Altaro Backup

The Altaro Backup check watches Altaro VM Backup — now also branded Hornetsecurity VM Backup — by reading the backup results it writes to the Windows Application event log. It tells you whether the backups, restore verifications, and offsite copies in the lookback window succeeded. The check runs on Windows (Server and Desktop) every 60 minutes on the octoja agent of the backup server; the interval is not configurable. Linux and macOS are not supported.

Prerequisites

This check reads the event log locally, so set it up on the server that runs Altaro.

• You need the Monitoring Check Management permission. Permissions are assigned under Administration → Groups.
• An octoja agent installed on the server that runs Altaro VM Backup or Hornetsecurity VM Backup.
• Altaro configured to write its backup results to the Windows Application event log (the default). Otherwise the check cannot read them.

Steps

1. Go to Devices and open the Altaro server.
2. Click the Checks tab → Add Check → Altaro Backup.
3. Set the Lookback window (hours) — how far back the check scans the event log for backup results. The default is 24 hours, which suits a daily backup schedule.
4. Turn on Require a successful offsite copy if this server copies backups offsite — the check then warns when no offsite copy succeeded in the lookback window. It is off by default, which is right for servers that only back up locally.
5. Click Add Check.

After the first check interval, the result appears in the device's Checks tab.

Settings

Event mapping

The check recognises the VM Backup, Altaro VM Backup, Altaro Hyper-V Backup, and Hornetsecurity VM Backup event sources, so it keeps working after the Altaro-to-Hornetsecurity rename — VM Backup 9 logs under the bare VM Backup source.

The check looks for these event IDs from the Altaro event sources and classifies each one. The type is the name the result uses when it groups the events.

Any other event from those sources is ignored.

Results

The overall result is the worst of the classified events in the lookback window and the offsite-copy expectation.

Collected metrics

• The lookback window used
• Counts of succeeded, warning, and failed events
• A per-type summary for local backup and offsite copy — and for restore / verification when it ran — each with its own result, its succeeded, warning, and failed counts, and the time of its last success
• A list of the non-successful events, each with its result, time, backup type, and the reason text the backup software logged. Each run reads at most 500 events, and a long reason text is shortened to 300 characters

Tips

• Match the lookback window to your backup schedule. For daily backups, keep it at 24 hours; for less frequent jobs, widen it so a recent run is always in view.
• The check reads backup outcomes from the event log — it does not start or change backups itself.