Cove Backup

The Cove Backup check monitors N-able Cove (Backup Manager) on the device where Cove is installed. The octoja agent reads the latest backup session per Cove data source (File System, MS SQL, Exchange, Hyper-V, VMware and so on), evaluates it against configurable age thresholds, and alerts when a backup is old, failed, or interrupted. The check runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux every 60 minutes; the interval is not user-configurable.

Prerequisites

• N-able Cove Backup Manager installed on a Windows, macOS, or Linux device
• The octoja agent installed on the same device
• The Cove backup service running (the check reports critical if it is not)

Not sure if Cove is the right product? Look for "Backup Manager" in Programs and Features on Windows, or /opt/MXB/ on Linux. Cove is also sold by MSP vendors under N-able partner brands — the underlying ClientTool is the same.

Steps

1. Make sure the octoja agent is installed on the device that has Cove Backup Manager.
2. Go to Devices and open that device.
3. Click the Checks tab → Add Check → Cove Backup.
4. Choose a Data source — All data sources (default) evaluates every Cove data source on the device; pick a specific one (File system, MS SQL Server, Exchange, etc.) to scope the check.
5. Adjust the Warning threshold (hours) and Critical threshold (hours) if 24 h / 48 h are not right for your backup schedule.
6. Click Add Check.

The first result appears in the device's Checks tab shortly after the agent picks up the check.

Settings

Both threshold fields accept a device custom field instead of a fixed number: pick one from Insert custom field beside the field, and every device is measured against its own value. A device that carries no value of its own falls back to the field's Default value. The button appears once your instance has a number-typed device field under Administration → Custom fields.

Results

Each data source is evaluated on its own; the worst per-source result becomes the overall check status.

Why does the check warn although the backup is green?

A warning does not always mean a failed backup. These conditions raise a warning even when the last backup completed:

Metrics collected

For each Cove data source reported by the device, the check records:

• Data source name (e.g. FileSystem, VssMsSql)
• Cove session state (Completed, Failed, CompletedWithErrors, InProcess, …)
• Age in hours since the session started. When Cove reports no start time for a session, the details show a dash instead of an age and the session is graded against the critical threshold
• Computed severity (OK, Warning, Critical, or Failure) based on the session state and the configured age thresholds

ClientTool locations

The agent locates Cove via fixed-path discovery — if your environment uses a non-default install location, the check reports Cove Backup Manager not installed (ClientTool not found).

Notes

• The agent gives ClientTool 30 seconds to answer. If the call runs longer, the agent stops it and evaluates the output it received up to that point.
• Service-presence detection on Windows uses the Backup Service Controller service, so non-English Windows hosts work without configuration.
• On macOS and Linux, the agent looks for the ProcessController or BackupFP Cove processes to confirm the service is alive.
• The check counts as a backup check in reporting. It feeds the Failing Backups, Devices with Backup Monitoring, Devices without Backup Monitoring and Backup Status (Table) widgets, and the Backups pillar of the Management scorecard.
• The check covers the backup sessions on the device. Cove's cloud-side recovery testing and LocalSpeedVault status are tracked in the Cove portal.

Tips

• For workloads with a slower cadence (weekly backups of an archive volume), raise both thresholds — otherwise the check will flap on every quiet day.
• Set Data source to All data sources to monitor everything Cove protects on the device. If you protect multiple data sources with very different schedules, configure one Cove Backup check per data source instead — the per-source thresholds will fit the cadence of each workload.
• If you run Cove on multiple devices, install the octoja agent on each one and add a Cove Backup check per device.