Type:

Drop-down menu.

Function:

There are two backup types in this menu (Backup and Alert), and Backup Radar assigns the appropriate backup type for most products.

A Backup is a scheduled job that reports various statuses (Success, Warning, Failure, and No Result). The majority of jobs in Backup Radar are defined as Backup types.

An Alert is an unscheduled job that doesn't report on successes and remains in its last result state (Failure or Warning) until you manually add a result to it from the Audit page. Once updated, it retains the Success status until another Failure or Warning result is received. Alert types never report a No Result status due to their unscheduled nature.

Best Practice:

If this field is blank, use the guidelines above to determine your backup job's type. As a general rule, if a backup job can produce a success status, it should be set as a Backup rather than an Alert.

Type:

Auto-populated field.

Function:

This field displays the backup client ID (the company name), if one was provided from the API or email backup method.

Best Practice:

If your backup method does not natively provide company data:

For client-specific email notifications, follow our guide on Using Plus Addressing.

For API integrations, explore Adding your Backup Applications via API Integration for client ID setup guidance.

Type:

Drop-down menu.

Function:

This field pulls companies from your company list and determines which company the backup job is assigned to.

Best Practice:

Automate this process (using Automated Company Mapping or Company Assignment Rules) whenever possible to minimize manual assignments.

Type:

Drop-down menu (unavailable if the Catch all Company box is checked).

Function:

This menu allows you to associate this backup with a company name that is different from the assigned Device Company name.

Best Practice:

Use this field if your client has multiple regions listed in your Company List, with various backups assigned to their respective regions, but all tickets should be routed under a single client name in the PSA.

Type:

Checkbox.

Function:

When checked, ticket generation will be associated with the Device Company name.

When unchecked, you can use the Ticketing Company field to assign backups to a company name that is different from the assigned Device Company name.

Best Practice:

In most cases, leave the Catch all Company checkbox enabled to allow ticket generation to be associated with the Device Company.

Type:

Open text field.

Function:

This field populates a device name based on the backup result data.

Best Practice:

Only modify this field in exceptional circumstances. However, if changes are unavoidable and cannot be made at the source instead, ensure the original device name is documented in the Notes section below.

Type:

Open text field.

Function:

This field populates a job name based on the backup result data.

Best Practice:

Only modify this field in exceptional circumstances. However, if changes are unavoidable and cannot be made at the source instead, ensure the original job name is documented in the Notes section below.

Type:

Open text field.

Function:

Notes added to this open text field are visible from the Audit page.

Best Practice:

Use this field to note any information you may need to reference in the future.

Type:

Toggle.

Function:

Enabling this toggle prevents templates from overwriting any of the backup's configuration settings, even if it matches the defined template rules.

Best Practice:

Use this option for backups that require unique configurations that don't align with the templates they would otherwise be associated with.

Type:

Drop-down menu.

Function:

This field pulls your preset and custom schedules from the Manage > Schedules section.

The schedule tells Backup Radar on which day(s) a result would be expected, regardless of whether one or multiple results were received in that day. By default, your activated backups will be set on a daily schedule.

Best Practice:

If you notice a pattern of No Result statuses that report outside of the days you're expecting results, you have two choices:
1. Adjust the schedule in Backup Radar so it matches when the results are actually reporting in (if none of the default schedules match your needs, see Creating a Custom Backup Schedule for details on setting up a custom schedule), or:
2. Adjust the reporting schedule from the backup product so it aligns with what Backup Radar's expecting.

Type:

Drop-down menu + open text field.

Function:

This field populates with previous entries and/or Configuration Type(s) from your integrated PSAs sync filters.

Workstation: End-user devices. These backups are typically less urgent, and No Result statuses are common due to varying usage patterns.

Mailbox: Email and collaboration platforms such as Office 365, Google Workspace, SharePoint, Exchange, Teams, OneDrive, etc.

Unit: This device type serves as a catch-all for devices that do not fit into the Workstation or Mailbox categories. Because these devices (for example, servers) often require greater urgency when a backup is unsuccessful or has consistently predictable backup results.

This field is directly tied to your subscription costs, so it's important to ensure proper categorization.

Best Practice:

Variations from the standard names ("Workstation" or "Mailbox") may go unrecognized and default to Unit, potentially impacting your Backup Radar licensing counts. To ensure accuracy, run the Backup List Report to validate that the device type is correctly represented in your license usage.

Type:

Drop-down menu.

Function:

Nothing. These categories were part of a legacy version of Backup Radar.

Best Practice:

Skip it and use Tags instead to isolate and report on specific data.

Type:

Drop-down menu + open text field.

Function:

This field serves as both an open text field (for creating new tags) and a list of existing tags from Settings > Tags. Applying a tag allows you to include or exclude specific backups in dashboards, reports, ticketing, as well as perform tag-based searches on the Audit page. 

Best Practice: 

Add any relevant tags that might help you sort, filter, and organize your backups in dashboards, reports, ticketing, and search results.

Avoid redundant tags (e.g. tagging with the backup method when this is already filterable). This reduces the likelihood of inconsistent tags, ensuring reliable filtering.

If you want to tag a specific job that is associated with a template, you must first enable the job as a Standalone Backup.

Type:

Drop-down menu.

Function:

Status Calculation is a feature that allows you to control how Backup Radar displays the overall daily status of a backup that has received multiple, differing results in a 24-hour period.

Warning if mixed: Displays a warning status if any mix of results occurs.

Last Status Received: Displays the final result of the day, regardless of earlier outcomes.

Worst Status Received: Prioritizes the worst* result of the day.

Best Status Received: Prioritizes the best* result received that day.

*Statuses are ranked (from best to worst) as follows: Success, Warning, and Failure.

Best Practice:

Warning if mixed is useful for identifying days with mixed results. This helps highlight potential issues without immediately escalating to Failure.

Last Status Received is useful for ticketing purposes, as it provides insight into how the day ended.

Worst Status Received and Best Status Received are chosen based on device importance or service-level agreement (SLA) requirements. Use Worst for high-priority devices to flag failures and Best for less critical devices to minimize noise.

Type:

Drop-down menu.

Function:

This field allows you to customize the time at which Backup Radar starts tracking each 24-hour period. By default, the new business day begins at midnight (12:00 AM).

Note that results are stored based on when the backup job starts, not when it finishes. Setting this time too late can shorten the window for backups to run, complete, and submit results before the Ticket Rule(s) can run.

Best Practice:

Leave the default time at 12:00 AM and adjust only if necessary (for example, if you have a backup that begins running after midnight (e.g. 12:30 AM) and finishes a few hours later (e.g. 3:00 AM), adjust the Start of Business Day to 1:00 AM to include this result with the previous day's results).

Type:

Stepper.

Function:

By default, Backup Radar expects a result at least once for each day it's scheduled to run.

This field allows you to mute the No Result status for a specific number of days. During this time, No Results will display a status of Pending instead.

Best Practice:

Adjust this setting for end-user devices that are frequently left off for extended periods or have erratic backup schedules.

You may also wish to adjust this setting for devices with backup jobs that take longer than 24 hours to complete. Avoid using this setting to compensate for misaligned backup schedules.

Type:

Checkbox.

Function:

When checked, any warning status will display as a success.

Best Practice:

Proceed with caution, as this function can mask potential issues that may require attention. Treat Warning as Success should only be used in situations where warnings are consistently non-critical and do not impact recovery or performance.

Type:

Toggle.

Function:

When enabled, you can set up same-day ticketing and/or email notifications for backup failures according to your preferred threshold and number of failures (either in a row, or in a 24-hour period).

Best Practice:

Do not use this as your primary ticketing rule. See Setting up Ticket Rules for broader configurations.

Alert on Failure is best used for critical backups that run multiple times per day or any device that requires real-time failure notifications. Keep in mind that many devices will re-try and often can self-heal after a failure, so use this setting sparingly to reduce unnecessary ticket/notification noise.

Type:

Toggle.

Function:

This feature (often referred to as "maintenance mode") will remove backups from the schedule during a specified period of time. This means that you will not receive alerts for the job, should it fail or not report in. Once the end date has been reached, it will automatically return to its prior schedule settings. A note is required to track the reason for the pause. See Pausing your Backups for more details.

Best Practice:

Use this feature when you'd like to avoid unnecessary ticket/notification noise for a specified amount of time (for example, when you're waiting for a new part to arrive, or if you have clients who work only seasonly).

Type:

Toggle.

Function:

This feature moves the backup from Active to Retired status, removing it from your license count while preserving historical results. This also ensures that any incoming reports from that backup are ignored, which avoids automatic reactivation.    

In contrast, deleting a backup removes all backup data from Backup Radar and allows the backup to report back in again.

A note is required to track the reason for the retire. See Retiring your Backups for more details.

Retired backups can be reactivated if needed (see Reactivating your Retired Backups).

Best Practice:

Use this feature when you're like to remove a backup from your license count without losing historical results, and use a descriptive note.

A good note can provide historical context with the reason why a particular backup was retired. Generic notes, like "retired" or "because I said so", can cause future uncertainty, leading to wasted time investigating.