How Arcserve Backup Equivalence Works

The User Profile Manager lets you create equivalence to the caroot account for any Windows account. This functionality lets you allow users with Windows accounts log into Arcserve Backup and access the Arcserve Backup managers and utilities. However, to allow users with Windows accounts to execute Arcserve Backup command line utilities (for example, ca_backup and ca_restore), you must create caroot equivalence for the Windows accounts using the ca_auth command line utility.

Note: Users who have been granted caroot equivalence using the ca_auth command line utility can run all the command line utilities but cannot log into the Arcserve Backup Manager Console.

Creating equivalence has the following advantages:

• Ease of command line usage-- As you create equivalence for a Windows user, the equivalence performs an implicit login on behalf of the logged-in user whenever a command line function requires authentication. This behavior lets the command line utilities run without requiring the user to enter a user name and password each time a command is submitted.
• Access Restriction-- Although Windows user accounts with caroot equivalence can run all Arcserve Backup command line utilities, Windows user accounts cannot log into the Arcserve Backup Manager Console and domain. However, you can use the User Profile Manager to allow Windows users to log into the Arcserve Backup Manager Console and domain with their Windows user account login information.
• Note: In addition to the User Profile Manager, you can add Arcserve Backup user accounts using the ca_auth command line utility. For more information about the ca_auth utility, see the Command Line Reference Guide.