1. Overview

Ahsay brings you specialized client backup software, namely AhsayOBM, to provide a set of tools to protect your Office 365 user accounts. This includes backup and recovery of individual emails, contacts, calendars and other mail items in your Office 365 Outlook, files on OneDrive and SharePoint, with snapshots / versioning, and retention policy to protect even items that you may have accidentally deleted from your Office 365 user account.

Below is the system architecture diagram illustrating the major elements involved in the backup process among the Office 365 service, AhsayOBM and AhsayCBS.

In this user guide, we will focus on the software installation, as well as the end-to-end backup and restore process AhsayOBM (Agent-based).

We are committed to bringing you a comprehensive Office 365 backup solution with AhsayOBM. Below are some key areas that we can help to make your backup experience a better one.

Backup users have more options in assigning a backup destination (i.e. AhsayCBS, Cloud or Predefined destinations, and standard and local destination).

Agent-based backup is performed on a physical machine or computer with resources that is dedicated for backup and restore operations. Once the backup client is deployed on the machine, the user have more control on the hardware which affects the overall backup and restore performance.

Agent-based backup solution has a traditional backup approach that is well understood by most administrators and end users who would only need minimal effort and time to understand the backup and/or restore operations.

Agent-based backup solution make it a good option for users to have more control on the individual backup/restore and resources management.

System logs for data integrity check and space freeing up results is accessible for the end users and can be reviewed anytime. Unlike with the agentless backup where system logs will only be available upon request from the backup service provider.

Agent-based backup solution has a feature that allows user to configure a pre and/or post-backup command which can be an operating system level command, script or batch file, or third-party utilities that will run before and/or after a backup job.

With the agent-based backup, a reminder feature is provided which will display a backup confirmation dialog box that will prompt user to run a backup job during machine log off, restart or shut down when enabled.

Agent-based backup offers you three (3) restore locations such as the local machine, original location (or the cloud storage where you backed up them), and alternate location (which is through the same cloud storage but on a different folder).

Agent-based backup has a restore filter feature which allows users to easily search directories, files, and/or folders to restore.

We understand that backup could be a time and resources consuming process, which is why AhsayOBM is designed with advanced technologies to make backup a fast and efficient process.

We also understand that you may wish to run backup at a specified time interval of your choice, that’s why we also allow you to set your own backup schedules so that you can take full control of the time when to perform backup.

To back up the Office 365 user accounts, the backup resources can be user level, site collection level and even item level.

We understand your Office 365 users may contain sensitive information that requires to be protected, that is why your backup data will be encrypted with the highest level of security measure.

Our enriched features on the centralized web console offers you a one-stop location for monitoring and managing your backup and restore. Below is an overview of what you can do with it. For more details regarding the setup and operations of the centralized management console, refer to the AhsayCBS User’s Guide for details.

• Create/ update/ delete backup set
• Restore backup set
• Configure user settings
• Configure backup settings
• View and download backup and restore reports
• Monitor backup and restore live activities
• Monitor storage statistic

To offer you with the highest flexibility of backup destination, you can now back up Office 365 user to a wide range of cloud storage destinations. Utilizing cloud destination backup gives you an extra layer of protection in the event of a local drive corruption, where you will still be able to retrieve data from the cloud destination.

Below is a list of supported cloud destinations.

The following table summarizes the differences in backup options available between a Run on Server and Run on Client Office 365 backup set, and the tool to use (web console or client agent) when performing a backup and restore:

Aside from backup options, the table below shows other operations that can be performed using web console and client agent:

You may be wondering why you need to use AhsayOBM to backup/restore your Office 365. Well, people assume that Microsoft is responsible for backing up everything from your calendars and your emails to your files in SharePoint and OneDrive. As the backups performed by Microsoft are to provide a system wide recovery rather than to facilitate the recovery of individual items for the end user.

Microsoft is only responsible for the Office 365 infrastructure and uptime of the cloud and apps with Office 365. So, if you are relying on Microsoft to protect your organization from data loss, your data and organization are at high risk if you do not implement additional data protection. These are some of the scenarios that Microsoft is responsible for on their cloud platform:

• Hardware Failure
• Software Failure
• Natural Disaster
• Power Outage

On the other hand, Microsoft is not responsible in any of these scenarios and you have to face the harsh reality that there’s no guarantee a complete and speedy restore incase these happens:

• Accidental Data Deletion (Human error)
• Malicious Attacks
• Viruses/Malware

Microsoft has a retention policy for mailbox and pubic folder that are only up to 14 days to 30 days. To support this, please refer to this article for more information: Microsoft: Overview of retention policy.

Microsoft has set the same limitations for SharePoint Online and OneDrive. It only stores deleted items for a period of 93 days, once you exceed the retention period, the data is gone indefinitely.

End users do not have control over what were backed up and what can be restored.

End users have no direct access to their backup data of their Office 365 domains/accounts.

AhsayOBM ensures protection from data loss, ensuring the all information in your Office 365 environment are protected to avoid disruptions to day-to-day operations.

We offer fully flexible retention policy that can be configured by days, weekly, monthly, quarterly, years compare to Microsoft’s limited retention period which is 14 to 30 days only.

Using AhsayOBM, end user has access or control over items that will be backed up or restore, whether it is individual item, calendar entries, notes or even corrupted mailbox and more.

AhsayOBM also provides multiple backup destinations from your Office 365 to your local machine, to any of our supported cloud destinations, and to our AhsayCBS Server.

Flexible restore is also a key feature of AhsayOBM that is designed to have multiple restore options.

Ahsay has automated backups and manual (on demand) backups You are also able to check the restore and backup status with corresponding backup and restore reports.

What is the purpose of this document?

This document aims at providing all necessary information for you to get started with setting up your system for Office 365 backup and restore, followed by step-by-step instructions on creating backup set, running backup job and restoring backed up data, using AhsayOBM.

The document can be divided into three (3) main parts.

What should I expect from this document?

After reading through this documentation, you can expect to have sufficient knowledge to set up your system to backup Office 365 on AhsayOBM, as well as to carry out an end-to-end backup and restore process.

Who should read this document?

This documentation is intended for backup administrators and IT professionals who are responsible for the Office 365 backup and restore.