Installation guide

Other operations

Conversion to a virtual machine

Rather than converting a disk backup to a virtual disk file, which requires additional operations to

bring the virtual disk into use, Agent for Windows performs the conversion by recovering a disk

backup to a new virtual machine of any of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft

Virtual PC, Parallels Workstation or Citrix XenServer virtual appliance. Files of the fully configured and

operational machine will be placed in the folder you select. You can start the machine using the

respective virtualization software or prepare the machine files for further usage.

Disk management

Agent for Windows includes Acronis Disk Director Lite - a handy disk management utility. Disk

management operations, such as cloning disks; converting disks; creating, formatting and deleting

volumes; changing a disk partitioning style between MBR and GPT or changing a disk label, can be

performed either in the operating system or using bootable media.

1.1.1.1 Universal Restore

The Universal Restore add-on enables you to use the restore to dissimilar hardware functionality on

the machine where the agent is installed, and create bootable media with this functionality.

Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for Windows start-up, such as

storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.

1.1.1.2 Deduplication

This add-on enables the agent to back up data to deduplicating vaults managed by Acronis Backup &

Recovery 10 Storage Node.

1.1.2 Components for centralized management

This section lists the components included in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 editions that provide

the centralized management capability. Besides these components, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10

Agents have to be installed on all machines that need data protection.

1.1.2.1 Management Server

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server is the central server that drives data protection

within the enterprise network. The management server provides the administrator with:

 a single entry point to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 infrastructure

 an easy way to protect data on numerous machines using backup policies and grouping

 enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality

 the ability to create centralized vaults for storing enterprise backup archives

 the ability to manage storage nodes.

If there are multiple management servers on the network, they operate independently, manage

different machines and use different centralized vaults for storing archives.

The management server's databases

The management server uses three Microsoft SQL databases: