Client addresses

BackupSentinel never connects to your backup servers. It reads the report emails your backup software already sends, so each report needs an address to go to. This page explains the two kinds of address, how a report finds its backup, and what happens to a report that finds none.

Two kinds of address

The client address

Every client gets one address when you create it. It is built from your workspace name, the client name and a random part:

harbour-it-northwind-dental-3f9a1c2b7d4e8f60@ingest.backupsentinel.io

This is the address to use in most cases. Point all of that client's backup report emails at it, and each report is matched to the right backup (see below).

The backup's own address

Every backup also has an exact address of its own, made of 18 random letters and digits:

k4x9m2q7w1r8t3v6z5@ingest.backupsentinel.io

A report sent there always goes to that backup, whatever it says. Use it when the backup software cannot put the job name in its emails and a client has more than one backup from that product.

Both kinds are created and managed by BackupSentinel. You cannot edit them. When a client or backup is deleted, its address stops working: email sent to it afterwards is not stored and does not appear in your Inbox.

Where to find them

• Settings → Client addresses lists every client's address with a Copy button, and shows the setup steps for the backup product you pick.
• A client's page shows its address with Copy on the Overview tab.
• When you add a backup by hand, Add a backup job shows the client address and the backup's own address as soon as the backup is created.
• The setup guide on the Overview shows the address of the client you are setting up.
• A backup's own address is on its page under Setup, and in the backup's drawer, folded away as Advanced: exact address for this backup only.

How a report finds its backup

A report sent to a backup's own address goes to that backup. A report sent to a client address is matched in this order:

1. By job name. If the parsing rule read a job name from the email, BackupSentinel looks for a backup of that client with the same name, ignoring case. If there is no exact match, a backup whose name contains the job name also matches (for job names of 4 characters or more). Two backups that both match are not guessed between: the email waits in the Inbox.
2. By elimination. If no job name was read, or none matched, and the client has exactly one backup, the report goes to it. The exception: if that backup's earlier reports carried a different job name, the email waits in the Inbox instead, so a second task on the same server never marks the first one as successful.

Only three built-in rules read a job name from the email:

For these three, one client address can cover several backups. For every other product, use one of these setups:

• One backup per client: use the client address. Every report goes to the client's only backup.
• Several backups per client: give each backup its own address in the backup software.

A custom parsing rule can also read a job name, with a Job name pattern. See Parsing rules.

Reports that match no backup

A report that reaches a client address but matches no backup is stored, not lost. It appears in the Inbox under Needs review, marked Not assigned, and in Needs attention as "N emails not matched to a backup" for that client. Open it in the Inbox and choose:

• Start monitoring creates a new backup from the email, with its name and Expected every for you to check, and assigns the email to it. The new backup counts towards your plan's job limit.
• Assign to a backup… links the email to a backup that already exists.
• Create rule opens the rule editor, for emails no rule could read.
• Ignore removes it from Needs review. It stays under All emails, where you can restore it.

Once a backup exists with the name the rule reads, its later reports find it on their own.

Forwarding reports

You can forward reports to the address from a mailbox that already receives them, for example with a mail flow rule in Microsoft 365 or a forwarding rule on the mailbox. Forward them unchanged:

• Keep the subject. Some rules recognise the product from the subject line. The Veeam rule looks for [Success], [Warning] or [Failed] at the very start of the subject, so a "Fwd:" prefix stops it matching.
• Keep the body. The result, the job name and the size are read from the text of the email. A forward that drops or summarises the body loses them.

The next report is due one interval after a report is received, so a forward that runs late also moves the due time later. See Job statuses and missing reports.

Daily caps

Each address has a daily limit, counted over the last 24 hours:

• 100 reports per backup. Further reports for that backup are not stored until the count drops.
• 200 unmatched emails per client. Further emails that match no backup are not stored.

These limits only matter when something sends in a loop. A backup that reports every hour sends 24.

Limits

• Addresses cannot be edited or chosen. To stop receiving reports at one, delete the client or backup it belongs to.
• Only Veeam, Synology and Duplicati reports carry a job name with the built-in rules. Other products need one backup per client address, a backup address each, or a custom rule with a job name pattern.
• Reports to a client address go to its only backup when no job name is read. If that client later gets a second backup from a product that sends no job name, give each backup its own address.
• Email sent to an address that does not exist is not stored.