Acronis Backup for PC Version 11.
Copyright Statement Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2014. All rights reserved. “Acronis” and “Acronis Secure Zone” are registered trademarks of Acronis International GmbH. "Acronis Compute with Confidence", “Acronis Startup Recovery Manager”, “Acronis Active Restore”, “Acronis Instant Restore” and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis International GmbH. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. VMware and VMware Ready are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc.
Table of contents 1 Introducing Acronis Backup ....................................................................................................8 1.1 What's new in Update 3 ............................................................................................................8 1.2 What's new in Update 2 ............................................................................................................8 1.3 What's new in Update 1 ........................................................
.2.9 4.2.10 4.2.11 4.3 Simplified naming of backup files ............................................................................................54 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 4.4 Supported locations ...................................................................................................................................... 72 Setting up replication of backups.................................................................................................................
.2 Acronis Universal Restore ......................................................................................................114 5.2.1 5.2.2 5.3 Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa .............................................117 5.3.1 5.3.2 Acronis Active Restore ...........................................................................................................121 5.5 Bootability troubleshooting ..................................................................
8.2.3 8.2.4 8.2.5 8.3 Mounting an image................................................................................................................161 8.3.1 8.3.2 8.3.3 8.3.4 8.3.5 8.4 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 162 Backup selection..........................................................................................................................................
11.1.1 11.1.2 11.1.3 11.1.4 11.1.5 11.1.6 Actions on backup plans and tasks ............................................................................................................ 197 States and statuses of backup plans and tasks ......................................................................................... 199 Export and import of backup plans............................................................................................................ 201 Deploying backup plans as files.....
1 Introducing Acronis Backup 1.1 What's new in Update 3 Rebranding Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 is renamed to Acronis Backup. Licensing The Universal Restore feature is included in all Acronis Backup licenses. The Universal Restore add-on license is deprecated. Cloud backup The Acronis Backup & Recovery Online service is renamed to Acronis Cloud Backup. Cloud backup subscriptions for Servers and for Virtual Machines are deprecated.
Add the %description% variable (the description shown in system properties of a Windows machine) to the e-mail notification subject (p. 86). 1.4 What's new in Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 The following is a summary of the product's new features and enhancements. Support for various types of storage Acronis Online Backup Storage Replicating or moving backups to Acronis Online Backup Storage (p. 77).
File backup File-level data protection is based on backing up files and folders residing on the machine where the agent is installed or on a network share. Files can be recovered to their original location or to another place. It is possible to recover all files and folders that were backed up or select which of them to recover.
Additional limitations for bootable media: The disk management functionality is not available. You can try the user interface, but there is no option to commit the changes. The recovery functionality is available, but the backup functionality is not. To try the backup functionality, install the software in the operating system. Upgrading to the full mode After the trial period expires, the product GUI displays a notification requesting you to specify or obtain a license key.
2 Getting started Step 1. Installation These brief installation instructions enable you to start using the product quickly. For the complete description of installation methods and procedures, please refer to the Installation documentation. Before installation, make sure that: Your hardware meets the system requirements. You have a license key for the product of your choice. You have the setup program. You can download it from the Acronis website.
Step 5. Recovery Recover (p. 101) To recover data, you need to select the backed-up data and the destination the data will be recovered to. As a result, a recovery task will be created. Recovery of a disk or volume over a volume locked by the operating system requires a reboot. After the recovery is completed, the recovered operating system goes online automatically.
Acronis Backup Management Console - Welcome screen Key elements of the console workspace Name Description Navigation pane Contains the Navigation tree. Lets you navigate to the different views. For details, see Navigation pane (p. 14). Main area Here you configure and monitor backup, recovery and other operations. The main area displays views and action pages (p. 15) depending on the items selected in the menu or Navigation tree. Menu bar Appears across the top of the program window.
Vaults. Use this view to manage personal vaults and archives stored in there, add new vaults, rename and delete the existing ones, validate vaults, explore backup content, perform operations on archives and backups, etc. Alerts. Use this view to examine warning messages for the managed machine. The Full list additionally displays Disk management. Use this view to perform operations on the machine's hard disk drives. Log.
2.1.2.1 Views A view appears on the main area when clicking any item in the Navigation tree in the Navigation pane (p. 14). "Log" 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 (p. 16) capabilities to search the table for the item in question. Perform actions on the selected item.
Filter items by predefined column value In a field below the corresponding column's header, select the required value from the drop-down list. Filter items by entered value In a field below the corresponding column's header, type a value. As a result you will see the list of values, fully or just partly coincide with the entered value. Filter items by predefined parameters Click the appropriate buttons above the table.
Action page - Controls Acronis Backup remembers the changes you made on the action pages. For example, if you started to create a backup plan, and then for any reason switched to another view without accomplishing the plan creation, you can click the Back navigation button on the menu. Or, if you have passed several steps forward, click the Down arrow and select the page where you started the plan creation from the list. Thus, you can perform the remaining steps and accomplish the backup plan creation.
To clear the credentials cache for the current user account, click the Clear credentials cache button. 2.1.3.3 Fonts The option defines the fonts to be used in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup. The Menu font setting affects the drop-down and context menus. The Application font setting affects all other GUI elements. The preset is: System Default font for both the menus and the application interface items.
Request description when ejecting a tape This option defines whether to display a prompt for you to describe a tape when you eject it from a tape device by using Acronis Backup. For example, you may describe the physical location where the tape will be kept (recommended). If a tape is ejected automatically according to the Eject tapes after successful backups option, no such prompt is displayed. The preset is: Enabled.
3 Understanding Acronis Backup 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. 3.1 Owners This section explains the concept of a backup plan (task) owner and an archive owner. Plan (task) owner A local backup plan owner is the user who created or last modified the plan. Tasks, belonging to a backup plan, are owned by the backup plan owner.
Backup plan's credentials Any backup plan running on a machine runs on behalf of a user. In Windows By default, the plan runs under the agent service account, if created by a user having administrative privileges on the machine. If created by a regular user, such as a member of the Users group, the plan runs under this user's account. When creating a backup plan, you are only asked for credentials in specific cases.
3.3 User privileges on a managed machine When managing a machine running Windows, the scope of a user's management rights depends on the user's privileges on the machine. Regular users A regular user, such as a member of the Users group, has the following management rights: Perform file-level backup and recovery of the files that the user has permissions to access—but without using a file-level backup snapshot (p. 90). Create backup plans and tasks and manage them.
Service name Purpose Acronis Backing up and Managed recovering data Machine Service on the machine (Main service) Account used by the service Acronis Agent User (new account) or user-specified account Privileges added to the account User rights Log on as a service Adjust memory quotas for a process Replace a process level token Group membership Permissions on registry keys Backup BackupAndRecovery Operators Encryption (for any account) Global Administrators (for new account MMS only) Modify firmwar
Dependencies on other services Acronis Managed Machine Service depends on the following standard Windows services: Remote Procedure Call (RPC), Protected Storage, and Windows Management Instrumentation. This service also depends on Acronis Scheduler2 Service. To view the list of dependencies for a service, do the following: 1. In the Services snap-in, double-click the name of the service. 2. On the Dependencies tab, examine the This service depends… field. 3.
the data changes tend to be small as compared to the total data size. It is widely accepted that incremental backups are less reliable than full ones because if one backup in the "chain" is corrupted, the next ones can no longer be used. However, storing multiple full backups is not an option when you need multiple prior versions of your data, because reliability of an oversized archive is even more questionable. Example: Backing up a database transaction log.
The swap file (pagefile.sys) and the file that keeps the RAM content when the machine goes into hibernation (hiberfil.sys). After recovery, the files will be re-created in the appropriate place with the zero size. Windows shadow storage. The path to it is determined in the registry value VSS Default Provider which can be found in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBa ckup.
To unallocated space of a disk group. To unallocated space of a basic disk. To a disk which has not been initialized. Recovery over an existing volume When a dynamic volume is recovered over an existing volume, either basic or dynamic, the target volume’s data is overwritten with the backup content. The type of target volume (basic, simple/spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID 0+1, RAID-5) will not change. The target volume size has to be enough to accommodate the backup content.
Preparing disk groups and volumes Before recovering dynamic volumes to bare metal you should create a disk group on the target hardware. You also might need to create or increase unallocated space on an existing disk group. This can be done by deleting volumes or converting basic disks to dynamic. You might want to change the target volume type (basic, simple/spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID 0+1, RAID 5).
3.9 Support for UEFI-based machines Acronis Backup can back up and recover machines that use 64-bit Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) in the same way as it does for machines that use BIOS for booting. This applies to both physical and virtual machines, no matter if the virtual machines are backed up at a hypervisor level or from inside a guest OS. Backup and recovery of devices that use 32-bit UEFI are not supported.
Storage spaces In Windows 8, you can combine several physical disks into a storage pool. In this storage pool, you can create one or more logical disks, called storage spaces. As with ordinary disks, storage spaces can have volumes. In Windows 8 and under a bootable media based on WinPE 4 or later, you can back up and recover storage spaces. To recover a storage space to an ordinary disk or vice versa, use bootable media based on WinPE 4 or later.
2. Recover the system. The recovered data will be unencrypted. 3. Reboot the recovered system. 4. Turn on BitLocker. If you only need to recover one partition of a multi-partitioned disk, do so under the operating system. Recovery under bootable media may make the recovered partition undetectable for Windows. McAfee Endpoint Encryption and PGP Whole Disk Encryption You can recover an encrypted system partition by using bootable media only.
About the test message When configuring SNMP notifications, you can send a test message to check if your settings are correct. The parameters of the test message are as follows: Type of event OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0 Value: "Unknown" Text description of the event OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.
4 Backup 4.1 Back up now Use the Back up now feature to configure and run a one-time backup in a few simple steps. The backup process will start immediately after you perform the required steps and click OK. For a long-time backup strategy that includes schedules and conditions, timely deleting of backups or moving them to different locations, consider creating a backup plan. Configuring immediate backup is similar to creating a backup plan (p.
Select the mode the removable device will be used in (p. 151) If the specified location is an RDX drive or USB flash drive, select the device mode: Removable media or Fixed drive. Backup file naming, access credentials, archive comments To access these settings, click Show backup file naming, access credentials, archive comments. File naming (p.
Set up a regular conversion of a disk or volume backup to a virtual machine. Plan parameters Plan name [Optional] Enter a unique name for the backup plan. A conscious name lets you identify the plan among others. Backup options [Optional] Configure parameters of the backup operation, such as pre/post backup commands, maximum network bandwidth allocated for the backup stream or the backup archive compression level. If you do nothing in this section, the default values (p. 78) will be used.
Available if Acronis Backup Agent for Windows or Acronis Backup Agent for Linux is installed. Select this option to back up specific files and folders. A file-level backup is not sufficient for recovery of the operating system. Choose file backup if you plan to keep safe only certain data (the current project, for example). This will reduce the archive size, thus saving storage space. In order to recover your operating system along with all the settings and applications, you have to perform a disk backup.
To specify which files and folders to exclude, set up any of the following parameters. Exclude all hidden files and folders Select this check box to skip files and folders that have the Hidden attribute (for file systems that are supported by Windows) or that start with a period (.) (for file systems in Linux such as Ext2 and Ext3). If a folder is hidden, all of its contents (including files that are not hidden) will be excluded.
Windows and Linux By name By mask (*) By mask (?) F.log Excludes all files named "F.log" F Excludes all folders named "F" *.log Excludes all files with the .log extension F* Excludes all files and folders with names starting with "F" (such as folders F, F1 and files F.log, F1.log) F???.log Excludes all .log files with names consisting of four symbols and starting with "F" Windows By file path C:\Finance\F.log Excludes the file named "F.log" located in the folder C:\Finance By folder path C:
By selecting the existing archive, you are meddling in the area of another backup plan that uses the archive. This is not an issue if the other plan is discontinued. However, you should generally follow the rule: "one backup plan - one archive". Doing the opposite will not prevent the program from functioning but is not practical or efficient, except for some specific cases. Why two or more plans should not back up to the same archive 1.
Destination Details FTP, SFTP To back up data to FTP or SFTP, type the server name or address in the Path field as follows: ftp://ftp_server:port _number or sftp://sftp_server:port number To establish an active mode FTP connection, use the following notation: aftp://ftp_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.
backup will be performed and select from these days the day of weekly/monthly backup. Then you set the retention periods for the daily (referred to as "sons"), weekly (referred to as "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. This scheme allows you to schedule when and how often to back up (sessions) and select the number of backup levels (up to 16).
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.
Backup type Specifies the types of daily, weekly and monthly backups. Always full - all the daily, weekly and monthly backups will always be full. This is the default selection for cases when a tape drive is selected as a backup location. Full/Differential/Incremental - daily backups are incremental, weekly backups are differential, and monthly backups are full. The first backup is always full. However, this does not mean that it is a monthly backup.
Start backup at: 6:00 PM Back up on: Workdays Weekly/monthly: Friday Keep backups: Daily: 1 week Weekly: 10 days Monthly: 6 months With this scheme, you will have a week to recover a previous version of a damaged file from a daily backup; as well as 10-day access to weekly backups. Each monthly full backup will be available for six months since the creation date. Work schedule Suppose you are a part-time financial consultant and work in a company on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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. Even though it is possible to use GFS to create such an archive, the Custom scheme is more flexible in this situation. 4.2.6.
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 FTP and SFTP servers. This setting enables deletion of the last backup in the archive, in case your storage device cannot accommodate more than one backup. However, you might end up with no backups if the program is not able to create the new backup for some reason.
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.
schedule: a backup task will be run every 1 day at 10 AM) as well as more complex schedules (example of a complex daily schedule: a task will be run every 3 days, starting from January 15. During the specified days the task will be repeated every 2 hours from 10 AM to 10 PM). Thus, complex schedules specify the sessions on which the scheme should run. In the discussion below, "days" can be replaced with "scheduled sessions". Number of levels Select from 2 to 16 backup levels.
The following table shows full backup and roll-back periods for schemes of various levels. Number of levels Full backup every On different days, can go back Roll-back period 2 2 days 1 to 2 days 1 day 3 4 days 2 to 5 days 2 days 4 8 days 4 to 11 days 4 days 5 16 days 8 to 23 days 8 days 6 32 days 16 to 47 days 16 days Adding a level doubles the full backup and roll-back periods. To see why the number of recovery days varies, let us return to the previous example.
4.2.6.6 Initial seeding This backup scheme is available when Acronis Cloud Storage is selected as the backup destination. A backup is only successful if you have an Initial Seeding license. The Initial Seeding service might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://kb.acronis.com/content/15118. Initial seeding enables you to transfer the first backup, which is full and usually the largest, to the cloud storage on a hard drive instead of over the Internet.
Your account, if you are logged on as a regular user such as a member of the Users group. Use the following credentials The tasks will always run under the credentials you specify, whether started manually or executed on schedule. 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. Confirm password. Re-enter the password. 2. Click OK.
S-1-5-21-874133492-782267321-3928949834. For Windows OS only. Values of the "acronisTag.os.
4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. b. Snapshot creation c. Post-data capture command execution d. Backup process Start of backup cataloging. Backup cataloging can be a time-consuming process. It is performed in parallel with the following steps. Post-backup command execution. Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) creation. Conversion to a virtual machine. Backup replication. Cleanup.
This behavior can be suppressed by adding the [Date] variable (p. 55) to the archive name. When you use standard file naming Each backup will have a unique file name with the exact time stamp and the backup type. For example: MyData_2010_03_26_17_01_38_960D.tib. This standard file naming allows for a wider range of backup destinations and backup schemes.
Example 2. Suppose that you perform full backups, with the same schedule, archive name, and date format as in the previous example. Then, the list of backup files after day two is the following: MyArchive-[2012-01-31].tib (full, created on January 31 at noon) MyArchive-[2012-02-01].tib (full, created on February 1 at noon) This is because the full backups created at midnight were replaced by new full backups of the same day. 4.3.
Your script can move older backups based on the date stamp. See also “The [Date] variable” (p. 55). 4.3.3.3 Example 3. Hourly backups within a day Consider the following scenario: You want to perform hourly backups of your server's critical files every day. You want to keep older backups in the archive. You want the first backup of each day to be full and to run at midnight; and the subsequent backups of the day to be differential and to run at 01:00, 02:00, and so on.
You want to perform daily backups of your machine: a full backup each Monday and incremental backups on Tuesday through Sunday. You want to store the backups on a locally attached USB hard drive in the archive MyMachine. You want to swap the drives each Monday so that one drive contains backups of the current week (Monday through Sunday), and the other drive those of the previous week. You have two such drives.
Until: 05:01:00 PM Result: The full backup of January 31, 2012, will be stored as ServerFiles[2012-01-31].tib. The following day, February 1, the backups will start with the full backup ServerFiles[2012-02-01].tib. The differential backups will start with ServerFiles[2012-02-01]2.tib. The 10 differential backups of January 31, 2012, will be stored as ServerFiles[2012-01-31]2.tib, ServerFiles[2012-01-31]3.tib, and so on up to ServerFiles[2012-01-31]11.tib. See also “The [Date] variable” (p.
condition is met. With multiple conditions, all of them must be met simultaneously to enable task execution. The table below lists the conditions available under Windows operating systems.
Examples "Simple" daily schedule Run the task every day at 6PM. The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows. 1. Every: 1 day(s). 2. Once at: 06:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: not set. The task will be started on the current day, if it has been created before 6PM. If you have created the task after 6 PM, the task will be started for the first time on the next day at 6 PM. To: not set. The task will be performed for an indefinite number of days.
First daily schedule 1. Every: 3 day(s). 2. Every: 4 hours. From: 08:00:00 AM Until: 12:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: 09/20/2009. To: not set. Second daily schedule 1. Every: 3 day(s). 2. Every: 2 hour(s). From: 03:00:00 PM Until: 07:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: 09/20/2009. To: not set. 4.4.2 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: <...
1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Fri. 2. Once at: 10:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: 05/13/2009. The task will be started on the nearest Friday at 10 PM. To: 11/13/2009. The task will be performed for the last time on this date, but the task itself will still be available in the Tasks view after this date. (If this date were not a Friday, the task would be last performed on the last Friday preceding this date.) This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme.
1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Mon, Fri. 2. Every: 9 hours From: 12:00:00 PM Until: 09:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: not set. To: not set. Second schedule 1. Every 1 week(s) on: Tue, Wed, Thu. 2. Every 3 hours From 09:00:00 AM until 09:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: 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. 4.4.3 Monthly schedule Monthly schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems.
Examples "Last day of every month" schedule Run the task once at 10 PM on the last day of every month. The schedule's parameters are set up as follows. 1. 2. 3. 4. Months: . Days: Last. The task will run on the last day of every month despite its actual date. Once at: 10:00:00 PM. Effective: From: empty. To: empty. This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme.
1. 2. 3. 4. Months: December, January, February. On: Once at: 10:00:00 PM. Effective: From: 11/01/2009. To: not set. 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. 4.4.
For example, an Error event with Event source disk and Event ID 7 occurs when Windows discovers a bad block on a disk, whereas an Error event with Event source disk and Event ID 15 occurs when a disk is not ready for access yet. Examples "Bad block" emergency backup One or more bad blocks that have suddenly appeared on a hard disk usually indicate that the hard disk drive will soon fail. Suppose that you want to create a backup plan that will back up hard disk data as soon as such a situation occurs.
To view properties of an event, including the event source and event number 1. In Event Viewer, click the name of a log that you want to view—for example, Application. Note: To be able to open the security log (Security), you must be a member of the Administrators group. 2. In the list of events in the right pane, double-click the name of an event whose properties you want to view. 3.
(1) If the user becomes idle before 9PM, the backup task will start at 9PM. (2) If the user becomes idle between 9PM and 11PM, the backup task will start immediately after the user becomes idle. (3) If the user is still active at 11PM, the backup task starts anyway. 4.4.5.2 Location's host is available Applies to: Windows, Linux "Location's host is available" means that the machine hosting the destination for storing archives on a networked drive is available.
(1) if the user logs off between 04:30:00 PM and 10:00:00 PM, the backup task will start immediately following the logging off. (2) if the user logs off at any other time, the task will be skipped. What if... What if a task is scheduled to be executed at a certain time and this time is outside the specified time interval? For example: Event: Daily, Every 1 day(s); Once at 03:00:00 PM. Condition: Fits the time interval, from 06:00:00 PM until 11:59:59 PM.
Example: Run the backup task at system startup, but only if more than 12 hours have passed since the last successful backup. Event: At startup, Start the task on machine startup. Condition: Time since last backup, Time since the last backup: 12 hour(s). Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met.
Using Acronis Cloud Backup to protect data from a natural disaster (p. 77) Replicate the archive to the cloud storage by transferring only the data changes outside working hours. Reduced costs of storing the backed-up data Store your backups on a fast storage for as long as a need to access them is likely. Then, move them to a lower-cost storage to keep them there for a longer term. This enables you to meet legal requirements on data retention.
Restrictions Copying or moving backups to and from optical discs (CD, DVD, Blu-ray discs) is not supported. Acronis Cloud Storage can only be the final location. Further copying or moving backups from it is not possible. You cannot specify the same location more than once. For example, you cannot move a backup from one folder to another and then back to the original folder. Copying or moving backups to and from removable devices used in the Removable media mode is not supported. 4.5.
The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. They are applied sequentially in the primary, the second and all next locations. Tower of Hanoi scheme Each backup is retained based on its level (p. 48), and then deleted. You specify the number of levels in Number of levels. The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. They are applied sequentially in the primary, the second and all next locations. Custom scheme Each backup is retained until the rules you specify are met.
You will be able to specify the location where to move the backups and set up retention rules for that location after you click OK. Deleting the last backup in the archive The retention rules are effective if the archive contains more than one backup. This means that the last backup in the archive will be kept, even if a retention rule violation is detected. Please do not try to delete the only backup you have by applying the retention rules before backup. This will not work.
4.5.5 Replication/cleanup inactivity time This option is effective only if you set up replication or retention rules (p. 71) for the backups. This option defines a time period when starting replication or applying retention rules is not allowed. The operations will be performed when the inactivity time ends, if the machine is powered on at that moment. The operations that had started before the inactivity time began continue without interruption.
Click Retention rules, select the Backups older than and the Archive size greater than check boxes, and specify respectively 1 month and 200 GB. In If the specified conditions are met, select Delete the oldest backups. Click OK. In Apply retention rules, select the After backup check box. Result: Backups that are younger than one month are kept, regardless of their total size.
In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Initial seeding scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify a local folder in the Location field. This can be a folder on the hard drive that you are going to send. For more details, see “How to perform initial seeding?” (p. 222). After you have sent the hard drive and the order status becomes The data upload has been completed, edit the backup plan.
Agent for Windows Bootable media (Linux-based or PE-based) Disk backup File backup Disk backup File backup Reset archive bit - + - + Restart the machine automatically after backup is finished - - + + Archive protection (p. 81) + + + + + + - - + + - - HDD writing speed (p. 83) Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Network connection speed (p. 83) Dest: network share + Dest: network share + Dest: network share + Dest: network share + Compression level (p.
Agent for Windows Bootable media (Linux-based or PE-based) Disk backup File backup Disk backup File backup Dest: removable media - Dest: removable media + - - - - Multi-volume snapshot (p. 92) + + - - Pre/Post backup commands (p. 92) + + PE only PE only Pre/Post data capture commands (p. 94) + + - - Replication/cleanup inactivity time (p. 76) + + - - Sector-by-sector backup (p. 96) + - + - Task failure handling (p. 96) + + - - Task start conditions (p.
The preset is: Disabled. In Windows operating systems, each file has the File is ready for archiving attribute, available by selecting File -> Properties -> General -> Advanced -> Archive and Index attributes. This attribute, also known as the archive bit, is set by the operating system each time the file is changed and can be reset by backup applications each time they include the file in a backup. The archive bit value is used by various applications such as databases.
The AES cryptographic algorithm operates in the Cipher-block chaining (CBC) mode and uses a randomly generated key with a user-defined size of 128, 192 or 256 bits. The larger the key size, the longer it will take for the program to encrypt the archive and the more secure your data will be. The encryption key is then encrypted with AES-256 using a SHA-256 hash of the password as a key.
operating system to allocate more resources like the CPU to the backup application. However, the resulting effect will depend on the overall CPU usage and other factors like disk in/out speed or network traffic. The preset is: Low.
Click Transferring speed stated as a percentage of the estimated maximum speed of the network connection, and then drag the slider or type a percentage in the box Click Transferring speed stated in kilobytes per second, and then enter the bandwidth limit for transferring backup data in kilobytes per second. 4.7.5 Backup splitting This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media.
Fixed size Enter the desired file size or select it from the drop-down list. The backup will then be split into multiple files of the specified size. This comes in handy when creating a backup that you plan to burn to multiple CDs or DVDs later on. You might also want to split a backup into 2-GB files if you are backing up to a hard disk, but you plan to manually copy the backup to an FTP server later. 4.7.
Note that the DRP will not automatically change if post-backup commands in your backup plan copy or move the backups from the original location. The DRP points only to the locations specified in the backup plan. Adding information to a DRP template You can append additional information to a DRP template if you are well familiar with XML and HTML. The default paths to the DRP template are: %ProgramFiles%\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\drp.xsl - in 32-bit Windows %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\
%description% For a machine running Windows, the %description% variable will be replaced by the text that is given in the Computer description field of the machine. To specify this text, either go to Control panel > System or run the following command as an administrator: net config server /srvcomment: For a machine running Linux, the %description% variable will be replaced by an empty string (""). 6. 7. 8. 9.
Re-attempt, if an error occurs The preset is: Enabled. Number of attempts: 30. Interval between attempts: 30 seconds. When a recoverable error occurs, the program re-attempts to perform the unsuccessful operation. You can set the time interval and the number of attempts. The attempts will be stopped as soon as the operation succeeds OR the specified number of attempts are performed, depending on which comes first.
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. Community – type the name of the SNMP community to which both the host running the SNMP management application and the sending machine belong. The typical community is "public". Click Send test message to check if the settings are correct.
4.7.12 File-level backup snapshot This option is effective only for file-level backup in Windows and Linux operating systems. This option defines whether to back up files one by one or by taking an instant data snapshot. Note: Files that are stored on network shares are always backed up one by one. The preset is: Create snapshot if it is possible. Select one of the following: Always create a snapshot The snapshot enables backing up of all files including files opened for exclusive access.
To completely eliminate this kind of problem, disable preserving file security settings in archives. The recovered files and folders will always inherit the permissions from the folder to which they are recovered or from the disk, if recovered to the root. Alternatively, you can disable recovery (p. 131) of the security settings, even if they are available in the archive. The result will be the same - the files will inherit the permissions from the parent folder.
The preset is: Disabled. Tip. You can back up Hyper-V virtual machines residing on a cluster shared volume by backing up the required files or the entire volume with file-level backup. Just power off the virtual machines to be sure that they are backed up in a consistent state. Example Let's assume that the C:\Data1\ folder is a mount point for the mounted volume. The volume contains folders Folder1 and Folder2. You create a backup plan for file-level backup of your data.
Selectively copy backups from an archive to another location. This option may be useful because the replication configured in a backup plan copies every backup of an archive to subsequent locations. Acronis Backup performs the replication after executing the post-backup command. For more information see "Sequence of operations in a backup plan" (p. 53). The program does not support interactive commands, i.e. commands that require user input (for example, "pause"). To specify pre/post commands 1.
4.7.17.2 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. Select the Fail the task if the command execution fails check box if successful execution of the command is critical for you.
4.7.18.1 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. 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’s execution arguments, if required. 4.
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. N/A Continue the backup concurrently with the command execution and irrespective of the command execution result. * A command is considered failed if its exit code is not equal to zero. 4.7.
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. If the task fails because of a mistake in the backup plan, you can edit the plan while the task is in the Idle state.
Time diagram: Wait until conditions are met Skip the task execution Delaying a backup might be unacceptable, for example, when you need to back up data strictly at the specified time. Then it makes sense to skip the backup rather than wait for the conditions, especially if the events occur relatively often. 4.7.23 Volume Shadow Copy Service These options are effective only for Windows operating systems.
In most cases, VSS will use Acronis VSS Provider. Software - Acronis VSS Provider VSS will use Acronis VSS Provider for taking snapshots. Software - System provider (selected by default) VSS will use the system provider (Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider) for taking snapshots. We recommend choosing the system provider when backing up application servers (Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint, or Active Directory).
If you use third-party software for backing up the SQL Server data. The reason for this is that the third-party software will take the resulting disk-level backup for its "own" full backup. As a result, the next differential backup of the SQL Server data will fail. The backups will continue failing until the third-party software creates the next "own" full backup. If other VSS-aware applications are running on the machine and you need to keep their logs for any reason.
5 Recovery When it comes to data recovery, first consider the most functional method: connect the console to the managed machine running the operating system and create the recovery task. If the machine's operating system fails to start or you need to recover data to bare metal, boot the machine from the bootable media (p. 239) or using Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and configure recovery.
Volumes (p. 109) Files (p. 112) Acronis Active Restore (p. 121) Applies to: system disk or volume recovery. [Optional] Enable Acronis Active Restore if you need to bring a system online immediately after the recovery is started. Access credentials (p. 106) [Optional] Provide credentials for the destination if the task credentials do not enable recovery of the selected data. To access this setting, click Show access credentials. When to recover Recover (p. 114) Select when to start recovery.
2. Selecting data The backed-up data can be selected using the Data view tab, or the Archive view tab. The Data view tab displays all the backed-up data by versions (the date and time of backup creation) within the selected archive location. The Archive view tab displays the backed-up data by the archives. Selecting data using the Data view Since the Data view tab shares the same functionality with the data catalog, selecting data on the Data view tab is performed in the same way as in the catalog.
Location Details Machine name Local machine Local folders If the archive is stored in a local folder on the machine, expand the group and select the required folder. CD, DVD, BD If the archive is stored on optical media such as CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Discs (BD), expand the group, then select the required drive. First insert the last disc. Then insert the discs in order starting from the first one when the program prompts.
Select Folders/files to browse and search for files and folders in both file-level and disk-level backups. 3. In the Display data backed up for field, specify the time period for which the backed-up data will be displayed. 4. Do any of the following: Select the data to recover in the catalog tree, or in the table to the right of the catalog tree.
Solution: To be able to browse such data, use the Archive view tab of the respective vault. 5.1.2 Access credentials for location Specify the credentials required for access to the location where the backup is stored. To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: Use the task credentials The software will access the location using the credentials of the task account specified in the Task parameters section.
Recover to: Physical machine Available when the Acronis Backup Agent for Windows or Agent for Linux is installed. 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. New virtual machine If Acronis Backup Agent for Windows or Agent for Linux is installed.
Disk destination To specify a destination disk: 1. Select a disk where you want the selected disk to recover to. The destination disk's space should be at least the same size as the uncompressed image data. 2. Click OK. All the data stored on the target disk will be replaced by the backed-up data, so be careful and watch out for non-backed-up data that you might need. NT signature The NT signature is a record that is kept in the MBR. It uniquely identifies the disk for the operating system.
Also, you have to map the volumes manually if they are Linux logical volumes, or Linux software RAID (MD devices). For more information on recovering logical volumes and MD devices, see Recovering MD devices and logical volumes. The automatic mapping is performed as follows. 1. If the disk or volume is recovered to its original location, the mapping process reproduces the original disk/volume layout. The original location for a disk or volume means exactly the same disk or volume that has been backed up.
The new virtual machine will be configured automatically, the source machine configuration being copied where possible. The configuration is displayed in the Virtual Machine Settings (p. 141) section. Check the settings and make changes if necessary. Then you proceed to the regular volume mapping procedure described below. Existing virtual machine Available when the Acronis Backup Agent for Hyper-V or Agent for VMware is installed.
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. Volume (partition) alignment Acronis Backup automatically eliminates volume misalignment – a situation, when volume clusters are not aligned with disk sectors.
Select a location to recover the backed-up files to: Original location Files and folders will be recovered to the same path(s) as they are in the backup. For example, if you have backed up all files and folders in C:\Documents\Finance\Reports\, the files will be recovered to the same path. If the folder does not exist, it will be created automatically. New location Files will be recovered to the location that you specify in the tree.
By name By mask (*) By mask (?) 5.1.5 F.log Excludes all files named "F.log" F Excludes all folders named "F" *.log Excludes all files with the .log extension F* Excludes all files and folders with names starting with "F" (such as folders F, F1 and files F.log, F1.log) F???.log Excludes all .
1. Instant recovery of a failed system on different hardware. 2. Hardware-independent cloning and deployment of operating systems. 3. Physical-to-physical, physical-to-virtual and virtual-to-physical machine migration. 5.2.1 Getting Universal Restore Universal Restore is included in all Acronis products that enable disk-level or single-pass backup. 5.2.
Check access to the drivers in bootable environment Make sure you have access to the device with drivers when working under bootable media. Even if you configure system disk recovery in a Windows environment, the machine will reboot and recovery will proceed in the Linux-based environment. Use WinPE-based media if the device is available in Windows but Linux-based media does not detect it. What if you do not have drivers Windows 7 includes more drivers than the older Windows operating systems.
Add the driver to any of the previously specified locations and click Retry. If you do not remember the location, continue the recovery. If the result is not satisfactory, start Universal Restore without recovery by clicking Apply Universal Restore in the media welcome screen. When configuring the operation, specify the necessary driver. Once Windows boots, it will initialize the standard procedure for installing new hardware.
Limitations Transferring a Linux system between UEFI and BIOS is not supported. Transferring a Windows system between UEFI and BIOS is not supported if a backup is stored in any of these locations: Acronis Cloud Storage Tape device Optical discs (CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs) When transferring a system between UEFI and BIOS is not supported, Acronis Backup initializes the target disk with the same partitioning scheme as the original disk. No adjustment of the operating system is performed.
system BIOS BIOS UEFI UEFI Disk: MBR Disk: GPT Disk: MBR Disk: GPT BIOS The target machine must support BIOS. OS: convertible Additional steps Solution Recover the operating system to an MBR disk or to an uninitialized disk. BIOS OS: nonconvertible 1. Before recovery, turn off the UEFI mode in BIOS 2. Perform the recovery under the bootable media. The convertible OS will be automatically converted to support UEFI booting.
Green background means that the system will be bootable. No user action is required. Yellow background means that you need to perform additional steps to make the system bootable. These steps are not possible on some machines. Original system Target hardware BIOS UEFI BIOS The target disk will be initialized as GPT. OS: convertible The OS will be automatically converted to support UEFI booting. If you want to recover the source disk “as is”: 1. Turn off the UEFI mode in BIOS. 2.
5.4 Acronis Active Restore Active Restore is the Acronis proprietary technology that brings a system online immediately after its recovery is started. Limitations Active Restore is not available when recovering Windows 8/8.1 or Windows Server 2012/2012 R2. Active Restore is meant for instant data recovery on the same machine. It is not available when recovering to dissimilar hardware.
How to use 1. Back up the system disk or volume to a location accessible through the system’s BIOS. This may be Acronis Secure Zone, a USB hard drive, a flash drive or any internal hard drive. 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. 2. Create bootable media. 3.
The system was recovered on dissimilar hardware and the new hardware is incompatible with the most critical drivers included in the backup Solution: Boot the machine using bootable media and apply Acronis Universal Restore (p. 115) to install the appropriate drivers and modules. Windows was recovered to a dynamic volume that cannot be bootable Solution: Recover Windows to a basic, simple or mirrored volume.
5.5.1 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 website. The following is an example of how to reactivate GRUB in case the system disk (volume) is recovered to identical hardware. 1. Start Linux or boot from the bootable media, and then press CTRL+ALT+F2. 2.
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. Reconfigure the bootloader by using tools and documentation from the Linux distribution that you use.
Sometimes, a system cannot be reverted to the factory settings even at boot time. This may be the case if a drive failure occurred, if the factory image became corrupted in Acronis Secure Zone, or if the original drive was replaced with a new one. In these cases, you can revert the system to the factory settings by using the factory bootable media if it was shipped with the machine.
Agent for Windows Bootable media (Linux-based or PE-based) Disk recovery File recovery - + - - - + Windows recovery - + + + - - Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode) + + + + Re-attempt if an error occurs + + + + Windows events log (p. 130) + + - - SNMP (p. 130) + + - - Recover files with their security settings - + - + Mount points (p. 131) - + - - Pre/Post recovery commands (p. 131) + + PE only PE only Recovery priority (p.
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. The preset is Disabled. This option defines whether to check the integrity of the file system after a disk or volume recovery. The check takes place either immediately after recovery or after the machine boots into the recovered operating system.
For a machine running Windows, the %description% variable will be replaced by the text that is given in the Computer description field of the machine. To specify this text, either go to Control panel > System or run the following command as an administrator: net config server /srvcomment: For a machine running Linux, the %description% variable will be replaced by an empty string (""). 5. 6. 7. 8.
When a recoverable error occurs, the program re-attempts to perform the unsuccessful operation. You can set the time interval and the number of attempts. The attempts will be stopped as soon as the operation succeeds OR the specified number of attempts are performed, depending on which comes first. For example, if the network location becomes unavailable or not reachable, the program will attempt to reach the location every 30 seconds, but no more than 5 times.
This option defines whether the agent(s) operating on the managed machine have to log events of the recovery operations in the Application Event Log of Windows (to see this log, run eventvwr.exe or select Control Panel > Administrative tools > Event Viewer). You can filter the events to be logged. The preset is: Use the setting set in the Machine options.
The option enables you to define the commands to be automatically executed before and after the data recovery. 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".
5.7.7.2 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. Select the Fail the task if the command execution fails check box if successful execution of the command is critical for you.
When to use. If you want the backup and the conversion to be executed on a schedule. This helps you maintain a standby virtual server ready to power on in case your physical server fails. If you do not need to adjust the resulting virtual machine settings. How to perform. When creating a backup plan (p. 34), enable conversion of a backup to a virtual machine (p. 136). b) Recover the backed-up disks or volumes to the "New virtual machine" destination When to use.
Citrix XenServer OVA (only during recovery to the "New virtual machine" destination) Kernel-based Virtual Machine Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RAW format) Agent for VMware VMware ESX(i) Agent for Hyper-V Microsoft Hyper-V 6.2.1 Considerations before conversion Converting a UEFI-based machine Virtual machines that use Unified Extensible Hardware Interface (UEFI) are currently supported in VMware ESXi 5 only.
6.2.2 Setting up regular conversion to a virtual machine When creating a backup plan (p. 34), you can set up regular conversion of a disk or volume backup to a virtual machine. By setting up regular conversion, you obtain a copy of your server or workstation on a virtual machine which can be readily powered on in case the original machine fails. Restrictions Conversion of a backup from the following locations is not available: CD, DVD, Blu-Ray Discs, tape devices and Acronis Cloud Storage.
[Virtual Host Name] [Virtual Machine Name] [Virtualization Server Type] Folder on VMware vCenter If the management server is integrated with vCenter Server, the resultant virtual machines will appear in the Acronis Backups folder on the vCenter. You can specify a subfolder for the machines resulting from execution of the plan. 6.2.2.2 Setting up a conversion schedule A disk backup (p.
a centralized backup plan with conversion for multiple machines or multiple local backup plans using the same machine for conversion. What storage will be used for the virtual machines? Network usage As opposed to ordinary backups (TIB files), virtual machine files are transferred uncompressed through the network. Therefore, using a SAN or a storage local to the machine that performs conversion is the best choice from the network usage standpoint.
Otherwise, the existing virtual machine is updated to reflect changes since the last conversion. If updating is not possible (for example, if you deleted the intermediate snapshots, see below), the virtual machine is re-created from scratch. Intermediate snapshots To be able to update the virtual machine, the software stores a few intermediate snapshots of it. They are named Backup… and Replica… and should be kept. Unneeded snapshots are deleted automatically.
2. Click Recover to open the Recover data (p. 101) page. 3. Click Select data (p. 102). Use the Data view tab or the Archive view tab to select the disks or volumes to convert. 4. In Recover to, select New virtual machine. 5. Click Browse. In the VM/VS Selection (p. 140) window, select the resulting virtual machine type or the virtualization server where to create the machine. 6. [Optional] In Storage, you can view or select the storage where the virtual machine will be created. 7.
To select the virtual machine type 1. Choose the Save the virtual machine as a set of files option. 2. In the left part of the window, select the virtual machine type. Use the right part of the window to review details on the selected virtual machine type. [Only if the console is connected to the management server] You can select the machine that will perform recovery. This can be any registered machine where Agent for Windows or Agent for Linux is installed. 3. Click OK to return to the Recover data page.
Processors Initial setting: if not contained in the backup or if the backed-up setting is not supported by the virtualization server, it is the default server's setting. This is the number of processors of the new virtual machine. In most cases, it is set to one. The result of assignment of more than one processor to the machine is not guaranteed. The number of virtual processors may be limited by the host CPU configuration, the virtualization product and the guest operating system.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. For machines running Linux, the necessary drivers are normally already present in the operating system. Create a bootable media (p. 169) with the Universal Restore functionality by using Acronis Bootable Media Builder. Create a virtual machine by using your virtualization product’s native tools. Boot the virtual machine from the media. [When recovering Windows] If you need dynamic volumes, create a volume group by using the disk management functionality (p. 191). Select Actions > Recover.
7 Storing the backed up data 7.1 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 or detachable media. There are no settings for limiting a vault size or number of backups in a vault.
7.1.1 Working with vaults This section briefly describes the main GUI elements of the selected vault, and suggests ways to work with them. Examining information on a vault Information about the selected vault is located at the top pane of the selected vault. Using the stacked bar, you can estimate the vault's load. The vault's load is the proportion of the vault's free space and occupied space (not available if the vault is located on a tape library).
considered as a personal vault available to all users that can log on the system. Personal vaults are created automatically when backing up any of the above locations. Personal vaults can be used by local backup plans or local tasks. Sharing a personal vault Multiple machines can refer to the same physical location; for example, to the same shared folder. However, each of the machines has its own shortcut in the Vaults tree.
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. You have the option to keep or delete archives contained in the folder. Refresh vault table information Click Refresh. While you are reviewing the vault content, archives can be added to the vault, deleted or modified. Click Refresh to update the vault information with the most recent changes.
3. Edit the backup plans that use vault A: redirect their destination to vault B. 4. In the vaults tree, select vault B to check whether the archives are displayed. If not, click Refresh. 5. Delete vault A. 7.2 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.
7.2.1.1 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. To allocate space for Acronis Secure Zone 1. Choose a hard disk (if several) on which to create the zone.
7.2.1.4 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.
If there is not enough unallocated space, the program will take free space from the selected volumes, proportionally reducing the volumes' size. Resizing of locked partitions requires a reboot. Reducing a system volume to the minimum size might prevent the machine's operating system from booting. 4. Click OK. 7.2.2.2 Decreasing Acronis Secure Zone To decrease Acronis Secure Zone 1. On the Manage Acronis Secure Zone page, click Decrease. 2.
Vaults created on removable devices do not have the Data view (p. 104) tab. Usage modes of removable devices When creating a backup plan (p. 34), you can choose whether to use your removable device as a fixed drive or as removable media. The Fixed drive mode presumes that the removable device will always be attached to the machine. The Removable media mode is selected by default.
8 Operations with archives and backups 8.1 Validating archives and backups Validation is an operation that checks the possibility of data recovery from a backup. Validation of a file backup imitates recovery of all files from the backup to a dummy destination. Validation of a disk or volume backup calculates a checksum for every data block saved in the backup. Both procedures are resource-intensive. Validation of an archive will validate all the archive's backups.
Credentials (p. 155) [Optional] Provide credentials for accessing the source if the task account does not have enough privileges to access it. When to validate Start validation (p. 155) Specify when and how often to perform validation. Task parameters Task name [Optional] Enter a unique name for the validation task. A conscious name lets you quickly identify the task among the others. Task's credentials (p. 156) [Optional] The validation task will run on behalf of the user who is creating the task.
To select 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 select a folder stored on NFS share, expand the NFS drives group and click the folder. To select FTP or SFTP server, expand the corresponding group and click the appropriate folder on the server.
Specify the appropriate parameters as follows: Date and time - the date and time when to start the task. The task will be started manually (do not schedule the task) - select this check box, if you wish to start the task manually later. On schedule - to schedule the task. To learn more about how to configure the scheduling parameters, please see the Scheduling (p. 59) section. 8.1.6 Task credentials Provide credentials for the account under which the task will run. To specify credentials 1.
Example. When backing up data to a remote location through an unstable or low-bandwidth network connection (such as backing up through WAN using VPN access), you may want to save the initial full backup to a detachable media. Then, send the media to the remote location. There, the backup will be exported from the media to the target storage. Subsequent incremental backups, which are usually much smaller, can be transferred over the network.
You can access the Export page from the Vaults view. Right-click the object to export (archive or backup) and select Export from the context menu. To access the Export page first select a validation object: an archive or a backup. 1. Select a vault. For this click the Vaults icon in the Navigation pane and select the vault expanding the vaults tree in the Vaults view or directly in the Navigation pane. 2.
8.2.1 Archive selection To specify an archive to export 1. Enter the full path to the archive location in the Path field, or select the required location in the tree (p. 103). 2. In the table to the right of the tree, select the archive. The table displays the names of the archives contained in each location you select. 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.
1. Selecting the export destination Enter the full path to the destination in the Path field, or select the desired destination in the tree. To export data to a centralized unmanaged vault, expand the Centralized vaults group and click the vault. To export data to a personal vault, expand the Personal vaults group and click the vault. To export data to a network share, expand the Network folders group, select the required networked machine and then click the shared folder.
In any of the above cases, provide an archive name that is unique to the destination folder or vault. If you need to redo the export using the same archive name, first delete the archive that resulted from the previous export operation. 8.2.5 Access credentials for destination Specify credentials required for access to the location where the resulting archive will be stored. The user whose name is specified will be considered as the archive owner. To specify credentials 1.
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. 162) Specify the path to the archive location and select the archive containing disk backups. Backup (p. 162) Select the backup. Access credentials (p. 163) [Optional] Provide credentials for the archive location. Mount settings Volumes (p.
8.3.3 Access credentials To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: Use the current user credentials The program will access the location using the credentials of the current user. Use the following credentials The program will access the location using the credentials you specify. Use this option if the current user 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.
To explore a mounted volume select it in the table and click Explore. The default file manager window opens, allowing the user to examine the mounted volume contents. Unmounting images Maintaining the mounted volumes takes considerable system resources. It is recommended that you unmount the volumes after the necessary operations are completed. If not unmounted manually, a volume will remain mounted until the operating system restarts.
that has check boxes for each archive and each backup. Review the selection and make corrections if need be (select the check boxes for the desired archives), then confirm the deletion. Delete all archives in the Please be aware that if filters have been applied to the vaults list, you see only a vault part of the vault content. Be sure that the vault does not contain archives you need to retain before starting the operation. Click Delete all.
Delete a single or multiple backups Select one of the backups you want to delete, then click Delete all archives and backups in the vault Please be aware that if filters have been applied to the vaults list, you see only a part of the vault content. Be sure that the vault does not contain archives you need to retain before starting the operation. Delete. The program duplicates your selection in the Backups deletion (p. 167) window that has check boxes for each archive and each backup.
8.4.4 Deleting archives and backups The Backups deletion window displays the same tab as for the vaults view, but with check boxes for each archive and backup. The archive or backup you have chosen to delete has the check mark. Review the archive or backup that you have selected to delete. If you need to delete other archives and backups select the respective check boxes, then click Delete selected and confirm the deletion.
9 Bootable media Bootable media Bootable media is physical media (CD, DVD, USB flash drive or other removable media supported by a machine BIOS as a boot device) that boots on any PC-compatible machine and enables you to run Acronis Backup Agent either in a Linux-based environment or Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), without the help of an operating system.
When a machine is booted with a PE-based bootable media, you cannot select optical media such as CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Discs (BD) as a backup destination. 9.1 How to create bootable media Acronis offers a dedicated tool for creating bootable media, Acronis Bootable Media Builder. Bootable Media Builder does not require a license if installed together with an agent. To use a media builder on a machine without an agent, you need to enter the license key or have at least one license on the license server.
If not configured, the Acronis loader waits for someone to select whether to boot the operating system (if present) or the Acronis component. If you set, say, 10 sec. for the bootable agent, the agent will launch 10 seconds after the menu is displayed. This enables unattended onsite operation when booting from a PXE server or WDS/RIS. d. [Optional] Remote logon settings: User name and password to be entered on the console side at the connection to the agent.
Specifies the video mode to be used by the bootable media's graphical user interface. The mode number is given by mode_number in the hexadecimal format—for example: vga=0x318 Screen resolution and the number of colors corresponding to a mode number may be different on different machines. We recommend using the vga=ask parameter first to choose a value for mode_number. quiet Disables displaying of startup messages when the Linux kernel is loading, and starts the management console after the kernel is loaded.
9.1.1.2 Network settings While creating Acronis bootable media, you have an option to pre-configure network connections that will be used by the bootable agent. The following parameters can be pre-configured: IP address Subnet mask Gateway DNS server WINS server. Once the bootable agent starts on a machine, the configuration is applied to the machine’s network interface card (NIC). If the settings have not been pre-configured, the agent uses DHCP auto configuration.
If the port has not been pre-configured, the agent uses the default port number (9876.) This port is also used as default by the Acronis Backup Management Console. 9.1.1.4 Drivers for Universal Restore While creating bootable media, you have an option to add Windows drivers to the media. The drivers will be used by Universal Restore when recovering Windows on a machine with a dissimilar processor, different motherboard or different mass storage device than in the backed-up system.
Windows 8 (PE 4.0) Windows 8.1 (PE 5.0) Bootable Media Builder supports both 32-bit and 64-bit WinPE distributions. The 32-bit WinPE distributions can also work on 64-bit hardware. However, you need a 64-bit distribution to boot a machine that uses Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). PE images based on WinPE 4 and later require approximately 1 GB of RAM to work. 9.1.2.1 Preparation: WinPE 2.x and 3.x To be able to create or modify PE 2.x or 3.
Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 8.1 (PE 5.0): http://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=39982. You can find system requirements for installation by following the above links. 2. Install Assessment and Deployment Kit on the machine. 3. Install Bootable Media Builder on the same machine. 9.1.2.3 Adding Acronis Plug-in to WinPE To add Acronis Plug-in to WinPE ISO: 1.
8. Choose whether you want to create ISO or WIM image or upload the media on a server (Acronis PXE Server, WDS or RIS). 9. Specify the full path to the resulting image file including the file name, or specify the server and provide the user name and password to access it. 10. Check your settings in the summary screen and click Proceed. 11. Burn the .ISO to CD or DVD using a third-party tool or copy to a flash drive. Once a machine boots into WinPE, Acronis Backup starts automatically.
Local connection To operate directly on the machine booted from bootable media, click Manage this machine locally in the startup window. Remote connection To connect a management console to a remote machine booted from bootable media, select Connect > Manage a remote machine in the console menu, and then specify one of the machine's IP addresses. Provide the user name and password if these were configured when creating the bootable media. 9.
If you do not wish to follow this procedure every time you boot from media on a given hardware configuration, re-create the bootable media with the appropriate mode number (in our example, vga=0x318) typed in the Kernel parameters window (see the Bootable Media Builder (p. 169) section for details). 9.3.
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
pressing F11. It eliminates the need for a separate media or network connection to start the bootable rescue utility. Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is especially useful for mobile users. If a failure occurs, reboot the machine, wait for the prompt "Press F11 for Acronis Startup Recovery Manager…" to appear, and hit F11. The program will start and you can perform recovery. You can also back up using Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, while on the move.
10 Disk management Acronis Disk Director Lite is a tool for preparing a machine disk/volume configuration for recovering the volume images saved by the Acronis Backup software. Sometimes after the volume has been backed up and its image placed into a safe storage, the machine disk configuration might change due to a HDD replacement or hardware loss.
1. Back up the disk on which volumes will be created or managed. Having your most important data backed up to another hard disk, network share or removable media will allow you to work on disk volumes being reassured that your data is safe. 2. Test your disk to make sure it is fully functional and does not contain bad sectors or file system errors. 3. Do not perform any disk/volume operations while running other software that has low-level disk access.
10.5 "Disk management" view Acronis Disk Director Lite is controlled through the Disk management view of the console. The top part of the view contains a disks and volumes table enabling data sorting and columns customization and toolbar. The table presents the numbers of the disks, as well as assigned letter, label, type, capacity, free space size, used space size, file system, and status for each volume.
10.6.1 Disk initialization If you add any new disk to your machine, Acronis Disk Director Lite will notice the configuration change and scan the added disk to include it to the disk and volume list. If the disk is still not initialized or, possibly, has a file structure unknown to the machine system, that means that no programs can be installed on it and you will not be able to store any files there. Acronis Disk Director Lite will detect that the disk is unusable by the system and needs to be initialized.
10.6.2.1 Selecting source and target disks The program displays a list of partitioned disks and asks the user to select the source disk, from which data will be transferred to another disk. The next step is selection of a disk as target for the cloning operation. The program enables the user to select a disk if its size will be sufficient to hold all the data from the source disk without any loss.
You have the following two alternatives to retain system bootability on the target disk volume: 1. Copy NT signature – to provide the target disk with the source disk NT signature matched with the Registry keys also copied on the target disk. 2. Leave NT signature – to keep the old target disk signature and update the operating system according to the signature. If you need to copy the NT signature: 1. Select the Copy NT signature check box.
Dynamic disk conversion: MBR to GPT Acronis Disk Director Lite does not support direct MBR to GPT conversion for dynamic disks. However you can perform the following conversions to reach the goal using the program: 1. MBR disk conversion: dynamic to basic (p. 188) using the Convert to basic operation. 2. Basic disk conversion: MBR to GPT using the Convert to GPT operation. 3. GPT disk conversion: basic to dynamic (p. 187) using the Convert to dynamic operation. 10.6.
System disk conversion Acronis Disk Director Lite does not require an operating system reboot after basic to dynamic conversion of the disk, if: 1. There is a single Windows 2008/Vista operating system installed on the disk. 2. The machine runs this operating system.
safe conversion of a dynamic disk to basic when it contains volumes with data for simple and mirrored volumes in multiboot systems, bootability of a system that was offline during the operation 10.6.7 Changing disk status Changing disk status is effective for Windows Vista SP1, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 operating systems and applies to the current disk layout (p. 182).
Store backups (images) of other volumes/disks on a special volume; Install a new operating system (or swap file) on a new volume; Add new hardware to a machine. In Acronis Disk Director Lite the tool for creating volumes is the Create volume Wizard. 10.7.1.1 Types of dynamic volumes Simple Volume A volume created from free space on a single physical disk. It can consist of one region on the disk or several regions, virtually united by the Logical Disk Manager (LDM).
and is able to overcome the physical disk size limitations with a higher than mirrored disk-to-volume size ratio. 10.7.1.2 Create volume wizard The Create volume wizard lets you create any type of volume (including system and active), select a file system, label, assign a letter, and also provides other disk management functions.
To create a RAID-5 volume: Select three destination disks to create the volume on. After you choose the disks, the wizard will calculate the maximum size of the resulting volume, depending on the size of the unallocated space on the disks you chose and the requirements of the volume type you have previously decided upon.
If you are creating a basic volume, which can be made into a system volume, this page will be different, giving you the opportunity to select the volume Type — Primary (Active Primary) or Logical. Typically Primary is selected to install an operating system to a volume. Select the Active (default) value if you want to install an operating system on this volume to boot at machine startup. If the Primary button is not selected, the Active option will be inactive.
10.7.3 Set active volume If you have several primary volumes, you must specify one to be the boot volume. For this, you can set a volume to become active. A disk can have only one active volume, so if you set a volume as active, the volume, which was active before, will be automatically unset. If you need to set a volume active: 1. Select a primary volume on a basic MBR disk to set as active. 2. Right-click on the selected volume, and then click Mark as active in the context menu.
an application volume, DATA — a data volume, etc., but it does not imply that only the type of data stated with the label could be stored on such a volume. In Windows, volume labels are shown in the Explorer disk and folder tree: LABEL1(C:), LABEL2(D:), LABEL3(E:), etc. LABEL1, LABEL2 and LABEL3 are volume labels. A volume label is shown in all application dialog boxes for opening and saving files. If you need to change a volume label: 1. Right-click on the selected volume, and then click Change label. 2.
10.8 Pending operations All operations, which were prepared by the user in manual mode or with the aid of a wizard, are considered pending until the user issues the specific command for the changes to be made permanent. Until then, Acronis Disk Director Lite will only demonstrate the new volume structure that will result from the operations that have been planned to be performed on disks and volumes.
11 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. This section also covers supplementary operations that can be performed on a managed machine, such as changing a license, adjusting Machine options, and collecting system information. 11.1 Backup plans and tasks The Backup plans and tasks view keeps you informed of data protection on a given machine.
To Do View details of a plan/task Click Details. In the respective Plan Details (p. 206) or Task Details (p. 207) window, review the plan or task details. View plan's/task's log Click Log. You will be taken to the Log (p. 207) view containing the list of the log entries grouped by the plan/task-related activities. Run a plan/task Backup plan 1. Click Run. 2. In the drop-down list, select the plan's task you need run.
To Do Edit a plan/task Click Edit. Backup plan editing is performed in the same way as creation (p. 34), 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.
2 Running At least one task is running. No action is required. Otherwise, see 3. 3 Waiting At least one task is waiting. Otherwise, see 4. Waiting for condition. This situation is quite normal, but delaying a backup for too long is risky. The solution may be to set the maximum delay (p. 97) after which the task will start anyway or force the condition (tell the user to log off, enable the required network connection.) Waiting while another task locks the necessary resources.
A task changes to the Running state when the event specified by the schedule occurs AND all the conditions set in the backup plan are met AND no other task that locks the necessary resources is running. In this case, nothing prevents the task from running. Waiting A task changes to the Waiting state when the task is about to start, but another task using the same resources is already running. In particular, more than one backup tasks cannot run simultaneously on a machine.
Deploying of a backup plan to multiple machines You want to use the same backup plan on multiple machines. Export this plan from one of the machines and deploy it as a file (p. 204) to the other machines. Adjusting credentials Before exporting a backup plan that will further be imported to a different machine, check the user account under which the plan runs (Edit > Plan parameters > Show task credentials, comments, label > Plan's credentials).
To change the encrypted password 1. In the command line, run the acronis_encrypt utility: acronis_encrypt UserPassword#1 (here UserPassword#1 is the password you want to encrypt). 2. The utility outputs a string, for example "XXXYYYZZZ888". 3. Copy this string and paste it into the tag as follows: XXXYYYZZZ888 The acronis_encrypt utility is available on any machine where Acronis Backup Management Console or Acronis Backup command-line utility (acrocmd) is installed.
1. Add the tag with "disks" or "files" value, depending on the type of the template you need. 2. Add the tag. 3. Inside the tag, add the with the required template. The template must correspond to the directly specified item. For example, if the specified item has the "disks" value, you can use the [SYSTEM], [BOOT] and [Fixed Volumes] templates; but you cannot use the [All Files] or [All Profiles Folder] templates.
folder, the agent imports the backup plan from that file. If you change (or delete) an .xml file in the dedicated folder, the agent automatically changes (or deletes) the appropriate backup plan. Editing the export file A backup plan imported in such way cannot be edited through the graphical user interface. You can edit the export file (p. 202) with a text editor either before or after the deployment.
11.1.5 Backup plan details The Backup plan details window (also duplicated on the Information panel) aggregates all information on the selected backup plan. The respective message will appear at the top of the tabs, if execution of the plan requires user interaction. The message contains a brief description of the problem and action buttons that let you select the appropriate action or stop the plan.
Name - name of the archive. Location - name of the vault or path to the folder, where the archive is stored. Archive comments - comments on the archive (if provided). 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th location - names of the locations to which the archive was copied or moved (if specified in the backup plan). Settings The Settings tab displays the following information: Backup scheme - the selected backup scheme and all its settings with schedules.
Select multiple log entries non-contiguous: hold down CTRL and click the log entries one by one contiguous: select a single log entry, then hold down SHIFT and click another log entry. All the log entries between the first and last selections will be selected too. View a log entry’s details 1. Select a log entry. 2. Do one of the following: Double click the selection. Click Details. The log entry's details will be displayed. See Log entry details for details of the log entry's operations.
Code - It can be blank or the program error code if the event type is error. Error code is an integer number that may be used by Acronis support service to solve the problem. Module - It can be blank or the number of the program module where the event has occurred. It is an integer number that may be used by Acronis support service to solve the problem. Owner - The user name of the backup plan owner (p. 21). Message - The event text description.
11.4 Changing a license By changing the license, you switch a product from trial mode to full mode or switch to a different product. The following table summarizes the available options. Switching a license Why you may need it Trial > Full After trying the product, you decided to buy a license. Full > Full, different product You want to upgrade from Acronis Backup to Acronis Backup Advanced in order to use the centralized management capability.
11.6 Adjusting machine options The machine options define the general behavior of all Acronis Backup agents operating on the managed machine, and so the options are considered machine-specific. To access the machine options, connect the console to the managed machine and then select Options > Machine options from the top menu. 11.6.1 Additional settings Specify what to do if the machine is about to be shut down while a task is running This option is effective only for Windows operating systems.
When enabled, you can specify the keeping period for the accepted alerts. The accepted alerts older than this period will be deleted from the table automatically. Automatically move inactive alerts to "Accepted alerts" This option defines whether to accept all the alerts that become inactive and move them to the Accepted alerts table automatically. The preset is: Disabled. When enabled, you can specify the alert types to apply this option to. 11.6.3.
b. Use encryption – you can opt for encrypted connection to the mail server. SSL and TLS encryption types are available for selection. c. Some Internet service providers require authentication on the incoming mail server before being allowed to send something. If this is your case, select the Log on to incoming mail server check box to enable a POP server and to set up its settings: Incoming mail server (POP) – enter the name of the POP server. Port – set the port of the POP server.
This option is not available when operating under the bootable media. The option defines whether the agent(s) operating on the managed machine have to send the log events to the specified Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) managers. You can choose the types of events to be sent. You can override the settings set here, exclusively for the events that occur during backup or during recovery, in the Default backup and recovery options.
Linux To receive SNMP messages on a machine running Linux, the net-snmp (for RHEL and SUSE) or the snmpd (for Debian) package has to be installed. SNMP can be configured using the snmpconf command. The default configuration files are located in the /etc/snmp directory: /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf - configuration file for the Net-SNMP SNMP agent /etc/snmp/snmptrapd.conf - configuration file for the Net-SNMP trap daemon. 11.6.5.3 Windows event log This option is effective only in Windows operating systems.
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. 11.6.
12 Cloud backup This section provides details about using the Acronis Cloud Backup service. This service enables you to back up your data to Acronis Cloud Storage. Acronis Cloud Backup might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://www.acronis.com/my/cloud-backup/corporate To configure backup to the cloud storage or recovery from the storage, follow the regular steps described in the corresponding sections: Creating a backup plan (p.
Example You might want to use the following backup strategy for a file server. Back up the critical files twice a day on a schedule. Set the retention rule "Delete backups older than" 7 days. This means that after every backup the software will check for backups older than 7 days and delete them automatically. Run backup of the server's system volume manually as required. For example, after the operating system updates. Manually delete the backups that you do not need. 12.1.
Workstation operating systems Windows 2000 Professional SP4 Windows XP Professional SP2+ (x86, x64) Windows Vista – all editions except for Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium (x86, x64) Windows 7 – all editions except for the Starter and Home editions (x86, x64) Windows 8/8.1 – all editions except for the Windows RT editions (x86, x64) Virtualization products (host-based backup of virtual machines) VMware ESX Infrastructure 3.5 Update 2+ VMware ESX(i) 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, 5.1, and 5.
12.1.6.3 Is the cloud storage available under Acronis bootable media? Recovery from Acronis Cloud Storage is available but backup to the storage is not. 12.1.6.4 Can I use Acronis Universal Restore when recovering a system from the cloud storage? Yes. Acronis Universal Restore is always available when recovering a system from the cloud storage. 12.1.6.5 What if a network connection is lost during cloud backup or recovery? The software will try to reach the cloud storage every 30 seconds.
12.1.7 Initial Seeding FAQ This section explains what Initial Seeding is, why you would want to use it and provides some usage details. 12.1.7.1 What is Initial Seeding? Initial Seeding is an extra service that lets you save an initial full backup locally and then send it to Acronis on a hard disk drive. Acronis uploads the backup to the cloud storage. After that, you can add incremental backups to this full backup, either manually or on a schedule.
registration section. The registered license appears on the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab on your account management webpage. A license purchased from the Acronis online store appears on the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab immediately after the payment is processed. 12.1.7.8 How do I perform initial seeding? 1. Ensure that you have activated an Acronis Cloud Backup subscription on the machine where you will do initial seeding (skip this step if you have a volume subscription). 2.
Packaging If possible, use the original packaging. Otherwise, packaging materials can be obtained at any shipping outlet or stationary store. You should also include all necessary cables or adapters to the drive. Acronis will not be able to process your initial seeding request if there are no cables included. The following are instructions about how to package your hard disk drive. Step 1 Delicately remove your hard disk drive from the machine.
Step 4 Choose the transport company that you will use for shipping. On that company's website, prepare and print two prepaid shipping labels: 1. Shipping label for sending your hard drive. This label is placed on the top of the box. You should send your package to one of the Acronis data centers. The data center address can be obtained on the Initial seeding / Recovery tab of your account management page by clicking Datacenter address.
Step 5 Securely seal the box with a sturdy tape. Then, stick the shipping label for sending your hard drive to the top of the box, so the label does not wrap around the edge of the package. 12.1.7.10 How do I track an Initial Seeding order status? On the Acronis website, the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab shows you the status of all your orders. In addition, you will receive e-mail notifications about the most important events. Available – The license is available for using on any machine.
specified). If a prepaid shipping label was not provided with the media, the media will be discarded. [Occasional] The order is on hold – Your order was placed on hold due to technical difficulties processing the order. Acronis is working on resolving these issues. [Occasional] The order has been cancelled – The order had been cancelled before the media was shipped, so returning the media is not required. [Occasional] The order has been cancelled.
12.1.8.7 How to buy a Large Scale Recovery license? You can buy a Large Scale Recovery license from an Acronis partner or from the Acronis online store. Having purchased a license from an Acronis partner, you receive a confirmation e-mail with a registration code. Log in to your Acronis account and enter the registration code in the product registration section. The registered license appears on the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab on your account management webpage.
12.1.9.1 How do I access my account management webpage? Go to http://www.acronis.com/my/cloud-backup/corporate and log in to your account (create one if you are not registered). To access this webpage from Acronis Backup: 1. On the Actions menu, click Back up now or Create backup plan. 2. Click Location, and then click Buy or manage your subscriptions. 3. Log in to your account (create one if you are not registered). 12.1.9.
Volume subscriptions To renew a volume subscription, go to the account management webpage, click Renew next to the volume subscription, and then follow the on-screen instructions. The new expiration date will appear in the Expires column. If the new subscription has the same storage quota as the old one, the subscription periods will be added together. If the new subscription has a larger storage quota, the resulting subscription period will be recalculated.
12.1.9.8 Can I cancel my subscription? Just wait until the subscription expires. Refunds are not available for the cloud backup subscriptions. 12.2 Where do I start? Go to http://www.acronis.com/my/cloud-backup/corporate and log in to your account (create one if you are not registered). This is your account management webpage. Here you can get a trial subscription, locate an Acronis partner or buy subscriptions online.
12.4 Activating cloud backup subscriptions Activating a subscription on a machine means allowing the machine to back up to the cloud storage. A volume subscription is activated automatically as soon as you start backing up the machine to Acronis Cloud Storage. A subscription for PC needs to be activated manually. Its subscription period starts at the moment of activation. Important Before activating the first subscription for your account, check the country selected in your profile.
Depending on your settings, this backup will be either full or incremental. But its size is not likely to be less than a full backup size. Therefore, it is not practical to reassign a subscription to a machine whose first backup was done as an initial seeding. You will need to either redo the initial seeding (which requires a new license) or to transfer the sizeable backup over the Internet. All earlier created backups remain intact. You can delete them manually if necessary.
12.6 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser By using a web browser, you can browse Acronis Cloud Storage, view contents of file-level archives, and download the selected files and folders. The following browsers support these operations: Internet Explorer 7 or later Mozilla Firefox 3.5 or later Google Chrome 10 or later Safari 5.0.5 or later To retrieve files from the cloud storage: 1. Go to the account management webpage (p. 228) and click Recover files from Acronis Cloud.
Operations The following operations are not possible.
Assigned subscription A subscription that has been assigned to a machine. Available subscription A subscription that is not assigned to any machine. Extra service A service that you can use in addition to cloud backup subscriptions. Increase storage quota Replace a subscription with another one that has a greater storage quota. The remaining subscription period is reduced in proportion to the capacity increase.
Storage quota The amount of storage space that can be occupied according to the subscription. Subscription Permission for a machine or for multiple machines to use a specific amount of space in the cloud storage, for a specific period of time. Subscription period The period during which the subscription remains activated. You can back up and recover the machine during this period. Recovery is possible for extra 30 days after this period ends.
13 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. 243) 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.
Acronis Universal Restore The Acronis proprietary technology that helps boot up Windows or Linux on dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset. Universal Restore is not available: when the image being recovered is located in Acronis Secure Zone (p. 237) or when using Acronis Active Restore (p.
Backup options Configuration parameters of a backup operation (p. 238), 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. 239). 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 [optionally] additional operations to perform with the backups (replication (p. 248), validation (p.
Bootable media A physical media (CD, DVD, USB flash drive or other media supported by a machine (p. 246) as a boot device) that contains the bootable agent (p. 239) or Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) (p. 250) with the Acronis Plug-in for WinPE (p. 237). A machine can also be booted into the above environments using the network boot from Acronis PXE Server or Windows Deployment Service (WDS). These servers with uploaded bootable components can also be thought of as a kind of bootable media.
creating and managing centralized vaults (p. 241) for storing archives managing storage nodes (p. 248) monitoring activities of the Acronis Backup components, creating reports, viewing the centralized log and more. Centralized task A task (p. 249) propagated to a machine from the management server (p. 247). Such task can be modified only by editing the original task or centralized backup plan (p. 240) on the management server.
the next incremental (p. 245) one. The backups will be combined into a single full backup which will be dated with the incremental backup's date. Since consolidation may take a lot of time and system resources, retention rules provide an option to not delete backups with dependencies. In our example, the full backup will be retained until the incremental one also becomes obsolete. Then both backups will be deleted.
disk management operations, such as clone a disk, create volume, convert volume. A kind of direct management is performed when using bootable media (p. 239). Disaster recovery plan (DRP) A document that contains a list of backed up data items and detailed instructions on how to recover these items from a backup. If the corresponding backup option (p.
dynamic volumes' configuration. Each dynamic disk holds the complete information about all dynamic volumes existing in the disk group which makes for better storage reliability. The database occupies the last 1MB of an MBR disk. On a GPT disk, Windows creates the dedicated LDM Metadata partition, taking space from the Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR.
E Encrypted archive A backup archive (p. 238) encrypted according to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). When the encryption option and a password for the archive are set in the backup options (p. 238), each backup belonging to the archive is encrypted by the agent (p. 238) before saving the backup to its destination. Encrypted vault A managed vault (p. 246) to which anything written is encrypted and anything read is decrypted transparently by the storage node (p.
Indexing An activity (p. 238) performed by a storage node (p. 248) after a backup (p. 238) has been saved to a deduplicating vault (p. 242). During indexing, the storage node performs the following operations: Moves data blocks from the backup to a special file within the vault. This file is called the deduplication data store.
Managed vault A centralized vault (p. 241) managed by a storage node (p. 248). Archives (p. 238) 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 cleanup (p. 241) and validation (p. 249) for each archive stored in the managed vault.
Registered machine A machine (p. 246) managed by a management server (p. 247). A machine can be registered on only one management server at a time. A machine becomes registered as a result of the registration (p. 248) procedure. Registration A procedure that adds a managed machine (p. 246) to a management server (p. 247). Registration sets up a trust relationship between the agent (p. 238) residing on the machine and the server.
relieve managed machines (p. 246) of unnecessary CPU load by performing cleanup (p. 241), validation (p. 249) and other operations with backup archives (p. 238) which otherwise would be performed by agents (p. 238) drastically reduce backup traffic and storage space taken by the archives (p. 238) by using deduplication (p. 242) prevent access to the backup archives, even in case the storage medium is stolen or accessed by a malefactor, by using encrypted vaults (p. 245).
Virtual machine On Acronis Backup Management Server (p. 247), a machine (p. 246) is considered virtual if it can be backed up from the virtualization host without installing an agent (p. 238) on the machine. Such machine appears in the Virtual machines section. If an agent is installed into the guest system, the machine appears in the Machines with agents section.
