It's been a few months since we introduced MSP360 Backup 2.1 for macOS & Linux that brought support for Web Access — a feature that enables you to use a web-based user-interface for the app. So in this article we'll demonstrate how to enable Web Access and use it to perform regular operations.
Getting Started with Web Interface
You can enable Web Access in on,e of two ways:
1. In terminal, navigate to the folder that contains the cbb utility: cd Applications/CloudBerry\ Backup.app/Contents/MacOS
And then executing either of the following commands: ./cbb option -set wa -http on -http_port 43212; ./cbb option -set wa -https on -https_port 43213.
If you want to force HTTPS connection only, you can leave the -http option disabled.
2. In the UI, in Settings - Application, click Remote Access Settings.
Here you can enable Web Access over HTTP / HTTPS, and optionally force all connections to use secure HTTPS connections.
Alright, now that we have enabled Web Access, let's go ahead and see how it works in real life.
Using Web Access
You can access the web app at http://ipaddress:port and / or https://ipaddress:port, depending on which protocols you have enabled. Enter your login user name and password and click Sign in.
When you've successfully logged in, you will be presented with the following interface:
As you can tell, the UI of the web app somewhat resembles that of the macOS & Linux app. You have your five main tabs: Backup Plans, Restore Plans, Backup Storage, History, Settings, and Licensing.
In Backup Plans, you can look through, execute, edit, delete, and even create your backup plans. The Backup Wizard entirely reflects the functionality of the desktop app.
Similarly, Restore Plans lets you manage and create restore plans.
Backup Storage displays the backup data in all of your backup destinations.
History, Settings, and Licensing mimic their counterparts from the desktop app.
The web app does not yet contain all of the features of the desktop app. The development team is working hard to add features to ensure that the functionality of the web and desktop apps always match.
The web version is primarily aimed at those users that would rather use a UI for MSP360 Backup when installed on their non-GUI Linux distros. But you can always return to the command line interface. To sum up, you now have three interfaces to choose from: Desktop client, web thin client, and command-line.
Feel free to try out Web Access and share your experience in the comment section below.
