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Backup reports

At the end of a backup job, you can configure Xen Orchestra to send backup reports directly by email, Slack or in Mattermost. It's up to you.

Email​

Step-by-step​

  1. In the Settings → Plugins view, enable and configure the Backup-reports plugin.

  2. Configure also the transport-email plugin (see detailed configuration below).

  3. Once it's done, you can now create your backup job. In the "report" selection you can choose the situation in wish you want to receive an email (always, never or failure).

tip

You can also modify existing backup jobs and change the behaviour of the report system.

Email Provider Configuration​

info

Authentication Requirements

  • Gmail: Standard passwords no longer work - App Passwords with 2FA are required
  • Microsoft 365: Basic authentication still works but will be disabled in March 2026

Gmail Configuration​

Gmail users must use App Passwords for SMTP authentication.

Prerequisites:

  • Enable 2-Factor Authentication on your Google account.

Steps:

  1. Enable 2FA: Go to Google Account Security → 2-Step Verification
  2. Generate App Password: Visit App Passwords → Select "Mail" → Generate
  3. Configure transport-email plugin:
    • Host: smtp.gmail.com
    • Port: 587
    • Secure: Auto or STARTTLS
    • Username: Your Gmail address
    • Password: The 16-character App Password (no spaces)
tip

App Passwords are more secure than regular passwords, as they require 2FA and can be revoked individually.

Microsoft 365 Configuration​

Current Configuration :

  • Host: smtp.office365.com
  • Port: 587
  • Secure: STARTTLS
  • Username: Your Office 365 email
  • Password: Your Office 365 password
warning

Microsoft will permanently disable basic authentication between March 1 and April 30, 2026. After this date, your email notifications will stop working

Other SMTP Providers​

For providers supporting basic authentication:

  • Host: Your SMTP server
  • Port: 587 (STARTTLS) or 465 (TLS)
  • Username/Password: As provided by your service

Network Requirements​

The transport-email plugin requires outbound access to:

  • Port 587 (SMTP with STARTTLS)
  • Port 465 (SMTP over TLS)
  • SMTP server addresses (e.g., smtp.gmail.com)

Troubleshooting​

Gmail "Authentication failed":

  • Ensure you're using an App Password, not your regular password.
  • Verify 2FA is enabled

Microsoft 365 "Authentication unsuccessful":

  • Check if your organization has disabled SMTP AUTH
  • Contact your IT administrator

Connection timeouts:

  • Verify firewall allows outbound SMTP
  • Test connectivity: telnet [smtp-server] 587

XMPP​

You can be notified via XMPP after the backup task is finished (scheduled "full backup", "snapshots" or "disaster recovery").

To configure it, 2 steps are needed in the plugin section (under "Settings"):

  1. add a list of recipient(s) for the notifications (in the plugin "backup-reports" and for XMPP)
  2. set the XMPP server

That's it: your next scheduled job will be recapped in a message:

Slack or Mattermost​

Xen Orchestra is able to send backup reports to Slack or Mattermost.

Plugin configuration​

Like all other xo-server plugins, it can be configured directly via the web interface, see the plugin documentation.

Generate the Webhook​

Slack​

  1. Log in your Slack team account

  2. Click on the Main menu at the top and choose Apps & Integrations

Apps & Integrations

  1. Search Incoming WebHooks

Incoming WebHooks

  1. Click on Add Configuration

Add Configuration

  1. Choose the default channel and click on Add Incoming WebHooks integration

Add Incoming WebHooks integration

  1. Modify the default settings and click on Save Settings

Save Settings

Mattermost​

You need to be an admin:

  • Go into the MatterMost menu, then Integration
  • Click on "Add Incoming webhook"
  • "Add Incoming Webhook"

Testing the plugin​

Slack​

Slack configuration

Slack

Mattermost​

Mattermost configuration

Mattermost

Nagios​

The transport-nagios plugin allows you to integrate Xen Orchestra backup reports directly into your Nagios monitoring system.

Instead of relying solely on email notifications, this plugin sends the status of your backup jobs as passive checks to Nagios. This ensures that your infrastructure monitoring dashboard remains the single source of truth for your backup health.

Preview of the Nagios interface

Overview​

When a backup job completes, Xen Orchestra sends a report. By using the plugin, the result (Success, Warning, or Error) is pushed to the Nagios command file.

  • Success: Sends an OK status.
  • Warning: Sends a WARNING status.
  • Error/Partial Success: Sends a CRITICAL status.

Prerequisites​

NSCA​

In order to contact Nagios, you must have NSCA (Nagios Service Check Acceptor) running on this Nagios host.

note

NSCA is a Linux/Unix daemon that lets remote systems "push" status updates to a Nagios server as passive checks. It basically acts as a bridge, by sending data from a client to a server-side daemon that feeds the results directly into Nagios's command file.

The architecture is like this:

NSCA schema

Check your config file and add a password and a least XOR encryption:

password=mypassword
decryption_method=1

Nagios configuration​

1. Create a host for XOA​

define host{
        use                     generic-host            ; Name of $
        host_name               xoa
        alias                   Xen Orchestra Appliance
        address                 192.168.0.245
        }

2. Create a dedicated service for XOA backups​

define service{
        name                            passif-generic
        use                             generic-service
        service_description             xoabackups
        host_name                       xoa
        active_checks_enabled           0
        passive_checks_enabled          1
        is_volatile                     1
        max_check_attempts              1
        check_freshness                 1
        freshness_threshold             86400
        check_command                   no-backup-report!0!No backup message sent in the last 24 hours
}

This service will wait for XOA to send backup news in the last 24 hours.

Your Nagios setup is now ready. If the service doesn't have news from XOA, it will be in CRITICAL state, like this:

Critical alert in Nagios

Installation in XOA​

The plugin is part of the standard Xen Orchestra transport packages.

  1. Go to Settings → Plugins.
  2. Locate transport-nagios.
  3. Toggle the switch to Enabled.

Configuration​

Once the plugin is enabled, you need to configure the connection to your Nagios server.

  1. Click the edit icon (+) for the transport-nagios plugin to show the configuration form:

transport-nagios plugin configuration form

  1. Enter your desired values.
  2. Click Save configuration to save and apply your changes.

Test the plugin​

In the transport-nagios configuration form, you can test the plugin.

If the plugin works correctly, the result should look like this:

Test for the transport-nagios plugin. The plugin is shown as working fine

If your backup was completed successfully, the result should look like this:

Test for the transport-nagios plugin, showing a successful backup

Further resources​

Web hooks​

You can also configure web hooks to be sent to a custom server before and/or after a backup job runs. This won't send a formatted report but raw JSON data that you can use in custom scripts on your side. Follow the web-hooks plugin documentation to configure it.