Setting Up A New Datto Appliance

Scope

This guide covers the basic set-up of a new Datto appliance.

For preventative measures and maintenance best practices for Datto appliances, see the Datto Device Care & Maintenance Guide.

Prerequisites

If you are installing a Datto appliance at a new location, make sure that host network meets the Datto Networking Requirements.
The first backup for a protected system can be very large. If you are pairing protected systems with your Datto appliance for the first time, and are not performing a Device Migration, you should consider ordering a RoundTrip drive. Many times, host networks do not have enough throughput to replicate initial backups to the Datto cloud in a timely manner.
When setting up a new Datto appliance, you should have the power cable and Ethernet cable. You should also have a monitor, mouse, and keyboard ready to plug into the appliance in case you have trouble registering it over the LAN.

Initial Appliance Setup

1) Plug the appliance into a power outlet.

2) Connect the appliance to your LAN. Depending on the type of device, there can be two or more wired network interface cards (NIC) located on the back of the device. You can use any of the NICs, but you cannot hot-swap them. If you need to change the NIC, you will either need to reboot the device to apply the changes, or you change eth0 to DCHP or assign the IP address, move the cable and reload networking.

These steps assume that DHCP service is enabled on your network. If not, you will need to connect a keyboard, monitor, and mouse directly to the device to assign an IP address to the main interface before it can be seen on the network or device.dattobackup.com.

3) Turn on the power to the appliance.

For smaller devices, boot time should not take longer than five minutes. For larger devices, such as AltoXL 6000 and up, as well as Datto NAS 6000 and up, a cold boot may take more than five minutes. This is normal device functionality. In the event that your device does not finish booting for the first time within ten minutes, please call Datto Technical Support for assistance.

4) From another computer on the same LAN as the Datto appliance, open a browser, and go to device.dattobackup.com.

If you only have one Datto appliance on this LAN, this URL will bring you to the web interface for that Datto. If you have more than one Datto appliance on this LAN, you will see a list of devices.

Unregistered devices are listed as backupDevice. Click on its IP address to connect to it.

Your browser should redirect you to a Device Registration screen similar to what is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: SIRIS device registration screen.

Register the Appliance

Before you can begin scheduling backups, you will need to register the Datto appliance. Device registration activates the unit's software, sets user preferences, and pairs it with Datto's offsite servers. Follow the Registering a Datto Appliance article to get started.

Apply Device Updates

After registering the Datto appliance, in the device GUI, navigate to Configure → Device Updates, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Configure → Device Updates.

Check the boxes next to the device updates you wish to apply, and then click Start Update, as shown in Figure 3.

Some device updates will require you to reboot the Datto appliance. Carefully read any related messages before proceeding.

Figure 3: Device Updates screen with 16.04 OS update advertised.

If any updates fail to install, contact Datto Technical Support for assistance.

Add Protected Systems

After registering the Datto appliance, follow the Agent Installation Wizard article to pair protected machines for backup to the Datto appliance.

Configure Offsite Synchronization

If you need to regulate a Datto device's bandwidth when syncing with the cloud, consult the Off-Site Synchronization Configuration guide to learn how to calculate daily synchronization transfer amounts and set bandwidth throttles.