Central Library gives your organization one view of what is archived where, across every computer that runs Hiberden. Each connected computer sends a catalog report, and the Central Library dashboard at cloud.hiberden.app shows every archive, how many of its copies are verified, and which computers hold them.
Central Library never holds your archives, only the map of them. Connecting a computer changes nothing about how it archives, restores or verifies.
The Central Library card is in Hiberden 2.0 and later, under Settings, then Catalog.
Getting a Central Library for your organization
Email support@hiberden.app with:
- your organization's name
- the email address of the person who will manage it
- a second address, if you want two people managing it from the start
When your Central Library is set up, each of those addresses gets an email titled "Your Central Library is ready." It tells you where to sign in; it does not contain a sign-in link.
Signing in
- Go to cloud.hiberden.app, enter your email address, and click Email me a sign-in link.
- Open the link in the email and click Sign in.
There are no passwords. Each link works once and expires in 15 minutes, so request a new one whenever you want to sign in. A sign-in lasts up to 30 days in that browser, or until you click Sign out.
Connecting a computer
Each computer connects with its own connection code, made by an admin in the dashboard.
- In the dashboard, under Admin, click Create connection code. The code is shown once, works for one computer, and expires in 15 minutes.
- On the computer you want to connect, open Hiberden and go to Settings, then Catalog. Find the Central Library card.
- Type the code into Connection code.
- Name the computer in Name this computer. The box starts empty, and Hiberden offers a suggested name below it: click the suggestion to use it, or type your own. The name is how this computer appears in your Central Library, so Connect waits until it has one.
- Click Connect.
Once it is connected, the card shows the name the computer is listed as, when your Central Library last received a report from it, and a reference. If you write to support about a particular computer, include that reference.
In the dashboard, each connected computer is listed as a station.
When a computer reports
A connected computer sends a catalog report about ten minutes after Hiberden starts, again whenever an archive job finishes, and at least once a day. The Hiberden app sends the reports, so a computer reports while Hiberden is running.
Each report is signed with the same key that signs the computer's archives, and your Central Library checks that signature before it accepts the report.
What a report contains, and what it never does
A report is a copy of the computer's catalog: the record of what was archived and where. It includes:
- the names of your projects, folders, archives and policies, and the names you gave your storage locations
- the folder each archive was made from, including its full path on that computer
- the name, size and fingerprint of every file inside each archive
- where each copy is stored: disk and network paths, cloud bucket names and addresses, tape serial numbers and labels
- archive job history, including error messages
- for each disk or network location, where it is attached and the network share behind it, so copies in one shared folder are counted once and not once per computer
- an identifier for the computer, worked out on the computer from values that never leave it
A report never contains:
- the contents of your files or archives
- cloud access keys or passwords (Hiberden keeps those in your operating system's secure store, never in the catalog)
- the credential the computer reports with
- your app settings
- the Audit trail from Settings, then MCP
- details of cloud uploads that are still in progress
The dashboard
Everyone in your organization who signs in sees:
- totals for stations, archives tracked, archives that are 3-2-1 covered with verified copies, copies unverified, and archives at risk
- Stations: each connected computer, its status, and when its last report was received
- Archives, org-wide: each archive with its coverage, how many copies it has and how many of those are verified, the kinds of storage, whether a copy is offsite, which stations hold it, when it was written, and its size
A station's status reads connected, quiet, not reporting, no reports yet, or revoked. A station marked not reporting stops counting toward the coverage numbers until it reports again. Its reports stay.
Click a station's row to see its restore points.
People and roles
There are two roles. Viewers see the dashboard, including each station's list of restore points. Admins can also create connection codes, add and remove people, revoke stations, and download restore points.
To add someone, an admin enters their email address under People, picks viewer or admin, and clicks Add. Adding someone does not send them an email, so tell them to sign in at cloud.hiberden.app with that address. Removing someone ends their access immediately, including a session they are in right now. Your organization always keeps at least one admin.
Bringing back a lost catalog from a restore point
Every report your Central Library accepts is a restore point. If a computer loses its catalog, a restore point brings back the record of what was archived and where.
- An admin signs in, opens the station's restore points, and clicks Download beside the one to use, usually the newest. The file ends in
.hibreport. - On the computer, go to Settings, then Catalog, click Import restore point…, pick the file, and confirm.
- Verify every copy. See Running a verification.
What to expect:
- Hiberden checks the restore point before importing it. A file that is damaged or was altered after it was made is refused, and nothing on the computer changes.
- The catalog Hiberden was using is moved aside and kept in the same folder, never deleted.
- Your app settings do not come back with a restore point, so set your preferences again. Cloud access keys are not in it either: if this computer does not have them, enter them again under Settings, then Destinations.
- A restore point knows what was archived and where, but not that those copies are still readable. Until every copy has passed a full verification, Settings, then Catalog says "This catalog came from a restore point, re-verify to re-prove copies."
- A restore point made by a different computer does not make this computer take that one's place in your Central Library. Connect this computer with a new code, and have an admin revoke the old station so its copies stop counting.
Disconnecting, revoking and connecting again
- Disconnect, on the Central Library card, stops the computer sending reports. Your archives, restoring and verifying are unaffected. The computer stays listed in your Central Library.
- Revoke this station, on the station's page in the dashboard, stops it reporting immediately and takes it out of the coverage numbers. Its restore points are kept.
To connect a computer again, an admin revokes it in the dashboard (if it is not revoked already) and creates a new connection code, and you connect with that code. The same Hiberden installation comes back as the same station, with its earlier restore points still attached.
If the card shows a message
- "That connection code did not work." A code connects one computer, once, and expires after 15 minutes. Ask an admin for a new one.
- "That Central Library still lists this computer." An admin revokes the computer in the dashboard. Then connect again, with a new code if this one has expired.
- "Your Central Library no longer recognizes this computer." It was revoked. Press Disconnect, then connect it again with a new code.
- "This computer has been connected before, but the credential it reported with is not on this computer any more." An admin revokes the computer in the dashboard, then you connect with a new code.
- "Your Central Library is not active." Email support@hiberden.app.
- "Your Central Library is busy." Wait a minute and try again.
Closing your Central Library
Reports stay in your Central Library until your organization is closed. To close it, email support@hiberden.app. Closing deletes your organization's records and its stored reports. The storage behind the service keeps earlier versions of deleted files for up to 180 days, after which they are gone.