Manage
Alerts and status
MoorNest tells you when something needs you, and shows what is happening right now. There is no daily report to read through: the console shows live status, the Issues page lists every problem with what to do next, and email alerts reach you when a backup fails, misses its schedule, or recovers.
Live status
The console updates every few seconds while it is open. The indicator in the top bar says Live, updated with how long ago; if it says Reconnecting, the console cannot reach MoorNest and is retrying.
- Home shows how many servers are protected, what is Running now, what Needs attention, every server as a coloured tile, and your storage.
- Servers lists every server with its status, last good backup, next backup, protected size, the last 14 runs and the agent version. Filter by Needs attention, Backing up, Failing, Offline, At risk or Not set up.
- Activity shows running and waiting jobs with percent done, speed and time left, then recent runs across all servers.
- A server page shows its live job, open issues, last good backup, next backup, protected data and restore points, with tabs for Backup plans, History, Restore points, Server details and Logs.
Server status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Protected | Backups are working. |
| Backing up | A job is running now. |
| At risk | A plan is paused, has no good backup yet, or is behind on backups or checks. |
| Failing | The latest backup failed, a scheduled backup was missed, a check failed, or the agent stopped with an error. |
| Offline | The server has not checked in for more than five minutes. |
| Not set up | The server is connected but nothing is backed up yet. |
The Issues page
Issues lists anything that could stop you restoring, worst first. Filter by Failed backups, Offline, Storage, Paused, Behind or unchecked or Not set up. Each issue says what happened, since when, and what to do next. Some have a button to fix them straight away:
- Retry backup starts the plan again (or Back up now for a plan waiting for its first backup).
- Resume schedule resumes a paused plan.
- Show full detail shows the full error text, with Copy.
When an alert was emailed for an issue, it says Alert emailed and the time. Recently resolved lists failed and missed backups that cleared in the last week.
Set up email alerts
Email alerts are set up by an administrator under Settings > Email alerts.
- Click Change. The Email sender and alerts dialog opens.
- Under Send with, choose The platform sender if it is offered, or This workspace's own mail server. For your own server, enter the SMTP server, Port (465 or 587), Encryption, From address and the SMTP username and SMTP password.
- Enter the Alert recipients: up to 10 addresses, separated by commas.
- Tick Send email and Email failed backups and protection gaps.
- Click Continue and confirm with your password and a fresh code.
- Click Send test email and check that it arrives.
Alerts are only sent once sending is on, a test has been accepted and there is at least one recipient. The status next to the sender says Needs a test until then, and Test accepted after. Saving the settings again cancels queued mail and needs a new test.
What is emailed
| When | |
|---|---|
| Backup failed | The newest backup of a plan failed. If the plan will retry, or another run of it is in progress, MoorNest waits for that outcome first, for up to two hours. A retry that succeeds sends no email. |
| Scheduled backup missed | A scheduled backup did not start. MoorNest allows a grace period first: 15 minutes for hourly plans, an hour for plans that run every 6 hours or daily. |
| Fixed | The problem cleared: the next backup succeeded, or the missed run started. Sent only if the first email was sent. |
| Protection gap | A plan with a Warn me limit is no longer protected, for example because it has had no good backup for longer than that limit (26 hours by default). Sent again every 24 hours while the gap lasts. |
| Restore or check failed | A restore or a read-back check failed. |
A failed or missed backup is emailed once when it starts and once when it is fixed, not again on every run. A scheduled backup that is late because the server is busy with another job is not counted as missed; it starts when that job ends. Paused plans and plans set to Only when I start it never count as missed.
Emails say what happened and what to do, with the server, plan and job IDs and a link to the server in the console. They never include file names, paths or keys.
Blocked recipients
If an address bounces or complains, an administrator can click Block an address under Blocked recipients. A blocked address gets no more email from the workspace, including alerts, until you click Unblock.
The Logs tab
Operators and administrators can read a server's agent log on its Logs tab.
- While the server is online, the tab shows the newest 500 lines of the agent's log, newest at the bottom, with times in UTC. Use Filter lines, Refresh, Copy and Download .txt.
- If the agent stopped with an error, the tab shows when it stopped, the error and its last log lines, even while the server is offline. Server details shows the same under Last stopped with an error.
The full log is also on the server, in agent.log in the agent's working folder: C:\ProgramData\MoorNest\staging on Windows and /var/lib/moornest/staging on Linux. On Windows the agent also writes to the Application event log, and on Linux to the journal (journalctl -u moornest-agent).
Last updated 4 October 2026.