data into this directory, automatically creating the subdirectories. Archives of audit-trails are stored in the data, configuration backups in the config subdirectory.

10. Enter the domain name of the target server into the Domain field.

11. Select which SMB protocol to use when SPS connects to the server in the Protocol version field. Servers are usually backwards compatible with earlier protocol versions (for example, a server that supports version 2.1 supports versions 2.0 and 1.0 as well).

12. SPS organizes the audit trails into directories based on the date or the protocol. The subdirectories are created directly into the archive directory. Select one of the following directory structures:

    • Protocol/Connection/Archive Date/

    • Archive Date/Connection/Protocol/

    • Connection Date/Protocol/Connection/

    • Archive Date/

    • Connection Date/

    For example, the Protocol/Connection/Archive Date template will have create subdirectories for the audited protocols (that is, ssh, rdp, telnet, vnc), for the name of the connection policy, and finally, for the date (YEAR-MONTH-DAY in YYYY-MM-DD format).

    NOTE: Connection Date refers to the time the connection started, while Archive Date to the time it was archived. The difference between the two dates depends on the retention time set for the archiving policy.

13. When your SPS instance is a node in a cluster, select Include the Cluster Node ID in the path. This ensures that the node ID is included in the path of the relevant directory, which is required to prevent cluster nodes from archiving data to the same location. Archiving data to the same location would result in data loss. In addition, including the node ID in the directory name also enables easy identification.

    Caution: Hazard of data loss If you configured configuration synchronization across your cluster nodes, unchecking Include the Cluster Node ID in the path when your SPS is a node in a cluster can result in data loss.

14. To receive e-mail notifications, select the Send notification on errors only or the Send notification on all events option. Notifications are sent to the administrator e-mail address set on the Management tab, and include the list of the files that were backed up.

    NOTE: This e-mail notification is different from the one set on the Alerting & Monitoring tab. This notification is sent to the administrator's e-mail address, while the alerts are sent to the alert e-mail address (see Configuring system monitoring on SPS).

15. Click Commit.

16. To assign the archive policy to the connection you want to archive, see Archiving the collected data.