Acronis® Backup & Recovery ™ 10 Server for Linux Update 3 User's Guide
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010. All rights reserved. “Acronis” and “Acronis Secure Zone” are registered trademarks of Acronis, Inc. "Acronis Compute with Confidence", “Acronis Startup Recovery Manager”, “Acronis Active Restore” and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. VMware and VMware Ready are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.
Table of contents 1 Introducing Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 ......................................................................... 6 1.1 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 overview .................................................................................. 6 1.2 Getting started ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.2.1 1.3 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components ...........................................
3.3 Default backup and recovery options......................................................................................44 3.3.1 3.3.2 4 Vaults .................................................................................................................................... 70 4.1 Personal vaults .........................................................................................................................71 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.2 Operations with archives stored in a vault ................
6.4.2 6.4.3 6.4.4 6.4.5 6.4.6 6.5 Archive selection ..................................................................................................................................... 139 Backup selection ...................................................................................................................................... 140 Location selection....................................................................................................................................
1 Introducing Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 1.1 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 overview Based on Acronis’ patented disk imaging and bare metal restore technologies, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 succeeds Acronis True Image Echo as the next generation disaster recovery solution.
Where to go from here For what to do next see "Basic concepts (p. 16)". For understanding of the GUI elements see "Using the management console (p. 7)". 1.2.1 Using the management console As soon as the console connects to a managed machine (p. 177) or to a management server (p.
Menu bar Appears across the top of the program window and lets you perform all the operations, available on both panes. Menu items change dynamically. 1024x768 or higher display resolution is required for comfortable work with the management console. 1.2.1.1 "Navigation" pane The navigation pane includes the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar. Navigation tree The Navigation tree enables you to navigate across the program views.
Bars '[Item's name]' actions Contains a set of actions that can be performed on the items selected in any of the navigation views. Clicking the action opens the respective action page (p. 11). Items of different navigation views have their own set of actions. The bar's name changes in accordance with the item you select.
"Tools" bar Help Contains a list of help topics. Different views and action pages of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provided with lists of specific help topics. 1.2.1.3 Operations with panes How to expand/minimize panes By default, the Navigation pane appears expanded and the Actions and Tools - minimized. You might need to minimize the pane in order to free some additional workspace. To do this, click the chevron ( - for the Navigation pane; - for the Actions and tools pane).
"Tasks" view Common way of working with views Generally, every view contains a table of items, a table toolbar with buttons, and the Information panel. Use filtering and sorting capabilities to search the table for the item in question In the table, select the desired item In the Information panel (collapsed by default), view the item's details Perform actions on the selected item.
Action page - Create backup plan Using controls and specifying settings The action pages offer two ways of representation: basic and advanced. The basic representation hides such fields as credentials, comments, etc. When the advanced representation is enabled, all the available fields are displayed. You can switch between the views by selecting the Advanced view check box at the top of the action page. Most settings are configured by clicking the respective Change… links to the right.
Navigation buttons 1.3 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components This section contains a list of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components with a brief description of their functionality. Components for a managed machine (agents) These are applications that perform data backup, recovery and other operations on the machines managed with Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Agents require a license to perform operations on each managed machine.
1.3.2 Management Console Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console is an administrative tool for local access to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Linux. Remote connection to the agent is not possible. 1.3.3 Bootable Media Builder Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. 171). The media builder that installs on Linux creates bootable media based on Linux kernel. 1.
pam.i386 libselinux.i386 libsepol.i386 These packages should be available in the repository of your Linux distribution. Before installing the product on a system that does not use RPM Package Manager, such as an Ubuntu system, you need to install this manager manually; for example, by running the following command (as the root user): apt-get install rpm 1.
2 Understanding Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 This section attempts to give its readers a clear understanding of the product so that they can use the product in various circumstances without step-by-step instructions. 2.1 Basic concepts Please familiarize yourself with the basic notions used in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 graphical user interface and documentation. Advanced users are welcome to use this section as a step-by-step quick start guide. The details can be found in the context help.
The following diagram illustrates the notions discussed above. For more definitions please refer to the Glossary. 17 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Backup using bootable media You can boot the machine using the bootable media, configure the backup operation in the same way as a simple backup plan and execute the operation. This will help you extract files and logical volumes from a system that failed to boot, take an image of the offline system or back up sector-bysector an unsupported file system. Recovery under operating system When it comes to data recovery, you create a recovery task on the managed machine.
The following diagram illustrates data recovery under the operating system (online). No backup can proceed on the machine while the recovery operation is taking place. If required, you can connect the console to another machine and configure a recovery operation on that machine. This ability (remote parallel recovery) first appeared in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10; the previous Acronis products do not provide it.
If the machine fails to boot or you need to recover data to bare metal, you boot the machine using the bootable media and configure the recovery operation in the same way as the recovery task. The following diagram illustrates the recovery using the bootable media. 2.2 Full, incremental and differential backups Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides the capability to use popular backup schemes, such as Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi, as well as to create custom backup schemes.
It is widely accepted that a full backup is the slowest to do but the fastest to restore. With Acronis technologies, recovery from an incremental backup may be not slower than recovery from a full one. A full backup is most useful when: you need to roll back the system to its initial state this initial state does not change often, so there is no need for regular backup.
Storage space Maximal Medium Minimal Creation time Maximal Medium Minimal Recovery time Minimal Medium Maximal 2.3 User privileges on a managed machine When managing a machine running Linux, the user has or obtains the root privileges, and so can: Back up and recover any data or the entire machine, having full control over all Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent operations and log files on the machine.
Plan's credentials and task credentials Any task running on a machine runs on behalf of a user. When creating a plan or a task, you have the option to explicitly specify an account under which the plan or the task will run. Your choice depends on whether the plan or task is intended for manual start or for executing on schedule. Manual start You can skip the Plan's (Task) credentials step. Every time you start the task, the task will run under the credentials with which you are currently logged on.
GFS by Acronis With Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, you can easily set up a backup plan that will regularly back up data and clean up the resulting archive according to the GFS scheme. Create the backup plan as usual. For the backup destination, choose any storage device where automatic cleanup can be performed, such as an HDD-based storage device or robotic tape library.
Assume you select Friday for Weekly/Monthly backup. Here is the real schedule of the backup tasks that will be created. Backup tasks created according to the GFS scheme by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly: Friday Keep backups: Daily This step defines the retention rule for daily backups. The cleanup task will run after each daily backup and delete all daily backups that are older than you specify.
An ideal archive created according to the GFS scheme. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly: Friday Keep daily backups: 7 days Keep weekly backups: 2 weeks Keep monthly backups: 6 months Starting from the third week, weekly backups will be regularly deleted. After 6 months, monthly backups will start to be deleted. The diagram for weekly and monthly backups will look similar to the week-based timescale.
An archive created according to the GFS scheme by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly: Friday Keep daily backups: 7 days Keep weekly backups: 2 weeks Keep monthly backups: 6 months 2.6 Tower of Hanoi backup scheme The need to have frequent backups always conflicts with the cost of keeping such backups for a long time. The Tower of Hanoi (ToH) backup scheme is a useful compromise.
For example, if there are five rings labeled A, B, C, D, and E in the puzzle, the solution gives the following order of moves: The Tower of Hanoi backup scheme is based on the same patterns. It operates with Sessions instead of Moves and with Backup levels instead of Rings. Commonly an N-level scheme pattern contains (Nth power of two) sessions. So, the five-level Tower of Hanoi backup scheme cycles the pattern that consists of 16 sessions (moves from 1 to 16 in the above figure).
the pattern starts with a full backup since the very first backup cannot be incremental an old backup on a level is kept until a new backup has been successfully created on the level. the scheme forces every backup level to keep only the most recent backup, other backups from the level have to be deleted; however backup deletion is postponed in cases where the backup is a base for another incremental or differential one The table shows the pattern for the five-level backup scheme.
1. Delete backups older than This is a time interval counted back from the moment when the retention rules are applied. Every time a retention rule is applied, the program calculates the date and time in the past corresponding to this interval and deletes all backups created before that moment. None of the backups created after this moment will be deleted. 2. Keep the archive size within This is the maximum size of the archive.
Combination of rules 1 and 2 You can limit both the backups’ lifetime and the archive size. The diagram below illustrates the resulting rule. Example Delete backups older than = 3 Months Keep the archive size within = 200GB Never delete backups younger than = 10 Days Every time the retention rules are applied, the program will delete all backups created more than 3 months (or more exactly, 90 days) ago.
Please be aware that consolidation is just a method of deletion but not an alternative to deletion. The resulting backup will not contain data that was present in the deleted backup and was absent from the retained incremental or differential backup. Backups resulting from consolidation always have maximum compression. This means that all backups in an archive may acquire the maximum compression as a result of repeated cleanup with consolidation.
When recovering a logical volume over a basic (MBR) disk or volume. You can resize the resulting volume in this case. A system, recovered from a logical volume backup to a basic MBR disk, cannot boot because its kernel tries to mount the root file system at the logical volume. To boot the system, change the loader configuration and /etc/fstab so that LVM is not used and reactivate your boot loader (p. 136). When recovering a basic or logical volume to a previously created logical volume.
Either operation saves the machine’s logical volume structure to the /etc/Acronis directory. Make sure that the volume with this directory is selected for backup. 2.8.4 Selecting logical volumes and MD devices in command line Let's assume that the system has four physical disks: Disk 1, Disk 2, Disk 3 and Disk 4.
trueimagecmd --partition:1-1,1-2,1-3,dyn1,dyn2 --filename:/home/backup.tib -create If you select Disk 3, volume 2-1 or volume 2-2, the program will create a raw (sector-by-sector) backup. 2.9 Backing up hardware RAID arrays (Linux) Hardware RAID arrays under Linux combine several physical drives to create a single partitionable disk. The special file related to a hardware RAID array is usually located in /dev/ataraid. You can back up hardware RAID arrays in the same way as ordinary hard disks.
Tape written on a tape device through... Backup Server Storage Node ABR10 ATIE 9.1 ATIE 9.5 ATIE 9.7 ABR10 + + - + + - + + - + + + + + 2.10.2 Using a single tape drive A tape drive that is locally attached to a managed machine can be used by local backup plans as a storage device. The functionality of a locally attached autoloader or tape library is limited to the ordinary tape drive. This means that the program can only work with the currently mounted tape and you have to mount tapes manually.
select the backup. After recovery is started, you will be prompted for other tapes if the tapes are needed for recovery. 2.11 Support for SNMP SNMP objects Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides the following Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) objects to SNMP management applications: Type of event Object identifier (OID): 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0 Syntax: OctetString The value may be "Information", "Warning", 'Error" and "Unknown". "Unknown" is sent only in the test message.
Value: "?00000000" 2.12 Proprietary Acronis technologies This section describes the proprietary technologies inherited by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 from Acronis True Image Echo and Acronis True Image 9.1 product families. 2.12.1 Acronis Secure Zone Acronis Secure Zone is a secure partition that enables keeping backup archives on a managed machine disk space and therefore recovery of a disk to the same disk where the backup resides.
For more information about operations available in Acronis Secure Zone, see the Personal vaults (p. 71) section. Upgrade from Acronis True Image Echo When upgrading from Acronis True Image Echo to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, Acronis Secure Zone will keep the archives created with Echo. The zone will appear in the list of personal vaults and the old archives will be available for recovery. 2.12.2 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager A modification of the bootable agent (p.
3 Options This section covers Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 options that can be configured using Graphical User Interface. The content of this section is applicable to both stand-alone and advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. 3.1 Console options The console options define the way information is represented in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. To access the console options, select Options > Console options from the top menu. 3.1.
The preset is: Enabled for all results. To make a setting for each result (successful completion, failure or success with warnings) individually, select or clear the respective check box. 3.1.3 Time-based alerts Last backup This option is effective when the console is connected to a managed machine (p. 177) or to the management server (p. 178). The option defines whether to alert if no backup was performed on a given machine for a period of time.
The option defines the fonts to be used in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. The Menu setting affects the drop-down and context menus. The Application setting affects the other GUI elements. The preset is: System Default font for both the menus and the application interface items. To make a selection, choose the font from the respective combo-box and set the font's properties. You can preview the font's appearance by clicking the button to the right. 3.
To set up sending SNMP messages 1. Select the Send messages to SNMP server check box. 2. Specify the appropriate options as follows: Types of events to send – choose the types of events: All events, Errors and warnings, or Errors only. Server name/IP – type the name or IP address of the host running the SNMP management application, the messages will be sent to.
When the option is enabled, the program compares the actual log size with the maximum size after every 100 log entries. Once the maximum log size is exceeded, the program deletes the oldest log entries. You can select the amount of log entries to retain. The default 95% setting will keep most of the log. With the minimum 1% setting, the log will be nearly cleared. This parameter can also be set by using Acronis Administrative Template. 3.3 3.3.
Backup performance: + + - - Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Network connection speed (p. 53) Dest: network share Dest: network share Dest: network share Dest: network share Fast incremental/differential backup (p. 56) + - + - Backup splitting (p.
3.3.1.1 Archive protection This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media. This option is effective for both disk-level and file-level backup. The preset is: Disabled. To protect the archive from unauthorized access 1. 2. 3. 4. Select the Set password for the archive check box. In the Enter the password field, type a password. In the Confirm the password field, re-type the password.
You can view file or folder attributes in the file/folder properties or by using the attrib command. For more information, refer to the Help and Support Center in Windows. Exclude files matching the following criteria Select this check box to skip files and folders whose names match any of the criteria — called file masks — in the list; use the Add, Edit, Remove and Remove All buttons to create the list of file masks.
The option enables you to define the commands to be automatically executed before and after the backup procedure. The following scheme illustrates when pre/post commands are executed. Pre-backup command Backup Post-backup command Examples of how you can use the pre/post commands: delete some temporary files from the disk before starting backup configure a third-party antivirus product to be started each time before the backup starts copy an archive to another location after the backup ends.
successfully execution failure executed. Fail the or success. task if the command execution fails. irrespective of the command execution result. Post-backup command To specify a command/executable file to be executed after the backup is completed 1. In the Command field, type a command or browse to a batch file. 2. In the Working directory field, specify a path to a directory where the command/batch file will be executed. 3. In the Arguments field, specify the command execution arguments, if required. 4.
Click Edit to specify a new command or a batch file Select the existing command or the batch file from the drop-down list 3. Click OK. Pre-data capture command To specify a command/batch file to be executed before data capture 1. In the Command field, type a command or browse to a batch file. The program does not support interactive commands, i.e. commands that require user input (for example, "pause".) 2.
command execution is complete Result Preset Continue the backup after the Continue the backup command is only after the executed despite command is command successfully execution failure executed. Delete the or success. TIB file and temporary files and fail the task if the command execution fails. 3.3.1.5 N/A Continue the backup concurrently with the command execution and irrespective of the command execution result.
To specify the compression level Select one of the following: None – the data will be copied as is, without any compression. The resulting backup size will be maximal. Normal – recommended in most cases. High – the resulting backup size will typically be less than for the Normal level. Maximum – the data will be compressed as much as possible. The backup duration will be maximal.
The preset is: Maximum. To set the desired HDD writing speed for backup Do any of the following: Click Writing speed stated as a percentage of the maximum speed of the destination hard disk, and then drag the slider or select a percentage in the box Click Writing speed stated in kilobytes per second, and then enter the writing speed in kilobytes per second. Network connection speed This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media.
3. Under Send notifications, select the appropriate check boxes as follows: When backup completes successfully – to send a notification when the backup task has completed successfully When backup fails – to send a notification when the backup task has failed The When user interaction is required check box is always selected. 4. For the e-mail message to include the log entries related to the backup, select the Add full log to the notification check box. 5.
2. In the Machine name field, enter the name of the machine to which notifications will be sent. Multiple names are not supported.
3.3.1.10 Fast incremental/differential backup The option is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media. This option is effective for incremental and differential disk-level backup. This option defines whether a file change is detected using the file size and time stamp or by comparing the file contents to those stored in the archive. The preset is: Enabled. Incremental or differential backup captures only data changes.
3.3.1.12 Media components This option is effective for both Windows and Linux operating systems, when the backup destination is removable media. When backing up to removable media, you can make this media work as regular Linux-based bootable media (p. 171) by writing additional components to it. As a result, you will not need a separate rescue disc. The preset is: None selected.
Ignore bad sectors The preset is: Disabled. When the option is disabled, the program will display a pop-up window each time it comes across a bad sector and ask for a user decision as to whether to continue or stop the backup procedure. In order to back up the valid information on a rapidly dying disk, enable ignoring bad sectors. The rest of the data will be backed up and you will be able to mount the resulting disk backup and extract valid files to another disk. 3.3.1.
This option determines the program behavior in case a backup task is about to start (the scheduled time comes or the event specified in the schedule occurs), but the condition (or any of multiple conditions) is not met. For more information on conditions please see Scheduling (p. 77) and Conditions (p. 84). The preset is: Wait until the conditions are met.
This option determines the program behavior when any of the backup plan's tasks fails. The preset is not to restart a failed task. The program will try to execute the failed task again if you select the Restart a failed task check box and specify the number of attempts and the time interval between the attempts. The program stops trying as soon as an attempt completes successfully OR the specified number of attempts is performed, depending on which comes first.
The option defines whether to display the Insert First Media prompt when backing up to removable media. The preset is: Enabled. When the option is enabled, backing up to removable media may be not possible if the user is away, because the program will wait for someone to press OK in the prompt box. Hence, you should disable the prompt when scheduling a backup to removable media. Then, if the removable media is available (for example, a DVD is inserted), the task can run unattended.
Turning off deduplication at source may lead to faster backup processes but greater network traffic and heavier load of the storage node. The eventual size of the backup in the vault is independent of whether deduplication at source is turned on. Deduplication at source and deduplication at target are described in Deduplication overview. Save software RAID and LVM metadata along with backups This option is effective only for disk-level backups of machines running Linux. The preset is: Enabled.
Agent for Linux Bootable media (Linux-based or PE-based) Disk recovery File recovery Disk recovery File recovery Pre/Post recovery commands (p. 63) + + PE only PE only Recovery priority (p.
Example of how you can use the pre/post commands: launch the Checkdisk command in order to find and fix logical file system errors, physical errors or bad sectors to be started before the recovery starts or after the recovery ends. The program does not support interactive commands, i.e. commands that require user input (for example, "pause".) A post-recovery command will not be executed if the recovery proceeds with reboot. To specify pre/post commands 1.
Post-recovery command To specify a command/executable file to be executed after the recovery is completed 1. In the Command field, type a command or browse to a batch file. 2. In the Working directory field, specify a path to a directory where the command/batch file will be executed. 3. In the Arguments field, specify the command execution arguments, if required. 4. If successful execution of the command is critical for you, select the Fail the task if the command execution fails check box.
3.3.2.4 Notifications Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides the ability of notifying users about recovery completion through e-mail or the messaging service. E-mail This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems. This option is not available when operating under the bootable media. The option enables you to receive e-mail notifications about the recovery task's successful completion, failure or need for interaction along with the full log of the task. The preset is: Disabled.
Messenger service (WinPopup) This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems. This option is not available when operating under bootable media. The option enables you to receive WinPopup notifications about about the recovery task's successful completion, failure or need for interaction. The preset is: Disabled. Before configuring WinPopup notifications, make sure the Messenger service is started on both the machine executing the task and the machine that will receive messages.
Send SNMP notifications individually for recovery operation events – to send the events of the recovery operations to the specified SNMP managers. Types of events to send – choose the types of events to be sent: All events, Errors and warnings, or Errors only. Server name/IP – type the name or IP address of the host running the SNMP management application, the messages will be sent to.
Validate backup before recovery The preset is Disabled. This option defines whether to validate a backup to ensure that the backup is not corrupted, before data is recovered from it. Check file system after recovery This option is effective only when recovering disks or volumes. When operating under bootable media, this option is not effective for the NTFS file system. The preset is Disabled. This option defines whether to check the integrity of the file system after a disk or volume recovery.
4 Vaults A vault is a location for storing backup archives. For ease of use and administration, a vault is associated with the archives' metadata. Referring to this metadata makes for fast and convenient operations with archives and backups stored in the vault. A vault can be organized on a local or networked drive, detachable media or a tape device attached to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node. There are no settings for limiting a vault size or number of backups in a vault.
4.1 Personal vaults A vault is called personal if it was created using direct connection of the console to a managed machine. Personal vaults are specific for each managed machine. Personal vaults are visible to any user that can log on to the system. A user's right to back up to a personal vault is defined by the user's permission for the folder or device where the vault is located. A personal vault can be organized on detachable or removable media.
Vault content The Vault content section contains the archives table and toolbar. The archives table displays archives and backups that are stored in the vault. Use the archives toolbar to perform actions on the selected archives and backups. The list of backups is expanded by clicking the "plus" sign to the left of the archive's name. All the archives are grouped by type on the following tabs: The Disk archives tab lists all the archives that contain disk or volume backups (images).
Explore a vault's content Click Validate a vault Click Explore. In the appearing Explorer window, examine the selected vault's content. Validate. You will be taken to the Validation (p. 137) page, where this vault is already preselected as a source. The vault validation checks all the archives stored in the vault. Delete a vault Click Delete. The deleting operation actually removes only a shortcut to the folder from the Vaults view. The folder itself remains untouched.
2. 3. 4. 5. Move the archives to vault B manually by means of a third-party file manager. Edit the backup plans that use vault A: redirect their destination to vault B. In the vaults tree, select vault B to check whether the archives are displayed. If not, click Refresh. Delete vault A. 4.2 4.2.1 Common operations Operations with archives stored in a vault To perform any operation with an archive, you have to select it first. If the archive is protected with a password, you will be asked to provide it.
All the operations described below are performed by clicking the corresponding buttons on the toolbar. These operations can be also accessed from the '[Backup name]' actions bar (on the Actions and tools pane) and from the '[Backup name]' actions item of the main menu. The following is a guideline for you to perform operations with backups. To Do View backup content in a separate window Click Recover Click View content. In the Backup Content window, examine the backup content. Recover.
What happens if I delete a backup that is a base of an incremental or differential backup? To preserve archive consistency, the program will consolidate the two backups. For example, you delete a full backup but retain the next incremental one. The backups will be combined into a single full backup which will be dated the incremental backup date. When you delete an incremental or differential backup from the middle of the chain, the resulting backup type will be incremental.
5 Scheduling Acronis scheduler helps the administrator adapt backup plans to the company’s daily routine and each employee’s work style. The plans’ tasks will be launched systematically keeping the critical data safely protected. The scheduler uses local time of the machine the backup plan exists on. Before creating a schedule, be sure the machine’s date and time settings are correct. Schedule To define when a task has to be executed, you need to specify an event or multiple events.
5.1 Daily schedule Daily schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems. To specify a daily schedule In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows: Every: <...> day(s) Set up the certain number of days you want the task to be run. For example, if you set Every 2 day(s), the task will be started on every other day. In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following: Once at: <...> Set up the time at which the task will be run once. Every: <...
2. Every: 3 hours From: 12:00:00 AM (midnight) Until: 09:00:00 PM - thus, the task will be performed 8 times a day with a 3 hour time interval. After the last daily recurrence at 9 PM, the next day comes and the task starts over again from midnight. 3. Effective: From: 09/15/2009. If September 15, 2009 is the current date of the task's creation and, say, 01:15 PM is the task's creation time, the task will be started when the nearest time interval comes: at 03:00 PM in our example. To: 12/15/2009.
5.2 Weekly schedule Weekly schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems. To specify a weekly schedule In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows: Every: <...> week(s) on: <...> Specify a certain number of weeks and the days of the week you want the task to be run. For example, with the Every 2 week(s) on Mon setting, the task will be performed on Monday of every other week. In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following: Once at: <...
Run the task every week on workdays: from Monday through Friday. During a workday, the task starts only once at 9 PM. The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows. 1. Every: 1 week(s) on: - selecting the check box automatically selects the corresponding check boxes (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, and Fri), and leaves the remaining ones unchanged. 2. Once at: 09:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: empty.
From: not set. To: not set. Third schedule 1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Sat, Sun. 2. Once at: 09:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: not set. To: not set. 5.3 Monthly schedule Monthly schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems. To specify a monthly schedule In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows: Months: <...> Select a certain month(s) you want to run the task in. Days: <...> Select specific days of the month to run the task on.
2. Days: Last. The task will run on the last day of every month despite its actual date. 3. Once at: 10:00:00 PM. 4. Effective: From: empty. To: empty. This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme. The "Last day of every month" schedule is added to the full backups, while the differential backups are scheduled to be performed once a week and incremental on workdays.
Second schedule 1. Months: March, April, May, September, October, November. 2. On: . 3. Every: 12 hours From: 12:00:00 AM Until: 12:00:00 PM. 4. Effective: From: 11/01/2009. To: not set. Third schedule 1. 2. 3. 4. Months: June, July, August. Days: 1, 15. Once at: 10:00:00 PM. Effective: From: 11/01/2009. To: not set. 5.4 Conditions Conditions add more flexibility to the scheduler, enabling to execute backup tasks with respect to certain conditions.
Example: Backing up data to the networked location is performed on workdays at 9:00 PM. If the location's host is not available at that moment (for instance, due to maintenance work), skip the backup and wait for the next workday to start the task. It is assumed that the backup task should not be started at all rather than failed. Event: Weekly, Every 1 week(s) on ; Once at 09:00:00 PM. Condition: Location's host is available Task start conditions: Skip the task execution.
Condition: Fits time interval, from 06:00:00 PM until 11:59:59 PM. In this case, whether and when the task will run depends on the task start conditions: If the task start conditions are Skip the task execution, the task will never run. If the task start conditions are Wait until the conditions are met and the Run the task anyway after check box is cleared, the task (scheduled to run at 3:00 PM) will start at 6:00 PM—the time when the condition is met.
6 Direct management This section covers operations that can be performed directly on a managed machine by using the direct console-agent connection. The content of this section is applicable to both stand-alone and advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. 6.1 Administering a managed machine This section describes the views that are available through the navigation tree of the console connected to a managed machine, and explains how to work with each view. 6.1.
licenses. After a successful license check the agent will start working. Please make sure you have a valid license on Acronis License Server. Trial version of product expires in X day(s) Connect Once the trial version of the product is installed, the program starts the countdown of days remaining until the trial period expires. Connect 15 day trial period has expired. Enter a full license key.
Errors Highlight the date in red if at least one "Error" entry appeared in the log on this date. Warnings Highlight the date in yellow if no "Error" entries appeared and at least one "Warning" entry appeared in the log on this date. Information Highlight the date in green if only "Information" log entries appeared on this date (normal activity.) The Select current date link focuses selection to the current date.
Use the toolbar's buttons to take an action on the selected plan (task). See the Actions on backup plans and tasks (p. 93) section for details. You can run, edit, stop and delete the created plans and tasks. Use the Information panel to review detailed information on the selected plan (task). The panel chevron. The content of the panel is is collapsed by default. To expand the panel, click the also duplicated in the Plan details (p. 99) and Task details (p. 97) windows respectively. 6.1.2.
1 Status How it is determined How to handle Error At least one task has failed.
Any running task can put itself into the Need interaction state when it needs human interaction such as changing media or ignoring a read error. The next state may be Stopping (if the user chooses to stop the task) or Running (on selecting Ignore/Retry or another action, such as Reboot, that can put the task to the Running state.) Stopping The user can stop a running task or a task that needs interaction. The task changes to the Stopping state and then to the Idle state. A waiting task can also be stopped.
2 Warning Last result is "Succeeded View the log to read the warnings -> [optionally] Perform with warning" actions to prevent the future warnings or failure. 3 OK Last result is "Succeeded", "-", or "Stopped" 6.1.2.2 No action is required. The "-" state means that the task has never been started or has been started, but has not finished yet and so its result is not available.
Run a plan/task Backup plan Click Run. In the Run Backup Plan (p. 97) window, select the task you need to be run. Running the backup plan starts the selected task of that plan immediately in spite of its schedule and conditions. Why can't I run the backup plan? Do not have the appropriate privilege Without the Administrator privileges on the machine, a user cannot run plans owned by other users. Task Click Run. The task will be executed immediately in spite of its schedule and conditions.
Edit a plan/task Backup plan Click Edit. Backup plan editing is performed in the same way as creation (p. 102), except for the following limitations: It is not always possible to use all scheme options, when editing a backup plan if the created archive is not empty (i.e. contains backups). 1. It is not possible to change the scheme to Grandfather-Father-Son or Tower of Hanoi. 2. If the Tower of Hanoi scheme is used, it is not possible to change the number of levels.
Delete a plan/task Backup plan Click Delete. What will happen if I delete the backup plan? The plan's deletion deletes all its tasks. Why can't I delete the backup plan? The backup plan is in the "Running" state A backup plan cannot be deleted, if at least one of its tasks is running. Do not have the appropriate privilege Without the Administrator's privileges on the machine, a user cannot delete plans owned by other users. The backup plan has a centralized origin.
Configuring backup plans and the tasks table By default, the table has six columns that are displayed, others are hidden. If required, you can hide the displayed columns and show hidden ones. To show or hide columns 1. Right-click any column header to open the context menu. The menu items that are ticked off correspond to the column headers presented in the table. 2. Click the items you want to be displayed/hidden.
Recovery (disk) Disk backup recovery Recovery (file) File and folder recovery Recovery (volume) Recovery of volumes from a disk backup Recovery (MBR) Master boot record recovery Recovery (disk to existing VM) Recovery of a disk/volume backup to an existing virtual machine Recovery (disk to new VM) Recovery of a disk/volume backup to a new virtual machine Recovery (existing VM) Recovery of a virtual machine backup to an existing virtual machine Recovery (new VM) Recovery of a virtual machine b
Progress The Progress tab is available while the task is running. It is common for all types of tasks. The tab provides information about task progress, elapsed time and other parameters. Backup plan details The Backup plan details window (also duplicated on the Information panel) aggregates in four tabs all the information on the selected backup plan. The respective message will appear at the top of the tabs, if one of the plan's tasks requires user interaction.
Validation (if selected) - events before or after which the validation is performed, and validation schedule. Backup options - backup options changed against the default values. 6.1.3 Log The Log stores the history of operations performed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 on the machine, or actions a user takes on the machine using the program. For instance, when a user edits a task, the respective entry is added to the log. When the program executes a task, it adds multiple entries.
View a log entry’s details 1. Select a log entry. 2. Do one of the following Click View Details. The log entry's details will be displayed in a separate window. Expand the Information panel, by clicking the chevron. Save the selected log entries to a file 1. Select a single log entry or multiple log entries. 2. Click Save Selected to File. 3. In the opened window, specify a path and a name for the file. Save all the log entries to a file 1. Make sure, that the filters are not set. 2.
Configuring the log table By default, the table has seven columns that are displayed, others are hidden. If required, you can hide the shown columns and show the hidden ones. To show or hide columns 1. Right-click any column header to open the context menu. The menu items that are ticked off correspond to the column headers presented in the table. 2. Click the items you want to be displayed/hidden. 6.1.3.
To create a backup plan, perform the following steps. General Plan name [Optional] Enter a unique name for the backup plan. A conscious name lets you identify the plan among others. Plan's credentials (p. 104) [Optional] The backup plan will run on behalf of the user who is creating the plan. You can change the plan account credentials if necessary. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box . Comments [Optional] Type a description of the backup plan.
Archive comments [Optional] Enter comments on the archive. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. How to back up Backup scheme (p. 114) Specify when and how often to back up your data; define for how long to keep the created backup archives in the selected location; set up schedule for the archive cleanup procedure. Use well-known optimized backup schemes, such as Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi; create a custom backup scheme, or back up data once.
The tasks will run under the credentials with which the user who starts the tasks is logged on. If any of the tasks has to run on schedule, you will be asked for the current user's password on completing the plan creation. Use the following credentials The tasks will always run under the credentials you specify, whether started manually or executed on schedule. Specify: User name.
6.2.4.1 Selecting disks and volumes To specify disks/volumes to back up 1. Select the check boxes for the disks and/or volumes to back up. You can select a random set of disks and volumes. If your operating system and its loader reside on different volumes, always include both volumes in the backup. The volumes must also be recovered together; otherwise there is a high risk that the operating system will not start. In Linux, logical volumes and MD devices are shown under Dynamic and GPT.
Use the table in the right part of the window to browse and select the nested items. Selecting the check box beside the Name column’s header automatically selects all items in the table. Clearing this check box automatically deselects all items. 3. Click OK. 6.2.5 Access credentials for source Specify the credentials required for access to the data you are going to backup. To specify credentials 1.
The asterisk (*) substitutes for zero or more characters in a file name; for example, the file mask Doc*.txt yields files such as Doc.txt and Document.txt The question mark (?) substitutes for exactly one character in a file name; for example, the file mask Doc?.txt yields files such as Doc1.txt and Docs.txt — but not the files Doc.txt or Doc11.
To back up data to a personal vault, expand the Personal group and click the vault. To back up data to a network share, expand the Network folders group, select the required networked machine and, then click the shared folder. If the network share requires access credentials, the program will ask for them. To back up data to a local folder on the machine, expand the Local folders group and click the required folder.
Backup plans that operate with the same archive should back up the same data items (say, both plans back up volume C.) 2. Applying multiple retention rules to an archive makes the archive content in some way unpredictable. Since each of the rules will be applied to the entire archive, the backups belonging to one backup plan can be easily deleted along with the backups belonging to the other. You should especially not expect the classic behavior of the GFS and Tower of Hanoi backup schemes.
You want to store the backup locally in the file MyMachine.tib. You want each new backup to replace the old one. In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan, specify MyMachine as the archive name, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, and select Full as the backup type. Result. The archive consists of a single file: MyMachine.tib. This file is deleted before creating a new backup. Example 2.
You want to perform daily full backups of your machine to the file MyMachine.tib on an external hard disk drive. You have two such drives. Either of them has the drive letter D when attached to the machine. You want each new backup to replace the backup on the currently attached drive. You want to swap the drives before each backup, so that one drive contains today’s backup and the other drive yesterday’s backup. In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule.
a) When creating the first backup plan, specify ServerFiles([DATE]) as the archive name, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, select Full as the backup type, and schedule the backups to run every day at 01:00:00 AM.
This is because the full backups created at midnight were replaced by new full backups of the same day. 6.2.8.3 Backup splitting and simplified file naming When a backup is split according to backup splitting (p. 56) settings, the same indexing is used to also name parts of the backup. The file name for the next backup will have the next available index. For example, suppose that the first backup of the archive MyData has been split in two parts. Then, the file names for this backup are MyData1.
"fathers") and monthly (referred to as "grandfathers") backups. The expired backups will be deleted automatically. Tower of Hanoi – to use the Tower of Hanoi backup scheme, where you schedule when and how often to back up (sessions) and select the number of backup levels (up to 16). In this scheme, the data can be backed up more than once a day.
6.2.10.4 Grandfather-Father-Son scheme At a glance Daily incremental, weekly differential, and monthly full backups Custom day for weekly and monthly backups Custom retention periods for backups of each type Description Let us suppose that we want to set up a backup plan that will regularly produce a series of daily (D), weekly (W), and monthly (M) backups. Here is a natural way to do this: the following table shows a sample two-month period for such a plan.
Keep backups: Specifies how long you want the backups to be stored in the archive. A term can be set in hours, days, weeks, months, or years. For monthly backups, you can also select Keep indefinitely if you want them to be saved forever. The default values for each backup type are as follows.
Perform backups at the end of each working day Have access to a weekly backup for 10 days after it was created Be able to recover an accidentally deleted or inadvertently modified file if this has been discovered relatively quickly Keep monthly backups for half a year. Backup scheme parameters can then be set up as follows.
No daily backups Consider a more exotic GFS scheme: Start backup at: 12:00 PM Back up on: Friday Weekly/monthly: Friday Keep backups: Daily: 1 week Weekly: 1 month Monthly: indefinitely Backup is thus performed only on Fridays. This makes Friday the only choice for weekly and monthly backups, leaving no other date for daily backups. The resulting “Grandfather-Father” archive will hence consist only of weekly differential and monthly full backups.
This is how the first 14 days (or 14 sessions) of this scheme's schedule look. Shaded numbers denote backup levels. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 3 1 Backups of different levels have different types: Last-level (in this case, level 4) backups are full; Backups of intermediate levels (2, 3) are differential; First-level (1) backups are incremental. A cleanup mechanism ensures that only the most recent backups of each level are kept.
1 4 2 1 3 2 4 1 5 3 6 1 7 2 8 1 9 4 10 1 11 2 12 1 13 3 This gives us only a four day recovery interval, which turns out to be the worst-case scenario. On day 14, the interval is five days. It increases on subsequent days before decreasing again, and so on. 1 4 2 1 3 2 4 1 5 3 6 1 7 2 8 1 9 4 10 1 11 2 12 1 13 3 14 1 The roll-back period shows how many days we are guaranteed to have even in the worst case. For a four-level scheme, it is four days. 6.2.10.
delete the last full backup with all dependent incremental/differential backups If there is only one full backup left, and an incremental or differential backup is in progress, an error occurs saying there is a lack of available space This setting is recommended when backing up to a USB drive or Acronis Secure Zone. This setting is not applicable to managed vaults. This setting enables deletion of the last backup in the archive, in case your storage device cannot accommodate more than one backup.
Monthly full, weekly differential, and daily incremental backups plus cleanup This example demonstrates the use of all options available in the Custom scheme. Suppose that we need a scheme that will produce monthly full backups, weekly differential backups, and daily incremental backups. Then the backup schedule can look as follows.
Differential backup, runs manually You can run any of these backup tasks by selecting it from the list of tasks in the Backup plans and tasks section in the left pane. If you have also specified the retention rules in your backup scheme, the scheme will result in four tasks: three backup tasks and one cleanup task. 6.2.11 Archive validation Set up the validation task to check if the backed up data is recoverable.
What to recover Archive (p. 126) Select the archive to recover data from. Data type (p. 127) Applies to: disk recovery Choose the type of data you need to recover from the selected disk backup. Content (p. 127) Select the backup and content to be recovered. Access credentials (p. 128) [Optional] Provide credentials for the archive location if the task account does not have the right to access it. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.
To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: Run under the current user The task will run under the credentials with which the user who starts the tasks is logged on. If the task has to run on schedule, you will be asked for the current user's password on completing the task creation. Use the following credentials The task will always run under the credentials you specify, whether started manually or executed on schedule. Specify: User name.
After entering access credentials, the folders on the server become available. Click the appropriate folder on the server. You can access the server as an anonymous user if the server enables such access. To do so, click Use anonymous access instead of entering credentials. According to the original FTP specification, credentials required for access to FTP servers are transferred through a network as plaintext.
The disk geometry is different to that stored in the backup. There are probably other times when you may need to recover the MBR, but the above are the most common. When recovering the MBR of one disk to another Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 recovers Track 0, which does not affect the target disk’s partition table and partition layout.
6.3.6.1 Disks Available disk destinations depend on the agents operating on the machine. Recover to: Physical machine The selected disks will be recovered to the physical disks of the machine the console is connected to. On selecting this, you proceed to the regular disk mapping procedure described below. Disk #: Disk # (MODEL) (p. 130) Select the destination disk for each of the source disks. NT signature (p. 129) Select the way the recovered disk's signature will be handled.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 creates scheduled tasks using the signature of the source hard disk. If you recover the same disk signature, you don't need to re-create or edit the tasks created previously. Some installed applications use disk signature for licensing and other purposes Keep existing The program will leave the existing NT signature of the target hard disk as is. 6.3.6.2 Volumes Available volume destinations depend on the agents operating on the machine.
When using bootable media Disk letters seen under Windows-style bootable media might differ from the way Windows identifies drives. For example, the D: drive in the rescue utility might correspond to the E: drive in Windows. Be careful! To be on the safe side, it is advisable to assign unique names to the volumes. The Linux-style bootable media shows local disks and volumes as unmounted (sda1, sda2...).
Older operating systems (MS-DOS, Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.x, 4.x) do not support FAT32 and will not be operable after you recover a volume and change its file system. These can be normally recovered on a FAT16 volume only. Logical drive letter (for Windows only) Assign a letter to the recovered volume. Select the desired letter from a drop-down list. With the default AUTO selection, the first unused letter will be assigned to the volume.
By mask (?) F???.log Excludes all .log files with names consisting of four symbols and starting with "F" Windows By file path Finance\F.log Excludes files named "F.log" from all folders with the name "Finance" By folder path Finance\F\ or Finance\F Excludes folders named "F" from all folders with the name "Finance" Linux By file path /home/user/Finance/F.log Excludes the file named "F.
6.3.8 When to recover Select when to start the recovery task: Recover now - the recovery task will be started immediately after you click the final OK. Recover later - the recovery task will be started at the date and time you specify. If you do not need to schedule the task and wish to start it manually afterwards, select the Task will be started manually (do no schedule the task) check box. 6.3.
The system was recovered on dissimilar hardware and the new hardware is incompatible with the most critical drivers included in the backup Solution for Windows: Recover the volume once again. When configuring recovery, opt for using Acronis Universal Restore and specify the appropriate HAL and mass storage drivers. Windows was recovered to a dynamic volume that cannot be bootable Solution: Recover Windows to a basic, simple or mirrored volume.
Solution: Change the loader configuration and /etc/fstab so that the LVM is not used and reactivate the boot loader. 6.3.10.1 How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration Generally, you should refer to the boot loader manual pages for the appropriate procedure. There is also the corresponding Knowledge Base article on the Acronis Web site. The following is an example of how to reactivate GRUB in case the system disk (volume) is recovered to identical hardware. 1.
chroot /mnt/system/ /usr/sbin/grub 9. Specify the disk on which GRUB is located—typically, the boot or root partition: root (hd0,0) 10. Install GRUB. For example, to install GRUB in the master boot record (MBR) of the first disk, run the following command: setup (hd0) 11. Exit the GRUB shell: quit 12. Unmount the mounted file systems and then reboot: umount umount umount umount reboot /mnt/system/dev/ /mnt/system/proc/ /mnt/system/boot/ /mnt/system/ 13.
To create a validation task, perform the following steps. General Task name [Optional] Enter a unique name for the validation task. A conscious name lets you quickly identify the task among the others. Credentials (p. 138) [Optional] The validation task will run on behalf of the user who is creating the task. You can change the task credentials if necessary. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. What to validate Validate Choose an object to validate: Archive (p.
To learn more about operations available depending on the user privileges, see the User privileges on a managed machine (p. 22) section. 6.4.2 Archive selection Selecting the archive 1. Enter the full path to the location in the Path field, or select the desired folder in the folders tree. If the archive is stored in Acronis Online Backup Storage, click Log in and specify the credentials to log in to the online storage. Then expand the Online backup storage group and select the account.
While you are reviewing the location content, archives can be added, deleted or modified by another user or by the program itself according to scheduled operations. Use the Refresh button to refresh the list of archives. 3. Click OK. 6.4.3 Backup selection To specify a backup to validate 1. In the upper pane, select a backup by its creation date/time. The bottom part of the window displays the selected backup content, assisting you to find the right backup. 2. Click OK. 6.4.
The program will access the location using the credentials you specify. Use this option if the task account does not have access permissions to the location. You might need to provide special credentials for a network share or a storage node vault. Specify: User name. When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain) Password. The password for the account. 2. Click OK.
Offline virus clean: if a machine is attacked, the administrator shuts it down, boots with bootable media and creates an image. Then, the administrator mounts this image in read/write mode, scans and cleans it with an antivirus program, and finally recovers the machine. Error check: if recovery failed due to a disk error, mount the image in the read/write mode. Then, check the mounted disk for errors with the chkdsk /r command. To mount an image, perform the following steps. Source Archive (p.
ftp://ftp_server:port _number or sftp://sftp_server:port number If the port number is not specified, port 21 is used for FTP and port 22 is used for SFTP. After entering access credentials, the folders on the server become available. Click the appropriate folder on the server. You can access the server as an anonymous user if the server enables such access. To do so, click Use anonymous access instead of entering credentials.
2. Click OK. According to the original FTP specification, credentials required for access to FTP servers are transferred through a network as plaintext. This means that the user name and password can be intercepted by an eavesdropper using a packet sniffer. 6.5.4 Volume selection Select the volumes to mount and configure the mounting parameters for each of the selected volumes as follows: 1. Select the check box for each volume you need to mount. 2.
6.7 Exporting archives and backups The export operation creates a copy of an archive or a self-sufficient part copy of an archive in the location you specify. The original archive remains untouched. The export operation can be applied to: a single archive - an exact archive copy will be created your choice of backups belonging to the same archive - the resulting archive will contain only the specified backups.
The exported archive inherits the options of the original archive, including encryption and the password. When exporting a password-protected archive, you are prompted for the password. If the original archive is encrypted, the password is used to encrypt the resulting archive. Source and destination locations When the console is connected to a managed machine, you can export an archive or part of an archive to and from any location accessible to the agent residing on the machine.
What to export Export Select an object to export: Archive (p. 126) - in that case, you need to specify the archive only. Backups (p. 149) - specify the archive first, and then select the desired backup(s) in this archive Access credentials (p. 149) [Optional] Provide credentials for accessing the source if the task account does not have enough privileges to access it. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. Where to export Archive (p.
6.7.2 Archive selection Selecting the archive 1. Enter the full path to the location in the Path field, or select the desired folder in the folders tree. If the archive is stored in Acronis Online Backup Storage, click Log in and specify the credentials to log in to the online storage. Then expand the Online backup storage group and select the account. Exporting and mounting are not supported for backups stored in Acronis Online Backup Storage.
6.7.3 Backup selection To specify a backup(s) to export 1. At the top of the window, select the respective check box(es). To ensure that you choose the right backup, click on the backup and look at the bottom table that displays the volumes contained in the selected backup. To obtain information on a volume, right-click it and then select Information. 2. Click OK. 6.7.
To export data to a network share, expand the Network folders group, select the required networked machine and then click the shared folder. If the network share requires access credentials, the program will ask for them. Note for Linux users: To specify a Common Internet File System (CIFS) network share which is mounted on a mount point such as /mnt/share, select this mount point instead of the network share itself.
The program will access the location using the credentials of the task account specified in the General section. Use the following credentials The program will access the location using the credentials you specify. Use this option if the task account does not have access permissions to the location. You might need to provide special credentials for a network share or a storage node vault. Specify: User name.
6.8.1.1 Acronis Secure Zone Disk The Acronis Secure Zone can be located on any fixed hard drive. Acronis Secure Zone is always created at the end of the hard disk. A machine can have only one Acronis Secure Zone. Acronis Secure Zone is created using unallocated space, if available, or at the expense of the volumes' free space. The Acronis Secure Zone cannot be organized on a dynamic disk or a disk using the GPT partitioning style. To allocate space for Acronis Secure Zone 1.
6.8.1.4 Result confirmation The Result confirmation window displays the expected partition layout according to the settings you have chosen. Click OK, if you are satisfied with the layout and the Acronis Secure Zone creation will start. How the settings you make will be processed This helps you to understand how creating the Acronis Secure Zone will transform a disk containing multiple volumes. Acronis Secure Zone is always created at the end of the hard disk.
3. Specify the new size of the zone by: dragging the slider and selecting any size between the current and maximum values. The maximum size is equal to the disk’s unallocated space plus the total free space of all selected partitions; typing an exact value in the Acronis Secure Zone Size field. When increasing the size of the zone, the program will act as follows: first, it will use the unallocated space. Volumes will be moved, if necessary, but not resized.
(if you have GRUB). If the system fails to boot, you will be able to start the bootable rescue utility, by pressing F11 or by selecting it from the menu, respectively. The system disk (or, the /boot partition in Linux) should have at least 70 MB of free space to activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager. Unless you use the GRUB boot loader and it is installed in the Master Boot Record (MBR), Acronis Startup Recovery Manager activation overwrites the MBR with its own boot code.
PE-based bootable media PE-based bootable media contains a minimal Windows system called Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) and Acronis Plug-in for WinPE, that is, a modification of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent that can run in the preinstallation environment. WinPE proved to be the most convenient bootable solution in large environments with heterogeneous hardware.
build an ISO image of a bootable disc to burn it later on a blank disc upload the selected components to Acronis PXE Server upload the selected components to a WDS/RIS. 8. [optional] Windows system drivers to be used by Acronis Universal Restore. This window appears only if the Acronis Universal Restore add-on is installed and a media other than PXE or WDS/RIS is selected. 9. Path to the media ISO file or the name or IP and credentials for PXE or WDS/RIS. 6.10.1.
nousb2 Disables USB 2.0 support. USB 1.1 devices still work with this parameter. This parameter allows you to use some USB drives in the USB 1.1 mode if they do not work in the USB 2.0 mode. nodma Disables direct memory access (DMA) for all IDE hard disk drives. Prevents the kernel from freezing on some hardware. nofw Disables the FireWire (IEEE1394) interface support. nopcmcia Disables detection of PCMCIA hardware. nomouse Disables mouse support.
Pre-configuring multiple network connections You can pre-configure TCP/IP settings for up to ten network interface cards. To ensure that each NIC will be assigned the appropriate settings, create the media on the server for which the media is customized. When you select an existing NIC in the wizard window, its settings are selected for saving on the media. The MAC address of each existing NIC is also saved on the media.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console is always present on the bootable media. Anyone who has physical access to the machine terminal can run the console and connect. Just click Run management console in the bootable agent startup window. 6.10.3 Working under bootable media Operations on a machine booted with bootable media are very similar to backup and recovery under the operating system. The difference is as follows: 1.
6.10.3.2 Configuring iSCSI and NDAS devices This section describes how to configure Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) devices and Network Direct Attached Storage (NDAS) devices when working under bootable media. These devices are connected to the machine through a network interface and appear as if they were locally-attached devices. On the network, an iSCSI device is identified by its IP address, and an NDAS device is identified by its device ID.
Linux commands and utilities busybox ifconfig rm cat init rmmod cdrecord insmod route chmod iscsiadm scp chown kill scsi_id chroot kpartx sed cp ln sg_map26 dd ls sh df lspci sleep dmesg lvm ssh dmraid mdadm sshd e2fsck mkdir strace e2label mke2fs swapoff echo mknod swapon egrep mkswap sysinfo fdisk more tar fsck mount tune2fs fxload mtx udev gawk mv udevinfo gpm pccardctl udevstart grep ping umount growisofs pktsetup uuidgen grub poweroff
You can create the volume structure in either of the following ways: Automatically in Linux-based bootable media by using the management console or a script—see Creating the volume structure automatically (p. 163). Manually by using the mdadm and lvm utilities—see Creating the volume structure manually (p. 164). 6.10.5.1 Creating the volume structure automatically Let's assume that you saved (p.
6.10.5.2 Creating the volume structure manually The following are a general procedure for recovering MD devices and logical volumes by using a Linux-based bootable media, and an example of such recovery. You can use a similar procedure in Linux. To recover MD devices and logical volumes 1. Boot the machine from a Linux-based bootable media. 2. Click Acronis Bootable Agent. Then, click Run management console. 3. On the toolbar, click Actions, and then click Start shell.
The following picture illustrates this configuration. Do the following to recover data from this archive. Step 1: Creating the volume structure 1. Boot the machine from a Linux-based bootable media. 2. In the management console, press CTRL+ALT+F2. 3. Run the following commands to create the MD devices: mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[ab] mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[cd] 4.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. In Archive, click Change and then specify the name of the archive. In Backup, click Change and then select the backup from which you want to recover data. In Data type, select Volumes. In Items to recover, select the check box next to my_volgroup-my_logvol. Under Where to recover, click Change, and then select the logical volume that you created in Step 1. Click the chevron buttons to expand the list of disks. 7. Click OK to start the recovery.
To collect system information 1. In the management console, select from the top menu Help > Collect system information from 'machine name'. 2. Specify where to save the file with system information. 167 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
7 Glossary A Acronis Active Restore The Acronis proprietary technology that brings a system online immediately after the system recovery is started. The system boots from the backup (p. 174) and the machine becomes operational and ready to provide necessary services. The data required to serve incoming requests is recovered with the highest priority; everything else is recovered in the background.
Limitation: requires re-activation of loaders other than Windows loaders and GRUB. Agent (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent) An application that performs data backup and recovery and enables other management operations on the machine (p. 177), such as task management and operations with hard disks. The type of data that can be backed up depends on the agent type.
Backup options Configuration parameters of a backup operation (p. 169), such as pre/post backup commands, maximum network bandwidth allotted for the backup stream or data compression level. Backup options are a part of a backup plan (p. 170). Backup plan (Plan) A set of rules that specify how the given data will be protected on a given machine. A backup plan specifies: what data to back up where to store the backup archive (p. 169) (the backup archive name and location) the backup scheme (p.
4. On each machine, the agent (p. 169) installed on the machine finds data items using the selection rules. For example, if the selection rule is [All volumes], the entire machine will be backed up. 5. On each machine, the agent installed on the machine creates a backup plan (p. 170) using other rules specified by the policy. Such backup plan is called a centralized plan (p. 172). 6. On each machine, the agent installed on the machine creates a set of centralized tasks (p. 172) that will carry out the plan.
Built-in groups cannot be deleted, moved to other groups or manually modified. Custom groups cannot be created within built-in groups. There is no way to remove a physical machine from the built-in group except for removing the machine from the management server. Virtual machines are removed as a result of their host server removal. A backup policy (p. 170) can be applied to a built-in group. C Centralized backup plan A backup plan (p. 170) that appears on the managed machine (p.
Cleanup Deleting backups (p. 169) from a backup archive (p. 169) in order to get rid of outdated backups or prevent the archive from exceeding the desired size. Cleanup consists in applying to an archive the retention rules set by the backup plan (p. 170) that produces the archive. This operation checks if the archive has exceeded its maximum size and/or for expired backups. This may or may not result in deleting backups depending on whether the retention rules are violated or not.
Direct management Any management operation that is performed on a managed machine (p. 177) using the direct console (p. 173)-agent (p. 169) connection (as opposed to centralized management (p. 172) when the operations are configured on the management server (p. 178) and propagated by the server to the managed machines). The direct management operations include: creating and managing local backup plans (p.
222189 Description of Disk Groups in Windows Disk Management http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222189/EN-US/ Dynamic disk A hard disk managed by Logical Disk Manager (LDM) that is available in Windows starting with Windows 2000. LDM helps flexibly allocate volumes on a storage device for better fault tolerance, better performance or larger volume size. A dynamic disk can use either the master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT) partition style.
the administrator changes the criteria so that the machine does not meet them anymore. There is no way to remove a machine from a dynamic group manually except for deleting the machine from the management server. Dynamic volume Any volume located on dynamic disks (p. 175), or more precisely, on a disk group (p. 174). Dynamic volumes can span multiple disks.
F Full backup A self-sufficient backup (p. 169) containing all data chosen for backup. You do not need access to any other backup to recover the data from a full backup. G GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) A popular backup scheme (p. 171) aimed to maintain the optimal balance between a backup archive (p. 169) size and the number of recovery points (p. 179) available from the archive.
Managed vault A centralized vault (p. 172) managed by a storage node (p. 179). Archives (p. 169) in a managed vault can be accessed as follows: bsp://node_address/vault_name/archive_name/ Physically, managed vaults can reside on a network share, SAN, NAS, on a hard drive local to the storage node or on a tape library locally attached to the storage node. The storage node performs storage node-side cleanup (p. 180) and storage node-side validation (p. 180) for each archive stored in the managed vault.
Plan See Backup plan (p. 170). Policy See Backup policy (p. 170). R Recovery point Date and time to which the backed up data can be reverted to. Registered machine A machine (p. 177) managed by a management server (p. 178). A machine can be registered on only one management server at a time. A machine becomes registered as a result of the registration (p. 179) procedure. Registration A procedure that adds a managed machine (p. 177) to a management server (p. 178).
prevent access to the backup archives, even in case the storage medium is stolen or accessed by a malefactor, by using encrypted vaults (p. 176). Storage node-side cleanup Cleanup (p. 172) performed by a storage node (p. 179) according to the backup plans (p. 170) that produce the archives (p. 169) stored in a managed vault (p. 177). Being an alternative to the agentside cleanup (p. 169), the cleanup on the storage node side relieves the production servers of unnecessary CPU load.
U Universal Restore (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore) The Acronis proprietary technology that helps boot up Windows on dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. The Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset. The Universal Restore is not available: when the machine is booted with Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (p.
Virtual machine On Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server, a machine (p. 177) is considered virtual if it can be backed up from the virtualization host without installing an agent (p. 169) on the machine. A virtual machine appears on the management server after registration of the virtualization server that hosts the machine, provided that Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent for virtual machines is installed on that server.
