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Create and Manage Groups
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You can create a Business Group if you have multiple users with separate accounts and you want to centrally manage billing and backups. Additionally, you can create a Business Group If you want multiple users to be able to sign in to restore their own files.
Enable Business Groups
- Sign in to the Backblaze web console.
- In the user menu in the upper-right corner of the page, select My Settings.
- Under Enabled Products, click Verify Email next to Business Groups.
- After your email address is verified, select the Business Groups checkbox.
Create a Group
- Sign in to the Backblaze web console.
- In the left navigation menu under Business Groups, click Group Management.
- Click Create a New Group, and enter a name for your group.
Backblaze recommends that you use a naming convention that identifies the Group members who are in a specific Group, for example, “Initech Staff." - Select Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage as the product.
You can add products to a Group at any time, but after you add them, you cannot remove them. - Select your administrative privileges.
After you create a Group, you cannot change this setting.- Select On to enable managing rights including accessing Backblaze B2 content, creating restores, and changing account settings.
- Select Off to enable Group administrators to pay for Backblaze services, but they cannot view or restore files, delete a backup, or change account settings on a Group member's behalf.
- Click Create Group.
- Enter your payment information and click Purchase, or click Skip Payment & Try for Free and continue with the 10 GB of free storage that comes with your account.
You do not need to enter any information to skip this step. - To finish creating your Group, click I'll Invite Later.
Your new Group is displayed on the Group Management page.
If you are interested in being charged via invoice or other methods, contact the Backblaze Sales team for more information.
Invite Members to a Group
- Sign in to your Backblaze administrator account.
- In the left navigation menu under Business Groups, click Invite & Approve.
- Copy the invite link and email it to your members, or click Send Invite Emails.
- Enter member emails, and click Send.
- If you do not belong to the group, click Add Myself to the Group.
If your Group requires an Administrator to accept members, the request for approval is displayed on the Invite & Approve page in the Requesting Membership tab. You can either accept or deny the request, and the requesting user is notified whether they are accepted or rejected.
For multi-region accounts, you must send invites to the email addresses that you want each region to be under. If you do not have any other physical users, and you want to keep data in different regions, you can use an alias for your existing email. (If you have a Gmail or G Suite account, you can use the '+' trick outlined here.)
Join a Group
- From the email that you receive from Backblaze or from the invite link from the Group administrator, click Join the Backblaze Group.
- Depending on the Group settings, accept Administrator Access.
- Depending on the Group settings, accept the 30-day version history.
- Click Next.
- Enter your password.
If you do not have a Backblaze account, you must create one. - For multi-region accounts, select a Region that will contain the data.
You can verify the region in which the data will be stored. - Depending on your invite method, click Sign In & Join the Group or click Sign In & Request Membership.
Edit a Group
- Sign in to the Backblaze web console.
- In the left navigation menu under Business Groups, click Group Management.
- Click Edit Group for the account you want to edit.
- Edit the following options:
- Group Name
- Admins
Enter an email address to add an administrator to your account. You can also remove an administrator in this field by clicking Remove Admin Rights. - Product
You can add a service, but you cannot remove a service after you create your Group. - Group Single Sign-On (SSO)
Google GSuite and Microsoft Office 365 are the allowed authentication domains. SSO credentials that work with these providers can also enable access to Backblaze. For more information about SSO, click here. - Automatically Accepted Domains
Add domains (for example, coolcorp.com, rad.biz, and smart.edu) to automatically allow emails within that domain to join your Group without administrator approval. - Automatic Approval Policy
Anyone from any domain can be automatically accepted into the Group. Administrators can remove Group members at any time. - Member Backup Summary Emails
Backblaze automatically emails each user a weekly or monthly summary of their backup. You can disable this feature and members do not receive email backup summaries. - Emails to Group Administrators
Backblaze automatically emails administrators a weekly or monthly CSV report of all of the backups in their Group. You can access and download this report on the Users/Computers page under Business Groups.
- Click Update Group.
Delete a Group
- Sign in to the Backblaze web console.
- In the left navigation menu under Business Groups, click Group Management.
- Click Edit Group for the account you want to delete.
- Click Dissolve Group.
The total licenses in the group and the unbilled estimate is displayed. You are charged for any Backblaze B2 purchases up to Group dissolution. The final amount is calculated after all Backblaze B2 usage data is collected. - Click Dissolve Group again to confirm the action.
Group coverage for member's backups are terminated, but member's accounts are not deleted. Members should set up their own payment method.
Administer a Group Account
Administrators can see account details for Group members and alerts that are on their accounts. Administrators have equal rights and can change group settings and add or remove other administrators.
- Sign in to your Backblaze administrator account.
- In the left navigation menu under Business Groups, click Users/Computers.
- Select the Group that you want to view.
A synopsis is displayed that includes information such as number of members, number of computers, and number of alerts. - Click the alert next to the computer name to view information about issues with that machine.
You can request help if you need assistance resolving the alert. - Click Details next to any computer to view information such as backup status, backup settings, and computer specifications.
Access and Manage a Member's Account
As an administrator, you can sign in to a member's account to view backups and restore a backup.
- Sign in to your Backblaze administrator account.
- In the left navigation menu under Business Groups, click Users/Computers.
- To view backups, click the cloud next to the member's name and click Manage User Account.
- Create a Backblaze Snapshot restore.
- In the left navigation menu under B2 Cloud Storage, click Browse Files.
- Click the bucket that contains the files.
- Select all desired files, and click Snapshot.
- Enter a name for the Snapshot or keep the generated name, and click Make a Snapshot.
- Download a completed Snapshot.
- In the left navigation menu under B2 Cloud storage, click Snapshots.
- Select the Snapshot that you want to download.
- Select either Download or USB Hard Drive, and click Retrieve Snapshot.
If you select USB Hard Drive, you are prompted to enter payment and delivery information.
- Click Back to Admin View to return to the previous page.
Remove a Group Member
- In the left navigation menu under Business Groups, click Users/Computers.
- Click the silhouette next to the member's name, and click Remove from Group.
The member receives a notification stating that they are no longer a member of your Group, and they must add a payment method to their Backblaze account for service to be uninterrupted.
Update an Account on Behalf of a Member
As a Group admin, you can update a member's password, email address, or phone number on their behalf. However, you must know the user's current password to make these changes, and you must have access to the member's phone number and be able to receive SMS messages to change the account phone number. As an admin, you cannot delete a member's account or remove the member's account from the Group while you are logged in as the user.
- Sign in to your Backblaze administrator account.
- In the left navigation menu under Business Groups, click Users/Computers.
- To view a user's account, click the silhouette icon next to the member's name and click Manage User Account.
- In the left navigation under Account, click My Settings.
- Edit the following Contact settings:
- Change Email Address
- Change Phone Number
- Remove Phone Number
- Edit the following Security settings:
- Change Password
- Change Sign in Settings
- Click Back to Admin View to return to the previous page.