Configure inSync to protect SharePoint Online
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Business Before you begin
Before you initiate Druva inSync configuration to protect SharePoint Online data, ensure that you have the following accounts created.
- Microsoft 365 Global administrator account with a valid Microsoft 365 license.
- Microsoft 365 tenant administrator account.
Configure Druva inSync to protect SharePoint Online
Log into inSync Management Console as a Druva inSync Cloud administrator and perform the following steps to set-up Druva inSync to protect SharePoint Online.
Step 1: Provide Druva inSync permissions to access SharePoint Online data
To protect and backup SharePoint Online data, Druva inSync requires authorization from Microsoft 365. Also, the Druva inSync Cloud administrator must accept the required permissions to allow Druva inSync access to SharePoint Online data.
Druva inSync uses OAuth 2.0 to communicate with services like Microsoft 365. OAuth is an open protocol for token-based authentication and authorization on the internet. For more information on OAuth 2.0, see the OAuth website.
Procedure
To establish the connection with Microsoft 365 and provide required permissions to Druva inSync:
- On the Druva inSync Management Console menu bar, click Data Sources > Cloud Apps. The page appears.
- On the Manage Cloud Apps page, from the Cloud App List, select Microsoft 365 and then click Configure.
- On the confirmation message that appears, click Yes to proceed with the configuration.
- On the Microsoft 365 login page, enter the tenant administrator's user name and password for Microsoft 365, and then click Sign in.
- Click Accept to grant inSync app the required permissions to access SharePoint Online data. See Required permissions to access SharePoint Online.
Step 2: Get data encryption key (ekey)
To ensure that the Microsoft 365 data that is backed up is secure, you must configure Druva inSync to get the data encryption key(ekey).
inSync requires access to the ekey to initiate the scheduled backup of any Microsoft 365 app data. The ekey is used to encrypt the data when it is being backed up to the inSync Cloud. This is part of the digital envelope encryption process that Druva strictly adheres to. Druva does not store ekey of the users and has no access to the data.
Use one of the following methods to enable Druva inSync to get the data encryption key(ekey):
Deploy inSync Connector
At least one inSync Connector is configured and connected to the inSync Cloud (default option). For more information, see:
Note:
- inSync Connector acts as a Cloud Apps connector to provide the ekeys without requiring users to have their devices connected for the Cloud Apps backup .
- If the registered inSync Connectors are not connected, backup of the configured Cloud Apps data fails.
- inSync Connector does not need to have any domains or AD mappings added to it.
- inSync generates a Not Connected alert if inSync Connector is not connected.
If none of the earlier mentioned deployment options are used, you must have the Cloud Key Management feature enabled. For more information, see Configure Key Management for Cloud Apps.
Step 2: Configure SharePoint for backup and restore
The settings that you define automatically applies to all subsequent auto-discovered sites. You can also change the settings of any auto-discovered site.
You can configure SharePoint sites for backup and restore in the following ways:
- Auto Configuration
- Custom configuration
Auto Configuration of SharePoint sites
- On the inSync Management Console menu bar, click Data Sources > Cloud Apps. The Manage Cloud Apps page appears.
- Click Microsoft 365 > SharePoint. A page that lists all the discovered sites appears.
The status of all the discovered sites by default is set as Not Configured.
- Click Auto Configuration. Enter the following details in the Auto Configuration wizard and click Save.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto-discover site collections | Select this checkbox if you want inSync to automatically discover new site collections added to the SharePoint Online setup of your organization. inSync runs the discovery process every 24 hours. This setting is enabled by default. |
| Auto assign storage |
Select this checkbox if you want inSync to automatically assign storage for any newly discovered site collection. It is mandatory for a site collection to be assigned storage for inSync to back it up. |
| Assign storage |
Displays all the configured storage regions. Select storage from the list. Storage once assigned cannot be changed later. |
| Backup frequency |
Select the frequency of backups for SharePoint sites. By default, it is thrice a day. You can set the frequency as per your need. |
| Retain daily data backups for |
Type the number of days that you want to retain all backups. At the end of the backup period, inSync will delete the data from the storage. For example, if you specify that you want to retain all backups for 5 days and inSync completed the backup operation on January 6, 2017, inSync will delete the backup data from the storage on January 11, 2017. |
| Retain weekly data backups for |
Type the number of weeks that you want to retain all backups. At the end of the weekly backup period, inSync deletes the data from the storage. Note: The weekly backup is the last backup in a calendar week. The calendar week starts on Sunday. |
| Retain monthly data backups for |
Type the number of months that you want to retain all backups. At the end of the monthly backup period, inSync deletes the data from the storage. Note: The monthly backup is the last backup in a calendar month. |
| Exclude files | In the Exclude Files box, type the file types that you want to exclude from the backup of a SharePoint site collection. The file extensions are automatically added to the adjacent field. If you want to remove a file type, click the file type. |
Note: To retain the backups for an unlimited period, enter 0 as the value for all daily, weekly and, monthly retention settings.
Custom configuration of SharePoint sites for backup
- On the inSync Management Console menu bar, click Data Sources > Cloud Apps. The Manage Cloud Apps page appears.
- Click Microsoft 365 > SharePoint. A page that lists all the discovered sites appears.
The status of all the discovered sites by default is set as Not Configured.
- Click the site collection that you want to configure for backup and restore. The Configure Site Backup page appears.
- If you choose to use the Use Default option, review the details and click Save. If you have selected the Custom option, enter the following details and click Save.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Site URL | Type the site URL. You can get this URL from the Microsoft 365 portal. |
| Site Title |
Displays the name of the site collection.
|
| Assign storage |
Select storage from the drop-down list. Storage once assigned cannot be changed later. |
| Settings |
Displays the backup and retention policy settings that you want to apply to this site collection. The following options are available:
|
| Backup every |
Select the frequency of backups for SharePoint sites. For scheduled backups, at least one AD Connector should be registered and connected to inSync Cloud. For more information see Prerequisites to back up Cloud Apps data. |
| Retain daily data backups for |
Type the number of days that you want to retain all backups. At the end of the backup period, inSync will delete the data from the storage. For example, if you specify that you want to retain all backups for 5 days and inSync completed the backup operation on January 6, 2017, inSync will delete the backup data from the storage on January 11, 2017. |
| Retain weekly data backups for |
Type the number of weeks that you want to retain all backups. At the end of the weekly backup period, inSync deletes the data from the storage. Note: The weekly backup is the last backup in a calendar week. The calendar week starts on Sunday. |
| Retain monthly data backups for |
Type the number of months that you want to retain all backups. At the end of the monthly backup period, inSync deletes the data from the storage. Note: The monthly backup is the last backup in a calendar month. |
| Exclude files | In the Exclude Files box, type the file types that you want to exclude from the backup of a SharePoint site collection. The file extensions are automatically added to the adjacent field. If you want to remove a file type, click the file type. |
|
Relative URL Paths |
This option is displayed only if you have selected Custom settings for backup and retention. In the Relative URL Paths box, specify the relative URL path of a subsite, Document Library, or List separated by a semicolon to exclude the specified paths from SharePoint backup. |
Relative URL Paths
Use the Relative URL Paths option within inSync Management Console to exclude any specific subsites, Document Libraries, List or Folder nested under a subsite from getting backed up and thus reduce the time required for SharePoint sites data backup.
SharePoint has a unique URL for each subsite, Document Library, and List. You can copy the Relative URL Path from the complete URL.
Each URL of the site content has a common part within the link as mentioned in the example below. Relative URL Path is what remains when you remove the common part from the URL.
- URL starts with root site URL: For example, https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DruvaUniversity/
- URL ends with /Forms/AllItems.aspx or AllItems.aspx
Note:
- For List , the relative URL path contains the List string.
- URL has %20 string to represent the ' ' one space character. You can directly copy-paste the relative URL from the browser with %20 in it. Alternatively, you can manually provide the relative URL without %20. For example, InSync%20Course%20Documents or InSync Course Documents
Examples of Relative URL Paths for different site contents:
| Site Content Type | Title displayed on SharePoint | Complete URL | Relative URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Root Site | Druva University | https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DruvaUniversity | Not Applicable |
| Document Library at root site level | inSync Course Documents | https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DruvaUniversity/InSync%20Course%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx |
InSync%20Course%20Documents |
| List at root site level | inSync PM List | https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DruvaUniversity/Lists/InSync%20PM%20List/AllItems.aspx |
Lists/InSync%20PM%20List |
| Subsite | InSync Phoenix Subsite | https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DruvaUniversity/inSyncPhoenixAppSubsite | inSyncPhoenixAppSubsite |
| Document Library at Subsite | Cloud Apps Product Documents | https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DruvaUniversity/inSyncCloudAppSubsite/CloudApp%20Product%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx |
inSyncCloudAppSubsite/CloudApp%20Product%20Documents |
| List at Subsite | Cloud App Developer List | https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DruvaUniversity/inSyncCloudAppSubsite/Lists/CloudApp%20Developer%20LIst/AllItems.aspx | inSyncCloudAppSubsite/Lists/CloudApp%20Developer%20LIst OR inSyncCloudAppSubsite/Lists/CloudApp Developer LIst |
| Subsite at the Subsite level | SalesForce Subsite | https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/DruvaUniversity/inSyncCloudAppSubsite/Sales%20Force%20Subsite | inSyncCloudAppSubsite/Sales%20Force%20Subsite OR inSyncCloudAppSubsite/Sales Force Subsite |
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