Acronis® Backup & Recovery ™ 10 Server for Windows User's Guide
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010. All rights reserved. “Acronis” and “Acronis Secure Zone” are registered trademarks of Acronis, Inc. "Acronis Compute with Confidence", “Acronis Startup Recovery Manager”, “Acronis Active Restore” and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. VMware and VMware Ready are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.
Table of contents 1 Introducing Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 ........................................................................6 1.1 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 overview ..................................................................................6 1.2 Getting started...........................................................................................................................6 1.2.1 1.3 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components ................................................
Vaults ..................................................................................................................................77 4.1 Personal vaults .........................................................................................................................78 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.2 Common operations ................................................................................................................81 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.2.4 5 Operations with archives stored in a vault.
6.4 Validating vaults, archives and backups ................................................................................149 6.4.1 6.4.2 6.4.3 6.4.4 6.4.5 6.4.6 6.5 Task credentials ........................................................................................................................................... 150 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 150 Backup selection...
1 Introducing Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 1.1 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 overview Based on Acronis’ patented disk imaging and bare metal restore technologies, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 succeeds Acronis True Image Echo as the next generation disaster recovery solution.
Where to go from here For what to do next see "Basic concepts (p. 17)". For understanding of the GUI elements see the next section. 1.2.1 Using the management console As soon as the console connects to a managed machine (p. 206) or to a management server (p. 207), the respective items appear across the console's workspace (in the menu, in the main area with the Welcome screen, the Navigation pane, the Actions and tools pane) enabling you to perform agentspecific or server-specific operations.
Menu bar Appears across the top of the program window and lets you perform all the operations, available on both panes. Menu items change dynamically. 1024x768 or higher display resolution is required for comfortable work with the management console. "Navigation" pane The navigation pane includes the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar. Navigation tree The Navigation tree enables you to navigate across the program views.
Bars '[Item's name]' actions Contains a set of actions that can be performed on the items selected in any of the navigation views. Clicking the action opens the respective action page (p. 11). Items of different navigation views have their own set of actions. The bar's name changes in accordance with the item you select.
"Tools" bar Help Contains a list of help topics. Different views and action pages of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provided with lists of specific help topics. Operations with panes How to expand/minimize panes By default, the Navigation pane appears expanded and the Actions and Tools - minimized. You might need to minimize the pane in order to free some additional workspace. To do this, click the chevron ( - for the Navigation pane; - for the Actions and tools pane).
"Tasks" view Common way of working with views Generally, every view contains a table of items, a table toolbar with buttons, and the Information panel. Use filtering and sorting capabilities to search the table for the item in question In the table, select the desired item In the Information panel (collapsed by default), view the item's details Perform actions on the selected item.
Action page - Create backup plan Using controls and specifying settings The action pages offer two ways of representation: basic and advanced. The basic representation hides such fields as credentials, comments, etc. When the advanced representation is enabled, all the available fields are displayed. You can switch between the views by selecting the Advanced view check box at the top of the action page. Most settings are configured by clicking the respective Change… links to the right.
Navigation buttons 1.3 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components This section contains a list of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components with a brief description of their functionality. Components for a managed machine (agents) These are applications that perform data backup, recovery and other operations on the machines managed with Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Agents require a license to perform operations on each managed machine.
Other operations Conversion to a virtual machine Rather than converting a disk backup to a virtual disk file, which requires additional operations to bring the virtual disk into use, Agent for Windows performs the conversion by recovering a disk backup to a new virtual machine of any of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, Parallels Workstation or Citrix XenServer virtual appliance. Files of the fully configured and operational machine will be placed in the folder you select.
XFS - volume recovery without the volume resize capability; particular files cannot be recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node JFS - particular files cannot be recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node Linux SWAP Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 can back up and recover corrupted or non-supported file systems using the sector-by-sector approach. 1.
Linux-based 1.7 256 MB 130 MB Technical support As part of a purchased annual Support charge you are entitled to Technical Support as follows: to the extent that electronic services are available, you may electronically access at no additional charge, Support services for the Software, which Acronis shall endeavor to make available twenty four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days per week.
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. 18 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Backup using bootable media You can boot the machine using the bootable media, configure the backup operation in the same way as a simple backup plan and execute the operation. This will help you extract files and logical volumes from a system that failed to boot, take an image of the offline system or back up sector-bysector an unsupported file system. Recovery under operating system When it comes to data recovery, you create a recovery task on the managed machine.
The following diagram illustrates data recovery under the operating system (online). No backup can proceed on the machine while the recovery operation is taking place. If required, you can connect the console to another machine and configure a recovery operation on that machine. This ability (remote parallel recovery) first appeared in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10; the previous Acronis products do not provide it.
If the machine fails to boot or you need to recover data to bare metal, you boot the machine using the bootable media and configure the recovery operation in the same way as the recovery task. The following diagram illustrates the recovery using the bootable media. 2.2 Full, incremental and differential backups Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides the capability to use popular backup schemes, such as Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi, as well as to create custom backup schemes.
It is widely accepted that a full backup is the slowest to do but the fastest to restore. With Acronis technologies, recovery from an incremental backup may be not slower than recovery from a full one. A full backup is most useful when: you need to roll back the system to its initial state this initial state does not change often, so there is no need for regular backup.
Storage space Maximal Medium Minimal Creation time Maximal Medium Minimal Recovery time Minimal Medium Maximal 2.3 User privileges on a managed machine When managing a machine running Windows, the scope of a user's management rights depends on the user's privileges on the machine.
Click Cancel and create your own plan or task. The original task will remain intact. Continue editing. You will have to enter all credentials required for the plan or task execution. Archive owner An archive owner is the user who saved the archive to the destination. To be more precise, this is the user whose account was specified when creating the backup plan in the Where to back up step. By default, the plan's credentials are used.
how many tapes you need to enable recovery with the desired resolution (time interval between recovery points) and roll-back period which tapes you should overwrite with the forthcoming backup. Tape rotation schemes enable you to get by with the minimal number of cartridges and not to be buried in used tapes. A lot of Internet sources describe varieties of the GFS tape rotation scheme. You are free to use any of the varieties when backing up to a locally attached tape device.
Acronis uses incremental and differential backups that help save storage space and optimize the cleanup so that consolidation is not needed. In terms of backup methods, weekly backup is differential (Dif), monthly backup is full (F) and daily backup is incremental (I). The first backup is always full. The Weekly/Monthly parameter splits the total schedule into daily, weekly and monthly schedules. Assume you select Friday for Weekly/Monthly backup.
An ideal archive created according to the GFS scheme. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly: Friday Keep daily backups: 7 days Keep weekly backups: 2 weeks Keep monthly backups: 6 months Starting from the third week, weekly backups will be regularly deleted. After 6 months, monthly backups will start to be deleted. The diagram for weekly and monthly backups will look similar to the week-based timescale.
An archive created according to the GFS scheme by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Schedule: Workdays at 8:00 PM Weekly/Monthly: Friday Keep daily backups: 7 days Keep weekly backups: 2 weeks Keep monthly backups: 6 months 2.6 Tower of Hanoi backup scheme The need to have frequent backups always conflicts with the cost of keeping such backups for a long time. The Tower of Hanoi (ToH) backup scheme is a useful compromise.
For example, if there are five rings labeled A, B, C, D, and E in the puzzle, the solution gives the following order of moves: The Tower of Hanoi backup scheme is based on the same patterns. It operates with Sessions instead of Moves and with Backup levels instead of Rings. Commonly an N-level scheme pattern contains (Nth power of two) sessions. So, the five-level Tower of Hanoi backup scheme cycles the pattern that consists of 16 sessions (moves from 1 to 16 in the above figure).
the 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. The table shows the pattern for the five-level backup scheme. The pattern consists of 16 sessions.
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.
Please be aware that consolidation is just a method of deletion but not an alternative to deletion. The resulting backup will not contain data that was present in the deleted backup and was absent from the retained incremental or differential backup. Backups resulting from consolidation always have maximum compression. This means that all backups in an archive may acquire the maximum compression as a result of repeated cleanup with consolidation.
Recovering dynamic volumes A dynamic volume can be recovered over any type of existing volume to unallocated space of a disk group to unallocated space of a basic disk. Recovery over an existing volume When a dynamic volume is recovered over an existing volume, either basic or dynamic, the target volume’s data is overwritten with the backup content. The type of target volume (basic, simple/spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID 0+1, RAID 5) will not change.
Unallocated space (basic GPT disk) Basic GPT volume Basic GPT volume Basic GPT volume Moving and resizing volumes during recovery You can resize the resulting basic volume, both MBR and GPT, during recovery, or change the volume's location on the disk. A resulting dynamic volume cannot be moved or resized. Preparing disk groups and volumes Before recovering dynamic volumes to bare metal you should create a disk group on the target hardware.
library) by... Windows Agent for Linux Tape written on a tape device through... Backup Server Storage Node 2.9.2 ATIE 9.5 ATIE 9.7 ABR10 ATIE 9.1 ATIE 9.5 ATIE 9.7 ABR10 ATIE 9.1 ATIE 9.5 ATIE 9.7 ABR10 + + + + + + - + + + + + + - + + + + + + - + + + + + + + + + + + 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.
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.
mount a disk backup to copy files from the backup to a physical disk safely delete archives and backups from the archives. For more information about operations available in Acronis Secure Zone, see the Personal vaults (p. 78) section. Upgrade from Acronis True Image Echo When upgrading from Acronis True Image Echo to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, Acronis Secure Zone will keep the archives created with Echo.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore purpose A system can be easily recovered from a disk backup (image) onto the same system or to identical hardware. However, if you change a motherboard or use another processor version—a likely possibility in case of hardware failure—the recovered system could be unbootable.
profiles. If you are going to change the above settings on a recovered system, you can prepare the system with Sysprep, image it and recover, if need be, using the Universal Restore. Limitations Universal Restore is not available: when a computer is booted with Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (using F11) or the backup image is located in the Acronis Secure Zone or when using Acronis Active Restore, because these features are primarily meant for instant data recovery on the same machine.
Because serving requests is performed simultaneously with recovery, the system operation can slow down even if recovery priority in the recovery options is set to Low. This way, the system downtime is reduced to a minimum at the cost of a temporary performance downgrade. Usage scenarios 1. The system uptime is one of the efficiency criteria. Examples: Client-oriented online services, Web-retailers, polling stations. 2. The system/storage space ratio is heavily biased toward storage.
Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
3 Options This section covers Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 options that can be configured using Graphical User Interface. The content of this section is applicable to both stand-alone and advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. 3.1 Console options The console options define the way information is represented in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. To access the console options, select Options > Console options from the top menu. 3.1.
The preset is: Enabled for all results. To make a setting for each result (successful completion, failure or success with warnings) individually, select or clear the respective check box. 3.1.3 Time-based alerts Last backup This option is effective when the console is connected to a managed machine (p. 206) or to the management server (p. 207). The option defines whether to alert if no backup was performed on a given machine for a period of time.
The option defines the fonts to be used in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. The Menu setting affects the drop-down and context menus. The Application setting affects the other GUI elements. The preset is: System Default font for both the menus and the application interface items. To make a selection, choose the font from the respective combo-box and set the font's properties. You can preview the font's appearance by clicking the button to the right. 3.
All events - all events (information, warnings and errors) Errors and warnings Errors only. To disable this option, clear the Log events check box. 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 to the specified Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) managers.
Setting up SNMP services on the receiving machine Windows To install the SNMP service on a machine running Windows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components. Select Management and Monitoring Tools. Click Details. Select the Simple Network Management Protocol check box. Click OK. You might be asked for lmmib2.dll that can be found on the installation disc of your operating system.
Initially the option is configured during the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent installation. This setting can be changed at any time using the product GUI (Options > Machine options > Customer Experience Program). The option can also be configured using the Group Policy infrastructure. A setting defined by a Group Policy cannot be changed using the product GUI unless the Group Policy is disabled on the machine. 3.3 Default backup and recovery options 3.3.
+ + + + + + - - Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Dest: HDD Network connection speed (p. 57) Dest: network share Dest: network share Dest: network share Dest: network share Fast incremental/differential backup (p. 61) + - + - Backup splitting (p. 61) + + + + Preserve files’ security settings in archives - + - - In archives, store encrypted files in decrypted state - + - - Media components (p.
E-mail (p. 58) + + - - Win Pop-up (p. 59) + + - - Windows events log (p. 60) + + - - SNMP (p. 60) + + - - Event tracing: Archive protection This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media. This option is effective for both disk-level and file-level backup. The preset is: Disabled. To protect the archive from unauthorized access 1. 2. 3. 4. Select the Set password for the archive check box. In the Enter the password field, type a password.
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.
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: Execute before the backup Click Edit to specify a new command or a batch file Execute after the backup 2. Do any of the following: Select the existing command or the batch file from the drop-down list 3. Click OK.
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. In case the command execution fails, the program will remove the resulting TIB file and temporary files if possible, and the task will fail. When the check box is not selected, the command execution result does not affect the task execution failure or success.
4. Depending on the result you want to obtain, select the appropriate options as described in the table below. 5. Click Test command to check if the command is correct.
File-level backup snapshot This option is effective only for file-level backup in Windows and Linux operating systems. This option defines whether to back up files one by one or by taking an instant data snapshot. Note: Files that are stored on network shares are always backed up one by one. The preset is: Create snapshot if it is possible. Select one of the following: Always create a snapshot The snapshot enables backing up of all files including files opened for exclusive access.
The preset is: Create snapshots using VSS Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 will select the VSS provider automatically based on the operating system running on the machine and whether the machine is a member of an Active Directory domain. Create snapshots without using VSS Choose this option if your database is incompatible with VSS. The data snapshot will be taken by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10.
Backup performance Use this group of options to specify the amount of network and system resources to allocate to the backup process. Backup performance options might have a more or less noticeable effect on the speed of the backup process. This depends on the overall system configuration and the physical characteristics of devices the backup is being performed from or to. Backup priority This option is effective for both Windows and Linux operating systems.
This option is available when a location on the network (network share, managed vault or an FTP/SFTP server) is selected as the backup destination. The option defines the amount of network connection bandwidth allocated for transferring the backup data. By default the speed is set to maximum, i.e. the software uses all the network bandwidth it can get when transferring the backup data. Use this option to reserve a part of the network bandwidth to other network activities. The preset is: Maximum.
Use encryption – you can opt for encrypted connection to the mail server. SSL and TLS encryption types are available for selection. Some Internet service providers require authentication on the incoming mail server before being allowed to send something. If this is your case, select the Log on to incoming mail server check box to enable a POP server and to set up its settings: Incoming mail server (POP) – enter the name of the POP server. Port – set the port of the POP server.
Event tracing It is possible to duplicate log events of the backup operations, performed on the managed machine, in the Application Event Log of Windows; or send the events to the specified SNMP managers. Windows event log This option is effective only in Windows operating systems. This option is not available when operating under the bootable media.
Send SNMP notifications individually for backup operation events – to send the events of the backup operations to the specified SNMP managers. Types of events to send – choose the types of events to be sent: All events, Errors and warnings, or Errors only. Server name/IP – type the name or IP address of the host running the SNMP management application, the messages will be sent to.
When backing up to removable media (CD, DVD or a tape device locally attached to the managed machine): The task will enter the Need interaction state and ask for a new media when the previous one is full. Fixed size Enter the desired file size or select it from the drop-down list. The backup will then be split into multiple files of the specified size. This comes in handy when creating a backup that you plan to burn to multiple CDs or DVDs later on.
When backing up to removable media, you can make this media work as regular Linux-based bootable media (p. 200) by writing additional components to it. As a result, you will not need a separate rescue disc. The preset is: None selected. 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.
When the option is disabled, the program will display a pop-up window each time it comes across a bad sector and ask for a user decision as to whether to continue or stop the backup procedure. In order to back up the valid information on a rapidly dying disk, enable ignoring bad sectors. The rest of the data will be backed up and you will be able to mount the resulting disk backup and extract valid files to another disk.
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.
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. While the task is running, you have to stop it prior to editing the backup plan. Additional settings Specify the additional settings for the backup operation by selecting or clearing the following check boxes.
the prompt when scheduling a backup to removable media. Then, if the removable media is available (for example, a DVD is inserted), the task can run unattended. Reset archive bit The option is effective only for file-level backup in Windows operating systems and in bootable media. The preset is: Disabled. In Windows operating systems, each file has the File is ready for archiving attribute, available by selecting File -> Properties -> General -> Advanced -> Archive and Index attributes.
The preset is: Enabled. When this option is enabled, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 will save information about the structure of logical volumes (known as LVM volumes) and of Linux Software RAID devices (known as MD devices) to the /etc/Acronis directory before creating the backup. When recovering MD devices and LVM volumes under bootable media, you can use this information to automatically recreate the volume structure. For instructions, see Recovering MD devices and logical volumes (p. 177).
File-level security (p. 71): - + - + Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode) + + + + Re-attempt if an error occurs + + + + Set current date and time for recovered files - + - + Validate backup archive before recovery + + + + Check file system after recovery + - + - Reboot machine automatically if it is required for recovery + + - - Windows recovery - Windows recovery - E-mail (p. 71) + + - - Win Pop-up (p.
To specify pre/post commands 1. Enable pre/post commands execution by checking the following options: Execute before the recovery Click Edit to specify a new command or a batch file Execute after the recovery 2. Do any of the following: Select the existing command or the batch file from the drop-down list 3. Click OK. 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.
When the check box is not selected, the command execution result does not affect the task execution failure or success. You can track the command execution result by exploring the log or the errors and warnings displayed on the Dashboard. 5. Click Test command to check if the command is correct. A post-recovery command will not be executed if the recovery proceeds with reboot. Recovery priority This option is effective for both Windows and Linux operating systems.
The option enables you to receive e-mail notifications about the recovery task's successful completion, failure or need for interaction along with the full log of the task. The preset is: Disabled. 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.
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. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides the following Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) objects to SNMP management applications: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.
For example, if the network location becomes unavailable or not reachable, the program will attempt to reach the location every 30 seconds, but no more than 5 times. The attempts will be stopped as soon as the connection is resumed OR the specified number of attempts is performed, depending on which comes first. Additional settings Specify the additional settings for the recovery operation by selecting or clearing the following check boxes.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 can generate an unique security identifier (SID) for the recovered system. You do not need a new SID when recovering a system over itself or when creating a system replica that will replace the original system. Generate a new SID if the original and the recovered systems will work concurrently in the same workgroup or domain. Use FTP in Active mode The preset is: Disabled.
4 Vaults A vault is a location for storing backup archives. For ease of use and administration, a vault is associated with the archives' metadata. Referring to this metadata makes for fast and convenient operations with archives and backups stored in the vault. A vault can be organized on a local or networked drive, detachable media or a tape device attached to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node. There are no settings for limiting a vault size or number of backups in a vault.
4.1 Personal vaults A vault is called personal if it was created using direct connection of the console to a managed machine. Personal vaults are specific for each managed machine. Personal vaults are visible to any user that can log on to the system. A user's right to back up to a personal vault is defined by the user's permission for the folder or device where the vault is located. A personal vault can be organized on detachable or removable media.
Vault content The Vault content section contains the archives table and toolbar. The archives table displays archives and backups that are stored in the vault. Use the archives toolbar to perform actions on the selected archives and backups. The list of backups is expanded by clicking the "plus" sign to the left of the archive's name. All the archives are grouped by type on the following tabs: The Disk archives tab lists all the archives that contain disk or volume backups (images).
Explore a vault's content Validate a vault Click Explore. In the appearing Explorer window, examine the selected vault's content. Click Validate. You will be taken to the Validation (p. 149) page, where this vault is already preselected as a source. The vault validation checks all the archives stored in the vault. Delete a vault Click Delete. The deleting operation actually removes only a shortcut to the folder from the Vaults view. The folder itself remains untouched.
3. Edit the backup plans that use vault A: redirect their destination to vault B. 4. In the vaults tree, select vault B to check whether the archives are displayed. If not, click Refresh. 5. Delete vault A. 4.2 4.2.1 Common operations Operations with archives stored in a vault To perform any operation with an archive, you have to select it first. If the archive is protected with a password, you will be asked to provide it.
All the operations described below are performed by clicking the corresponding buttons on the toolbar. These operations can be also accessed from the '[Backup name]' actions bar (on the Actions and tools pane) and from the '[Backup name]' actions item of the main menu. The following is a guideline for you to perform operations with backups. To Do View backup content in a separate window Click Recover Click View content. In the Backup Content window, examine the backup content. Recover.
The filters in this window are from the archives list of the vault view. Thus, if some filters have been applied to the archives list, only the archives and backups corresponding to these filters are displayed here. To see all content, clean all the filter fields. What happens if I delete a backup that is a base of an incremental or differential backup? To preserve archive consistency, the program will consolidate the two backups. For example, you delete a full backup but retain the next incremental one.
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.
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. What if an event occurs while the scheduler is waiting for the condition required by the previous event? The event will be ignored. What if the condition is not met for a very long time? If delaying a backup is getting risky, you can force the condition (tell the users to log off) or run the task manually.
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. "Three-hour time interval lasting for three months" schedule Run the task every three hours. The task starts on a certain date (say, September 15, 2009), and ends after three months.
Second daily schedule 1. Every: 3 day(s). 2. Every: 2 hour(s). From: 03:00:00 PM Until: 07:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: 09/20/2009. To: not set. 5.2 Weekly schedule Weekly schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems. To specify a weekly schedule In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows: Every: <...> week(s) on: <...> Specify a certain number of weeks and the days of the week you want the task to be run.
To: 11/13/2009. The task will be performed for the last time on this date, but the task itself will still be available in the Tasks view after this date. (If this date were not a Friday, the task would be last performed on the last Friday preceding this date.) This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme. The "One day in the week"-like schedule is added to the full backups, while the incremental backups are scheduled to be performed on workdays.
From: not set. To: not set. Second schedule 1. Every 1 week(s) on: Tue, Wed, Thu. 2. Every 3 hours From 09:00:00 AM until 09:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: not set. To: not set. Third schedule 1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Sat, Sun. 2. Once at: 09:00:00 PM. 3. Effective: From: not set. To: not set. 5.3 Monthly schedule Monthly schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems. To specify a monthly schedule In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows: Months: <...
Examples "Last day of every month" schedule Run the task once at 10 PM on the last day of every month. The schedule's parameters are set up as follows. 1. 2. 3. 4. Months: . Days: Last. The task will run on the last day of every month despite its actual date. Once at: 10:00:00 PM. Effective: From: empty. To: empty. This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme.
2. On: 3. Once at: 10:00:00 PM. 4. Effective: From: 11/01/2009. To: not set. Second schedule 1. Months: March, April, May, September, October, November. 2. On: . 3. Every: 12 hours From: 12:00:00 AM Until: 12:00:00 PM. 4. Effective: From: 11/01/2009. To: not set. Third schedule 1. 2. 3. 4. Months: June, July, August. Days: 1, 15. Once at: 10:00:00 PM. Effective: From: 11/01/2009. To: not set. 5.
For example, an Error event with Event source disk and Event ID 7 occurs when Windows discovers a bad block on a disk, whereas an Error event with Event source disk and Event ID 15 occurs when a disk is not ready for access yet. Examples "Bad block" emergency backup One or more bad blocks that have suddenly appeared on a hard disk usually indicate that the hard disk drive will soon fail. Suppose that you want to create a backup plan that will back up hard disk data as soon as such a situation occurs.
To view properties of an event, including the event source and event number 1. In Event Viewer, click the name of a log that you want to view—for example, Application. Note: To be able to open the security log (Security), you must be a member of the Administrators group. 2. In the list of events in the right pane, double-click the name of an event whose properties you want to view. 3.
Example: Run the backup task on the managed machine every day at 9PM, preferably when the user is idle. If the user is still active by 11PM, run the task anyway. Event: Daily, every 1 day(s); Once at: 09:00:00 PM. Condition: User is idle. Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met, Run the task anyway after 2 hour(s). As a result, (1) If the user becomes idle before 9PM, the backup task will start at 9PM.
time, in order to free network bandwidth. By specifying the upper limit as 10 PM, it is supposed that the backing up of users' data does not take more than one hour. If a user is still logged on within the specified time interval, or logs off at any other time – do not back up the users' data, i.e. skip task execution. Event: When logging off, The following user: Any user. Condition: Fits the time interval, from 04:30:00 PM until 10:00:00 PM. Task start conditions: Skip the task execution.
(2) If the last user logs off between 8PM and 11PM, the backup task will start immediately after the user has logged off. (3) If any of the users is still logged on at 11PM, the backup task starts anyway. 5.5.5 Time since last backup Applies to: Windows, Linux Enables to put a backup task run on hold until the specified time interval since the last successful backup completion passes.
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.
No backups have been created for X days Back up now The Dashboard warns you that no data was backed up on the machine for a relatively long period of time. Back up now will take you to Create a Backup Plan page where you can instantly configure and run the backup operation. To configure the time interval that is considered as critical, select Options > Console options > Time-based alerts.
A backup plan is a set of rules that specify how the given data will be protected on a given machine. Physically, a backup plan is a bundle of tasks configured for execution on a managed machine. To find out what a backup plan is currently doing on the machine, check the backup plan execution state (p. 99). A backup plan state is a cumulative state of the plan's tasks.The status of a backup plan (p. 100) helps you to estimate whether the data is successfully protected.
3 Waiting At least one task is waiting. Otherwise, see 4. Waiting for condition. This situation is quite normal, but delaying a backup for too long is risky. The solution may be to set the maximum delay or force the condition (tell the user to log off, enable the required network connection.) Waiting while another task locks the necessary resources.
Task states A task can be in one of the following states: Idle; Waiting; Running; Stopping; Need interaction. The initial task state is Idle. Once the task is started manually or the event specified by the schedule occurs, the task enters either the Running state or the Waiting state. Running A task changes to the Running state when the event specified by the schedule occurs AND all the conditions set in the backup plan are met AND no other task that locks the necessary resources is running.
Task state diagram Task statuses A task can have one of the following statuses: Error; Warning; OK. A task status is derived from the result of the last run of the task.
Working with backup plans and tasks Actions on backup plans and tasks The following is a guideline for you to perform operations with backup plans and tasks. To Do Create a new backup plan, or a task Click New, then select one of the following: Backup plan (p. 112) Recovery task (p. 130) Validation task (p. 149) View details of a plan/task Backup plan Click View details. In the Plan Details (p. 109) window, review the plan details. Task View details. Click In the Task Details (p.
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 over again.
Edit a plan/task Backup plan Click Edit. Backup plan editing is performed in the same way as creation (p. 112), except for the following limitations: It is not always possible to use all scheme options, when editing a backup plan if the created archive is not empty (i.e. contains backups). 1. It is not possible to change the scheme to Grandfather-Father-Son or Tower of Hanoi. 2. If the Tower of Hanoi scheme is used, it is not possible to change the number of levels.
Delete a plan/task Backup plan Click Delete. What will happen if I delete the backup plan? The plan's deletion deletes all its tasks. Why can't I delete the backup plan? The backup plan is in the "Running" state A backup plan cannot be deleted, if at least one of its tasks is running. Do not have the appropriate privilege Without the Administrator's privileges on the machine, a user cannot delete plans owned by other users. The backup plan has a centralized origin.
Configuring backup plans and the tasks table By default, the table has six columns that are displayed, others are hidden. If required, you can hide the displayed columns and show hidden ones. To show or hide columns 1. Right-click any column header to open the context menu. The menu items that are ticked off correspond to the column headers presented in the table. 2. Click the items you want to be displayed/hidden.
Recovery (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 backup to a new virtual machine Validat
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. It contains a brief description of the problem and action buttons that let you select the appropriate action or stop the plan.
6.1.3 Log The Log stores the history of operations performed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 on the machine, or actions a user takes on the machine using the program. For instance, when a user edits a task, the respective entry is added to the log. When the program executes a task, it adds multiple entries. With the log, you can examine operations, results of tasks' execution including reasons for failure, if any. Way of working with log entries Use filters to display the desired log entries.
Save the selected log entries to a file 1. Select a single log entry or multiple log entries. 2. Click Save Selected to File. 3. In the opened window, specify a path and a name for the file. Save all the log entries to a file 1. Make sure, that the filters are not set. 2. Click Save All to File. 3. In the opened window, specify a path and a name for the file. Save all the filtered log entries to a file 1. Set filters to get a list of the log entries that satisfy the filtering criteria. 2.
Log entry details Displays detailed information on the log entry you have selected and lets you copy the details to the clipboard. To copy the details, click the Copy to clipboard button.
[Optional] Type a description of the backup plan. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. What to backup Source type (p. 115) Select the type of data to back up. The type of data depends on the agents installed on the machine. Items to backup (p. 115) Specify the data items to back up. A list of items to backup depends on the data type, specified previously. Access credentials (p.
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 this section of the Create backup plan page.
To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: Run under the current user The tasks will run under the credentials with which the user who starts the tasks is logged on. If any of the tasks has to run on schedule, you will be asked for the current user's password on completing the plan creation. Use the following credentials The tasks will always run under the credentials you specify, whether started manually or executed on schedule. Specify: User name.
Selecting disks and volumes To specify disks/volumes to back up 1. Select the check boxes for the disks and/or volumes to back up. You can select a random set of disks and volumes. If your operating system and its loader reside on different volumes, always include both volumes in the backup. The volumes must also be recovered together; otherwise there is a high risk that the operating system will not start. 2.
6.2.5 Access credentials for source Specify the credentials required for access to the data you are going to backup. To specify credentials 1. Select one of the following: 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. Use the following credentials The program will access the source data using the credentials you specify.
By name File1.log Excludes all files named File1.log. By path C:\Finance\test.log Excludes the file named test.log located in the folder C:\Finance Mask (*) *.log Excludes all files with the .log extension. Mask (?) my???.log Excludes all .log files with names consisting of five symbols and starting with “my”. 6.2.7 Archive Specify where the archive will be stored and the name of the archive. 1.
unique within the selected location. If you are satisfied with the automatically generated name, click OK. Otherwise enter another unique name and click OK. Backing up to an existing archive You can configure the backup plan to back up to an existing archive. To do so, select the archive in the archives table or type the archive name in the Name field. If the archive is protected with a password, the program will ask for it in the pop-up window.
6.2.9 Backup schemes 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.
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. 84) section. Retention rule With the simple scheme, only one retention rule (p. 30) is available. Set the retention period for the backups.
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.
Be able to recover an accidentally deleted or inadvertently modified file if this has been discovered relatively quickly Have access to a weekly backup for 10 days after it was created Keep monthly backups for half a year. Backup scheme parameters can then be set up as follows.
Start backup at: 12:00 PM Back up on: Friday Weekly/monthly: Friday Keep backups: Daily: 1 week Weekly: 1 month Monthly: indefinitely Backup is thus performed only on Fridays. This makes Friday the only choice for weekly and monthly backups, leaving no other date for daily backups. The resulting “Grandfather-Father” archive will hence consist only of weekly differential and monthly full backups.
Backups of different levels have different types: Last-level (in this case, level 4) backups are full; Backups of intermediate levels (2, 3) are differential; First-level (1) backups are incremental. A cleanup mechanism ensures that only the most recent backups of each level are kept. Here is how the archive looks on day 8, a day before creating a new full backup.
1 4 2 1 3 2 4 1 5 3 6 1 7 2 8 1 9 4 10 1 11 2 12 1 13 3 14 1 The roll-back period shows how many days we are guaranteed to have even in the worst case. For a four-level scheme, it is four days. 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.
This setting enables deletion of the last backup in the archive, in case your storage device cannot accommodate more than one backup. However, you might end up with no backups if the program is not able to create the new backup for some reason. Apply the rules Specifies when to apply the retention rules (p. 30). (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.
Suppose that we need a scheme that will produce monthly full backups, weekly differential backups, and daily incremental backups. Then the backup schedule can look as follows. Full backup: Schedule: Monthly, every Last Sunday of the month, at 9:00 PM 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.
If you have also specified the retention rules in your backup scheme, the scheme will result in four tasks: three backup tasks and one cleanup task. 6.2.10 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.
Which agent is installed on the host? The resulting virtual machine type and location depend on the agent that resides on the selected host. Agent for Windows is installed on the host You have a choice of virtual machine types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, or Parallels Workstation. Files of the new virtual machine will be placed in the folder you select. Agent for ESX/ESXi is installed on the host A VMware virtual machine will be created on the ESX/ESXi server.
If the managed machine's operating system fails to start or you need to recover data to bare metal, boot the machine from the bootable media (p. 200) or using Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (p. 38). Then, create a recovery task. Acronis Universal Restore (p. 38) lets you recover and boot up Windows on dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. A Windows system can be brought online in seconds while it is still being recovered. Using the proprietary Acronis Active Restore (p.
[Optional] Provide credentials for the archive location if the task account does not have the right to access it. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. 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. 136) Volumes (p.
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. After you complete all the required steps, click OK to create the commit creating of the recovery task. 6.3.1 Task credentials Provide credentials for the account under which the task will run. To specify credentials 1.
If the archive is stored on an FTP or SFTP server, type the server name or address in the Path field as follows: ftp://ftp_server:port _number or sftp://sftp_server:port number If the port number is not specified, port 21 is used for FTP and port 22 is used for SFTP. After entering access credentials, the folders on the server become available. Click the appropriate folder on the server. You can access the server as an anonymous user if the server enables such access.
There are probably other times when you may need to recover the MBR, but the above are the most common. When recovering the MBR of one disk to another Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 recovers Track 0, which does not affect the target disk’s partition table and partition layout. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 automatically updates Windows loaders after recovery, so there is no need to recover the MBR and Track 0 for Windows systems, unless the MBR is damaged.
Disks Available disk destinations depend on the agents operating on the machine. Recover to: Physical machine Available when the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows or Agent for Linux is installed. The selected disks will be recovered to the physical disks of the machine the console is connected to. On selecting this, you proceed to the regular disk mapping procedure described below. New virtual machine (p. 140) If Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows is installed.
NT signature When the MBR is selected along with the disk backup, you need to retain operating system bootability on the target disk volume. The operating system must have the system volume information (e.g. volume letter) matched with the disk NT signature, which is kept in the MBR disk record. But two disks with the same NT signature cannot work properly under one operating system.
The new virtual machine will be configured automatically, the source machine configuration being copied where possible. The configuration is displayed in the Virtual Machine Settings (p. 140) section. Check the settings and make changes if necessary. Then you proceed to the regular volume mapping procedure described below. Existing virtual machine Available when the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Hyper-V or Agent for ESX/ESXi is installed.
Volume properties Resizing and relocating When recovering a volume to a basic MBR disk, you can resize and relocate the volume by dragging it or its borders with a mouse or by entering corresponding values in the appropriate fields. Using this feature, you can redistribute the disk space between the volumes being recovered. In this case, you will have to recover the volume to be reduced first. Tip: A volume cannot be resized when being recovered from a backup split into multiple removable media.
Virtual machine type / virtualization server selection The new virtual machine can be created either on a virtualization server (this requires Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Hyper-V or Agent for ESX/ESXi to be installed) or in any accessible local or networked folder. To select the virtualization server the new virtual machine will be created on 1. Choose the Place on the virtualization server that I select option. 2. In the left part of the window, select the virtualization server.
This is the number of processors of the new virtual machine. In most cases it is set to one. The result of assignment of more than one processor to the machine is not guaranteed. The number of virtual processors may be limited by the host CPU configuration, the virtualization product and the guest operating system. Multiple virtual processors are generally available on multi-processor hosts. A multicore host CPU or hyperthreading may enable multiple virtual processors on a single-processor host.
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.
you have chosen to use Acronis Active Restore (p. 197) because these features are primarily meant for instant data recovery on the same machine. Preparation Before recovering Windows to dissimilar hardware, make sure that you have the drivers for the new HDD controller and the chipset. These drivers are critical to start the operating system. Use the CD or DVD supplied by the hardware vendor or download the drivers from the vendor’s Web site. The driver files should have the *.inf, *.sys or *.
Drivers for a virtual machine When recovering a system to a new virtual machine, the Universal Restore technology is applied in the background, because the program knows what drivers are required for the supported virtual machines. When recovering the system to an existing virtual machine that uses SCSI hard drive controller, be sure to specify SCSI drivers for the virtual environment, in the Mass storage drivers to install anyway step.
The same type of machines with the same name cannot be created in the same folder. Change either the VM name, or the path if you get an error message caused by identical names. 9. Select the destination disk for each of the source disks or source volumes and MBRs. On a Microsoft Virtual PC, be sure to recover the disk or volume where the operating system's loader resides to the Hard disk 1. Otherwise the operating system will not boot.
Solution: Boot the machine from the Acronis Disk Director's bootable media and select in the menu Tools -> Activate OS Selector. The system uses GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) and was recovered from a normal (not from a raw, that is, sector-by-sector) backup One part of the GRUB loader resides either in the first several sectors of the disk or in the first several sectors of the volume. The rest is on the file system of one of the volumes.
cp /mnt/system/boot/grub/menu.lst /mnt/system/boot/grub/menu.lst.backup or cp /mnt/system/boot/grub/grub.conf /mnt/system/boot/grub/grub.conf.backup 5. Edit the /mnt/system/boot/grub/menu.lst file (for Debian, Ubuntu, and SUSE Linux distributions) or the /mnt/system/boot/grub/grub.conf file (for Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux distributions)—for example, as follows: vi /mnt/system/boot/grub/menu.lst 6. In the menu.lst file (respectively grub.
About Windows loaders Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 A part of the loader resides in the partition boot sector, the rest is in the files ntldr, boot.ini, ntdetect.com, ntbootdd.sys. boot.ini is a text file that contains the loader configuration.
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. 6.4 Validating vaults, archives and backups Validation is an operation that checks the possibility of data recovery from a backup.
Vault (p. 151) - select a vault (or other location), which archives to validate. Access Credentials (p. 152) [Optional] Provide credentials for accessing the source if the task account does not have enough privileges to access it. To access this option, select the check box for Advanced view. When to validate Validate (p. 152) Specify when and how often to perform validation. After you configure all the required settings, click OK to create the validation task. 6.4.
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.
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. Using the archives table To assist you with choosing the right location, the table displays the names of the archives contained in each location you select.
On schedule - to schedule the task. To learn more about how to configure the scheduling parameters, please see the Scheduling (p. 84) section. 6.5 Mounting an image Mounting volumes from a disk backup (image) lets you access the volumes as though they were physical disks. Multiple volumes contained in the same backup can be mounted within a single mount operation. The mount operation is available when the console is connected to a managed machine running either Windows or Linux.
If the archive is stored in a local folder on the machine, expand the Local folders group and click the required folder. 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. 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.
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.
To unmount an image, select it in the table and click To unmount all the mounted volumes, click 6.7 Unmount. Unmount all. Exporting archives and backups The export operation creates a copy of an archive or a self-sufficient part copy of an archive in the location you specify. The original archive remains untouched. The export operation can be applied to: a single archive - an exact archive copy will be created a single backup - an archive consisting of a single full backup will be created.
Source and destination locations When the console is connected to a managed machine, you can export an archive or part of an archive to and from any location accessible to the agent residing on the machine. These include personal vaults, locally attached tape devices, removable media and, in the advanced product versions, managed and unmanaged centralized vaults. When the console is connected to a management server, two export methods are available: export from a managed vault.
Archive (p. 133) - in that case, you need to specify the archive only. Backups (p. 159) - specify the archive first, and then select the desired backup(s) in this archive Access credentials (p. 159) [Optional] Provide credentials for accessing the source if the task account does not have enough privileges to access it. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box. Where to export Archive (p. 160) Enter the path to the location where the new archive will be created.
If the archive is stored in a local folder on the machine, expand the Local folders group and click the required folder. 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. 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.
The program will access the location using the credentials of the task account specified in the General section. Use the following credentials The program will access the location using the credentials you specify. Use this option if the task account does not have access permissions to the location. You might need to provide special credentials for a network share or a storage node vault. Specify: User name.
2. Using the archives table To assist you with choosing the right destination, the table on the right displays the names of the archives contained in each location you select in the tree. 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. Naming the new archive By default, the exported archive inherits the name of the original archive.
To learn more about the advantages and limitations of the Acronis Secure Zone, see the Acronis Secure Zone (p. 37) topic in the "Proprietary Acronis technologies" section. 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. 162) Choose a hard disk (if several) on which to create 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. Password for Acronis Secure Zone Setting up a password protects the Acronis Secure Zone from unauthorized access. The program will ask for the password at any operation relating to the zone and the archives located there, such as data backup and recovery, validating archives, resizing and deleting the zone.
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. Use backup schemes with automatic cleanup to back up to the zone, or delete outdated archives manually using the vault management functionality.
2. In the Delete Acronis Secure Zone window, select volumes to which you want to add the space freed from the zone and then click OK. If you select several volumes, the space will be distributed proportionally to each partition. If you do not select any volume, the freed space becomes unallocated. After you click OK, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 will start deleting the zone.
recover an operating system that cannot start access and back up the data that has survived in a corrupted system deploy an operating system on bare metal create basic or dynamic volumes on bare metal back up sector-by-sector a disk with an unsupported file system back up offline any data that cannot be backed up online because of restricted access, being permanently locked by the running applications or for any other reason.
A media with Linux-style volume handling displays the volumes as, for example, hda1 and sdb2. It tries to reconstruct MD devices and logical (LVM) volumes before starting a recovery. A media with Windows-style volume handling displays the volumes as, for example, C: and D:. It provides access to dynamic (LDM) volumes. The wizard will guide you through the necessary operations. Please refer to Linux-based bootable media (p. 168) for details.
Using Bart PE You can create a Bart PE image with Acronis Plug-in using the Bart PE Builder. Please refer to Building Bart PE with Acronis Plug-in from Windows distribution (p. 173) for details. Linux-based bootable media When using the media builder, you have to specify: 1. [optional] The parameters of the Linux kernel. Separate multiple parameters with spaces.
You also can specify any of these parameters by pressing F11 while in the boot menu. Parameters When specifying multiple parameters, separate them with spaces. acpi=off Disables Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI). You may want to use this parameter when experiencing problems with a particular hardware configuration. noapic Disables Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC). You may want to use this parameter when experiencing problems with a particular hardware configuration.
module_name=off Disables the module whose name is given by module_name. For example, to disable the use of the SATA module, specify: sata_sis=off pci=bios Forces the use of PCI BIOS instead of accessing the hardware device directly. You may want to use this parameter if the machine has a non-standard PCI host bridge. pci=nobios Disables the use of PCI BIOS; only direct hardware access methods will be allowed.
You can customize bootable media for any machine, and not only for the machine where the media is created. To do so, configure the NICs according to their slot order on that machine: NIC1 occupies the slot closest to the processor, NIC2 is in the next slot and so on. When the bootable agent starts on that machine, it will find no NICs with known MAC addresses and will configure the NICs in the same order as you did.
To add drivers: 1. Click Add and browse to the INF file or a folder that contains INF files. 2. Select the INF file or the folder. 3. Click OK. The drivers can be removed from the list only in groups, by removing INF files. To remove drivers: 1. Select the INF file. 2. Click Remove. Adding the Acronis Plug-in to WinPE 1.x Acronis Plug-in for WinPE can be added to: Windows PE 2004 (1.5) (Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2) Windows PE 2005 (1.6) (Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1).
Adding Acronis Plug-in to WinPE 2.x or 3.0 ISO To add Acronis Plug-in to WinPE 2.x or 3.0 ISO: 1. When adding the plug-in to the existing Win PE ISO, unpack all files of your Win PE ISO to a separate folder on the hard disk. 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. When creating a new PE ISO: Select Create Windows PE 2.x or 3.
export_license.bat 5. Copy the contents of the current folder—by default: C:\Program Files\Acronis\Bootable Components\WinPE—to the %BartPE folder%\plugins\Acronis. 6. Insert your Windows distribution CD if you do not have a copy of Windows installation files on the HDD. 7. Start the Bart PE builder. 8. Specify the path to the Windows installation files or Windows distribution CD. 9. Click Plugins and check whether the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 plug-in is enabled. Enable if disabled. 10.
6. Tasks cannot be scheduled; in fact, tasks are not created at all. If you need to repeat the operation, configure it from scratch. 7. The log lifetime is limited to the current session. You can save the entire log or the filtered log entries to a file. 8. Centralized vaults are not displayed in the folder tree of the Archive window.
2. 3. 4. 5. Click Configure iSCSI/NDAS devices. In NDAS devices, click Add device. Specify the 20-character device ID. If you want to allow writing data onto the device, specify the five-character write key. Without this key, the device will be available in the read-only mode. 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.
fsck mount tune2fs fxload mtx udev gawk mv udevinfo gpm pccardctl udevstart grep ping umount growisofs pktsetup uuidgen grub poweroff vconfig gunzip ps vi halt raidautorun zcat hexdump readcd hotplug reboot 6.10.
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. On the toolbar, click Actions, and then click Start shell. Alternatively, you can press CTRL+ALT+F2. 4. Run the restoreraids.
Example Suppose that you previously performed a disk backup of a machine with the following disk configuration: The machine has two 1-gigabyte and two 2-gigabyte SCSI hard disks, mounted on /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, and /dev/sdd, respectively. The first and second pairs of hard disks are configured as two MD devices, both in the RAID-1 configuration, and are mounted on /dev/md0 and /dev/md1, respectively.
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. Activate the volume group by running the following command: lvm vgchange -a y my_volgroup 7. Press CTRL+ALT+F1 to return to the management console. Step 2: Starting the recovery 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. In the management console, click Recover. In Archive, click Change and then specify the name of the archive.
6.11 Disk management Acronis Disk Director Lite is a tool for preparing a machine disk/volume configuration for recovering the volume images saved by the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 software. Sometimes after the volume has been backed up and its image placed into a safe storage, the machine disk configuration might change due to a HDD replacement or hardware loss.
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. 200) created with the Acronis Bootable Media Builder; run the management console and then click Disk Management. 6.11.
Displaying operation results The results of any disk or volume operation, you have just planned, are immediately displayed in the Disk management view of the console. For example, if you create a volume, it will be immediately shown in the table, as well as in graphical form at the bottom of the view. Any volume changes, including changing the volume letter or label, are also immediately displayed in the view. 6.11.
If you decide to change the disk settings it can be done later using the standard Acronis Disk Director Lite disk tools. Basic disk cloning Sometimes it is necessary to transfer all the disk data onto a new disk. It can be a case of expanding the system volume, starting a new system layout or disk evacuation due to a hardware fault. In any case, the reason for the Clone basic disk operation can be summed up as the necessity to transfer all the source disk data to a target disk exactly as it is.
the source disk data to the target disk is impossible even with the proportional resizing of the volumes, then the Clone basic disk operation will be impossible and the user will not be able to continue. If you are about to clone a disk comprising of a system volume, pay attention to the Advanced options. By clicking Finish, you'll add the pending operation of the disk cloning. (To finish the added operation you will have to commit (p. 195) it.
Disk conversion: MBR to GPT You would want to convert an MBR basic disk to a GPT basic disk in the following cases: If you need more than 4 primary volumes on one disk. If you need additional disk reliability against any possible data damage. If you need to convert a basic MBR disk to basic GPT: 1. Select a basic MBR disk to convert to GPT. 2. Right-click on the selected volume, and then click Convert to GPT in the context menu.
(To finish the added operation you will have to commit (p. 195) it. Exiting the program without committing the pending operations will effectively cancel them.) Disk conversion: basic to dynamic You would want to convert a basic disk to dynamic in the following cases: If you plan to use the disk as part of a dynamic disk group. If you want to achieve additional disk reliability for data storage. If you need to convert a basic disk to dynamic: 1. Select the basic disk to convert to dynamic. 2.
dynamic disks (all volume types except Simple volumes), then you will be warned here about the possible damage to the data involved in the conversion. Please note, the operation is unavailable for a dynamic disk containing Spanned, Striped, or RAID-5 volumes. 3. If you click OK in this warning window, the conversion will be performed immediately. After the conversion the last 8Mb of disk space is reserved for the future conversion of the disk from basic to dynamic.
Create Volume (p. 189) - Creates a new volume with the help of the Create Volume Wizard. Delete Volume (p. 192) - Deletes the selected volume. Set Active (p. 193) - Sets the selected volume Active so that the machine will be able to boot with the OS installed there. Change Letter (p. 193) - Changes the selected volume letter Change Label (p. 194) - Changes the selected volume label Format Volume (p.
Striped volumes are created for improved performance, not for their better reliability - they do not contain redundant information. Mirrored Volume A fault-tolerant volume, also sometimes called RAID 1, whose data is duplicated on two identical physical disks. All of the data on one disk is copied to another disk to provide data redundancy. Almost any volume can be mirrored, including the system and boot volumes, and if one of the disks fails, the data can still be accessed from the remaining disks.
If the current operating system, installed on this machine, does not support the selected type of volume , you will receive the appropriate warning. In this case the Next button will be disabled and you will have to select another type of volume to proceed with the new volume creation. After you click the Next button, you will proceed forward to the next wizard page: Select destination disks (p. 191).
For basic volumes if some unallocated space is left on the disk, you also will be able to choose the position of the new volume on the disk. If you click the Back button, you will be returned to the previous page: Select destination disks (p. 191). If you click the Next button, you will proceed to the next page: Set the volume options (p. 192).
After a volume is deleted, its space is added to unallocated disk space. It can be used for creation of a new volume or to change another volume's type. If you need to delete a volume: 1. Select a hard disk and a volume to be deleted. 2. Select Delete volume or a similar item in the Operations sidebar list, or click the Delete the selected volume icon on the toolbar. If the volume contains any data, you will receive the warning, that all the information on this volume will be lost irrevocably. 3.
If you need to change a letter assigned to a volume by the operating system: 1. 2. 3. 4. Select a volume to change a letter. Right-click on the selected volume, and then click Change letter in the context menu. Select a new letter in the Change Letter window. By clicking OK in the Change Letter window, you'll add a pending operation to volume letter assignment. (To finish the added operation you will have to commit (p. 195) it.
In the text window you will be able to enter the volume label, if necessary: by default this window is empty. 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. 3. If you click OK to proceed with the Format Volume operation, you'll add a pending operation of formatting a volume. (To finish the added operation you will have to commit (p. 195) it.
This option is available under bootable media and for machines where Agent for Windows, Agent for Linux or Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server is installed. To collect system information 1. In the management console, select from the top menu Help > Collect system information from 'machine name'. 2. Specify where to save the file with system information. 196 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
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. 203) 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. 206), 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. 201) performed by an agent (p.
Backup options Configuration parameters of a backup operation (p. 198), 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. 199). Backup plan (Plan) A set of rules that specify how the given data will be protected on a given machine. A backup plan specifies: what data to back up [optionally] the archive validation rules (p. 210) where to store the backup archive (p.
5. On each machine, the agent installed on the machine creates a backup plan (p. 199) using other rules specified by the policy. Such backup plan is called a centralized plan (p. 201). 6. On each machine, the agent installed on the machine creates a set of centralized tasks (p. 201) that will carry out the plan. Backup scheme A part of the backup plan (p. 199) that includes the backup schedule and [optionally] the retention rules and the cleanup (p. 201) schedule. For example: perform full backup (p.
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. 199) can be applied to a built-in group. C Centralized backup plan A backup plan (p. 199) that appears on the managed machine (p. 206) as a result of deploying a backup policy (p. 199) from the management server (p. 207). Such plan can be modified only by editing the backup policy.
Cleanup consists in applying to an archive the retention rules set by the backup plan (p. 199) that produces the archive. This operation checks if the archive has exceeded its maximum size and/or for expired backups. This may or may not result in deleting backups depending on whether the retention rules are violated or not. For more information please refer to Retention rules (p. 30). Console (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console) A tool for remote or local access to Acronis agents (p.
operations are configured on the management server (p. 207) and propagated by the server to the managed machines). The direct management operations include: creating and managing local backup plans (p. 206) creating and managing local tasks (p. 206), such as recovery tasks creating and managing personal vaults (p. 207) and archives stored there viewing the state, progress and properties of the centralized tasks (p.
Dynamic disk A hard disk managed by Logical Disk Manager (LDM) that is available in Windows starting with Windows 2000. LDM helps flexibly allocate volumes on a storage device for better fault tolerance, better performance or larger volume size. A dynamic disk can use either the master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT) partition style. In addition to MBR or GPT, each dynamic disk has a hidden database where the LDM stores the dynamic volumes' configuration.
Dynamic volume Any volume located on dynamic disks (p. 203), or more precisely, on a disk group (p. 203). Dynamic volumes can span multiple disks. Dynamic volumes are usually configured depending on the desired goal: to increase the volume size (a spanned volume) to reduce the access time (a striped volume) to achieve fault tolerance by introducing redundancy (mirrored and RAID-5 volumes.) E Encrypted archive A backup archive (p. 198) encrypted according to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
G GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) A popular backup scheme (p. 200) aimed to maintain the optimal balance between a backup archive (p. 198) size and the number of recovery points (p. 207) available from the archive. GFS enables recovering with daily resolution for the last several days, weekly resolution for the last several weeks and monthly resolution for any time in the past. For more information please refer to GFS backup scheme (p. 24). I Image The same as Disk backup (p. 203).
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. 208) and storage node-side validation (p. 209) for each archive stored in the managed vault. An administrator can specify additional operations that the storage node will perform (deduplication (p. 202), encryption).
R Recovery point Date and time to which the backed up data can be reverted to. Registered machine A machine (p. 206) managed by a management server (p. 207). A machine can be registered on only one management server at a time. A machine becomes registered as a result of the registration (p. 208) procedure. Registration A procedure that adds a managed machine (p. 206) to a management server (p. 207). Registration sets up a trust relationship between the agent (p.
Since the cleanup schedule exists on the machine (p. 206) the agent (p. 197) resides on, and therefore uses the machine’s time and events, the agent has to initiate the storage node-side cleanup every time the scheduled time or event comes. To do so, the agent must be online. The following table summarizes the cleanup types used in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10.
the image being recovered is located in Acronis Secure Zone (p. 197) or when using Acronis Active Restore (p. 197), because these features are primarily meant for instant data recovery on the same machine. Universal Restore is not available when recovering Linux. Unmanaged vault Any vault (p. 210) that is not a managed vault (p. 206). V Validation An operation that checks the possibility of data recovery from a backup (p. 198).
Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (PE 1.6) Windows Vista (PE 2.0) Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 (PE 2.1). WinPE is commonly used by OEMs and corporations for deployment, test, diagnostic and system repair purposes. A machine can be booted into WinPE via PXE, CD-ROM, USB flash drive or hard disk. The Acronis Plug-in for WinPE (p. 197) enables running the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent (p. 197) in the preinstallation environment. Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Agent for Windows • 13 Index Agent-side cleanup • 203, 213 A Archive • 117, 122, 202, 203 About Windows loaders • 152 Archive protection • 50, 51 Access credentials • 158, 159 Archive selection • 136, 138, 154, 155, 158, 162, 163 Access credentials for archive location • 118, 124 Access credentials for destination • 137, 147, 163, 166 Access credentials for location • 136, 140 Agent-side validation • 203, 214 Archive validation • 118, 133 At Windows Event Log event • 94 B Access credentials for
Basic precautions • 186 Bootability troubleshooting • 150 Bootable agent • 39, 170, 202, 205 Bootable media • 14, 18, 64, 101, 135, 170, 187, 202, 205, 208, 212 Bootable Media Builder • 14 Building Bart PE with Acronis Plug-in from Windows distribution • 173, 178 Built-in group • 205 C Creating a backup plan • 107, 109, 117, 134, 154 Creating a personal vault • 82 Creating a volume • 194 Creating Acronis Secure Zone • 82, 167 Creating the volume structure automatically • 182 Creating the volume structure
Disk management • 36, 136, 186 Disk operations • 188 Disks • 136, 140 G Getting started • 6 Disks/volumes selection • 139 GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) • 205, 211, 214 Drivers for Universal Restore • 173, 176 GFS backup scheme • 25, 211 Dual destination • 38, 50, 65 Grandfather-Father-Son scheme • 125 Dynamic disk • 34, 202, 208, 209, 210 H Dynamic group • 206, 209 Dynamic volume • 34, 205, 210 HDD writing speed • 50, 59 E How to convert a disk backup to a virtual machine • 149 E-mail • 51, 59,
M Machine • 203, 204, 205, 206, 208, 209, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215 Machine options • 46, 61, 62, 75, 76 Main area, views and action pages • 8, 10 Managed machine • 7, 18, 45, 202, 204, 206, 207, 211, 213, 214 Managed vault • 207, 210, 211, 213, 214, 215 Overwriting • 146 Owners and credentials • 24, 80, 138, 155, 163 P Password for Acronis Secure Zone • 167, 168 Pending operations • 187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 198, 199, 200 Personal vault • 202, 208, 212 Management Console • 14 Personal vaults • 39, 80 Man
Run backup plan • 107, 111 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite • 186 T Tape compatibility table • 37 S Tape support • 36 Scheduling • 66, 87, 125, 134, 157 Task • 18, 204, 206, 211, 214 Select destination disks • 196, 197 Task credentials • 137, 154, 155, 162, 163 Select the type of volume being created • 195, 196 Task details • 102, 103, 107, 111 Selecting a host that will perform conversion • 118, 119, 134 Task start conditions • 50, 66, 87, 96, 104 Selecting disks and volumes • 120 Selecting f
Validation • 18, 203, 214, 215 Validation rules • 204, 215 Vault • 18, 39, 168, 210, 212, 215 Vaults • 34, 79, 154, 169 Views • 11 Virtual machine • 205, 215 Virtual machine settings • 141, 142, 145, 149 Virtual machine type / virtualization server selection • 141, 142, 144 Volume destination • 141, 143 Volume operations • 194 Volume properties • 143 Volume selection • 158, 160 Volume Shadow Copy Service • 50, 54, 57 Volumes • 136, 142 W Weekly schedule • 90, 129 When to recover • 137, 147 When to validate
