Connect Unitrends to Conduit

This walkthrough connects Unitrends (backup appliances) to Conduit. Unlike most cloud vendors, Unitrends is usually an on-prem appliance: Conduit signs in to your appliance’s API with a username and password, so the appliance’s Base URL must be reachable from Conduit, and self-signed certificates need one extra setting.

Menu labels can change

The Unitrends steps below reflect the appliance login flow at time of writing; labels can shift between releases. For the API’s login behavior, see Unitrends’ API login documentation and the API wiki.

Before you start

You need:

• A Conduit role that can manage connections — owner or admin on your organization.
• A Unitrends account on the appliance (a dedicated service account is best — the connection acts with that account’s permissions).
• The appliance’s base URL — the HTTPS address you use to reach its web UI, for example https://unitrends.example.com. It must be reachable from the network Conduit runs in, not only from your LAN.
• To know whether the appliance uses a self-signed TLS certificate (most on-prem appliances do out of the box).

Step 1 — Prepare an account on the appliance

1. Sign in to your Unitrends appliance’s web UI as an administrator.
2. Create or choose the account Conduit will use. Prefer a dedicated service account so tool activity is attributable and the password can be rotated without breaking a person’s login.
3. Note the username and password.

Caution

Don’t paste the password into chat, email, or a shared document — the next step moves it directly into Conduit, which encrypts it at rest. If the password is ever exposed, change it on the appliance first, then update the credential in Conduit.

Step 2 — Connect Unitrends in Conduit

1. In Conduit, go to Connections (/org/catalog). Expected: the vendor catalog.
2. Find Unitrends in the catalog (under BCDR) and click Connect. Expected: a credential form with four fields.
3. Fill the fields:
   • Base URL (required) — the appliance’s full HTTPS address, e.g. https://unitrends.example.com. No trailing path.
   • Username (required) — from Step 1.
   • Password (required) — from Step 1.
   • Verify TLS (optional) — leave as true (the default) if the appliance has a valid certificate. Set to false only if it uses a self-signed certificate that Conduit can’t verify.
4. Click Connect. Expected: Conduit performs a real login against the appliance immediately and shows a green Connected status. A bad username/password, unreachable URL, or certificate problem is rejected here, not on the first tool call.

The credential is stored at the organization scope, so every technician in your org shares this Unitrends connection. (For per-technician logins, connect at the personal scope instead — see Vendor connections.)

Verify it worked

Connect an MCP client to Conduit — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client (see Connecting an AI client) — and ask it to run a read-only Unitrends tool, such as listing protected assets or recent backup jobs. You should get real data back, and the call appears in your audit log with the correct user, vendor (unitrends), and a successful status.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause
Connect fails with “Unitrends rejected the username/password.”	The login is wrong, the account is locked/disabled on the appliance, or the password was changed since you copied it. Test the same login in the appliance web UI, then reconnect.
Connect fails with “TLS certificate error reaching your base URL. Set Verify TLS to false if this is an on-prem appliance with a self-signed cert.”	The appliance presents a certificate Conduit can’t verify. Either install a trusted certificate on the appliance, or set Verify TLS to false.
Connect fails with “Failed to reach Unitrends: …”	The base URL isn’t reachable from Conduit — a firewall, VPN-only address, or DNS name that only resolves on your LAN. The appliance must be reachable from where Conduit runs.
Connect fails with “Unitrends appliance is overloaded or in maintenance. Try again in a minute.”	The appliance returned 503 — it’s busy or mid-maintenance. Wait and retry.
Connect fails with “Base URL is required (e.g. https://unitrends.example.com).”	The Base URL field was left empty. Enter the appliance’s full HTTPS address.
Connect fails with “Unitrends returned HTTP NNN on /api/login.”	The appliance answered with an unexpected status — often a reverse proxy in front of it, or a base URL that points at something other than the appliance’s web UI.
Tool calls return 403 “no credentials for vendor”	Unitrends isn’t connected at a scope this user can resolve. Connect it at the organization scope, or confirm the user’s team has a login.
Need to rotate the password	Change it on the appliance, then update the credential at /org/catalog.

Related

• Vendor connections — credential scopes, rotation, and the full vendor catalog.
• Security — how Conduit encrypts and resolves the credential you just stored.