Acronis® Backup & Recovery 10™ Advanced Server Virtual Edition User's Guide
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2009. All rights reserved. “Acronis” and “Acronis Secure Zone” are registered trademarks of Acronis, Inc. "Acronis Compute with Confidence", “Acronis Startup Recovery Manager”, “Acronis Active Restore” and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc. Windows and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Table of Contents 1. Introducing Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 ......................................................... 7 1.1. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 overview ............................................................................ 7 1.2. Getting started .................................................................................................................... 8 1.2.1. 1.3. 1.3.1. 1.3.2. 1.3.3. 1.3.4. 1.3.5. 1.3.6. 1.3.7. Using the management console .............................
2.14.6. 2.14.7. 2.14.8. 3. Deduplication ............................................................................................................................................. 77 Privileges for centralized management.................................................................................................... 82 Communication between Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components............................................... 89 Options ..............................................................
6. Direct management ............................................................................................ 193 6.1. 6.1.1. 6.1.2. 6.1.3. 6.2. 6.2.1. 6.2.2. 6.2.3. 6.2.4. 6.2.5. 6.2.6. 6.2.7. 6.2.8. 6.2.9. 6.2.10. 6.2.11. 6.3. 6.3.1. 6.3.2. 6.3.3. 6.3.4. 6.3.5. 6.3.6. 6.3.7. 6.3.8. 6.3.9. 6.3.10. 6.3.11. 6.3.12. 6.3.13. 6.3.14. 6.4. 6.4.1. 6.4.2. 6.4.3. 6.4.4. 6.4.5. 6.4.6. 6.5. 6.5.1. 6.5.2. 6.5.3. 6.5.4. Administering a managed machine ..........................................................
.8.1. 6.8.2. Creating Acronis Secure Zone .................................................................................................................266 Managing Acronis Secure Zone ..............................................................................................................268 6.9. Acronis Startup Recovery Manager ................................................................................ 269 6.10. Bootable media ............................................................
1. Introducing Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 1.1. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 overview Based on Acronis’ patented disk imaging and bare metal restore technologies, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 succeeds Acronis True Image Echo as the next generation disaster recovery solution.
• Redesigned GUI Dashboard for quick operational decision making Overview of all configured and running operations with color-coding for successful and failed operations • Enterprise level of security Controlling user rights to perform operations and access backups Running services with minimal user rights Restricted remote access to a backup agent Secure communication between the product components Using third-party certificates for authentication of the components Data encryption options for both data
To start with centralized management: 1. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server (p. 20). 2. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agents on the machines that need data protection. When installing the agents, register each of the machines on the management server. To do so, enter the server's IP or name and the centralized administrator's credentials in one of the installation wizard's windows. 3. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console (p.
The advanced way of centralized management To make the best use of the centralized management capabilities offered by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, you can opt for: • Using deduplication 1. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node (p. 21) and add it to the management server. 2. Create the deduplicating managed vault on the storage node. 3. Install the Acronis Deduplication add-on to the agent on all machines that will back up to the deduplicating vault. 4.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console - Welcome screen Key elements of the console workspace Name Description Navigation pane Contains the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar and lets you navigate to the different views (see the Navigation pane (p. 11) section.) Actions and tools pane Contains bars with a set of actions that can be performed and tools (see the Actions and Tools pane (p. 13) section).
Navigation tree The Navigation tree enables you to navigate across the program views. Views depend on whether the console is connected to a managed machine or to the management server. Views for a managed machine When the console is connected to a managed machine, the following views are available in the navigation tree. • [Machine name]. Root of the tree also called a Welcome view. Displays the name of the machine the console is currently connected to.
the history of operations logged in the local logs of the registered machines and the storage nodes. Shortcuts bar The Shortcuts bar appears under the navigation tree. It offers you an easy and convenient way of connection to the machines in demand by adding them as shortcuts. To add a shortcut to a machine 1. Connect the console to a managed machine. 2. In the navigation tree, right-click the machine's name (a root element of the navigation tree), and then select Create shortcut.
Actions Contains a list of common operations that can be performed on a managed machine or on a management server. Always the same for all views. Clicking the operation opens the respective action page (see the Action pages (p. 16) section.) All the actions can also be accessed in the Actions menu. "Actions" bar on a managed machine and on a management server Tools Contains a list of the Acronis tools. Always the same across all the program views. All the tools can also be accessed in the Tools menu.
The management console "remembers" the way the panes' borders are set. When you run the management console next time, all the panes' borders will have the same position that was set previously. 1.2.1.4. Main area, views and action pages The main area is a basic place where you work with the console. Here you create, edit and manage backup plans, policies, tasks and perform other operations.
o o o By clicking in the items in the [Item's name] Actions bar (on the Actions and Tools pane); By selecting the items in the Actions menu; By right-clicking the item and selecting the operation in the context menu. Action pages An action page appears in the main area when clicking any action item in the Actions menu, or in the Actions bar on the Actions and tools pane. It contains steps you need to perform in order to create and launch any task, or a backup plan, or backup policy.
Action page - Controls Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 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.
Console The console provides Graphical User Interface and remote connection to the agents and other Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components. 1.3.1. Agent for Windows This agent enables disk-level and file-level data protection under Windows. Disk backup Disk-level data protection is based on backing up either a disk or a volume file system as a whole, along with all the information necessary for the operating system to boot; or all the disk sectors using the sector-by-sector approach (raw mode).
1.3.1.2. Deduplication This add-on enables the agent to back up data to deduplicating vaults managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node. 1.3.1.3. Agent for Hyper-V Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Hyper-V protects virtual machines residing on a Hyper-V virtualization server. The agent allows for backing up virtual machines from the host without having to install agents on each virtual machine.
can choose not to install the bootable components and perform operations that require reboot using bootable media. Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. 390). The media builder can create bootable media based on either Windows Preinstallation Environment, or Linux kernel. The Universal Restore add-on enables you to use the restore to dissimilar hardware functionality on the machine where the agent is installed, and create bootable media with this functionality.
1. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express that comes with the installation package and installs on the same machine. In this case, an SQL server instance with three databases will be created on the machine. 2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (any edition) previously installed on any machine. 3. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (any edition) previously installed on any machine.
Storage node-side cleanup and validation Archives, stored in unmanaged vaults, are maintained by the agents (p. 388) that create the archives. This means that each agent not only backs up data to the archive, but also executes service tasks that apply to the archive, the retention rules and validation rules specified by the backup plan (p. 389). To relieve the managed machines of unnecessary CPU load, execution of the service tasks can be delegated to the storage node.
1.3.6. Management Console Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console is an administrative tool for remote or local access to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agents, and in the product editions that include the centralized management capability, to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server. The console has two distributions for installation on Windows and installation on Linux.
• Windows 7 - all editions except for the Starter and Home editions* * Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node handles tape libraries and autoloaders by using Removable Storage Management (RSM). Since Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 do not support RSM, a storage node installed in these operating systems does not support tape libraries and autoloaders. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for ESX/ESXi • • VMware ESX Infrastructure 3.5 Update 2+ VMware ESX/ESXi 4.
When using the agent on a 64-bit RedHat based distribution, such as RHEL, CentOS, Fedora or Scientific Linux, make sure that the following 32-bit packages are installed in the system: pam.i386 libselinux.i386 libsepol.i386 These packages should be available in the repository of your Linux distribution. 1.5.
CD-RW/ DVD-RW drive for bootable media creation Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows Item Minimum requirements Recommended System memory 256 MB 512 MB or more Installation disk space 100 MB Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Linux Item Minimum requirements Recommended System memory 256 MB 512 MB or more Installation disk space 100 MB Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server Item Minimum requirements Recommended System memory 512 MB 1 GB or more Installation disk sp
Support shall consist of supplying telephone or other electronic support to you in order to help you locate and, on its own, correct problems with the Software and supplying patches, updates and other changes that Acronis, at its sole discretion, makes or adds to the Software and which Acronis makes generally available, without additional charge, to other licensees of the Software that are enrolled in Support.
2. Understanding Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 This section attempts to give its readers a clear understanding of the product so that they can use the product in various circumstances without step-by-step instructions. 2.1. Basic concepts Please familiarize yourself with the basic notions used in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 graphical user interface and documentation. Advanced users are welcome to use this section as a step-by-step quick start guide. The details can be found in the context help.
The following diagram illustrates the notions discussed above. For more definitions please refer to the Glossary. Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Backup using bootable media You can boot the machine using the bootable media, configure the backup operation in the same way as a simple backup plan and execute the operation. This will help you extract files and logical volumes from a system that failed to boot, take an image of the offline system or back up sector-by-sector an unsupported file system. Recovery under operating system When it comes to data recovery, you create a recovery task on the managed machine.
The following diagram illustrates data recovery under the operating system (online). No backup can proceed on the machine while the recovery operation is taking place. If required, you can connect the console to another machine and configure a recovery operation on that machine. This ability (remote parallel recovery) first appeared in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10; the previous Acronis products do not provide it.
If the machine fails to boot or you need to recover data to bare metal, you boot the machine using the bootable media and configure the recovery operation in the same way as the recovery task. The following diagram illustrates the recovery using the bootable media. 2.2. User privileges on a managed machine Windows When managing a machine running Windows, the scope of a user's management rights depends on the user's privileges on the machine.
• Back up and recover the entire machine or any data on the machine, with or without using a disk snapshot. Members of the Administrators group also can: • View and manage backup plans and tasks owned by any user on the machine. Linux When managing a machine running Linux, the user has or obtains the root privileges, and so can: • Back up and recover any data or the entire machine, having full control over all Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent operations and log files on the machine.
Plan's credentials and task credentials Any task running on a machine runs on behalf of a user. When creating a plan or a task, you have the option to explicitly specify an account under which the plan or the task will run. Your choice depends on whether the plan or task is intended for manual start or for executing on schedule. Manual start You can skip the Plan's (Task) credentials step. Every time you start the task, the task will run under the credentials with which you are currently logged on.
Full backup A full backup stores all data selected for backup. A full backup underlies any archive and forms the base for incremental and differential backups. An archive can contain multiple full backups or consist of only full backups. A full backup is self-sufficient - you do not need access to any other backup to recover data from a full backup. It is widely accepted that a full backup is the slowest to do but the fastest to restore.
An incremental or differential backup created after disk defragmentation might be considerably larger than usual because defragmentation changes file locations on the disk and the backup reflects these changes. It is recommended that you re-create a full backup after disk defragmentation. The following table summarizes the advantages and shortcomings of each backup type as they appear based on common knowledge.
GFS-related settings of the backup plan Start backup at: Back up on: This step creates the total backup schedule, that is, defines all the days you need to back up on. Assume you select backing up at 8:00 PM on workdays. Here is the total schedule you have defined. “B” stands for “backup”. The total schedule. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly This step forms the daily, weekly and monthly cycles in the schedule. Select a day of the week from the days selected in the previous step.
Backup tasks created according to the GFS scheme by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly: Friday Keep backups: Daily This step defines the retention rule for daily backups. The cleanup task will run after each daily backup and delete all daily backups that are older than you specify. Keep backups: Weekly This step defines the retention rule for weekly backups.
An ideal archive created according to the GFS scheme. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly: Friday Keep daily backups: 7 days Keep weekly backups: 2 weeks Keep monthly backups: 6 months Starting from the third week, weekly backups will be regularly deleted. After 6 months, monthly backups will start to be deleted. The diagram for weekly and monthly backups will look similar to the week-based timescale.
An archive created according to the GFS scheme by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly: Friday Keep daily backups: 7 days Keep weekly backups: 2 weeks Keep monthly backups: 6 months 2.6. Tower of Hanoi backup scheme The need to have frequent backups always conflicts with the cost of keeping such backups for a long time. The Tower of Hanoi (ToH) backup scheme is a useful compromise.
For example, if there are five rings labeled A, B, C, D, and E in the puzzle, the solution gives the following order of moves: The Tower of Hanoi backup scheme is based on the same patterns. It operates with Sessions instead of Moves and with Backup levels instead of Rings. Commonly an N-level scheme pattern contains (Nth power of two) sessions. So, the five-level Tower of Hanoi backup scheme cycles the pattern that consists of 16 sessions (moves from 1 to 16 in the above figure).
• • differential backups on all intermediate levels (B, C and D for five-level pattern) • the scheme forces every backup level to keep only the most recent backup, other backups from the level have to be deleted; however backup deletion is postponed in cases where the backup is a base for another incremental or differential one • an old backup on a level is kept until a new backup has been successfully created on the level.
to this interval and deletes all backups created before that moment. None of the backups created after this moment will be deleted. 2. Keep the archive size within This is the maximum size of the archive. Every time a retention rule is applied, the program compares the actual archive size with the value you set and deletes the oldest backups to keep the archive size within this value. The diagram below shows the archive content before and after the deletion.
Combination of rules 1 and 2 You can limit both the backups’ lifetime and the archive size. The diagram below illustrates the resulting rule. Example Delete backups older than = 3 Months Keep the archive size within = 200GB Never delete backups younger than = 10 Days • Every time the retention rules are applied, the program will delete all backups created more than 3 months (or more exactly, 90 days) ago.
This mode ensures that after each cleanup the archive size and the backups’ age are within the bounds you specify. The consolidation, however, may take a lot of time and system resources. And you still need some extra space in the vault for temporary files created during consolidation. What you need to know about consolidation Please be aware that consolidation is just a method of deletion but not an alternative to deletion.
Command line examples trueimagecmd /create /partition:DYN1,DYN2 /asz This will back up DYN1 and DYN2 volumes to the Acronis Secure Zone. trueimagecmd /create /harddisk:DYN /asz This will back up all dynamic volumes in the system to the Acronis Secure Zone. The boot code on basic GPT volumes is not backed up or recovered. Recovering dynamic volumes A dynamic volume can be recovered • • over any type of existing volume • to unallocated space of a basic disk.
Backed up (source): Recovered to: Dynamic volume Basic MBR volume Basic GPT volume Dynamic volume Dynamic volume Dynamic volume Dynamic volume Type as of the target Type as of the target Type as of the target Dynamic volume Dynamic volume N/A Type as of the source Simple Basic MBR volume Basic MBR volume Basic MBR volume Basic MBR volume Basic GPT volume Basic GPT volume Basic GPT volume Basic GPT volume Unallocated space (basic MBR disk) Basic MBR volume Basic MBR volume Basic MB
You can back up data of one or more logical volumes and recover it to a previously created logical volume or a basic (MBR) disk or volume; likewise, it is also possible to recover the data of a basic volume to a logical volume. In each case, the program stores and recovers volume contents only. The type or other properties of the target volume will not change.
3-1 3-2 hdd1 Acronis Secure Zone Pri,Act Pri 63 1219680 Dynamic & GPT Volumes: DYN1 VolGroup00-LogVol00 DYN2 VolGroup00-LogVol01 1219617 2974608 Ext3 FAT32 15269888 1048576 Ext3 Linux Swap The system has three physical disks (Disk 1, Disk 2, and Disk 3). Two logical volumes, DYN1 and DYN2, are arranged across basic volumes 1-2 and 2-1. Disk 3 includes Acronis Secure Zone which is not normally backed up. To back up the logical volume DYN1, select the volume DYN1.
The system has RAID-1 configured on two basic volumes: sdc1, sdd1.
Physical drives that are part of hardware RAID arrays may be listed alongside other disks as if they had a bad partition table or no partition table at all. Backing up such disks does not make sense as it won’t be possible to recover them. 2.11. Backing up virtual machines Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server Virtual Edition allows for backing up virtual machines from the host.
same machine. You will be able to use different backup strategies for the virtual disk and the physical storage. The virtual machine configuration will be also backed up. Limitations A Hyper-V virtual machine that uses at least one pass-through disk (a physical disk, either local or SAN-LUN, attached to the virtual machine) cannot be backed up from the host. To back up such machine or its disks, install Agent for Windows or Agent for Linux on the machine.
retain the LDM/LVM. To do so, you will have to boot the target virtual machine using bootable media (p. 390) or its ISO image and use Acronis Disk Director Lite for LDM reconstruction or Linux command line tools for LVM reconstruction. Another option is to recover dynamic volumes as basic. Troubleshooting Agent: Agent for Hyper-V Issue: Backup of an online virtual machine fails because of a Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) error. The error can be seen in the Application Event Log (Event ID = 8193).
2.12. Tape support Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 supports tape libraries, autoloaders, SCSI and USB tape drives as storage devices. A tape device can be locally attached to a managed machine (in this case, the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent writes and reads the tapes) or accessed through the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node (p. 21). Storage nodes ensure fully automatic operation of tape libraries and autoloaders (p. 146).
Tape written on a tape device through... Backup Server Storage Node ATIE 9.1 + + + + ATIE 9.5 - - - + ATIE 9.7 - - - + ABR10 - - - + 2.12.2. Using a single tape drive A tape drive that is locally attached to a managed machine can be used by local backup plans as a storage device. The functionality of a locally attached autoloader or tape library is limited to the ordinary tape drive.
Recovery from a locally attached tape device Before creating a recovery task, insert or mount the tape containing the backup you need to recover. When creating a recovery task, select the tape device from the list of available locations and then select the backup. After recovery is started, you will be prompted for other tapes if the tapes are needed for recovery. 2.13.
With the new Acronis Secure Zone behavior, you obtain the ability to: • • list archives located in the zone and backups contained in each archive • • mount a disk backup to copy files from the backup to a physical disk examine a backup's content safely delete archives and backups from the archives. For more information about operations available in Acronis Secure Zone, see the Personal vaults (p. 170) section.
2.13.3. Universal Restore (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore) Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore is the Acronis proprietary technology that helps recover and boot up Windows on dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. The Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.
Universal Restore relies on the built-in Plug and Play discovery and configuration process to handle hardware differences in devices that are not critical for the system start, such as video, audio and USB. Windows takes control over this process during the logon phase, and if some of the new hardware is not detected, you will have a chance to install drivers for it later manually. Universal Restore and Microsoft Sysprep Universal Restore is not a system preparation tool.
Limitation The only supported archive location is a local drive, or more precisely, any device available through the machine’s BIOS. This may be Acronis Secure Zone, a USB hard drive, a flash drive or any internal hard drive. How it works When configuring a recovery operation, you select disks or volumes to recover from a backup. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 scans the selected disks or volumes in the backup.
4. Configure the system recovery: select the system disk or volume and select the Use Acronis Active Restore check box. Acronis Active Restore will choose for the boot-up and subsequent recovery the first operating system found during the backup scan. Do not try to recover more than one operating system using Active Restore if you want the result to be predictable. When recovering a multi-boot system, choose only one system volume and boot volume at a time. 5.
Since you connect the console to the management server rather than to each machine and perform all management operations through the central management unit, this way of management is called centralized management (p. 391). Centralized management does not rule out the direct management (p. 393) of each machine. You can connect the console to each machine and perform any direct management operation.
You have to protect each server as a whole, the users' data on the workstations, and the virtual machines. You want to be able to track the health of the data protection, be sure that the backup archives do not store duplicated information and that the obsolete backups are deleted from the storage in a timely manner. These goals can be achieved by regular backup of the desired data items to a centralized vault with deduplication. Setting up the Acronis infrastructure 1.
5. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node [ASN] on one of the Windows servers (9). The storage node enables you to organize the infrastructure for storing backup archives and to use the deduplication functionality. The node can be installed together with the management server if the host is capable enough. When installing the storage node, register it on the management server in the same way as you register the agents.
3. Apply the policy to the S_1 group. Make sure that the policy has been successfully deployed to each of the servers. The policy deployment state has to change from Deploying to Deployed and its status has to be OK. To see the resulting backup plans on each of the servers: a. navigate to the All machines group or the S_1 group b. select the server c. select the Backup plans and tasks tab on the Information pane.
2.14.2.3. Protecting the virtual machines Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for ESX provides the flexibility to protect virtual machines in multiple ways: • Connect the console to the virtual appliance (Agent for ESX) and create a backup plan that will back up all or some of the virtual machines. • Connect the console to the virtual appliance (Agent for ESX) and create an individual backup plan for each machine. The plan will back up the volumes you specify.
• • Active Directory organization unit (OU) IP address range. Multiple criteria can be specified for a dynamic group. For example, a set of criteria "OS equals Windows 2000, OS equals Windows 2003, OU equals Accounting” is interpreted as "all machines running Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 and belonging to the Accounting organizational unit". The All machines group can be thought of as a dynamic group with the single built-in criterion: include all the registered machines. 2.14.3.3.
3, 4, 5, 6 - the salesmen's machines (Windows XP) from the "Sales department" AD organization unit. An example of group hierarchy The backup policy on the server has to differ from that on the workstations. The administrator creates the G1 dynamic group that contains machines with the server operating systems, and applies a backup policy to the group.
• edit a group, that is: o change the group name o change the group description o change the dynamic membership criteria • • transform a static group into a dynamic one by adding membership criteria transform a dynamic group into a static one with two options: o keep the group members o remove the group members • • move a group from the root to another group (any group type to any group type) • • move a group from one parent group to another (any group type to any group type) move a group from the p
management server tracks and displays personal statuses for each machine that it works with, as well as the policy's cumulative status. 2.14.4.1. A policy on a machine or a group In the diagrams below, each numbered scheme illustrates the result of the respectively numbered action.
4. To completely revoke the policy from the machine, revoke it from both the group and the machine. 2.14.4.2. Operations with a machine This section is a simplified illustration of what happens with the policies on a machine when the machine is moved, copied, or deleted from a group.
2.14.4.3. Inheritance of policies Policy inheritance can be easily understood if we assume that a machine can be a member of only one group besides the All machines group. Let's start from this simplified approach. In the diagram below, the container stands for a group; the two-color circle stands for a machine with two applied policies; the three-color circle stands for a machine with three applied policies and so on. 72 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Besides the All machines group, we have the custom G1 group in the root and the custom G2 group, which is G1's child. The "green" policy, applied to the All machines group, is inherited by all machines. The "orange" policy, applied to G1, is inherited by the G1 members and all its child groups, both immediate and indirect. The "blue" policy, applied to G2, is inherited only by the G2 members since G2 does not have child groups. The "violet" policy is applied straight to machine #4.
#4 #5 or #6 "green" Inherited All machines -> #4 "orange" Inherited G1 -> G2 -> #4 "blue" Inherited G2 -> #4 "violet" Applied directly "green" Inherited All machines -> #5 or #6 "orange" Inherited G1 -> G2 -> #5 or #6 "blue" Inherited G2 -> #5 or #6 2.14.5. Backup policy's state and statuses Centralized management presumes that the administrator can monitor the health of the entire product infrastructure using a few easily understandable parameters.
You may change grouping conditions or the machine may change its properties so that the machine leaves one group and is included into another. This may result in revoking one policy and deploying another policy. In this case, the first policy's state on the machine will be Revoking and the second policy's state will be Deploying. The policies can appear in the GUI simultaneously or one after another. Backup policy state diagram 2.14.5.2.
Examples Assume, the selection rule states that the policy has to back up volumes D: and F:. The policy is applied to both Linux and Windows machines. Once the first backup is started, the policy gets the Error status on the Linux machines and on the Windows machines that do not have such volumes. The policy gets the Warning status on Windows machines that have either a D: or F: volume, unless an event that will result in an error occurs.
"Deploying, Deployed". When the deployment completes on both machines, the state will be "Deployed". 2.14.5.4. Policy status on a group To see this parameter, select Machines in the tree, then select the group, and then select the Backup policies tab on the Information pane. This status is defined as the most severe status of the policy on the machines included in the group and its child groups. If the policy is currently not applied to any machine, its status is "OK". 2.14.5.5.
Deduplication may also reduce network load: if, during a backup, a file or a disk block is found to be a duplicate of an already stored one, its content is not transferred over the network. Deduplication is performed on disk blocks (block-level deduplication) and on files (file-level deduplication), for disk-level and file-level backups respectively. In Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, deduplication consists of two steps: Deduplication at source Performed on a managed machine during backup.
Before sending the item to the vault, the agent queries the deduplication database to determine whether the item's hash value is the same as that of an already stored item. If so, the agent sends only the item's hash value; otherwise, it sends the item itself. Some items, such as encrypted files or disk blocks of a non-standard size, cannot be deduplicated, and the agent always transfers such items to the vault without calculating their hash values.
• When performing incremental backups of data that does not change itself, but changes its location. Such is the case when multiple pieces of data circulate over the network or within one system. Each time a piece of data moves, it is included in the incremental backup which becomes sizeable while it does not contain new data. Deduplication helps to solve the problem: each time an item appears in a new place, a reference to the item is saved instead of the item itself.
What ratio to expect Although, in some situations, the deduplication ratio may be very high (in the previous example, increasing the number of machines would lead to ratios of 3:1, 4:1, etc.), a reasonable expectation for a typical environment is a ratio between 1.2:1 and 1.6:1. As a more realistic example, suppose that you are performing a file-level or disk-level backup of two machines with similar disks.
• If you protected the archive with a password Files that were not deduplicated are stored in the archive as they would be in a non-deduplicating vault. Deduplication and NTFS data streams In the NTFS file system, a file may have one or more additional sets of data associated with it—often called alternate data streams. When such file is backed up, so are all its alternate data streams. However, these streams are never deduplicated—even when the file itself is. 2.14.7.
2.14.7.2. Privileges for local connection Windows Local connection on a machine running Windows can be established by any user who has the "Log on locally" user right on the machine. Linux Establishing a local connection on a machine running Linux, and managing such machine, requires the root privileges on it. To establish a local connection as the root user 1.
2.14.7.4. Privileges for remote connection in Linux Remote connections to a machine running Linux—including those performed by the root user—are established according to authentication policies, which are set up by using Pluggable Authentication Modules for Linux, known as Linux-PAM. For the authentication policies to work, we recommend installing the latest version of Linux-PAM for your Linux distribution. The latest stable source code of Linux-PAM is available at Linux-PAM source code Web page.
Example 2 The above authentication policy might not work on Linux distributions with kernel version 2.4— including Red Hat Linux and VMware® ESX™ 3.5 Upgrade 2—because the pam_succeed_if.so module is not supported there. In this case, you can use the following authentication policy. 1. As the root user, create the file /etc/pam.d/Acronis_trusted_users 2. Add the names of the non-root users whom you want to allow to manage the machine, to this file, one user name per line.
Management Console; they have the same management rights on the registered machines as users with administrative privileges on those machines—regardless of the contents of Acronis security groups there. To be able to connect to the management server remotely, an administrator of the management server must also be a member of the Acronis Remote Users group.
A regular user, such as a member of the Users group on the storage node, can: • • Create archives in any centralized vault managed by the storage node View and manage archives owned by the user A user who is a member of the Administrators group on the storage node can additionally: • View and manage any archive in any centralized vault managed by the storage node • Create centralized vaults to be managed by the storage node—provided that the user is also an Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Ser
2.14.7.8. Rights for Acronis services The Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server, and Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node components run as services. When installing any of these components, you need to specify the account under which the component's service will run. For each service, you can either create a dedicated user account (recommended in most cases) or specify an existing account of a local or domain user—for example: .
2.14.8. Communication between Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components This section describes how Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components communicate with each other using secure authentication and encryption. This section also provides information on configuring communication settings, selecting a network port for communication, and managing security certificates. 2.14.8.1.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server Yes Yes Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node Yes Yes Acronis PXE Server No Yes Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Bootable Agent Yes Yes 2.14.8.3. Configuring communication settings You can configure communication settings, such as whether to encrypt transferred data, for Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components installed on one or more machines, by using Acronis Administrative Template.
Enabled The component will use the specified port; type the port number in the Server TCP Port box. Disabled The same as Not configured. For details about the network port and instructions on how to specify it in Linux and a bootable environment, see Network port configuration (p. 93). Client Encryption options Specifies whether to encrypt the transferred data when the component acts as a client application, and whether to trust self-signed SSL certificates.
Always use The use of SSL certificates is enabled. The connection will be established only if the use of SSL certificates is enabled on the server application. Disabled The same as Not configured. Server Encryption options Specifies whether to encrypt the transferred data when the component acts as a server application. Select one of the following: Not configured The component will use the default setting, which is to use encryption if possible (see the following option). Enabled Encryption is enabled.
2.14.8.4. Network port configuration Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components use the 9876/TCP network communication port by default. The server listens to this port for incoming connection. This port is also used as default by the Acronis client. During component installation you might be asked to confirm the port opening or to open the port manually, in case you are using a firewall other than Windows Firewall.
In Windows, the certificate path and the server certificate's file name are specified in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Acronis\Encryption\Server. The default path is %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\Agent. To ensure reliability, the certificate is stored in Windows Certificate Store at the following location: Certificates (Local Computer)\Acronis Trusted Certificates Cache.
Non-self-signed certificates You have the option to use trusted third-party certificates or certificates created by your organization's CA as an alternative to self-signed certificates, by using Acronis Certificate Commandline Utility. To install a third-party certificate 1. Click Start, then click Run, and then type: certmgr.msc 2. In the Certificates console, double-click the name of the certificate that you want to install. 3. In the Details tab, in the list of fields, click Thumbprint. 4.
3. Options This section covers Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 options that can be configured using Graphical User Interface. The content of this section is applicable to both stand-alone and advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. 3.1. Console options The console options define the way information is represented in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. To access the console options, select Options > Console options from the top menu. 3.1.1.
The option defines whether to display the pop-up messages about task run results: successful completion, failure or success with warnings. When displaying of pop-up messages is disabled, you can review the task execution states and results in the Tasks view. The preset is: Enabled for all results. To make a setting for each result (successful completion, failure or success with warnings) individually, select or clear the respective check box. 3.1.3.
3.1.5. Fonts This option is effective when the console is connected to a managed machine or to the management server. The option defines the fonts to be used in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. The Menu setting affects the drop-down and context menus. The Application setting affects the other GUI elements. The preset is: System Default font for both the menus and the application interface items.
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. Even if you remove the log size limit, logging events to an SQL Server Express database will stop after the log size reaches 4 GB, because SQL Express Edition has the 4 GB per database limit. Set the maximum log size to approximately 3.8 GB if you want to use the maximum capacity of the SQL Express database.
To set up sending SNMP messages 1. Select the Send messages to SNMP server check box. 2. Specify the appropriate options as follows: o Types of events to send – choose the types of events: All events, Errors and warnings, or Errors only. o Server name/IP – type the name or IP address of the host running the SNMP management application, the messages will be sent to. o Community – type the name of the SNMP community to which both the host running SNMP management application and the sending machine belong.
b. Click Add, and then enter the name or IP address of the machine where the Acronis WOL Proxy is installed. Provide access credentials for the machine. c. Repeat this step if there are several Acronis WOL Proxies. 3. When scheduling a backup policy, enable the Use Wake-On-LAN setting. You also have the ability to delete proxies from the list. Please keep in mind that any change to this option affects the entire management server.
On the vCenter Server side When integration is enabled, the vCenter Server will store and show information about when and how successful each virtual machine was backed up. The same information is displayed in the Status and the Last backup columns on the management server. Backup status - the most severe status of all backup plans and backup policies on the machine. For more information, see "Backup plan statuses (p. 197)" and "Policy status on a machine (p. 75)".
3.3.2. Event tracing It is possible to duplicate log events generated by the agent(s), operating on the managed machine, in the Application Event Log of Windows; or send the events to the specified SNMP managers. If you do not modify the event tracing options anywhere except for here, your settings will be effective for each local backup plan and each task created on the machine.
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 (p. 105).
5. Click OK. You might be asked for lmmib2.dll that can be found on the installation disc of your operating system. 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.
• • The type of the data being backed up (disk, file) • The backup scheme (Back up now or using the scheduler) The backup destination (networked location or local disk) The following table summarizes the availability of the backup options. Agent for Windows Agent for Linux Bootable media (Linux-based or PE-based) Disk backup File backup Disk backup File backup Disk backup File backup + + + + + + Source files exclusion (p. 108) + + + + + + Pre/Post backup commands (p.
Media components (p. 121) Dest: removable media Dest: removable media Dest: removable media Dest: removable media - - Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode) + + + + + + Re-attempt if an error occurs + + + + + + Ignore bad sectors + + + + + + Dual destination (p. 123) Dest: local Dest: local Dest: local Dest: local - - Task start conditions (p. 123) + + + + - - Task failure handling (p.
SNMP (p. 119) 3.4.1.1. + + + + - - Archive protection This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media. This option is effective for both disk-level and file-level backup. The preset is: Disabled. To protect the archive from unauthorized access 1. Select the Set password for the archive check box. 2. In the Enter the password field, type a password. 3. In the Confirm the password field, re-type the password. 4.
Select this check box to skip files and folders with the Hidden attribute. If a folder is Hidden, all of its contents — including files that are not Hidden — will be excluded. • Exclude all system files and folders Select this check box to skip files and folders with the System attribute. If a folder is System, all of its contents — including files that are not System — will be excluded. You can view file or folder attributes in the file/folder properties or by using the attrib command.
• copy an archive to another location after the backup ends. The program does not support interactive commands, i.e. commands that require user input (for example, "pause"). To specify pre/post commands 1. Enable pre/post commands execution by checking the following options: o Execute before the backup o Execute after the backup 2. Do any of the following: o Click Edit to specify a new command or a batch file o Select the existing command or the batch file from the drop-down list 3. Click OK.
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. If successful execution of the command is critical for your backup strategy, select the Fail the task if the command execution fails check box.
o Select the existing command or the batch file from the drop-down list 3. Click OK. Pre-data capture command To specify a command/batch file to be executed before data capture 1. In the Command field, type a command or browse to a batch file. The program does not support interactive commands, i.e. commands that require user input (for example, "pause".) 2. In the Working directory field, specify a path to a directory where the command/batch file will be executed. 3.
Check box Selection Fail the task if the command execution fails Selected Cleared Selected Cleared Do not back up until the command execution is complete Selected Selected Cleared Cleared Result Preset Continue the backup only after the command is successfully executed. Delete the TIB file and temporary files and fail the task if the command execution fails. 3.4.1.5. Continue the backup after the command is executed despite command execution failure or success.
The option determines whether to take snapshots of multiple volumes at the same time or one by one. The preset is: Enable. When this option is set to Enable, snapshots of all volumes being backed up will be created simultaneously. Use this option to create a time-consistent backup of data spanned across multiple volumes, for instance for an Oracle database. When this option is set to Disable, the volumes' snapshots will be taken one after the other.
3.4.1.8. Compression level This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media. The option defines the level of compression applied to the data being backed up. The preset is: Normal. The optimal data compression level depends on the type of data being backed up. For example, even maximum compression will not significantly reduce the archive size if the archive contains essentially compressed files, such as .jpg, .pdf or .mp3. However, formats such as .doc or .
• Normal – to run the backup process with normal speed, allocating resources on a par with other processes • High – to maximize the backup process speed by taking resources from other processes. HDD writing speed This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media.
3.4.1.10. Notifications Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides the ability of notifying users about backup completion through e-mail or the messaging service. E-mail This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems. This option is not available when operating under the bootable media. The option enables you to receive e-mail notifications about the backup task's successful completion, failure or need for interaction along with the full log of the task. The preset is: Disabled.
• Password – enter the password. 6. Click Send test e-mail message to check if the settings are correct. Messenger service (WinPopup) This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems on the sending machine and only for Windows on the receiving machine. This option is not available when operating under bootable media. The option enables you to receive WinPopup notifications about the backup task's successful completion, failure or need for interaction. The preset is: Disabled.
To select whether to log the backup operations events in the Application Event Log of Windows: Choose one of the following: • Use the setting set in the Machine options – to use the setting specified for the machine. For more information refer to Machine options (p. 102). • Log the following event types – to log events of the backup operations in the Application Event Log.
• Do not send SNMP notifications – to disable sending the log events of the backup operations to SNMP managers. 3.4.1.12. Fast incremental/differential backup The option is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media. This option is effective for incremental and differential disk-level backup. This option defines whether a file change is detected using the file size and time stamp or by comparing the file contents to those stored in the archive. The preset is: Enabled.
to multiple CDs or DVDs later on. You might also want to split the backup destined to an FTP server, since data recovery directly from an FTP server requires the backup to be split into files no more than 2GB in size. 3.4.1.14. File-level security These options are effective only for file-level backup in Windows operating systems. In archives, store encrypted files in a decrypted state This option defines whether to decrypt files before saving them to a backup archive. The preset is: Disabled.
Select the check boxes for the components you want to put on the bootable media: • One-Click Restore is the minimal addition to a disk backup stored on removable media, allowing for easy recovery from this backup. If you boot a machine from the media and click Run Acronis One-click Restore, the disk will be immediately recovered from the backup contained on the same media.
the data will be backed up and you will be able to mount the resulting disk backup and extract valid files to another disk. 3.4.1.17. Dual destination This option is effective for both Windows and Linux operating systems, when the primary backup destination is a local folder or Acronis Secure Zone and the secondary destination is another local folder or network share. Managed vaults and FTP servers are not supported as secondary destinations. The preset is: Disabled.
The preset is: Wait until the conditions are met. Wait until the conditions are met With this setting, the scheduler starts monitoring the conditions and launches the task as soon as the conditions are met. If the conditions are never met, the task will never start. To handle the situation when the conditions are not met for too long and further delaying the backup is becoming risky, you can set the time interval after which the task will run irrespective of the condition.
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.
If the console is connected to the management server The Use a separate tape set option has more precise definitions. So for the backup policy to be created you can use a separate tape set for all machines or for each single machine. The A single tape set for all machines option is selected by default. Generally this option ensures more efficient usage of tapes, than the A separate tape set for each single machine option.
When starting backup to a non-empty tape in a locally attached tape device, the program will warn that you are about to lose data on the tape. To disable this warning, select this check box. Dismount media after backup has finished This option is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems. This option is effective when backing up to a removable media (CD, DVD, tape or floppy disk.) The preset is: Disabled.
When the option is enabled, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 will restart the machine after the backup process is completed. For example, if the machine boots from a hard disk drive by default and you select this check box, the machine will be restarted and the operating system will start as soon as the bootable agent has finished creating the backup.
3.4.2. Default recovery options Each Acronis agent has its own default recovery options. Once an agent is installed, the default options have pre-defined values, which are referred to as presets in the documentation. When creating a recovery task, you can either use a default option, or override the default option with the custom value that will be specific for this task only. You can also customize a default option itself by changing its value against the pre-defined one.
Validate backup archive before recovery + + + + + + Check file system after recovery + - + - + - Reboot machine automatically if it is required for recovery + + + + - - Windows recovery - Windows recovery - Windows recovery - E-mail (p. 132) + + + + - - Win Pop-up (p. 133) + + + + - - Windows events log (p. 134) + + - - - - SNMP (p. 135) + + + + - - Change SID after recovery Notifications: Event tracing: 3.4.2.1.
Pre-recovery command To specify a command/batch file to be executed before the recovery process starts 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.
3.4.2.2. Recovery priority This option is effective for both Windows and Linux operating systems. This option is not available when operating under the bootable media. The priority of a process running in a system determines the amount of CPU and system resources allocated to that process. Decreasing the recovery priority will free more resources for other applications.
The preset is: Disabled. To configure e-mail notification 1. Select the Send e-mail notifications check box to activate notifications. 2. In the E-mail addresses field, type the e-mail address to which notifications will be sent. You can enter several addresses separated by semicolons. 3.
Before configuring WinPopup notifications, make sure the Messenger service is started on both the machine executing the task and the machine that will receive messages. The Messenger service is not started by default in the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family. Change the service Startup mode to Automatic and start the service. To configure WinPopup notifications: 1. Select the Send WinPopup notifications check box. 2.
SNMP notifications This option is effective for both Windows and Linux operating systems. 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 of the recovery operations to the specified Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) managers. You can choose the types of events to be sent.
Re-attempt, if an error occurs The preset is: Enabled. Number of attempts: 5. 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 is performed, depending on which comes first.
Reboot machine after recovery This option is effective when operating under bootable media. The preset is Disabled. This option enables booting the machine into the recovered operating system without user interaction. Change SID after the recovery is finished The preset is Disabled. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 can generate an unique security identifier (SID) for the recovered system.
4. Vaults A vault is a location for storing backup archives. For ease of use and administration, a vault is associated with the archives' metadata. Referring to this metadata makes for fast and convenient operations with archives and backups stored in the vault. A vault can be organized on a local or networked drive, detachable media or a tape device attached to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node. There are no settings for limiting a vault size or number of backups in a vault.
A vault is called personal if it was created using direct connection of the console to a managed machine. Personal vaults are specific for each managed machine. Way of working with the "Vaults" view Vaults (on the navigation pane) - top element of the vaults tree. Click this item to display groups of centralized and personal vaults. Centralized. This group is available when the console is connected to a managed machine or to a management server.
Accessing managed vaults To be able to back up to a managed vault, a user must have an account on the machine where the storage node is installed. The scope of a user's privileges in a vault depends on the user's rights on the storage node. A user who is a member of the Users group can view and manage his/her own archives. Members of the Administrators group can view and manage any archive stored on the storage node.
• [for managed vaults only] encryption state (Yes, No) Vault content The Vault content section contains the archives table and toolbar. The archives table displays archives and backups that are stored in the vault. Use the archives toolbar to perform actions on the selected archives and backups. The list of backups is expanded by clicking the "plus" sign to the left of the archive's name.
password (if the vault is encrypted) and information in the Comments field. Validate a vault • The Edit unmanaged vault page lets you edit the vault's name and information in the Comments field. 1 Select the vault. 2 Click Validate. You will be taken to the Validation (p. 251) page with an already pre-selected vault as a source. The vault validation checks all the archives in this vault. Delete a vault 1 Select the vault. 2 Click Delete.
4.1.2.1. Creating a managed centralized vault To create a managed centralized vault, perform the following steps Vault Name Specify a unique name for the vault. Creation of two centralized vaults with the same name is prohibited. Comments [Optional] Enter the distinctive description of the vault being created. Type Select the Managed type. Storage node Select the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node that will manage the vault. You may need to enter access credentials for the storage node. Path (p.
o o o o o on the hard drives local to the storage node on a network share on a Storage Area Network (SAN) on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) on a tape library locally attached to the storage node. To create a new folder for the vault in the selected location, click Create folder. 2. Click OK. A vault can be created in an empty folder only. We do not recommend creating a deduplicating managed vault on a FAT32 volume.
o o o AES 128 – the vault contents will be encrypted using the Advanced Standard Encryption (AES) algorithm with a 128-bit key AES 192 – the vault contents will be encrypted using the AES algorithm with a 192-bit key AES 256 – the vault contents will be encrypted using the AES algorithm with a 256-bit key. 5. Click OK. 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.
To create a new folder for the vault, click Create folder. A vault can be created in an empty folder only. 2. Click OK. 4.1.2.3. Attaching a managed vault A vault managed by a storage node can be attached to another storage node. You might need to do so when retiring storage node hardware, when the storage node is lost or when balancing loads between storage nodes. As a result, the first node stops managing the vault.
4.1.3.1. Overview Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides full support of a tape library through Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node. The storage node should be installed on the machine a tape library is attached to. Storage node can simultaneously use more than one tape library for keeping archives. To manage a tape library media, the storage node uses the Windows Removable Storage Manager (RSM). See the RSM Media Pools (p. 148) section for more information.
If all cartridges in a tape library have barcodes, the library is ready to be automatically managed by software. Tape libraries are a cost-effective solution for data storages with huge capacity. Moreover, tape is perfect for archiving because cartridges can be stored off-site for enhanced data security. However reading even a small amount of data from a tape library takes much more time (from several seconds to several minutes) than from other types of data storages.
If a tape was used previously, the RSM tries to detect the registered application the tape is concerned to. If the application is not found, the RSM will move the tape into the Unrecognized pool. If the application is not found, but the RSM database has no information about the tape, it will be moved into the Import pool. If the RSM database has the information, the tape moves into its own pool of the application.
Fill the library slots with tape cartridges. If a tape does not get a barcode or its barcode is corrupted, you can define the tape label for identification purposes later. You should have Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server and Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console installed on local or remote machines, as well as Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node, installed on the machine with the tape library device, and registered in the management server.
At the Delete operation, the vault content will be deleted from the storage node database without accessing the tapes. The plans and tasks that use this vault will fail. The backup archives, belonging to a deleting centralized vault on a tape library, will be deleted as well, but these archives might be recovered by any storage node through the Rescan operation.
The program finds the tapes and inserts them automatically in the right order. The Task Need Interaction window comes up if a required tape is not found. Keep in mind that a data recovery operation may require access to a number of tapes.
To launch the procedure select the tape library vault in the Navigation pane of the console, click Manage tapes and then click Start inventory on the Tape Management window. When inventorying is completed a user has the list of tapes currently loaded into the library. Perform the procedure every time you load new tapes into tape library slots. Rescan As stated above the storage node keeps information about tapes and their contents in a dedicated database.
Tapes from the Free or the Imported pool can be renamed on condition that the user account used to run the storage node service (ASN User) has write permissions for these pools. These permissions are not assigned to ASN User during installation, so you might need to add them manually. To define your own label for a tape, select a related data field, type in a new label, click Eject tape, write the same label on the tape cartridge (to make association with the label) and insert it back into the same slot.
• Ask for user interaction - the backup task will enter the Need Interaction state and wait for the tape, with the required label, to be loaded into the tape library device. • Use a free tape - the backup will be written onto a free tape, so the operation will be paused only if there is no free tape in the library. Always use a free tape If you leave the options below unchanged, then each backup will be written onto the tape specified by the Use a separate tape set option.
Simple backup scheme is disabled, because backup consolidation is impossible for archives located on tapes. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides automation of tape rotation for Grandfather-Father-Son, Tower of Hanoi, and Custom backup schemes. Grandfather-Father-Son (p. 36) (GFS) and Tower of Hanoi (p. 40) (ToH) are the most popular backup schemes to use on tape library devices.
• • the full size of the data to protect is approximately 320 GB • • the approximate size of weekly changes of data is no more than 40 GB the approximate size of daily changes of data is about 16 GB tape capacity is 400 GB. Let’s analyze the results of a combination of GFS and ToH schemes with different tape options for the case. All the below analyzed examples are a simplistic approach to a real case, but provide you with a general conception of backup distribution onto tapes.
• GFS Example 3 (p. 162). The Use a separate tape set option is selected. All the Always use a free tape options are selected. It requires 28 tapes in rotation. These examples demonstrate how the number of tapes required for automated rotation depends on the tape options. If a tape library does not have enough tapes for automated rotation, the Tasks Need Interaction window will sometimes ask you to load a free tape into the library.
• four incremental backups on the 4th week. The next full backup (320 Gb) should be written on Friday of the 4th week. However tape 02 has only 104 Gb of free space at the moment. So after the tape reaches the end, the recording continues from the beginning of free tape 03. Keep in mind, that the Cleanup task is launched after each backup operation for the GFS scheme. This task deletes all the outdated backups.
The next figure shows the actual usage of the tapes with free space instead of the deleted backups on the first Friday of the following year. At the time the differential backup (blue rectangle) is written onto tape 24. The full backup stored on tape 01 is deleted after the next full backup is created onto both tapes 23 and 24 on Friday of the 52nd week. As all backups of tape 01 have been deleted, the tape is considered as free and can be reused.
GFS Example 2 Suppose, the backup plan has the following tape options: • the Use a separate tape set option is selected • the Always use a free tape: For each full backup option is selected • the Always use a free tape: For each incremental backup option is cleared • the Always use a free tape: For each differential backup option is cleared. The example has only one difference from the previous one. That is selection of the Always use a free tape: For each full backup option.
As the GFS backup scheme forces automatic deletion of the outdated backups, on the first Friday of the second year the tapes keep only the backups displayed in the next figure. This figure demonstrates that the GFS Example 2 tape rotation scheme is more suitable for the case than GFS Example 1.
These options define the tape rotation scheme that is classical for GFS. The figure shows the beginning of the rotation scheme that uses 8 tapes for daily backups, 6 tapes for weekly backups and 13 tapes for monthly backups (since there are 13 four-week cycles in a year) for the analyzed case. And one tape is required for the next backup. In total this rotation scheme, combined with the options requires 28 tapes.
go back in the archive) is 8 weeks. Tape rotation for the second case includes 128 daily sessions, i.e. it allows the roll-back period equal 64 days. The roll-back period is always half the number of sessions. Each additional level doubles not only the number of sessions but also the oldest backup age. Let’s return to the analyzed case described in the Case to analyze (p. 156) section, and suppose the ToH settings are the following: • • Schedule: Start the task every 1 day at 11:00 PM. Repeat once.
As the Tower of Hanoi backup scheme forces presence of only one backup on each level, all the outdated backups are deleted automatically. In the next figure the deleted backups are drawn as dark-gray rectangles. Actually the deleted backup is still stored on the tapes, but the information about it is deleted from the storage node database.
The first figure shows the tapes’ usage for the ToH scheme combined with the above mentioned tape options. The recurring part of the scheme contains sixteen backup sessions. The figure displays the backup archive state at the moment when the 17th session is finished. In the figure below the backups deleted at the moment are drawn as dark-gray rectangles.
The figure shows tape rotation for the ToH scheme with these options. Maximal number of tapes used in the rotation is seven that is more than in classical five-level ToH scheme. Two additional tapes used for: 1. keeping an old full backup (postponed deletion) as it is a base for other level backups 2. keeping an old backup on a level until a new backup has been successfully created on the level. The example demonstrates that the tapes’ usage efficiency is reduced.
• • tape rotation scheme ( frequency of backups, retention rules) • requirements to support off-site tape cartridge archives. tape-append options There is no common formula to calculate a number of tapes required in all possible combinations of above listed considerations. But the general way to get a number of tapes for a case includes the following steps: 1. Draw (or write) a chain of backups until the first backup can be deleted 2.
• • average size of incremental backups is I_GB • • compression level provides CL average reduction coefficient average size of differential backups is D_GB selected tape rotation scheme is Custom with the following settings: o full backup - every 10 days o differential backup - every 2 days o incremental backup - every 1 day, every 6 hours o retention rules: delete backups older than 5 days • tape options are the following: o the Use a separate tape set option is selected o the Always use a free tape
• What if I need to use a tape from the tape library in the local tape device and vice versa? Acronis agents create backups on tapes in a format that differs from the format used by the storage node. It is the reason why it is impossible to interchange tapes between tape devices attached to a storage node and attached to a managed machine: a tape written by a storage node cannot be read by an agent in a locally attached tape device. However the storage node can read tapes written by an agent.
name. If you accidentally delete the .meta folder, it will be automatically recreated next time you access the vault. But some information like owner names and machine names may be lost. 4.2.1. Working with the "Personal vault" view This section briefly describes the main elements of the Personal vault view, and suggests the ways to work with them. Vault toolbar The toolbar contains operational buttons that let you perform operations with the selected personal vault.
• [Archive Name] The Actions bar is available when you select an archive in the archives table. Duplicates actions of the archives toolbar. • [Backup Name] The Actions bar is available when you expand the archive and click on any of its backups. Duplicates actions of the archives toolbar. 4.2.2. Actions on personal vaults To perform any operation (except for creation) with a vault, you must select it first.
4.2.2.1. Creating a personal vault To create a personal vault 1. In the Name field, type a name for the vault being created. 2. [Optional] In the Comments field, add a description of the vault. 3. In the Path field, click Change... In the opened Personal Vault Path window, specify a path to the folder that will be used as the vault. A personal vault can be organized on detachable or removable media, on a network share, or on FTP. 4. Click OK.
All the operations described below are performed by clicking the corresponding buttons on the toolbar. These operations can be also accessed from the [Archive name] actions bar (on the Actions and tools pane) and from the [Archive name] actions item of the main menu respectively. The following is a guideline for you to perform operations with archives stored in a vault. To Do Validate an archive Click Validate. The Validation (p. 251) page will be opened with the pre-selected archive as a source.
Recover a disk/volume as a virtual machine Validate a backup Right-click the disk backup, then select Recover as virtual machine. The Recover data (p. 230) page will be opened with the pre-selected backup as a source. Select the location and the type of new virtual machine and then proceed as with regular disk or volume recovery. Click Validate. The Validation (p. 251) page will be opened with the pre-selected backup as a source.
There should be enough space in the vault for temporary files created during consolidation. Backups resulting from consolidation always have maximum compression. 4.3.4. Filtering and sorting archives The following is a guideline for you to filter and sort archives in the archives table. To Do Sort backup archives by any column Click the column's header to sort the archives in ascending order. Filter archives by name, owner, or machine.
5. Scheduling Acronis scheduler helps the administrator adapt backup plans to the company’s daily routine and each employee’s work style. The plans’ tasks will be launched systematically keeping the critical data safely protected. The scheduler uses local time of the machine the backup plan exists on. Before creating a schedule, be sure the machine’s date and time settings are correct. Schedule To define when a task has to be executed, you need to specify an event or multiple events.
The specified period of time has passed since the last successful backup completed + + The scheduler behavior, in case the event occurs but the condition (or any of multiple conditions) is not met is defined by the Task start conditions (p. 123) backup option. What-ifs • What if an event occurs (and a condition, if any, is met) while the previous task run has not completed? The event will be ignored.
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.
The obvious way is to add five simple schedules. If you spend one minute for examination, you can think out a more optimal way. As you can see, the time interval between the first and the second task's recurrences is 4 hours, and between the third, fourth and fifth is 2 hours. In this case, the optimal way is to add two schedules to the task. 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.
Advanced scheduling settings (p. 187) are available only for machines registered on Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server. To specify these settings, click Change in the Advanced settings area. All the settings you made are displayed in the Result field at the bottom of the window. Examples "One day in the week" schedule Run the task every Friday at 10PM, starting from a certain date (say 05/14/2009) and ending after six months. The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows. 1.
In the case when the task needs to be run on different days of the weeks with different time intervals, consider adding a dedicated schedule to every desired day of the week, or to several days. For example, you need the task to be run with the following schedule: • • • • Monday: twice at 12 PM (noon) and 9 PM • • • Friday: twice at 12 PM and 9 PM (i.e.
Months: <...> Select a certain month(s) you want to run the task in. Days: <...> Select specific days of the month to run the task on. You can also select the last day of the month, irrespective of its actual date. On: <...> <...> Select specific days of the weeks to run the task on. In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following: Once at: <...> Set up the time at which the task will be run once. Every: <...
The schedule's parameters are set up as follows. 1. Months: September, October, November. 2. On: . 3. Every: 6 hours. From: 12:00:00 AM Until: 06:00:00 PM. 4. Effective: From: 08/30/2009. Actually the task will be started on the first workday of September. By setting up this date we just define that the task must be started in 2009. To: 12/01/2010. Actually the task will end on the last workday of November.
Third schedule 1. Months: June, July, August. 2. Days: 1, 15. 3. Once at: 10:00:00 PM. 4. Effective: From: 11/01/2009. To: not set. 5.4. At Windows Event Log event This type of schedule is effective only in Windows operating systems. You can schedule a backup task to start when a certain Windows event has been recorded in one of the event logs such as the Application, Security, or System log.
When Windows detects a bad block on a hard disk, it records an event with the event source disk and the event number 7 into the System log; the type of this event is Error. When creating the plan, type or select the following in the Schedule area: • • • • Log name: System Event source: disk Event type: Error Event ID: 7 Important: To ensure that such a task will complete despite the presence of bad blocks, you must make the task ignore bad blocks.
3. In the Event Properties dialog box, view the event's properties such as the event source, shown in the Source field; and the event number, shown in the Event ID field. When you are finished, click OK to close the Event Properties dialog box. 5.5. Advanced scheduling settings The following advanced settings are available when setting up a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule in a backup policy.
First machine: Every day at 09:30:03 AM Second machine: Every day at 09:00:00 AM Third machine: Every day at 09:59:59 AM Example 2 Suppose that you are deploying a backup policy with the following schedule to three machines: Run the task: Daily Every: 2 Hour(s) From: 09:00:00 AM Until: 11:00:00 AM Distribute start time within the time window Maximum delay: 1 Hour(s) Distribution method: Random Then the time of the task's first run on each machine may be any time between 09:00:00 AM and 09:59:59 AM; the inte
• backup task start time matters - skip the backup task if the conditions are not met at the time when the task should be started. Skipping the task run makes sense when you need to back up data strictly at the specified time, especially if the events are relatively often. Adding multiple conditions Multiple conditions must be met simultaneously to enable task execution.
Example: Backing up data to the networked location is performed on workdays at 9:00 PM. If the location's host is not available at that moment (for instance, due to maintenance work), skip the backup and wait for the next workday to start the task. It is assumed that the backup task should not be started at all rather than failed. • • • Event: Weekly, Every 1 week(s) on ; Once at 09:00:00 PM. Condition: Location's host is available Task start conditions: Skip the task execution.
For example: • • Event: Daily, Every 1 day(s); Once at 03:00:00 PM. Condition: Fits time interval, from 06:00:00 PM until 11:59:59 PM. In this case, whether and when the task will run depends on the task start conditions: • If the task start conditions are Skip the task execution, the task will never run.
• • Condition: Time since last backup, Time since the last backup: 12 hour(s). Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met. As a result, (1) if the free space changes by more than 1GB before 12 hours pass since the successful completion of the last backup, the scheduler will wait until 12 hours pass, and then will start the task. (2) if the free space changes by more than 1GB after 12 hours pass since the last backup successful completion, the backup task will start immediately.
6. Direct management This section covers operations that can be performed directly on a managed machine by using the direct console-agent connection. The content of this section is applicable to both stand-alone and advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. 6.1. Administering a managed machine This section describes the views that are available through the navigation tree of the console connected to a managed machine, and explains how to work with each view. 6.1.1.
server and run Acronis License Server to manage licenses. license key data was not corrupted. After a successful license check the agent will start working. Please make sure you have a valid license on Acronis License Server. Trial version of product expires in X day(s) Connect Once the trial version of the product is installed, the program starts the countdown of days remaining until the trial period expires. Connect 15 day trial period has expired. Enter a full license key.
How it is determined Errors Highlight the date in red if at least one "Error" entry appeared in the log on this date. Warnings Highlight the date in yellow if no "Error" entries appeared and at least one "Warning" entry appeared in the log on this date. Information Highlight the date in green if only "Information" log entries appeared on this date (normal activity.) The Select current date link focuses selection to the current date.
unneeded columns and show the hidden ones. See the Filtering and sorting backup plans and tasks (p. 202) section for details. • • • In the backup table, select the backup plan (task). Use the toolbar's buttons to take an action on the selected plan (task). See the Actions on backup plans and tasks (p. 199) section for details. You can run, edit, stop and delete the created plans and tasks. Use the Information panel to review detailed information on the selected plan (task). The panel is chevron.
Backup plan statuses A backup plan can have one of the following statuses: Error; Warning; OK. A backup plan status is derived from the results of the last run of the plans' tasks. 1 State How it is determined How to handle Error At least one task has failed.
A task may also change to the Waiting state when the event specified by the schedule occurs but the condition set in the backup plan is not met. See Task start conditions (p. 123) for details. Need interaction Any running task can put itself into the Need interaction state when it needs human interaction such as changing media or ignoring a read error.
• Edit the local plan to prevent its future failure in case a local plan has failed • Edit the backup policy on the management server in case a centralized plan has failed 2 Warning Last result is "Succeeded with warning" View the log to read the warnings -> [optionally] Perform actions to prevent the future warnings or failure. 3 OK Last result is "Succeeded", "-", or "Stopped" No action is required. 6.1.2.2.
Run a plan/task Backup plan Click Run. In the Run Backup Plan (p. 203) window, select the task you need to be run. Running the backup plan starts the selected task of that plan immediately in spite of its schedule and conditions. Why can't I run the backup plan? • Do not have the appropriate privilege Without the Administrator privileges on the machine, a user cannot run plans owned by other users. Task Click Run. The task will be executed immediately in spite of its schedule and conditions.
Edit a plan/task Backup plan Click Edit. Backup plan editing is performed in the same way as creation (p. 209), except for the following limitations: It is not always possible to use all scheme options, when editing a backup plan if the created archive is not empty (i.e. contains backups). 1 It is not possible to change the scheme to Grandfather-Father-Son or Tower of Hanoi. 2 If the Tower of Hanoi scheme is used, it is not possible to change the number of levels.
Delete a plan/task Backup plan Click Delete. What will happen if I delete the backup plan? The plan's deletion deletes all its tasks. Why can't I delete the backup plan? • The backup plan is in the "Running" state A backup plan cannot be deleted, if at least one of its tasks is running. • Do not have the appropriate privilege Without the Administrator's privileges on the machine, a user cannot delete plans owned by other users. • The backup plan has a centralized origin.
Configuring backup plans and the tasks table By default, the table has six columns that are displayed, others are hidden. If required, you can hide the displayed columns and show hidden ones. To show or hide columns 1. Right-click any column header to open the context menu. The menu items that are ticked off correspond to column headers presented in the table. 2. Click the items you want to be displayed/hidden.
Recovery (disk) Disk backup recovery Recovery (file) File and folder recovery Recovery (volume) Recovery of volumes from a disk backup Recovery (MBR) Master boot record recovery Recovery (disk to existing VM) Recovery of a disk/volume backup to an existing virtual machine Recovery (disk to new VM) Recovery of a disk/volume backup to a new virtual machine Recovery (existing VM) Recovery of a virtual machine backup to an existing virtual machine Recovery (new VM) Recovery of a virtual machine b
Progress The Progress tab is available while the task is running. It is common for all types of tasks. The tab provides information about task progress, elapsed time and other parameters. Backup plan details The Backup plan details window (also duplicated on the Information panel) aggregates in four tabs all the information on the selected backup plan. The respective message will appear at the top of the tabs, if one of the plan's tasks requires user interaction.
Settings The Settings tab displays the following information: • • • Backup scheme - the selected backup scheme and all its settings with schedules. Validation (if selected) - events before or after which the validation is performed, and validation schedule. Backup options - backup options changed against the default values. 6.1.3. Log The Log stores the history of operations performed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 on the machine, or actions a user takes on the machine using the program.
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 entry. All the 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 • Click View Details. The log entry's details will be displayed in a separate window. • Expand the Information panel, by clicking the chevron.
Sort log entries by date and time Click the column's header to sort the log entries in ascending order. Click it once again to sort the log entries in descending order. Configuring the log table By default, the table has seven columns that are displayed, others are hidden. If required, you can hide the shown columns and show the hidden ones. To show or hide columns 1. Right-click any column header to open the context menu.
6.2. Creating a backup plan Before creating your first backup plan (p. 389), please familiarize yourself with the basic concepts (p. 28) used in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. To create a backup plan, perform the following steps. General Plan name [Optional] Enter a unique name for the backup plan. A conscious name lets you identify the plan among others. Plan's credentials (p. 211) [Optional] The backup plan will run on behalf of the user who is creating the plan.
Archive comments [Optional] Enter comments on the archive. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. How to back up Backup scheme (p. 218) Specify when and how often to back up your data; define for how long to keep the created backup archives in the selected location; set up schedule for the archive cleanup procedure. Use well-known optimized backup schemes, such as Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi; create a custom backup scheme, or back up data once.
Host (p. 229) Specify the machine that will perform the conversion. The machine has to have Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows, Agent for ESX/ESXi or Agent for Hyper-V installed. Virtualization server (p. 229) Here you select the resulting virtual machine type and location. Available options depend on the host you selected in the previous step. Storage (p. 229) Choose the storage on the virtualization server or the folder to place the virtual machine files in.
6.2.3. Source type Select the type of data you want to be backed up on the managed machine. The list of available data types depends on the agents running on the machine: Files Available if the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows (or for Linux) is installed. Select this option to back up specific files and folders.
6.2.4. Items to back up The items to backup depend on the source type (p. 212) selected previously. 6.2.4.1. Selecting disks and volumes To specify disks/volumes to back up 1. Select the check boxes for the disks and/or volumes to back up. You can select a random set of disks and volumes. If your operating system and its loader reside on different volumes, always include both volumes in the backup.
A file-based backup is not sufficient for recovery of the operating system. In order to recover your operating system, you have to perform a disk backup. Use the table in the right part of the window to browse and select the nested items. Selecting the check box beside the Name column’s header automatically selects all items in the table. Clearing this check box automatically deselects all items. 3. Click OK. 6.2.4.3.
machine configuration, stored in a virtual machine backup, will be suggested by default at recovering the backup content to a new virtual machine. Limitations A Hyper-V virtual machine that uses at least one pass-through disk (a physical disk, either local or SAN-LUN, attached to the virtual machine) cannot be backed up from the host. To back up such machine or its disks, install Agent for Windows or Agent for Linux on the machine.
You can view file or folder attributes in the file/folder properties or by using the attrib command. For more information, refer to the Help and Support Center in Windows. • Exclude files matching the following criteria Select this check box to skip files whose names match any of the criteria — called file masks — in the list; use the Add, Edit, Remove and Remove All buttons to create the list of file masks.
You can access the server as an anonymous user if the server enables such access. To do so, click Use anonymous access instead of entering credentials. According to the original FTP specification, credentials required for access to FTP servers are transferred through a network as plaintext. This means that the user name and password can be intercepted by an eavesdropper using a packet sniffer.
6.2.8. Access credentials for archive location Specify credentials required for access to the location where the backup archive will be stored. The user whose name is specified will be considered as the archive owner. To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: o Use the plan's credentials The program will access the source data using the credentials of the backup plan account specified in the General section.
• Custom – to create a custom scheme, where you are free to set up a backup strategy in the way your enterprise needs it most: specify multiple schedules for different backup types, add conditions and specify the retention rules. 6.2.9.1. Back up now scheme With the Back up now scheme, the backup will be performed immediately, right after you click the OK button at the bottom of the page. In the Backup type field, select whether you want to create a full, incremental or differential backup (p. 34). 6.
Description Let us suppose that we want to set up a backup plan that will regularly produce a series of daily (D), weekly (W), and monthly (M) backups. Here is a natural way to do this: the following table shows a sample two-month period for such a plan.
Keep backups: Specifies how long you want the backups to be stored in the archive. A term can be set in hours, days, weeks, months, or years. For monthly backups, you can also select Keep indefinitely if you want them to be saved forever. The default values for each backup type are as follows.
Limited storage If you do not want to arrange a vast amount of space to store a huge archive, you may set up a GFS scheme so as to make your backups more short-lived, at the same time ensuring that your information can be recovered in case of an accidental data loss.
o Monthly: 5 years Here, daily incremental backups will be created on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with weekly and monthly backups performed on Fridays. Note that, in order to choose Friday in the Weekly/monthly field, you need to first select it in the Back up on field. Such an archive would allow you to compare your financial documents as of the first and the last day of work, and have a five-year history of all documents, etc.
Roll-back period The guaranteed number of sessions that one can go back in the archive at any time. Calculated automatically, depending on the schedule parameters and the numbers of levels you select. See the example below for details. Example Schedule parameters are set as follows • • Recur: Every 1 day Frequency: Once at 6 PM Number of levels: 4 This is how the first 14 days (or 14 sessions) of this scheme's schedule look. Shaded numbers denote backup levels.
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. Here are the backups we have on day 12 (numbers in gray denote deleted backups). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 A new level 3 differential backup has not yet been created, so the backup of day five is still stored.
Incremental Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform an incremental backup. If the archive contains no backups at the time of the task run, a full backup is created instead of the incremental backup. Differential Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform a differential backup. If the archive contains no full backups at the time of the task run, a full backup is created instead of the differential backup.
Examples Weekly full backup The following scheme yields a full backup performed every Friday night. Full backup: Schedule: Weekly, every Friday, at 10:00 PM Here, all parameters except Schedule in Full backup are left empty. All backups in the archive are kept indefinitely (no archive cleanup is performed). Full and incremental backup plus cleanup With the following scheme, the archive will consist of weekly full backups and daily incremental backups.
As a result, a full backup—originally scheduled at 9:00 PM—may actually start later: as soon as the backup location becomes available. Likewise, backup tasks for incremental and differential backups will wait until all users are logged off and users are idle, respectively. Finally, we create retention rules for the archive: let us retain only backups that are no older than six months, and let the cleanup be performed after each backup task and also on the last day of every month.
you prefer to be immediately informed whether the backed up data is not corrupted and can be successfully recovered, think of starting the validation right after backup creation. 2. What to validate – select either to validate the entire archive or the latest backup in the archive. Validation of a file backup imitates recovery of all files from the backup to a dummy destination. Validation of a volume backup calculates a checksum for every data block saved in the backup.
Virtual machines resulting from backup are not supposed to be backed up and so do not appear on the management server, unless its integration with VMware vCenter Server is enabled. If the integration is enabled, such machines appear as unmanageable. A backup policy cannot be applied to them.
The system becomes operational and ready to provide necessary services. Thus, the system downtime will be minimal. A dynamic volume can be recovered over an existing volume, to unallocated space of a disk group, or to unallocated space of a basic disk. To learn more about recovering dynamic volumes, please turn to the Microsoft LDM (Dynamic volumes) (p. 45) section.
Where to recover This section appears after the required backup is selected and the type of data to recover is defined. The parameters you specify here depend on the type of data being recovered. Disks (p. 236) Volumes (p. 237) Acronis Active Restore [OPTIONAL] The Acronis Active Restore check box is available when recovering Windows starting from Windows 2000. Acronis Active Restore brings a system online immediately after the recovery is started.
After any of the settings is changed against the default value, a new line that displays the newly set value appears. The setting status changes from Default to Custom. Should you modify the setting again, the line will display the new value unless the new value is the default one. When the default value is set, the line disappears and so you always see only the settings that differ from the default values in the Settings section. Clicking Reset to default resets all the settings to default values.
o If the archive is stored on a network share, expand the Network folders group, then select the required networked machine and then click the shared folder. If the network share requires access credentials, the program will ask for them. Note for Linux users: To specify a Common Internet File System (CIFS) network share which is mounted on a mount point such as /mnt/share, select this mount point instead of the network share itself.
Selecting an MBR You will usually select the disk's MBR if: o o o o The operating system cannot boot The disk is new and does not have an MBR Recovering custom or non-Windows boot loaders (such as LILO and GRUB) The disk geometry is different to that stored in the backup. There are probably other times when you may need to recover the MBR, but the above are the most common.
According to the original FTP specification, credentials required for access to FTP servers are transferred through a network as plaintext. This means that the user name and password can be intercepted by an eavesdropper using a packet sniffer. 6.3.6. Destination selection Specify the destination the selected data will be recovered to. 6.3.6.1. Disks Available disk destinations depend on the agents operating on the machine.
NT signature (p. 237) Select the way the recovered disk's signature will be handled. The disk signature is used by Windows and the Linux kernel version 2.6 and later. 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.
Recover to: Physical machine Available when the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows or Agent for Linux is installed. The selected volumes will be recovered to the physical disks of the machine the console is connected to. On selecting this, you proceed to the regular volume mapping procedure described below. New virtual machine (p. 240) If Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows is installed.
MBR destination To specify a destination disk: 1. Select the disk to recover the MBR to. 2. Click OK. Volume destination To specify a destination volume: 1. Select a volume or unallocated space where you want the selected volume to be recovered to. The destination volume/unallocated space should be at least the same size as the uncompressed image data. 2. Click OK.
• Logical. Information about logical volumes is located not in the MBR, but in the extended partition table. The number of logical volumes on a disk is unlimited. A logical volume cannot be set as active. If you recover a system volume to another hard disk with its own volumes and operating system, you will most likely need only the data. In this case, you can recover the volume as logical to access the data only. File system Change the volume file system, if required.
6.3.6.4. Virtual machine settings The following virtual machine settings can be configured. Storage Initial setting: the default storage of the virtualization server if the new machine is created on the virtualization server. Otherwise the current user's documents folder. This is the place where the new virtual machine will be created. Whether you can change the storage on the virtualization server or not, depends on the virtualization product brand and settings. VMware ESX may have multiple storages.
o 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. The files and folders will be recovered without recreating a full path, unless you clear the Recover without full path check box. 2. Click OK. Exclusions Set up exclusions for the specific types of files you do not wish to be overwritten during recovery.
Overwriting Choose what to do if the program finds in the target folder a file with the same name as in the archive: • • • Overwrite existing file - this will give the file in the backup priority over the file on the hard disk. Overwrite existing file if it is older - this will give priority to the most recent file modification, whether it be in the backup or on the disk. Do not overwrite existing file - this will give the file on the hard disk priority over the file in the backup.
To learn more about the Universal Restore technology, see the Universal Restore (p. 58) section. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore is not available when: • • a machine is booted with Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (using F11) • you have chosen to use Acronis Active Restore (p. 387) the backup image is located in Acronis Secure Zone because these features are primarily meant for instant data recovery on the same machine.
Mass storage drivers to install anyway To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. If the target hardware has a specific mass storage controller such as RAID (especially NVIDIA RAID) or a fibre channel adapter, specify the appropriate drivers in the Drivers field. The drivers defined here will have priority. They will be installed, with appropriate warnings, even if the program finds a better driver. Use this option only if the automatic drivers search does not help to boot the system.
3. In Data type, select Disks or Volumes depending on what you need to convert. 4. In Content, select the disks to convert or the volumes with the Master Boot Records (MBR) of the corresponding disks. 5. In Recover to, select New virtual machine. 6. In VM server, select the type of the new virtual machine to be created or on which virtualization server to create the machine. 7. In VM name, enter the name for the new virtual machine. 8. [Optionally] Review the Virtual machine settings (p.
• Windows was recovered to a dynamic volume that cannot be bootable Solution: Recover Windows to a basic, simple or mirrored volume. • A system volume was recovered to a disk that does not have an MBR When you configure recovery of a system volume to a disk that does not have an MBR, the program prompts whether you want to recover the MBR along with the system volume. Opt for not recovering, only if you do not want the system to be bootable.
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. Mount the system you are recovering: mkdir /mnt/system/ mount -t ext3 /dev/sda2 /mnt/system/ # root partition mount -t ext3 /dev/sda1 /mnt/system/boot/ # boot partition 3.
root (hd0,0) 10. Install GRUB. For example, to install GRUB in the master boot record (MBR) of the first disk, run the following command: setup (hd0) 11. Exit the GRUB shell: quit 12. Unmount the mounted file systems and then reboot: umount umount umount umount reboot /mnt/system/dev/ /mnt/system/proc/ /mnt/system/boot/ /mnt/system/ 13. Reconfigure the bootloader by using tools and documentation from the Linux distribution that you use.
Example 2.
• • Base: Hexadecimal Value: FFFFFFFF 4. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the machine. If this does not resolve the problem, or for more details on adding these registry settings, see the corresponding Microsoft Help and Support article. Tip: In general, if a volume contains many files, consider using a disk-level backup instead of a file-level one. In this case, you will be able to recover the entire volume as well as particular files stored on it. 6.3.14.
While successful validation means high probability of successful recovery, it does not check all factors that influence the recovery process. If you back up the operating system, only a test recovery in bootable environment to a spare hard drive can guarantee success of the recovery. At least ensure that the backup can be successfully validated using the bootable media. Different ways to create a validation task Using the Validation page is the most general way to create a validation task.
6.4.1. Task credentials Provide credentials for the account under which the task will run. To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: o Run under the current user The task will run under the credentials with which the user who starts the tasks is logged on. If the task has to run on schedule, you will be asked for the current user's password on completing the task creation.
After entering access credentials, the folders on the server become available. Click the appropriate folder on the server. You can access the server as an anonymous user if the server enables such access. To do so, click Use anonymous access instead of entering credentials. According to the original FTP specification, credentials required for access to FTP servers are transferred through a network as plaintext.
deleted or modified by another user or by the program itself according to scheduled operations. Use the Refresh button to refresh the list of archives. 6.4.5. Access credentials for source Specify the credentials required for access to the location where the backup archive is stored. To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: o Use the task credentials The program will access the location using the credentials of the task account specified in the General section.
operation. The mount operation is available when the console is connected to a managed machine running either Windows or Linux. Mounting volumes in the read/write mode enables you to modify the backup content, that is, save, move, create, delete files or folders, and run executables consisting of one file. Limitation: Mounting of volume backups stored on Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node is not possible. Usage scenarios: • • Sharing: mounted images can be easily shared to networked users.
If the archive is located on removable media, e.g. DVDs, first insert the last DVD and then insert the discs in order starting from the first one when the program prompts. o If the archive is stored on a network share, expand the Network folders group, then select the required networked machine and then click the shared folder. If the network share requires access credentials, the program will ask for them.
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. Specify: • User name. When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain) • Password. The password for the account. 2. Click OK.
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. To unmount an image, select it in the table and click To unmount all the mounted volumes, click Unmount. Unmount all. 6.7.
• • exporting an archive or part of an archive to a location where an archive of the same name exists exporting an archive or part of an archive to the same location twice 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.
To export an archive or a backup perform the following steps. General Task name [Optional] Enter a unique name for the task. A conscious name lets you quickly identify the task among the others. Task credentials (p. 261) [Optional] The export task will run on behalf of the user who is creating the task. You can change the task credentials if necessary. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. What to export Export Select an object to export: Archive (p.
The task 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. 2. Click OK. To learn more about using credentials in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, see the Owners and credentials (p. 33) section.
2. In the table to the right of the tree, select the archive. The table displays the names of the archives contained in each vault/folder you select. If the archive is password-protected, provide the password. While you are reviewing the location content, archives can be added, deleted or modified by another user or by the program itself according to scheduled operations. Use the Refresh button to refresh the list of archives. 3. Click OK. 6.7.3. Backup selection To specify a backup(s) to export 1.
1. Selecting the export destination Enter the full path to the destination in the Path field, or select the desired destination in the folders 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 local folder on the machine, expand the Local folders group and click the required folder.
3. Naming the new archive By default, the exported archive inherits the name of the original archive.
6.8.1. Creating Acronis Secure Zone You can create Acronis Secure Zone while the operating system is running or using bootable media. To create Acronis Secure Zone, perform the following steps. Space Disk (p. 266) Choose a hard disk (if several) on which to create the zone. Acronis Secure Zone is created using unallocated space, if available, or at the expense of the volume's free space. Size (p. 266) Specify the exact size of the zone.
• Taking all free space from a system volume may cause the operating system to work unstably and even fail to start. Do not set the maximum zone size if the boot or the system volume is selected. 6.8.1.3. Password for Acronis Secure Zone Setting up a password protects the Acronis Secure Zone from unauthorized access.
6.8.2. Managing Acronis Secure Zone Acronis Secure Zone is considered as a personal vault (p. 400). Once created on a managed machine, the zone is always present in the list of Personal vaults. Centralized backup plans can use Acronis Secure Zone as well as local plans. If you have used the Acronis Secure Zone before, please note a radical change in the zone functionality. The zone does not perform automatic cleanup, that is, deleting old archives, anymore.
o o dragging the slider and selecting any size between the current and minimum values. The minimum size is approximately 50MB, depending on the geometry of the hard disk; typing an exact value in the Acronis Secure Zone Size field. 4. Click OK. 6.8.2.3. Deleting Acronis Secure Zone To delete the zone without uninstalling the program, proceed as follows: 1. In the Acronis Secure Zone Actions bar (on the Actions and tools pane), select Delete. 2.
• • boot the machine from a separate bootable rescue media use network boot from Acronis PXE Server or Microsoft Remote Installation Services (RIS). See the Bootable media (p. 270) section for details. 6.10.
• PE-based bootable media helps overcome some Linux-related bootable media issues such as support for certain RAID controllers or certain levels of RAID arrays only. Media based on PE 2.x, that is, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 kernel, allows for dynamic loading of the necessary device drivers. 6.10.1. How to create bootable media To enable creating physical media, the machine must have a CD/DVD recording drive or allow a flash drive to be attached.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=94bb6e34-d890-4932-81a55b50c657de08&DisplayLang=en 2. [optional] Burn the WAIK to DVD or copy to a flash drive. 3. Install the Microsoft .NET Framework v.2.0 from this kit (NETFXx86 or NETFXx64, depending on your hardware.) 4. Install Microsoft Core XML (MSXML) 5.0 or 6.0 Parser from this kit. 5. Install Windows AIK from this kit. 6. Install Bootable Media Builder on the same machine.
o o o o create CD, DVD or other bootable media such as removable USB flash drives if the hardware BIOS allows for boot from such media build an ISO image of a bootable disc to burn it later on a blank disc upload the selected components to Acronis PXE Server upload the selected components to a WDS/RIS. 8. [optional] Windows system drivers to be used by Acronis Universal Restore (p. 276).
Without this parameter, all startup messages will be displayed, followed by a command prompt. To start the management console from the command prompt, run the command: /bin/product nousb Disables loading of the USB (Universal Serial Bus) subsystem. nousb2 Disables USB 2.0 support. USB 1.1 devices still work with this parameter. This parameter allows you to use some USB drives in the USB 1.1 mode if they do not work in the USB 2.0 mode. nodma Disables direct memory access (DMA) for all IDE hard disk drives.
• • Subnet mask • • DNS server Gateway 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. You also have the ability to configure the network settings manually when the bootable agent is running on the machine. Pre-configuring multiple network connections You can pre-configure TCP/IP settings for up to ten network interface cards.
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.
2. Start the Bootable Media Builder either from the management console, by selecting Tools > Create Bootable Media or, as a separate component. 3. Select Bootable media type: Windows PE. o Select Use WinPE files located in the folder I specify 4. Specify path to the folder where the WinPE files are located. 5. Specify the full path to the resulting ISO file including the file name. 6. Check your settings in the summary screen and click Proceed. 7. Burn the .
controller, network adapter, tape drive or other device. You will have to repeat this procedure for each driver you want to be included in the resulting WinPE boot media. 5. Choose whether you want to create ISO or WIM image or upload the media on Acronis PXE Server. 6. Specify the full path to the resulting image file including the file name, or specify the PXE server and provide the user name and password to access it. 7. Check your settings in the summary screen and click Proceed. 8. Burn the .
11. Build the Bart PE. 12. Burn the ISO to CD or DVD (if this has not been done yet) or copy to a flash drive. Once the machine boots into the Bart PE and you configure the network connection, select Go -> System -> Storage -> Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 to start. 6.10.2. Connecting to a machine booted from media Once a machine boots from bootable media, the machine terminal displays a startup window with the IP address(es) obtained from DHCP or set according to the pre-configured values.
6.10.3.1. Setting up a display mode For a machine booted from media, a display video mode is detected automatically based on the hardware configuration (monitor and graphics card specifications). If, for some reason, the video mode is detected incorrectly, do the following: 1. In the boot menu, press F11. 2. Add to the command prompt the following command: vga=ask, and then proceed with booting. 3.
6. Click OK. 6.10.4. List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media Linux-based bootable media contains the following commands and command line utilities, which you can use when running a command shell. To start the command shell, press CTRL+ALT+F2 while in the bootable media's management console.
fxload mount tar gawk mtx tune2fs gpm mv udev grep parted udevinfo growisofs pccardctl udevstart grub ping umount gunzip pktsetup uuidgen halt poweroff vconfig hexdump ps vi hotplug raidautorun zcat 6.10.5. Recovering MD devices and logical volumes To recover Linux Software RAID devices, known as MD devices, and/or devices created by Logical Volume Manager (LVM), known as logical volumes, you need to create the corresponding volume structure before starting the recovery.
3. In the management console, click Recover. Under the archive contents, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 will display a message saying that it detected information about the volume structure. 4. Click Details in the area with that message. 5. Review the volume structure, and then click Apply RAID/LVM to create it. To create the volume structure by using a script 1. Boot the machine from a Linux-based bootable media. 2. Click Acronis Bootable Agent. Then, click Run management console. 3.
(Do not reboot the machine at this point. Otherwise, you will have to create the volume structure again.) 8. Click Recover, then specify the path to the archive and any other required parameters, and then click OK. Note: This procedure does not work when connected to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Bootable Agent remotely, because the command shell is not available in this case.
lvm vgdisplay The output of the lvm vgdisplay command will contain lines similar to the following: --- Volume group --VG Name my_volgroup ... VG Access read/write VG Status resizable ... VG Size 1.99 GB ... VG UUID 0qoQ4l-Vk7W-yDG3-uF1l-Q2AL-C0z0-vMeACu 5. Run the following command to create the logical volume; in the -L parameter, specify the size given by VG Size: lvm lvcreate -L1.99G --name my_logvol my_volgroup 6.
The output will contain lines similar to the following: Num Idx Partition Flags Start Size ---- --- --------- ----- ----- --------Disk 1: Table 0 Disk 2: Table 0 ... Dynamic & GPT Volumes: DYN1 4 my_volgroup-my_logvol 12533760 Type -----Table Table Ext2 You will need the volume's index, given in the Idx column, in the next step. 2. Use the --mount command, specifying the volume's index in the -i parameter. For example: trueimagemnt --mount /mnt --filename smb://server/backups/linux_machine.
3. Follow the onscreen instructions. Acronis PXE Server runs as a service immediately after installation. Later on it will automatically launch at each system restart. You can stop and start Acronis PXE Server in the same way as other Windows services. 6.10.6.2. Setting up a machine to boot from PXE For bare metal, it is enough that the machine’s BIOS supports network booting.
6.10.6.4. Work across subnets To enable the Acronis PXE Server to work in another subnet (across the switch), configure the switch to relay the PXE traffic. The PXE server IP addresses are configured on a per-interface basis using IP helper functionality in the same way as DHCP server addresses. For more information please refer to: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/257579. 6.11.
Running Acronis Disk Director Lite under Windows If you run Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console, and connect it to a managed machine, the Disk management view will be available in the Navigation tree of the console, with which you can start Acronis Disk Director Lite. Running Acronis Disk Director Lite from a bootable media You can run Acronis Disk Director Lite on a bare metal, on a machine that cannot boot or on a nonWindows machine. To do so, boot the machine from a bootable media (p.
• • From the volume or disk context menu (both in the table and the graphic panel) • From the Operations bar on the Actions and Tools pane From the Disk management menu of the console Note that the list of available operations in the context menu, the Disk management menu, and the Operations bar depends on the selected volume or disk type. The same is true for unallocated space as well.
3. In the window, you will be able to set the disk partitioning scheme (MBR or GPT) and the disk type (basic or dynamic). The new disk state will be graphically represented in the Disk Management view of the console immediately. 4. By clicking OK, you'll add a pending operation of the disk initialization. (To finish the added operation you will have to commit (p. 303) it. Exiting the program without committing the pending operations will effectively cancel them.
But with the wide range of available hardware it is normal that the target disk would differ in size from the source. If the destination is larger, then it would be advisable to resize the source disk volumes to avoid leaving unallocated space on the target disk by selecting the Proportionally resize volumes option.
4. Wait until the task is finished. 5. Wait until the machine is turned off. 6. Disconnect either the source or the target hard disk drive from the machine. 7. Start up the machine. If you need to leave an NT signature: 1. Click to clear the Copy NT signature check box, if necessary. 2. Click to clear the Turn off the machine after the cloning operation check box, if necessary. 3. Click Finish to add the pending operation. 4.
6.11.5.4. Disk conversion: GPT to MBR If you plan to install an OS that does not support GPT disks, conversion of the GPT disk to MBR is possible the name of the operation will be listed as Convert to MBR. If you need to convert a GPT disk to MBR: 1. Select a GPT disk to convert to MBR. 2. Right-click on the selected volume, and then click Convert to MBR in the context menu. You will receive a warning window, stating that you are about to convert GPT into MBR.
1. There is a single Windows 2008/Vista operating system installed on the disk. 2. The machine runs this operating system. Basic to dynamic conversion of the disk, comprising of system volumes, takes a certain amount of time, and any power loss, unintentional turning off of the machine or accidental pressing of the Reset button during the procedure could result in bootability loss.
• in multiboot systems, bootability of a system that was offline during the operation 6.11.5.7. 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. 289). One of the following disk statuses always appears in the graphical view of the disk next to the disk's name: • Online The online status means that a disk is accessible in the read-write mode. This is the normal disk status.
• • 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. 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). It provides no additional reliability, no speed improvement, nor extra size.
and is able to overcome the physical disk size limitations with a higher than mirrored disk-tovolume size ratio. 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. Its pages will enable you to enter operation parameters, proceeding step-by-step further on and return to any previous step if necessary to change any previously selected options.
To create a Striped volume: o Select two or more destination disks to create the volume on. To create a RAID-5 volume: o 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.
In setting the cluster size you can choose between any number in the preset amount for each file system. Note, the program suggests the cluster size best suited to the volume with the chosen file system. 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.
6.11.6.3. 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.
6.11.6.5. Change volume label The volume label is an optional attribute. It is a name assigned to a volume for easier recognition. For example, one volume could be called SYSTEM — a volume with an operating system, or PROGRAM — 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.
The new volume structure will be graphically represented in the Disk management view. If you set a 64K cluster size for FAT16/FAT32 or an 8KB-64KB cluster size for NTFS, Windows can mount the volume, but some programs (e.g. Setup programs) might calculate its disk space incorrectly. 6.11.7. 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.
7. Centralized management This section covers operations that can be performed centrally by using the components for centralized management. The content of this section is only applicable to advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. 7.1. Administering Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server This section describes the views that are available through the navigation tree of the console connected to the management server, and explains how to work with each view. 7.1.1.
Vaults with low free space: X View vaults The alert is displayed if at least one centralized vault has less than 10% free space. View vaults will take you to the Centralized vaults (p. 140) view where you can examine the vault size, free space, content and take the necessary steps to increase the free space.
Activities The stacked column chart lets you explore the daily history of the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agents' activities. The history is based on the log entries, collected from the registered machines and from the management server. The chart shows the number of log entries of each type (error, warning, information) for a particular day. Statistics for the selected date are displayed to the right of the chart. All the statistics fields are interactive, i.e.
• Use the Information pane's tabs to view detailed information about the selected policy and perform additional operations, such as revoke the policy, view details of the machine (group) the policy is applied to, etc. The panel is collapsed by default. To expand the panel, click the chevron. The content of the pane is also duplicated in the Policy details (p. 310) window. • Use the filtering and sorting (p. 310) capabilities of the policy table for easy browsing and examination. 7.1.2.1.
o o Select the policy and click View tasks. Check the tasks that have Failed as their last result: select a task and then click View log. Select a log entry and then click View details. This approach comes in handy if the policy state is Deployed, that is, the policies' tasks already exist on the managed machines. Select the policy and click View log. Check the "error" log entries to find out the reason of the failure: select a log entry and then click View details.
To Do Create a backup policy Click Create backup policy. The procedure of creating a backup policy is described in-depth in the Creating a backup policy (p. 365) section. Apply policy to machines or groups Click Edit a policy Click Apply to. In the Machines selection (p. 309) window, specify the machines (groups) the selected backup policy will be applied to. If the machine is currently offline, the policy will be deployed when the machine comes online again. Edit.
The Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server will deploy the policy to the selected machines and machines belonging to the selected groups. Filtering and sorting backup policies The following is a guideline for you to filter and sort backup policies. To Do Sort backup policies by any column Click the column's header to sort the backup policies in ascending order. Filter backup policies by name/owner Type a policy's name / owner's name in the fields below the corresponding column's header.
Settings The tab displays information about the backup scheme used by the policy and backup options that were modified against the default settings. Applied to The tab displays a list of machines and groups the selected policy is applied to. Actions To Do View details of the machine (group). Click In the Machine details (p. 318)/Group details (p. 327) window, examine all information on the selected machine (or the selected group). View tasks of the machine (group).
The main goal of grouping is protection of multiple machines with one policy. Once a machine appears in a group, the policy applied to the group is applied to the machine and the new tasks are created by the policy on the machine. Once a machine is removed from a group, the policy applied to the group will be revoked from the machine and the tasks created by the policy will be removed. Built-in group - a group that always exists on a management server. The group cannot be deleted or renamed.
7.1.3.1. Actions on machines Registering machines on the management server Once the machine is added or imported to the All physical machines group, it becomes registered on the management server. Registered machines are available for deploying backup policies and for performing other centralized management operations. Registration provides a trusted relationship between the agent, residing on the machine, and the management server.
Add a machine to another static group Click Add to another group. In the Add to group (p. 317) window, specify the group to copy the selected machine to. The backup policies applied to the groups the machine is a member of will be applied to the machine. For machines in custom groups Add machines to a static group Click Move a machine to another static group Click Add machines to group. In the Add machines to group (p. 318) window, select the machines that you need to add. Move to another group.
View tasks existing on a machine Click View tasks. The Tasks (p. 337) view will display a list of the tasks, existing on the machine. View log entries of a machine Click Update all information related to the machine Click Refresh a list of machines Click View log. The Log (p. 339) view will display a list of the machine's log entries. Synchronize. The management server will query the machine and update the database with the most recent information.
To perform registration through a local or remote console-agent connection, you have to be connected with the management server administrator's credentials or provide the management server administrator's credentials. On connecting, select from the menu Options - Machine options Machine management, then opt for Centralized management and then enter the management server's name or IP address and the management server administrator's credentials.
A registered machine has to be specified by its registration address, that is, you need to provide exactly the same host name, fully qualified domain name (FQDN), or IP address as was specified when the machine was initially added to the management server. Otherwise, the machine will be deleted and added again as if it were another machine. This means all policies, both inherited and directly applied, will be revoked from the machine and its static group membership will be lost.
The machine being added becomes a member of more than one group. As a result, the backup policies applied to the first group will remain on the machine, and the backup policies applied to the second, third, etc. group will be deployed to the machine. Moving a machine to another group To move the selected machine to another group 1. In the group tree, select the group the machine will be moved to. 2. Click OK. The machine being moved leaves one group and becomes a member of another group.
o o o o o Online - the machine is available for the management server. This means that the management server's last connection to the machine was successful. Connection is established every 2 minutes. Offline - the machine is unavailable for the management server: it is turned off, or its network cable is unplugged.
Filtering and sorting Filtering and sorting of the backup policies is performed in the same way as for the Backup policies view. See the Filtering and sorting backup policies (p. 310) section for details. Plans and tasks Displays a list of the plans (both local and centralized) and tasks existing on the selected machine. Operations The following is a guideline for you to perform operations with backup plans and tasks. To Do View details of a plan/task Backup plan Click View details.
Stop a plan/task Backup plan Click Stop. Stopping the running backup plan stops all its tasks. Thus, all the task operations will be aborted. Task Click Stop. What will happen if I stop the task? Generally, stopping the task aborts its operation (backup, recovery, validation, exporting, conversion, migration). The task enters the Stopping state first, then becomes Idle. The task schedule, if created, remains valid. To complete the operation you will have to run the task again.
• Task belongs to a backup plan Only tasks that do not belong to a backup plan, such as a recovery task, can be modified by direct editing. When you need to modify a task belonging to a local backup plan, edit the backup plan. A task belonging to a centralized backup plan can be modified by editing the centralized policy that spawned the plan. Delete a plan/task Backup plan Click Delete. What will happen if I delete the backup plan? The plan's deletion deletes all its tasks.
To Do View details of a group Click View details. You will be taken to the Group details window, where you can examine all information related to this group. View tasks related to a group View log related to a group Remove machine from a group. Click View tasks. You will be taken to the Tasks view with pre-filtered tasks related to the selected backup group. Click View log. This opens Log view with pre-filtered log entries of the selected group. Click Remove.
Filter machines by name. Type a machine's name in the field below the corresponding column's header. As a result you will see the list of machines, whose names fully or just partly coincide with the entered value. Filter machines by status, last connect, last backup, availability. In a field below the corresponding column's header, select the required value from the list. Configuring the machines table By default, the table has five columns that are displayed, others are hidden.
Move one custom group to another Click Delete a custom group Click Move to. In the Move to group (p. 327) window, specify a group that will be a new parent of the selected group. Delete. Deletion of a parent group will delete its child groups as well. Backup policies applied to the parent group and inherited by its child groups will be revoked from all members of the deleted groups. The the policies that are directly applied to the members will remain. Refresh a list of groups Click Refresh.
a) All the entries of the same criteria are combined by logical addition (OR). For example, the following set of criteria Operating system: Windows Server 2008 Operating system: Windows Server 2003 will add to the same group all the machines whose operating system is Windows 2000 OR Windows 2003.
If you later modify the file, the contents of the group will change accordingly. The file is checked every 15 minutes. If you later delete the file or if it becomes unavailable, the contents of the group will correspond to the list that was last stored in the file. Text file requirements The file should contain machine names or IP addresses, one machine per line. Example: Machine_name_1 Machine_name_2 192.168.1.14 192.168.1.
This information is also duplicated in the Information panel.
The following example illustrates how the policy that is applied on the group through inheritance is displayed. Group1 > Group2 > Group3 Group1 in the root contains Group2 to which the policy is applied directly. Group2, in turn, contains child Group3 that inherits the policy from the parent. The group to which the policy was applied directly is boldfaced and marked with an icon. All items are interactive, i.e. when you click on a group, its parent group view will be opened. 7.1.4.
o Deploy the agent (p. 331) to the ESX/ESXi server or o o Install and configure the agent manually as described in "Installing ESX/ESXi virtual appliance" Add (p. 315) the virtual appliance to the management server as an ordinary physical machine The virtual machines hosted on the ESX/ESXi server (except for the virtual appliance with the agent) appear in the All virtual machines group.
You can create both static and dynamic groups of virtual machines. Any virtual machine that is currently available can be added to a static group. You cannot create groups that contain both physical and virtual machines. The dynamic membership criteria for virtual machines are as follows: • Virtualization server type (Hyper-V, ESX/ESXi). Using this criterion, you can create a dynamic group of virtual machines hosted on all registered Hyper-V (or ESX/ESXi, respectively) servers.
Password for remote connection to the agent: The management server will use this password to establish a trusted relationship with the agent during registration. Once the agent is registered, the password may be needed only in case the management server has to re-register the agent. To be able to connect the management console directly to the agent, specify the password explicitly. (The user name is root).
What happens when you remove an agent The virtual appliance that contains the agent will be deleted from the server's disk. The virtual machines hosted on this ESX/ESXi server will disappear from the management server or become unavailable for backup and restore, if integration with the vCenter is still enabled. The Virtual Edition license on the license server will not be freed up automatically. Revoke it manually from this host using the Manage licenses tool if you need to free up the license. 7.1.4.4.
• drastically reduce backup traffic and storage space taken by the archives by using deduplication (p. 77). • prevent access to the backup archives, even in case the storage medium is stolen or accessed by a malefactor, by using encrypted vaults (p. 395). To learn more about Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node, see the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node (p. 21) section.
To Do Add a storage node to the management server Click Add. In the Add storage node (p. 336) window, specify the machine the storage node is installed on. Adding a storage node establishes a trusted relationship between the management server and the storage node, in the same way as when you add machines to the server. Once the storage node is added to the management server, you will be able to create managed vaults on the node. Remove a storage node from the management server Click Remove.
Adding a storage node To add a storage node 1. In the IP/Name field, enter the name or the IP address of the machine the storage node resides on, or click Browse... and browse the network for the machine. Use the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of the storage node, that is, a completely specified domain name ending in a top-level domain. Do not enter “127.0.0.1” or “localhost” as the storage node IP/name.
Vaults This tab displays a list of the vaults, managed by the storage node. To open a managed vault for detailed examination and to perform operations on it, select the vault, then click View vault (on the tab's toolbar). In the Centralized vault (p. 139) view, perform the required actions. Services This tab displays the compacting task scheduling parameters. Service tasks This tab lets the management server administrator manage the compacting task and review its parameters.
The Log (p. 339) view will display a list of the log entries related to the selected task. Run a task Click Run. The task will be executed immediately in spite of its schedule. Stop a task Click Stop. What will happen if I stop the task? Generally, stopping the task aborts its operation (backup, recovery, validation, exporting, conversion, migration). The task enters the Stopping state first, then becomes Idle. The task schedule, if created, remains valid.
Refresh tasks table Click Refresh. The management console will update the list of tasks existing on the machines with the most recent information. Though the list of tasks is refreshed automatically based on events, the data may not be retrieved immediately from the managed machine due to some latency. Manual refresh guarantees that the most recent data is displayed. 7.1.6.2. Filtering and sorting tasks The following is a guideline for you to filter and sort tasks.
Local event log A local event log holds information about Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 operations on a managed machine. For example, creating a backup plan, executing a backup plan, managing archives in personal vaults, executing a recovery task, will generate events logged in the local event log. Physically, a local event log is a collection of XML files stored on the machine. The managed machine local event log is accessible when the console is connected to the machine.
7.1.7.1. Actions on log entries All the operations described below are performed by clicking the corresponding items on the log toolbar. All these operations can also be performed with the context menu (by right-clicking the log entry), or with the Log actions bar (on the Actions and tools pane). The following is a guideline for you to perform actions on log entries. To Do Select a single log entry Click on it.
Filter log entries by type Press or release the following toolbar buttons: to filter error messages to filter warning messages to filter information messages Filter log entries by the original backup plan or managed entity type Under the Backup plan (or Managed entity type) column header, select the backup plan or the type of managed entity from the list. Filter log entries by task, managed entity, machine, code, owner Type the required value (task name, machine name, owner name, etc.
• Code - 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 - Blank or the number of program module where an error was occurred. It is an integer number that may be used by Acronis support service to solve the problem. • Owner - User name of the policy/backup plan owner (p. 33) • Message - The event text description.
Generating reports To start generating a report, select a report template in the Reports view, and then click Generate on the toolbar. There are two types of report templates: customizable and predefined. In a customizable report template, you can specify which entries to include in the report, by using filters. A predefined report template is preset so that you can generate a report with one click. The report will contain the information selected, grouped and sorted according to the template settings.
Filters Under Filters, choose which backup policies to include in the report. Only the backup policies that meet all filter criteria are included. • Backup policies: The list of backup policies. • • • • Source type: The type of data backed up under the backup policies—Disks/volumes and/or Files. • Deployment state: The deployment states of the backup policies—for example, Deployed. Status: The statuses of the backup policies—OK, Warning, and/or Error.
Report view Under Report view, choose how the report will look: • Select whether to show all items in a single table or to group them by a particular column. • • Specify which table columns to show, and in which order. Specify how to sort the table. 7.1.8.4. Report about the tasks In this view, you can generate a report about the tasks that run on registered machines. This report consists of one or more tables. Filters Under Filters, choose which tasks to include in the report.
• • Vaults: The list of centralized managed vaults that store the archives. • • • • • Type: The archive types—disk-level archives and/or file-level archives. • Machines: The list of registered machines from which the archives were created. Owner: The list of users who created the archives. Creation time: The period within which the newest backup was created in each of the archives. Occupied space: The limits for the space occupied by each of the archives.
7.1.8.7. Report about the task activities In this view, you can generate a report about the tasks that existed on registered machines within a chosen period. This report consists of one or more diagrams, one diagram per machine. The diagrams show how many times each task finished on a particular day with each of these results: “Succeeded”, “Succeeded with warnings”, and “Failed”. Report coverage Under Report coverage, choose the time interval for which you want to generate the report.
To allow active content permanently in Internet Explorer 1. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Advanced tab. 2. Select the Allow active content to run files on My Computer check box under Security. 3. Click OK. in Mozilla Firefox 1. On the Options menu, click Content. 2. Make sure, that the Enable JavaScript check box is selected. 3. Click OK. 7.2.
To load the Acronis Administrative Template 1. Run Windows Group Policy Objects Editor (%windir%\system32\gpedit.msc.) 2. Open the Group Policy object (GPO) you want to edit. 3. Expand Computer Configuration. 4. Right click Administrative Templates. 5. Click Add/Remove Templates. 6. Click Add. 7. Browse to the Acronis Administrative Template (\Program files\Common Files\Acronis\Agent \Acronis_agent.adm or \Program files\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\Acronis_agent.adm), and click Open.
Possible values: Any integer number between 1 and 2147483647 Default value: 10 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agents connect to the storage node to access its managed vaults during backup or recovery. The Client Connection Limit parameter determines the maximum number of such connections that the storage node can handle simultaneously. When this limit is reached, the storage node will use the backup queue (see the next parameter) for the agents that are awaiting connection.
For example, suppose that two vaults, Vault A and Vault B, are both stored on a disk volume. Suppose further that the size of the archives in Vault A is 20 GB and the size of the archives in Vault B is 45 GB. If the volume has 5 GB of free space, then the total size of Vault A is 20 GB + 5 GB = 25 GB, and that of Vault B is 45 GB + 5 GB = 50 GB, regardless of the size of the volume. The percentage of free space in a vault is the vault's free space divided by the vault's total size.
The database is stored on the storage node in a local folder whose name is specified in Database path when creating the vault. 7.2.1.3. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server The following are the parameters of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server that can be set by using Acronis Administrative Template. Collecting Logs Specifies when to collect log entries from machines managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server.
Trace State Description: Specifies whether to record Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server's events into the event log. Possible values: True or False Default value: False Trace Level Description: Specifies the minimum level of severity of events to be recorded into the event log. Only events of levels greater than or equal to the value in Trace Level will be recorded.
Synchronization Specifies how Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server connects to registered machines for deployment of centralized policies, retrieval of logs and backup plan states, and similar actions—collectively called synchronization. This parameter has the following settings: Maximum Connections Description: Specifies the maximum number of simultaneous synchronization connections to keep.
If there are fewer worker threads than normal-priority machines, the actual interval between synchronizations may be longer than the value of this parameter. Period-High Priority (in seconds) Description: Specifies how often, in seconds, to perform synchronization for machines that have a high synchronization priority—typically, the machines with currently running centralized backup tasks.
Offline Period Threshold (in seconds) Description: Specifies the maximum interval, in seconds, between attempts to connect to a registered machine which appears to be offline. Possible values: Any integer number between 120 and 2147483647 Default value: 1800 Normally, the management server connects to each registered machine with a certain time interval (see Period and Period-High Priority earlier in this section).
Snapshot Storage Relative Size This setting is effective only when the Snapshot Storage Absolute Size setting is 0. Description: Specifies the initial size of the snapshot storage as a percentage of the disk space that is available at the time of starting the backup. Possible values: Any integer number between 0 and 100 Default value: 50 If this setting is 0, the snapshot storage will not be created. The initial size will not exceed the available space minus 50 MB.
Maximum Time Without License Server, as counted from the moment of installation or from the last successful check. License Server Connection Retry Interval (in hours) Description: Specifies the interval, in hours, between connection attempts when Acronis License Server is unavailable.
Description: Specifies the minimum level of severity of events to be recorded into the event log. Only events of levels greater than or equal to the value in Trace Level will be recorded.
This parameter is used when creating a backup plan. Changes to this parameter do not affect already existing backup plans. This parameter has the following settings: Snapshot Storage Path Description: Specifies the folder in which to create the snapshot storage. Possible values: Any string 0 to 32765 characters long Default value: Empty string An empty string means a temporary files folder, which is typically given by the TMP or TEMP environment variable.
Select one of the following: Not Configured The component will use the default TCP port number 9876. Enabled The component will use the specified port; type the port number in the Server TCP Port box. Disabled The same as Not configured. Client Encryption options Specifies whether to encrypt the transferred data when the component acts as a client application, and whether to trust self-signed SSL certificates.
Always use The use of SSL certificates is enabled. The connection will be established only if the use of SSL certificates is enabled on the server application. Disabled The same as Not configured. Server Encryption options Specifies whether to encrypt the transferred data when the component acts as a server application. Select one of the following: Not Configured The component will use the default setting, which is to use encryption if possible (see the following option). Enabled Encryption is enabled.
Each event has a level from zero to five based on the event's severity, as shown in the following table: Level Name Description 0 Unknown Event whose level of severity is unknown or not applicable 1 Debug Event used for debug purposes 2 Information Informational event, such as one about the successful completion of an operation or startup of a service 3 Warning Event which is a possible impending problem, such as low free space in a vault 4 Error Event that resulted in a loss of data or fun
You will find the description of these parameters in the correspondent topic about configuration through the administrative template. 7.2.3. Parameters set through Windows registry The following two parameters determine paths to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node's internal databases, which contain information about managed vaults. They can be modified only by editing the registry.
General Policy name [Optional] Enter a unique name for the backup policy. A conscious name lets you identify the policy among the others. Source type Select the type of items to back up: Disk/volumes or Files. Policy credentials (p. 368) [Optional] You can change the policy account credentials if necessary. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. Policy comments [Optional] Type a description of the backup policy. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.
Use well-known optimized backup schemes, such as Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi, create a custom backup scheme or back up data once. Archive validation When to validate [Optional] Define when and how often to perform validation and whether to validate the entire archive or the latest backup in the archive.
Storage (p. 229) Choose the storage on the virtualization server or the folder to place the virtual machine files in. Resultant VMs Specify a name for the virtual machines to be created. The default name consists of variables that reflect the policy name and the name of the machine that will be backed up. You can add suffixes to the name but never delete variables, since each virtual machine has to have a distinct and unique name.
7.3.2.1. Volumes to back up selection rules Define volume selection rules, according to which the volumes will be backed up on the machines the policy will be applied to. To define volume selection rules In the first line, select the rule from the list, or type it manually. To add another rule, click the next empty line, and select the rule from the list, or type it manually.
First partition on the first SCSI hard disk of a Linux machine Type or select: /dev/sda1 sda1 is the standard device name for the first partition of the first SCSI hard disk drive. For more details, see Note on Linux machines. First partition on the first software RAID hard disk of a Linux machine Type or select: /dev/md1 md1 is the standard device name for the first partition of the first software RAID drive. For more details, see Note on Linux machines.
/dev/hda2, and /dev/hda3, respectively. To perform a disk backup of the, say, third partition, one can type /dev/hda3 in the row of the Volumes to back up selection rules dialog box. Furthermore, a Linux partition can be mounted anywhere inside the tree. Say, /dev/hda3, can be mounted as a “subdirectory” inside the tree, such as /home/usr/docs. In this case, one can type either /dev/hda3 or /home/usr/docs in the Volume field to perform a disk backup of the third partition.
Point to the folders and files to be backed up. If you specified a path to a file or folder explicitly, the policy will back up this item on each machine where this exact path will be found. To include In the Files and folders column, type or select: File Text.doc in folder D:\Work D:\Work\Text.doc Folder C:\Windows C:\Windows Environment variables Some environment variables point to Windows folders.
The root user's home directory /root Directory for all userrelated programs /usr Directory for system configuration files /etc 7.3.3. Access credentials for source Specify credentials required for access to the data you are going to back up. To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: o Use the policy credentials The program will access the source data using the credentials of the backup policy account specified in the General section.
You can use one or more wildcard characters * and ? in a file mask: The asterisk (*) substitutes for zero or more characters in a file name; for example, the file mask Doc*.txt yields files such as Doc.txt and Document.txt The question mark (?) substitutes for exactly one character in a file name; for example, the file mask Doc?.txt yields files such as Doc1.txt and Docs.txt — but not the files Doc.txt or Doc11.txt Exclusion examples Criterion Example Description By name File1.
The program generates a common name for the new archives and displays it in the Name field. The name looks like [PolicyName]_[MachineName]_Archive1. If you are not satisfied with the automatically generated name, construct another name. If you selected Store all machines' archives in a single location, you have to use variables in order to provide the unique archive names within the location. 1.
7.3.7. Backup scheme selection Choose one of the available backup schemes: • Back up now – to create a backup task for manual start and run the task immediately after its creation. • Back up later – to create a backup task for manual start OR schedule one-time task execution in the future. • • Simple – to schedule when and how often to backup data and specify retention rules. Grandfather-Father-Son – to use the Grandfather-Father-Son backup scheme.
7.3.7.3. Simple scheme With the simple backup scheme you just schedule when and how often to back up data and set the retention rule. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be incremental. To set up the simple backup scheme, specify the appropriate settings as follows. Backup Set up the backup schedule - when and how often to back up the data. To learn more about setting up the schedule, see the Scheduling (p. 177) section. Retention rule 7.3.7.4.
• Daily ("Son") backups are incremental. Parameters You can set up the following parameters of a Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme. Start backup at: Specifies when to start a backup. The default value is 12:00 PM. Back up on: Specifies the days on which to perform a backup. The default value is Workdays. Weekly/Monthly: Specifies which of the days selected in the Back up on field you want to reserve for weekly and monthly backups. A monthly backup will be performed every fourth such day.
Backup scheme parameters can then be set up as follows. • • Start backup at: 11:00 PM • • Weekly/monthly: Saturday (for example) Back up on: All days Keep backups: o Daily: 1 week o Weekly: 1 month o Monthly: indefinitely As a result, an archive of daily, weekly, and monthly backups will be created. Daily backups will be available for seven days since creation.
• Track changes to the financial statements, spreadsheets, etc. performed on Tuesdays and Thursdays (daily incremental backup). • Have a weekly summary of file changes since last month (Friday weekly differential backup). • Have a monthly full backup of your files. Moreover, assume that you want to retain access to all backups, including the daily ones, for at least six months.
• • One backup of each level is stored at a time Higher density of more recent backups Parameters You can set up the following parameters of a Tower of Hanoi scheme. Schedule Set up a daily (p. 178), weekly (p. 180), or monthly (p. 182) schedule.
Roll-back period The number of days we can go back in the archive is different on different days. The minimum number of days we are guaranteed to have is called the roll-back period. The following table shows full backup and roll-back periods for schemes of various levels.
7.3.7.6. Custom backup scheme At a glance • Custom schedule and conditions for backups of each type • Custom schedule and retention rules Parameters Parameter Meaning Full backup Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform a full backup. For example, the full backup can be set up to run every Sunday at 1:00 AM as soon as all users are logged off. Incremental Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform an incremental backup.
backup for some reason. Apply the rules Specifies when to apply the retention rules (p. 42). (only if the retention rules are set) For example, the cleanup procedure can be set up to run after each backup, and also on schedule. This option is available only if you have set at least one retention rule in Retention rules. Cleanup schedule Specifies a schedule for archive cleanup. (only if On schedule is selected) For example, the cleanup can be scheduled to start on the last day of each month.
Incremental: Schedule: Weekly, every workday, at 7:00 PM Differential: Schedule: Weekly, every Saturday, at 8:00 PM Further, we want to add conditions that have to be satisfied for a backup task to start. This is set up in the Conditions fields for each backup type.
If you have also specified the retention rules in your backup scheme, the scheme will result in four tasks: three backup tasks and one cleanup task. 7.3.8. Archive validation Set up the validation task to check if the backed up data is recoverable. If the backup could not pass the validation successfully, the validation task fails and the backup plan gets the Error status. To set up validation, specify the following parameters 1. When to validate – select when to perform the validation.
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. 393) 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.
Agent (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent) An application that performs data backup and recovery and enables other management operations on the machine (p. 396), such as task management and operations with hard disks. The type of data that can be backed up depends on the agent type. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 includes the agents for backing up disks and files and the agents for backing up virtual machines residing on virtualization servers. Agent-side cleanup Cleanup (p. 392) performed by an agent (p.
Backup options Configuration parameters of a backup operation (p. 388), 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. 389). Backup plan (Plan) A set of rules that specify how the given data will be protected on a given machine. A backup plan specifies: • • • what data to back up where to store the backup archive (p. 388) (the backup archive name and location) the backup scheme (p.
3. The management server deploys the policy to the machines. 4. On each machine, the agent (p. 388) installed on the machine finds data items using the selection rules. For example, if the selection rule is [All volumes], the entire machine will be backed up. 5. On each machine, the agent installed on the machine creates a backup plan (p. 389) using other rules specified by the policy. Such backup plan is called a centralized plan (p. 391). 6.
A management server has two built-in groups that contain all machines of each type: All physical machines (p. 397), All virtual machines (p. 400). Built-in groups cannot be deleted, moved to other groups or manually modified. Custom groups cannot be created within built-in groups. There is no way to remove a physical machine from the built-in group except for deleting the machine from the management server. Virtual machines are deleted as a result of their host server deletion. A backup policy (p.
On a machine that is not registered on the management server, a user having the privilege to back up to the centralized vault can do so by specifying the full path to the vault. If the vault is managed, the user's archives will be managed by the storage node as well as other archives stored in the vault. Cleanup Deleting backups (p. 388) from a backup archive (p. 388) in order to get rid of outdated backups or prevent the archive from exceeding the desired size.
Differential backup A differential backup stores changes to the data against the latest full backup (p. 396). You need access to the corresponding full backup to recover the data from a differential backup. Direct management Any management operation that is performed on a managed machine (p. 396) using the direct console (p. 392)-agent (p. 388) connection (as opposed to centralized management (p. 391) when the operations are configured on the management server (p.
and the foreign disks so that they form a single entity. A foreign group is imported as is (will have the original name) if no disk group exists on the machine. For more information about disk groups please refer to the following Microsoft knowledge base article: 222189 Description of Disk Groups in Windows Disk Management http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222189/EN-US/ Dynamic disk A hard disk managed by Logical Disk Manager (LDM) that is available in Windows starting with Windows 2000.
• IP address range. A machine remains in a dynamic group as long as the machine meets the group's criteria. The machine is removed from the group automatically as soon as • • the machine's properties change so that the machine does not meet the criteria anymore OR the administrator changes the criteria so that the machine does not meet them anymore. There is no way to remove a machine from a dynamic group manually except for deleting the machine from the management server.
F Full backup A self-sufficient backup (p. 388) containing all data chosen for backup. You do not need access to any other backup to recover the data from a full backup. G GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) A popular backup scheme (p. 390) aimed to maintain the optimal balance between a backup archive (p. 388) size and the number of recovery points (p. 398) available from the archive.
Managed vault A centralized vault (p. 391) managed by a storage node (p. 398). Archives (p. 388) in a managed vault can be accessed as follows: bsp://node_address/vault_name/archive_name/ Physically, managed vaults can reside on a network share, SAN, NAS, on a hard drive local to the storage node or on a tape library locally attached to the storage node. The storage node performs storage node-side cleanup (p. 399) and storage node-side validation (p. 399) for each archive stored in the managed vault.
Plan See Backup plan (p. 389). Policy See Backup policy (p. 389). R Recovery point Date and time to which the backed up data can be reverted to. Registered machine A machine (p. 396) managed by a management server (p. 397). A machine can be registered on only one management server at a time. A machine becomes registered as a result of the registration (p. 398) procedure. Registration A procedure that adds a managed machine (p. 396) to a management server (p. 397).
• prevent access to the backup archives, even in case the storage medium is stolen or accessed by a malefactor, by using encrypted vaults (p. 395). Storage node-side cleanup Cleanup (p. 392) performed by a storage node (p. 398) according to the backup plans (p. 389) that produce the archives (p. 388) stored in a managed vault (p. 396). Being an alternative to the agentside cleanup (p. 388), the cleanup on the storage node side relieves the production servers of unnecessary CPU load.
U Universal Restore (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore) The Acronis proprietary technology that helps boot up Windows on dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. The Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset. The Universal Restore is not available: • • when the machine is booted with Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (p. 387) (using F11) or • when using Acronis Active Restore (p.
Virtual machine On Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server, a machine (p. 396) is considered virtual if it can be backed up from the virtualization host without installing an agent (p. 388) on the machine. A virtual machine appears on the management server after registration of the virtualization server that hosts the machine, provided that Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent for virtual machines is installed on that server.
Action pages • 13, 14, 16 Index A A policy on a machine or a group • 70 About Windows loaders • 249 Access credentials • 256, 257 Access credentials for archive location • 209, 218 Access credentials for destination • 232, 243, 261, 265 Access credentials for location • 231, 235, 366, 375 Access credentials for source • 209, 215, 252, 255, 261, 263, 366, 373 Acronis Active Restore • 55, 59, 230, 232, 244, 387, 400 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 • 361 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows • 105, 358
Archive protection • 106, 108 Archive selection • 231, 233, 252, 253, 256, 261, 262 Backup policy's state and statuses • 74, 307 Backup priority • 106, 115 Archive validation • 210, 228, 386 Backup scheme • 389, 390, 396, 399 At Windows Event Log event • 185 Backup scheme selection • 366, 376 Attaching a managed vault • 142, 146 Backup schemes • 210, 218 B Backup selection • 252, 254, 256, 257, 261, 263 Back up later scheme • 219, 376 Backup splitting • 106, 120 Back up now scheme • 219, 376 Ba
Client and server applications • 89 Cloning method and advanced options • 291 Collecting system information • 303 Column selection • 348 Creating the volume structure manually • 282, 283 Criteria of the choice • 156 Cumulative state and status of a policy • 77 Common operations • 173 Custom backup scheme • 181, 183, 225, 383 Communication between Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components • 89 D Components for centralized management • 20 Daily schedule • 178, 223, 335, 381 Compression level • 106, 115
Disk group • 45, 393, 395 Disk initialization • 290 Disk management • 47, 231, 288 Disk operations • 290 Disks • 232, 236 Disks/volumes selection • 234 Domain access credentials • 100, 326 Drivers for Universal Restore • 273, 276 Dual destination • 56, 107, 123 Dynamic disk • 45, 387, 393, 394, 395 Dynamic group • 66, 391, 394 Dynamic grouping criteria • 66 Filtering and sorting backup policies • 307, 310, 320, 328 Filtering and sorting log entries • 206, 207, 340, 341 Filtering and sorting machines • 312,
How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration • 247 M I Machine • 20, 388, 389, 390, 391, 393, 394, 396, 397, 398, 399, 401 Image • 396 Machine details • 311, 312, 314, 316, 318 Importing machines from a text file • 313, 317 Machine management • 102, 319 Importing machines from Active Directory • 313, 316 Machines selection • 309 Increasing Acronis Secure Zone • 268 Incremental backup • 388, 390, 392, 396 Inheritance of policies • 72 Inheritance order • 319, 323, 328 Introducing Acronis® Bac
Network port configuration • 91, 93 Policy deployment state on a machine • 74 Network settings • 272, 274 Policy details • 307, 309, 310, 319, 328 Notifications • 117, 132 Policy status on a group • 77 NT signature • 237, 238 Policy status on a machine • 75, 102 Number of tasks • 97, 339 Pop-up messages • 96 O Post-backup command • 111 Post-data capture command • 112 Operations with a machine • 71 Operations with archives stored in a vault • 139, 141, 171, 173 Operations with backups • 139, 141,
Recovery priority • 129, 132 Set the volume options • 299 Registered machine • 97, 391, 397, 398 Set the volume size • 299, 300 Registration • 21, 61, 66, 102, 311, 398 Setting up a conversion schedule • 210, 229, 367 Removing Agent for ESX/ESXi • 332 Report about the archives and backups • 346 Report about the backup plans • 345 Report about the backup policies • 344 Report about the machines • 344 Report about the task activities • 348 Report about the tasks • 346 Setting up a display mode • 280 Se
Tape planning • 155, 167 Example 1 • 168 Example 2 • 168 Tape rotation • 147, 155 Tape support • 54, 107, 125, 147, 151, 154 Task • 28, 389, 391, 396, 399 Task credentials • 233, 252, 253, 261 Task details • 195, 196, 199, 203, 320, 337 Task failure handling • 107, 124 Universal Restore (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore) • 55, 58, 230, 244, 400 Unmanaged vault • 388, 400 User is idle • 189 User logged off • 191 User privileges on a managed machine • 32, 83, 85, 211, 233, 253, 262, 368 User pr
Volume destination • 236, 238, 239 Volume operations • 296 Volume properties • 238, 239 Volume selection • 256, 258 Volume Shadow Copy Service • 106, 111, 114 Volumes • 232, 237 Volumes to back up selection rules • 368, 369 W Weekly schedule • 180, 223, 335, 381 What if • 169 When deduplication is most effective • 79 When to recover • 232, 243 When to validate • 252, 255 Why is the program asking for the password? • 211 Windows event log • 99, 103, 107, 118, 130, 134 WinPE (Windows Preinstallation Environm