Author: timbarrett

I ran into an interesting issue where our monitoring software (GFI MAX) wasn’t detecting the installation / existence of our backup software (ShadowProtect MSP Edition).

THE SOFTWARE

• Windows Server 2008 R2 installation (brand new install)
• Current GFI MAX monitoring agent (v 8.8.2)
• ShadowProtect MSP Edition (v 4.15.10.125)

As you can see from the screen shot below, ShadowProtect is actually installed and showing up in the registry, but the Agent is still failing to detect it.

THE SUPPORT

Per a phone call with the good folks at GFI, the GFI Agent is looking for some specific registry keys to determine the existence of ShadowProtect. The keys are in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\StorageCraft:

• ShadowProtect SBS
• ShadowProtect Server
• ShadowProtect Desktop

THE CRUX

The new ShadowProtect MSP version installs itself as “ShadowProtect”, so the missing “SBS / Server / Desktop” bit at the end causes the Agent to fail.

The FIX

I added a new registry key…

…called “ShadowProtect Server”…

…and it passed.

IMPORTANT: I did NOT modify the existing ShadowProtect registry key – I just added a new one. DON’T rename the existing key.

I called the key “ShadowProtect Server” because this is Server 2008 R2. If this was SBS 2008 or 2011 I’d call the new key “ShadowProtect SBS”.

WHY WE DIDN’T RUN INTO THIS ISSUE BEFORE

As we’ve been converting from the old ShadowProtect MSP version to the new one, that old registry key still existed (even after uninstallation).

SIDE NOTE

The two events the monitoring agent is looking for in regards to ShadowProtect in the Application Log are:

• ID 1120 – ShadowProtectSvc – Success
• ID 1121 – ShadowProtectSvc – Failure

Also, GFI MAX will not monitor for the following:

• ShadowProtect IT Edition
• ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange
• ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise