MSP360 Products
Getting Started with MSP360 Managed Backup and Amazon S3
In this guide, we overview how you can easily add an Amazon S3 account to MSP360 Managed Backup.
Setting a Storage Account
First, you need to sign up for a trial account for MSP360 Managed Backup by filling in the form on the sign-up page. If you already have an account, sign in to it.
To use your Amazon S3 account, choose not to use MSP360’s test 2GB storage.
When you are in the MSP360 Managed Backup console, go to the “Storage” tab, then press “Storage accounts”. Here you can see all your connected storage accounts. To add a new one, press the “Add Account” button in the upper-right corner, and then choose “Amazon S3”.
You will then be able to choose a storage type, set a display name for the new account, and choose the authentication type.
There are three available options for the authentication type: IAM Role (MBS wizard), IAM Role Manual, and Access/secret.
IAM Role Manual
We strongly recommend choosing the IAM Role Manual option, since it’s secure and gives you more customization options.
If you choose this option, the software will automatically fill in the provider ID, and you will then need to provide your AWS role ARN (Amazon Resource Name). To do this, go to the AWS console and create a new role.
To get full instructions on creating a role, including “IAM permissions JSON”, you can refer to the tutorial by clicking the question mark at the right-hand side, and clicking on the link that follows.
IAM Role (MBS wizard)
If you choose the IAM Role (MBS wizard) option, MSP360 Managed Backup will automatically create an AWS role for you with the minimum required permissions.
For this, you will need to enter your AWS access key and secret key. (We do not save these credentials anywhere; they are used only once to create the role.)
To enter your access key and secret key, you should create a new AWS user in IAM in the AWS console and set the required permissions for the new user. You will then see both keys, which you need to copy and paste into the MSP360 Managed Backup console.
Please note that the secret key is shown only once. If you want to use it again later, download the CSV file that contains both keys.
Access/secret (Legacy)
The third option for the authentication type, Access/secret, is not recommended, as your access key will be displayed in your MSP360 Managed Backup account, which is not as secure as the other two authentication types. If you do choose this option, you need to enter your access and secret keys.
After you choose the authentication type and enter the required information, press the “Next” button.
Backup Destination
In the next step, you need to create a backup destination. To do this, set a display name for your destination, select a region, and either choose the bucket you want to use or create a new one.
Here, you can also choose if you want to use Amazon S3 transfer acceleration, which is a paid AWS feature that significantly increases your upload speed.
After you are done, press “Next”.
Assign to Users / Companies
In the next step, you specify which companies or users you want to use this storage account for.
In MSP360 Managed Backup, you should create a user that will later be associated with the computer you want to back up. You can also create companies and assign several users to them. If you haven’t created a user or a company before, you will be prompted to create the first company, and you will see your first default user in the Users tab - under the email address with which you signed up.
We do not recommend assigning your storage account to this user for production purposes. Instead, click “Next”. Later, you will be able to manage your users and companies properly.
Review
In the last step, you can review the settings of your new account and, if necessary, go back to edit anything.
After you press “Save”, you will be able to see your new account in the list of all connected accounts.
Creating a User
Now you need to create a user to assign your storage to. To do that, go to the “Users” tab and click “Create user”. If you want to learn more about creating users and companies, check out our “Endpoints, Users, and Companies with MSP360 Managed Backup Service” video.
Deploying the Agent
After you have created a user, go to the “Downloads” tab, and select the build you will install to the target machine. After you have installed the software on the computer, you will be able to assign it to the user. To do that, go to the “RMM” tab, and then the “RMM” section. There you will see the name of the endpoint you have just deployed the software to. Click “Add User Account” to assign it to a user.
That’s it. Now you are ready for your first backup to your Amazon S3 storage. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact our pre-sales team.
