Alike A3/V7 Documentation

Q-Hybrid (Agent-Based) Backups

Q-Hybrid is an agent-based backup that targets Windows systems. Q-Hybrid needed to protect physical systems that aren't running on a hypervisor. You can also use Q-Hybrid as an alternative to Enhanced backups, when available. Q-Hybrid requires that you install an agent on your Windows systems. Please follow the instructions below.

VSS Protection

Q-Hybrid leverages VSS (Volume Shadow Service) to snapshot your Windows volumes. This can also provide an application-consistent backup that includes any Microsft VSS Writers (Exchange, SQL Server, Sharepoint, etc) that are installed on the target system.

*Q-Hybrid works on Volumes, Not Disks
Q-Hybrid works on the volume-level, and not the disk-level. Volumes are formatted partitions of physical disks exposed to Windows as a "logical" drive. Q-Hybrid exactly protect volume data from the time of the VSS snapshot, but it cannot and will not exactly mirror disk partition layout and disk geometry.

Please note: spanned volumes are not supported with Q-Hybrid.

Q-Hybrid Job Walkthrough

Q-Hybrid combines a secure agent, VSS, and global data deduplication to protect your Windows machine.

Q-Hybrid Backup Overview
1. Agent Handshake: Alike will connect to your remote Windows machine via the secure agent. If one has not been installed, you will receive an error
2. Connect Via Admin Share: Alike authenticates to the machine's ADMIN$ UNC share, using credentials you assigned under Credential Profiles
3. Perform VSS: Alike will invoke VSS, Volume Shadow Service, to take a snapshot of your volumes.
4. Data Acquisition: Alike will run the "munge" phase of the job, which sends changed data blocks to the A3.
5. Cleanup: VSS snapshots are cleaned up and temporary resources disposed of.
6. Metadata commit: The A3 will wrap up your backup by storing all metadata generated by the backup.

Installing the QSBAgent

The QSBAgent installer must be installed on each system you wish to protect. You can download the agent installer here:

QSBAgent Installer

Agent Configuration

This installer will open Notepad and prompt you to edit a file. Please note if you need to change the port of the agent from its default, please see the section below.

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CIDR Whitelist

You must also edit this line:

allow=192.168.1.0/24

This line tells QSBAgent which IPs can connect. If you only have one A3, enter its IP here. If you need more than one A3 that needs to connect, you can use CIDR notation to allow an IP range. All other clients will be denied.

After you've saved the file, your agent is running. You can verify this in your event log.

Silent Installation Mode

The installer also offers a silent option, which you can run on a DOS prompt as

qsbagent.exe /S

this will install the agent to c:\program files\QSBAgent. You'll need to navigate to its "conf" subdirectory and modify its "agent.conf" file, or copy in one that's preconfigured the way you like it via a script.

Custom Port

By default, all Windows agents listen on port 8789. If your network cannot use this port, you can alter the config file of each agent to use the port of your choice. All agents must listen on the same port. You must also inform your A3 that it should use this new port. Please contact support who can send you instructions on how to do so.