User Guide
Table of contents 1 Introducing Acronis vmProtect 7 ............................................................................................6 2 Acronis vmProtect 7 Overview ...............................................................................................7 2.1 3 Acronis vmProtect 7 Features....................................................................................................7 How Acronis vmProtect 7 Works ..................................................................
7.5.5 7.5.6 7.5.7 7.5.8 7.6 8 Disaster Recovery Plan.................................................................................................................................. 38 Notifications................................................................................................................................................... 39 Additional Settings ........................................................................................................................................
14.2.2 14.2.3 14.2.4 15 Failover ........................................................................................................................................................... 71 Failback VM from Replica ............................................................................................................................. 72 Deleting Replica VM ......................................................................................................................................
17.5.5 Removing ESX(i) host .................................................................................................................................... 96 17.6 Managing settings....................................................................................................................97 17.6.1 17.6.2 18 Managing Online Backup Proxy ................................................................................................................... 97 Managing Agent Password ..............
1 Introducing Acronis vmProtect 7 Acronis believes that virtualization and transition to the cloud are not only a better way of doing computing, but also allow for achieving less downtimes and faster recoveries while reducing costs. Unfortunately, most of backup and recovery solutions are designed for physical systems and are either not good enough for virtual environments or do not allow for all of the benefits and savings that virtualization could potentially give.
2 Acronis vmProtect 7 Overview Acronis vmProtect 7 is a comprehensive backup and recovery solution designed for VMware vSphere™ environments. It enables organizations to perform an agent-less backup of entire ESX(i) virtual machines with the ability to recover entire machines or individual files and folders. 2.
3 How Acronis vmProtect 7 Works 3.1 Virtual machines backup and restore As with a physical machine, your virtual machine (or several VMs as a whole virtual infrastructure) should also be protected. Once you have installed Acronis vmProtect 7 agent, you can: Back up a virtual machine or multiple virtual machines residing on the server without having to install additional software on each virtual machine.
3.2.2 Single file backup scheme (Always Incremental mode) Usually, backups are kept only for a certain time period (retention time) or there is a policy to keep only the last X backups in the backup chain. Backup archives are managed on a daily, weekly, etc. basis. The main limitation of the Legacy mode backup archive is that you cannot delete a random backup from the backup chain since it may have dependencies on it from subsequent backups. This is where Always Incremental backup archive can help.
4 Installation of Acronis vmProtect 7 4.1 Requirements 4.1.1 Supported operating systems Acronis vmProtect 7 supports the following operating systems: Windows XP Professional SP2 (x64), SP3 (x86). Windows Vista - all editions (x86, x64). Windows Server 2008 R2 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server, Datacenter, Foundation editions. Windows Server 2003/2003 R2 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server editions (x86, x64). Windows 7 - all editions (x86, x64).
ESX(i) version 4.0 environment is supported with exceptions, for example, Exchange Server Backup Extraction (p. 51) and ESXi configuration backup (p. 62) features are not supported. Acronis vmProtect 7 Exchange Server Backup Extraction (p. 51) feature supports Microsoft Exchange 2003 SP2 and higher. Acronis vmProtect 7 supports the following file systems for the backed up virtual machines: NTFS/FAT16/FAT32/ext2/ext3/ext4.
4.1.4 Privileges for VM backup and recovery Once Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent is installed on a Windows machine or deployed to an ESX(i) host, the first thing you do is the configuration of ESX(i) hosts/vCenter which will be managed by this Agent. The scope of available operations depends on the privileges a user (that you have specified while adding a ESX(i) host/vCenter in vmProtect 7 Agent web console: Configure->ESX(i) Hosts) has on the vCenter Server.
Settings Virtual machine -> Interaction + Configure CD media + Console interaction + Power off + + + + + + + Create new + + + Remove + + + + + Power on Virtual machine -> Inventory Create from existing Virtual machine -> Provisioning Allow disk access Virtual machine -> State Create snapshot Remove snapshot 13 + + + + + + + + Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
The roles privileges can be configured via the vSphere Client connected to a ESX(i) host/vCenter from Administration->Roles. After that you can assign the specific user for connection to vCenter with particular role from Permissions tab, as shown in the pictures below. 4.2 Installation options The very first thing you have to do is to install Acronis vmProtect 7 software, configure your ESX(i) host connection settings and set up your access credentials to Acronis vmProtect 7 web console.
When you run your Acronis vmProtect 7 installation package, the installation menu appears. Acronis vmProtect 7 has three main installation options: Install Acronis vmProtect 7 as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) host. Install Acronis vmProtect 7 as Windows Agent. Extract installation files. The first option allows you to install the software on a remote ESX(i) host (see Installing Acronis vmProtect 7 as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) Host (p. 15)).
3. Then the installer will check for previous versions of Acronis vmProtect 7 or any other Acronis software on the specified ESX(i) server. If you already have the Acronis Virtual Appliance set up there and it is outdated, then the installer would prompt you to update it to the latest version or create the new Virtual Appliance. 4. Set your Appliance (VM) name, choose the ESX(i) host and datastore as a target for deploying the Acronis vmProtect 7 software.
4.2.2 Installing Acronis vmProtect 7 as Windows Agent If your production ESX(i) hosts are so heavily loaded that running the virtual appliances is not desirable, consider installing Acronis vmProtect 7 Windows Agent on a physical machine outside the ESX(i) infrastructure. If your ESX(i) uses a SAN attached storage, install the agent on a machine connected to the same SAN. The agent will back up the virtual machines directly from the storage rather than via the ESX(i) host and LAN.
3. 4. 5. 6. an underscore (_) symbol. You should provide the credentials of any user with Administrator privileges on the machine. Select the way you want your components to be installed, i.e. specify the location where to install the software. The default destination for installing Acronis vmProtect 7 is the C:\Program Files\Acronis or C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis folder. You can change the destination by typing in a new folder name or selecting it by browsing.
options. Upon installation the Acronis vmProtect 7 Exchange Backup Agent service provides the communication channel with Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent. Specify the location you want to extract your files to, and then click Extract. The Disk usage button shows the available space for the different volumes on your PC and helps you to choose the destination disk for the files extraction. Close the dialog when the extraction process is completed. 4.2.
5 Getting started Once you installed the Acronis vmProtect 7 or deployed your Acronis vmProtect 7 Virtual Appliance, you can run the Acronis vmProtect 7 Web Console. The Web Console will be opened in the default Internet browser. Note that the Acronis vmProtect 7 web server (installed on the Agent side) which provides the user interface uses self-signed certificates.
First of all, to be able to perform the first backup task of a Virtual Machines, you have to go to the ESX(i) Host section (p. 94) and specify the IP address / hostname and credentials for the vCenter or individual ESX(i) host where these machines are running. Setting up an ESX(i) host will not bind the licenses to it automatically. Therefore, you have to follow to the Licenses page (p. 91) to set up your licenses.
date by pointing at the respective diagram. Also you can change the statistics view by clicking Hourly, Daily or Weekly. Locations The Locations section shows the total statistics for your backup locations status. It shows the Total backups number, information about the Occupied space, space Occupied by others, and Free space (both in megabytes/gigabytes and percentages). Occupied space is the space occupied by Acronis backups.
e. Run VM from backup task This is the Run VM from Backup task button which activates the run VM from backup wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "Running VM from backup" section (p. 57). f. File recovery task This is the File Recovery button which runs the files recovery wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "File recovery" section (p. 49). g. Validation task This is the Validate button which starts the new validation task.
a. ESX(i) Hosts This is the link to the ESX(i) hosts management page. Managing ESX(i) hosts is described in the "Managing ESX(i) hosts" section (p. 94). b. Licenses This is the link to the Licenses management page. Managing licenses is described in the "Managing licenses" section (p. 91). c. Settings Activate online backup subscription settings and Online backup proxy settings are available on the ribbon.
f. Configure -> ESX(i) hosts When Configure->ESX(i) Hosts is selected, the Hosts tab appears in the ribbon menu. The ESX(i) Hosts management page is described in the "Managing ESX(i) hosts" section (p. 94). g. Configure -> Licenses When Configure->Licenses is selected, the Licenses tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Licenses management page is described in the "Managing licenses" section (p. 91). 5.2.
6 vCenter Integration The main tool for managing the vSphere virtual infrastructure is the VMWare vSphere client. Although the VMWare vSphere client does not provide native backup/restore functionality, it's not always convenient to run another tool to manage these important operations. Acronis vmProtect 7 introduces vCenter integration which allows for basic backup and restore functionality directly from the VMWare vSphere client without having to run Acronis vmProtect 7 Web interface.
vCenter Integration, New Backup Task, step 1 The standard New Restore Task wizard consists of 3 steps which are explained in detail in the Restoring a Backup of Virtual Machines (p. 42) section. The first step of the wizard in VMWare vSphere Acronis restore pop-up will be pre-filled with the VM you right-clicked on. The latest available recovery point in the first discovered Recent Location will be selected. vCenter Integration, New Restore Task, step 1 27 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Note that with vCenter integration enabled there is Acronis vmProtect 7 tab for vCenter with the basic dashboard information available. vCenter Integration, Acronis vmProtect 7 tab Note that it's not possible to operate with folders in the VMs and Templates view of vSphere client. In this case you will get Acronis context menu items only for Virtual Machines. Note that vCenter integration is managed by a particular vmProtect 7 Agent.
7 Creating a Backup of Virtual Machines Click Create Backup Task in the dashboard’s Quick start or Backup in the Actions tab of the main menu to create a new backup task. The New Backup Task wizard opens in the main workspace area and asks you to provide the required information and make all necessary settings for the new create backup task. The wizard consists of the four consecutive steps which appear in the same area: What to backup. Where to backup. When to backup. How to backup.
New Backup Task wizard, Step 1 “Select VM(s) to back up” You can back up dynamic groups of the machines by selecting the upper level unit (e.g. ESX(i) host or VMs folder) in the tree and moving it to the right list with the same > button. As a result, all the machines running within this group will be automatically included in the backup list. Moreover, any new machines created in this group will be backed up automatically by the current backup task.
New Backup Task wizard, Step 2 “Where to back up” The Archive name field shows the name of the archive selected in the Browse pop-up. The left side of the Browse pop-up shows the list of: Online backup storages. Local folders. Network folders. FTP and SFTP servers. Recent Location. If your vmProtect 7 Agent has no licenses added, the only possible choice for a backup destination is Acronis Online Backup Storage. Choose one of the backup location types from the browse tree on the left side.
Enter your archive name value in the corresponding Archive name field below. Note that it is not recommended to have more than one backup task writing data to the same archive. The retention rules applied to the archive by different backup tasks may cause an unpredictable outcome. After you’ve selected “Where to back up”, click on Next to finish the second step and proceed to the third one. 7.
7.4 How to back up On the fourth step you should define the preferences of your new backup task. 7.4.1 Backup type First of all, you should define the archive type for the new backup. Acronis vmProtect 7 can save your backup data by using one of the two basic types of archives – Standard archive (Legacy mode) or Always Incremental archive. Select the Save each backup in separate files option for the Legacy archive (please, refer to "Multiple files backup scheme (Legacy mode)" section (p. 8)).
Create Backup wizard, Step 4 “How to back up” 2. Simple cleanup scheme The selection of the simple cleanup scheme allows you to keep a certain number of backups inside the archive or keep the backups for a certain time period. Create Backup wizard, Step 4 “How to back up”, Simple cleanup scheme, delete the outdated backups 34 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
The second option allows you to clean up the archive if the number of backups exceeds <…>. Again, if you set this number at 1, then for the Always Incremental archive mode there will be a synthetic full backup created, i.e. an incremental backup which will remove the unnecessary old recovery point contents after the backup is finished.
of this deleted VM will become subject to deletion. Accordingly, the Never delete the last remaining backup check box will prevent or force the deletion of the last remaining backup. 7.4.3 Other settings Click More options to open the pop-up with the additional settings. These options are described in the "Options" section (p. 36). 7.4.
The AES cryptographic algorithm operates in the Cipher-block chaining (CBC) mode and uses a randomly generated key with a user-defined size of 128, 192 or 256 bits. The larger the key size, the longer it will take for the program to encrypt the archive and the more secure your data will be. 7.5.2 Source Files Exclusion With the source files exclusion rules you can define which data will be skipped from the source data during the backup process and thus be excluded from the list of backed up items.
7.5.4 Error Handling These options enable you to specify how to handle errors that might occur during backup. When a recoverable error occurs, the program re-attempts to perform the failed operation. You can set the time interval and the number of attempts. The task finishes as soon as the operation succeeds OR the specified number of attempts is reached. If you select the Re-attempt, if an error occurs check box, set up the Number of attempts and the Interval between attempts.
You can click Send test e-mail message to check if the Disaster Recovery Plan is sent correctly with the specified settings. Select Upload disaster recovery plans to the following location check box if you would like to keep the DRP copy and Browse the location. 7.5.6 Notifications 1) E-mail notifications This option sets up e-mail notifications about the basic events during your backup task, such as successful completion, backup failure or need for user interaction.
Send SNMP notifications individually for backup operation events – to send the events log of the backup operations to the specified SNMP managers. Type of events to send – choose the types of events to be sent: Information, Warnings or Errors. Server name or it's IP – type the name or IP address of the host running the SNMP management application where the notifications will be sent to.
Note that for enabling the Exchange-aware backup, you have to provide guest OS login credentials for the selected VM(s) running MS Exchange server. This means that you have to specify a user with domain administrator privileges. User Account Control (UAC) technology introduced in Windows Server 2008 operating system is not natively supported by Acronis vmProtect 7 since the product accesses the VMs data in agent-less mode.
8 Restoring a Backup of Virtual Machines Click on the Restore button in the Actions tab of the main menu to restore one or several backed up virtual machines. The Restore Backup wizard opens in the main workspace area and asks you to provide the required information and configure the necessary settings for the new restore task. The wizard consists of the three consecutive steps which appear in the same area: What to restore. Where to restore. How to restore.
You can select any of the virtual machines from the left side list and move them to the Selected Virtual Machines section on the right. The selection of the virtual machines is done by moving the machines from the left side of the butterfly control to the right one, via the > and < buttons. The list on the right shows all the virtual machines selected for recovery. The > button is used to add the VM to the recovery list, and the < button is used to remove the VM from this list.
managed by Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent. If the ESX(i) host you need is not in this list, then make sure it is added in the Configure->ESX(i) hosts view. Note that when restoring to “Original Location” the restored VM may not appear in the same location (automatically overwriting the existing VM) as it was at the moment of creating the recovery point. This will be the case if the selected VM (defined by the recovery point) has been migrated to a host and/or datastore, ESX(i) host, resource pool or vApp.
Note that if the existing machines are running, then for the successful recovery operation you should either stop them manually or select the Power off target VMs when starting recovery option in the recovery options dialogue (see "VM power management" section (p. 48)). When choosing the Create VMs with different names option the restored VMs will be named according to the following convention: “[Original_VM_name]_DATE”.
When you click on Run Now button the task will be immediately executed with the specified parameters. You could see the task progress bar in the Tasks view and in the Dashboard view. This is your choice if you want to execute this task just once. The result of this task will be shown in the Dashboard or can be checked through the Logs view. Clicking the Save button results in saving the task in the tasks list (View->Tasks).
Use encryption – you can opt for the encrypted connection to the mail server and choose SSL or TLS encryption types. Click Send test e-mail message to make sure all your settings are correct. 2) SNMP notifications This option defines whether the agent(s) operating on the managed machine have to send the logs of the restore operation events to the specified Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) managers. You can choose the types of events to be sent. The default setting for this option is disabled.
8.4.3 VM power management Power on target VMs when recovery is finished This option allows configuring the virtual machines power management after executing the restore backup task. After a machine is recovered from a backup to another machine, there is a chance that the existing machine's replica will appear on the network. For a safe operation, power on the recovered virtual machine manually, after you take the necessary precautions. This option is disabled by default.
9 File Recovery Sometimes there is a need to recover just a single file or just a few files from a backup archive without restoring the whole virtual machine. The File Recovery feature allows browsing the archive and restoring the selected files for the pre-defined version of this archive (recovery point).
If the selected location contains any password-protected archives or archives of physical machines (Encrypted and Physical machines Data), you have to specify the password in order to restore your data from these archives. The selected location is scanned for archives and their contents. As a result of the scan, on the left side you will see a tree-list of the virtual machines included in all archives stored in the selected location or inside the selected archive.
10 Exchange Server Backup Extraction Sometimes there is a need to extract just Exchange data from disk-level backups of Virtual Machines with Microsoft Exchange server installed. The Extract Exchange Server Items feature allows: Extracting complete Exchange databases from VM backups. Extracting Exchange data (mailboxes, mailbox items) from VM backups. NOTE: Prior to running Extract Exchange Server Items wizard you have to configure your backups to become “Exchange-aware”.
Extract Exchange Servet Items, Selecting a lication with Exchange Server backups Select Databases on the second step. On the third step select your Exchange Server databases from the list on the left, and then select the recovery point on the right. By default, the latest recovery point is selected. Here you can see the information on the selected recovery point, database and its size. Click Next. Extract Exchange Servet Items, Selecting databases and a recovery point 52 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Finally, click Browse and select the destination folder where to save the database archive. Click Finish to proceed with extraction. The extracted databases will be in a Dirty Shutdown state and cannot be mounted. To be able to mount the databases you have to bring them to a Clean Shutdown state by using the Eseutil /r command. specifies the log file prefix for the database (or storage group that contains the database) into which you need to apply the transaction log files.
Extract Exchange Servet Items, Selecting a recovery point for browsing On the final step click Browse to select the destination folder where to save the selected items, and click Finish to proceed with the extraction. Upon completing the wizard, the extraction task is created which you can see in the Tasks view (View->Task). You will be able to track the progress and other statistics for your task. Note that it is not possible to edit this type of task.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Select location with Exchange Server backups. What do you want to extract? (Mailboxes Content). Select Mailbox(es) for extraction or Recovery Point for browsing. Select Folders or Items for extraction. Where to save selected Items. On the first step you have to select the location and a VM with Exchange Server backups. On the left you can see the list of backup locations. When choosing a location it is then scanned for Exchange VM backups which you see in the middle section.
Extract Exchange Servet Items, Selecting destination for saving items The selected Mailboxes & Mailboxes Contents are saved to the specified destination as the Acronis vmProtect 7 self-extractible (.exe) archive. You can run this file on any machine which has Microsoft Outlook (2003+) installed in order to extract the e-mails and other items in .pst format. When unpacking the data from the archive you can also select the contents to be extracted and indicate the folder where to exctract the data to.
11 Running VM from Backup Click Run VM from Backup in the Home tab of the main menu to mount certain backed up virtual machine without restoring it. The Run VM from Backup wizard opens in the main workspace area and asks you to provide the required information and configure the necessary settings for the Run VM from Backup task. The wizard consists of the three steps: What VM to run. Where to run the VM. Additional settings.
If the selected location contains any password-protected archives or archives of physical machines, then the VMs included in these archives cannot be shown, and you will be warned about it. You can select any of the virtual machines from the left side list and move them to the Selected Virtual Machines section on the right. The selection of the virtual machines is done by moving the machines from the left side of the butterfly control to the right one, via the > and < buttons.
vmProtect 7 Agent. If the ESX(i) host you need is not in this list, then make sure it is added in the Configure->ESX(i) hosts view. Once the ESX(i) host is defined, the list of available resource pools is build up automatically where you can define the exact location for the mounted virtual machine(s). The datastore selection is necessary to define where to store the changes made to the mounted virtual machine(s).
Run VM from Backup wizard, Step 3 “Additional Settings” Select the Power on the mounted VM option to automatically run your machine upon completion of the wizard. Note that the mounted machine's replica (e.g. the original machine) might appear on the network. Theerefore, for safe operation, it’s advisable to power on the mounted virtual machine manually after taking the necessary precautions. Select the Connect to network check box when mounting a failed VM which is no longer present in the network.
12 P2V Migration 12.1 How to Perform a P2V Migration To reduce hardware requirements, there is often a need to migrate physical machines to virtual ones. To perform a physical to virtual migration (P2V), you need to boot your physical machine from Acronis bootable Media, create a full backup and then restore it to a virtual machine. To perform a P2V migration the following steps are to be made: 1. Create Acronis Bootable Media.
13 Bare Metal Recovery of ESXi Hosts The Acronis vmProtect 7 Bare Metal Recovery (BMR) of the ESXi host feature provides a totally unique functionality that helps you minimize the recovery time if the ESXi server crashes, fails to start or doesn’t work properly after a patch update.
New ESXi Backup Task, step 1 In the second step (When to Backup), you can schedule the backup. The options of the BMR backup task scheduler are the same as for the VM backup wizard. New ESXi Backup Task, step 2 In the third step (How to Backup), set up the retention rules (p. 33). ESXi backup is created only in the Multiple files backup scheme (legacy mode archive) (p. 8). If necessary, select the Validate after 63 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
backup check box. Click More options... to open the pop-up with additional settings. These options are described in the Backup options (p. 36) section. Note that the following options will be unavailable: Archive Protection, Additional Settings->Deduplication, Additional Settings->CBT backup. New ESXi Backup Task, step 3 To complete the New ESXi Backup Task wizard, you should name the task. Note that [ ] { } ; , . symbols are not allowed for the task name.
Archive with the ESXi Host Backup. When the archive is selected, the latest recovery point is chosen by default. However you can change the default selection. The second step is to Select vmProtect 7 Backup Locations. Select the check box for the backup location and enter its credentials in the pop-up window. The locations are listed. The selected locations are colored grey and the locations that are not selected are colored yellow.
but does not match the original configuration, its name appears in yellow. If the detected datastore is going to be cleaned up for a new datastore creation, its name appears in red. Select the Use for new datastores check box to use the HDD for a new datastore creation. The new datastore will be created on all the disks selected on this step overwriting any existing data on these disks. Therefore, you should carefully verify the selection. The fourth step is to Configure Virtual Network.
14 Replication 14.1 New Replication Task The replication feature provides you with the ability to clone your critical VMs and to be able to start your critical service fast in case of failure. To run the New Replication Task, click Actions>Replication. 14.1.1 What to Replicate In the first step of the New Replication Task wizard you should select the virtual machine(s) you want to replicate.
You have to select at least one VM for replication. After you make your selection, click Next to finish the first step and continue further on. 14.1.2 Where to Replicate In the second step of the New Replication Task wizard you should define the location for VM replicas. Here, you have to first define the ESX(i) Host by selecting one from the drop-down list. Then, select the Resource Pool on the destination ESX(i) Host and destination datastore.
New Replication Task, step 3 "When to replicate" Replication task scheduling is the same as backup task scheduling. Detailed information on scheduling options as well as scheduling examples can be found in "When to back up" section (p. 32). After setting up your replication task schedule, click Next to go to the last step of the wizard. 14.1.4 Replication Options In the fourth step of the New Replication Task wizard you should define your replication task name. Note that [ ] { } ; , .
If the CBT backup option is enabled, you can select to automatically enable the CBT on the original VM. 4) Provisioning mode. Specify the provisioning mode that will be used on the target VM replicas. The modes are thin provisioning/thick provisioning/flat provisioning. The default mode is Thin provisioning. Flat provisioning mode is used for ESXi version 5.0. When you click on the Save button, all your task parameters will be saved and you will see the created task in the Tasks view.
Replicated VM Manager On the Replica Info tab you can see the summary information on the selected replica: ESX(i) Host information. Datastore information. Resource Pool where original VM is stored. Here, you can also perform the basic operations - Failover and Failback from replica. The subsequent sections describe these basic operations in detail. 14.2.2 Failover If a replicated virtual machines crashes, you can start it quickly by running replica VM (Failover).
Failover 14.2.3 Failback VM from Replica The failback operation (restoring a VM from replica) allows you to restore your original VM by using the replica VM. This operation can also be used if you decide to stop the replica VM after the Failover operation is started and save the changes to the original or new location. Click Failback from Replica to start the wizard.
In the second step, Where to failback VM(s) from replica, select the VM(s) location. You can select the original location and choose to overwrite the original VM(s) or generate new names for the restored VM(s). You can also select a new location. Upon selecting the location, click Next. Failback from Replica, step 2 "Where to failback VM(s) from replica" In the third step, How to failback, select the restore task options.
Failback from Replica, step 3 "How to failback" When you click on the Save button, all your task parameters will be saved. In the Tasks view, you will be able to see the failback from replica task which you have created. Clicking on the Save & Run button will save the task and run it right away. In case replica VM is running, the Failback VM from replica task is restoring the original VM without stopping the replica VM. Only when the failback is finished, the replica VM is stopped.
15 Managing Tasks Click Tasks in the View tab of the main menu to open the Tasks page (View->Tasks), where you can see the details and perform the operations with your tasks. Note that the Tasks page allows performing the basic operations with the existing tasks only, and doesn’t let you create new tasks (for creating a new Backup/Restore/Validation task you have to go to the Home tab of the main tool bar). The Tasks page consists of the two main sections: the Tasks list and Task details.
Note that you can only view task logs (see "Viewing task logs" section (p. 76)) and Cancel (see "Stopping a task" section (p. 76)) in the active running task. Other control buttons – Run, Edit and Delete – are disabled. In order to edit or delete the active task, you have to stop it first. 15.2 Cancelling a task You can cancel the selected active task by clicking the Cancel button in the top ribbon menu. You’ll be asked to confirm the operation.
varying information depending on the task type – backup, restore or validation. The sections below describe the tabs contents for the backup task. 15.6.1 Summary tab The Summary tab gives overview details of the current selected task.
ESX Host 1 “All Virtual Machines”: Small_vm ESX Host 2 : AcronisESXAppliance (10.250.40.30) 15.6.3 Target tab The Target tab presents the information on the location of the backed up archive. Here is an example of the possible values for the Target tab contents: Location: \\NAS1\Backups\AcronisESX_Appliance_1557\azz11006765454cv\ Archive: Archive_name Retention rules: Delete Backups older than 30 days / Keep only last 30 backups Managing tasks, Viewing task details, Target tab 15.6.
Validate after backup: On E-mail notifications: On Type of events to send: Errors Managing Tasks, Viewing task details, Options tab 79 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
16 Managing Recovery Points Click the Recovery Points button in the View tab of the main menu to open the Recovery Points page. The Recovery Points view of Acronis vmProtect 7 provides you with an interface to manage the recovery points available for the virtual machines in your environment or the points in time which you can go back to for each virtual machine. Upon the successful execution of each backup task, a new recovery point is created and the recovery points list is updated automatically.
Managing Recovery Points, no locations available 16.1 Adding a backup location Optionally, you can add or remove the backup locations right from the Locations list. Click the Add New link on the top to open the Add Location pop-up. Note that the remove operation will not physically remove the archives from the location, but will just delete the location from the Acronis vmProtect 7 configuration.
you will first see the dialogue for submitting your credentials in the right pane. After successfully logging in, this pane shows the contents of the selected location, i.e. the archives inside this location. An alternative to browsing the location in the tree is entering the path in the corresponding Location field below and clicking the Go button to explore this location.
16.3 Recovery Points list The Recovery Points list in the details section presents the list of all available recovery points which includes the following columns: Recovery Points: the column shows the date and time values corresponding to creation of each recovery point in the list. Archive Name: shows the file name (in the selected backup location) this recovery point belongs to. Size: shows the physical size of the archive (in MB/GB) this recovery point belongs to.
16.5.1 Restore Click the Restore button in the ribbon menu to perform recovery from the selected recovery point by running the restore task wizard. The wizard will be pre-filled with the selected recovery point settings described in the "Restoring a backup of virtual machines" section (p. 42). 16.5.2 Run VM from backup Click the Run VM from backup button in the ribbon menu to perform the Mounting VM operation by activating the Run VM from backup wizard.
17 Other Operations 17.1 Validating backups (Actions -> Validate) Validating backups is an operation that checks the possibility of data recovery from a backup. Note that while successful validation means high probability of successful recovery, it does not check all factors that influence the recovery process. If you back up the operating system, only a test recovery to a new virtual machine can guarantee success of the recovery.
Archive – Validating an archive will check the integrity of all backups (recovery points) inside the specified archive. In general, this procedure will be faster than validating the whole location. However, it is slower than validating a specific recovery points inside this archive. Recovery Point – To ensure that you can revert back to some specific recovery point, you can perform granular validation of just the selected recovery points (they don’t have to reside within one archive).
17.2 Managing mounted VMs (View -> Mounted VMs) Click Mounted VMs in the View tab of the Acronis vmProtect 7 main ribbon menu to open the Mounted VMs page. 17.2.1 Mounted VMs list The Mounted VMs view provides an overview on the virtual machines which are currently mounted or running from backup on an ESX(i) host. Mounted VMs view. At first, when you don’t have any virtual machines running, the Mounted VMs list is empty.
Upon selecting any virtual machine in the list, you can view its details in the right section. The information about the currently selected task is presented with a tab view. There are three tabs – Summary, Source and Target (the default tab is Summary). The first Summary tab presents overview details of the currently selected virtual machine. Here is an example of the possible contents of the Summary tab: Start Time/Date: 20:11 11/05/2011 The Source tab presents the tree of mounted ESX(i) hosts+vApps/VMs.
Logs list. The logs list contains the Date/Time, Task name and Message columns. You can sort the logs list by clicking the column header. For switching between the ascending and descending sort order click the column header one more time. Also, you can filter the log events using several filters located above the list: Event flags (Success, Warning or Error). Date/Time. Task Name. Click the log event in the list to see the detailed message for this log in the right window.
Log Cleanup Rules dialog. Select the check box in order to enable this Log cleanup rules option. Then, define the maximum size of the agent log folder (for example, in Windows XP/2003 Server %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Acronis\AVMP7\MMS\LogEvents). Along with the Maximum log size value, you can set up the amount of log entries you want to keep. The default values for Log cleanup rules settings are: Maximum log size: 50Mb. Log size to keep after cleanup: 95%.
17.3.4 Save logs to file Click the Save to File button in the ribbon bar to save the filtered log entries from the logs list. This operation allows you to get the .zip file with the selected logs and save it to your local PC. You may need to perform Save logs to file operation for troubleshooting the problems you might encounter. You can also save all your Acronis vmProtect 7 log entries history by clicking the Save All to File button. 17.
Managing Licenses page, licenses list. 17.4.1 Adding license You can add licenses by copy-pasting them into the corresponding field or by browsing the file with the licenses you would like to import. Acronis vmProtect 7 supports .txt or .csv file format. Managing Licenses page, Add license dialog. Upon adding new licenses you will get the following message indicating the number of licenses added. 92 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Managing Licenses page, “Successfully added” message. 17.4.2 Adding license failure Adding a license may fail due to the following reasons: The license is already imported. The license is incorrect. There could also be other problems. If you are sure that your license is a correct one but it still fails to be added, please contact Acronis support (p. 102). 17.4.3 Removing license/ESX(i) host Choose one of the ESX(i) hosts/Clusters in the list and click the Remove button.
17.5 Managing ESX(i) hosts (Configure -> ESX(i) hosts) Click ESX(i) hosts in the Configure tab of the Acronis vmProtect 7 main ribbon menu to open the ESX(i) hosts page. 17.5.1 ESX(i) hosts list The Hosts view provides an overview and management interface for the ESX(i) hosts/vCenter registered in the vmProtect 7 Agent settings. The ribbon buttons allow you to add other ESX(i) hosts to the list or remove them. At the first run of Acronis vmProtect 7 there are no registered ESX(i) hosts/clusters.
change the credentials manually. Changing the credentials operation may be required if your company policy requires changing passwords due to security restrictions. For that, select the ESX(i) host/vCenter in the list and click the Edit credentials button on the right. 17.5.2 Adding ESX(i) host In order to add an ESX(i) host/vCenter you have to provide the IP address/hostname and user credentials to access the desired ESX(i) host/vCenter.
17.5.4 Login credentials Changing the credentials operation may be required if your company policy requires changing password due to security restrictions. Select the ESX(i) host/vCenter is the list, click Edit credentials and provide the login/password information for the ESX(i) host/vCenter connection. If you are running Acronis vmProtect 7 in a domain environment, the username has to be specified in a domain\username format.
Managing ESX(i) Hosts page, Remove Host dialog. 17.6 Managing settings 17.6.1 Managing Online Backup Proxy Click Online Backup Proxy in the Configure tab of the Acronis vmProtect 7 main ribbon menu to open the Online Backup Proxy settings page. Online backup proxy settings are effective only for backup to and recovery from the Acronis Online Backup Storage over the Internet. This option defines whether the Acronis agent will connect to the Internet through a proxy server.
Configuring settings, Online backup proxy. To set up proxy server settings: Select the Use a proxy server check box. In Address, specify the network name or IP address of the proxy server, for example: proxy.example.com or 192.168.0.1 In Port, specify the port number of the proxy server, for example: 80 If the proxy server requires authentication, specify the credentials in User name and Password fields. To test the proxy server settings, click Test connection. To apply the settings, click Save.
17.6.2 Managing Agent Password Click the Agent Password button in the Configure tab of the Acronis vmProtect 7 main ribbon menu to change your User password. Here you can change the password for the user of Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent. The username (login) cannot be changed. In order to change the password you have to first provide the old password and then enter and confirm the new password in the corresponding fields.
18 Best Practices In this section we will give a few examples of some operations with Acronis vmProtect 7. After you installed your Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent you have to connect to it with your access credentials. 1. Add ESX(i) host First of all, to be able to perform backup and other operations, you have to specify the IP address/hostname and credentials for your vCenter or individual ESX(i) host where your virtual machines are running.
In order to do that, you have to run the Restore backup task wizard which will guide you through all the steps of the restore process. Click Restore in the Home tab of the main menu. Then go through the wizard. The detailed information can be found in the "Restoring a backup of virtual machines" section (p. 42). On the first step of the wizard select a backed up virtual machine. On the step 2 select the desired new location where you would like to restore your machine.
19 Support 19.1 Technical Support Maintenance and Support Program If you need assistance with your Acronis product, please go to http://www.acronis.com/support/ Product Updates You can download the latest updates for all your registered Acronis software products from our website at any time after logging into your Account (https://www.acronis.com/my) and registering the product. See Registering Acronis Products at the Website (http://kb.acronis.com/content/4834) and Acronis Website User Guide (http://kb.
20 Glossary A Agent (Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent) An application that performs backup and recovery of the virtual machines and enables other management operations on the VMWare ESX(i) infrastructure such as task management and operations with available backups, machines, etc. Acronis vmProtect 7 includes the Agent for backing up virtual machines residing on a VMWare ESX(i) virtualization server which the Agent is connected to. There could be several ESX(i) hosts or a vCenter managed by one Agent.
B Backup The result of a single backup operation (p. 104) as a single recovery point (p. 110) inside archive (p. 104). Physically, it is a file that contains a copy of the backed up data (virtual machine volumes) from specific date and time for a specific virtual machine. Backup files created by Acronis vmProtect 7 have a TIB extension. One backup file may include useful data from multiple machines plus necessary metadata inside. Backup archive (Archive) A set of backups (p.
Backup task (Task) A set of rules that specify how the given virtual machine or a set of virtual machines will be protected. A backup task specifies: What data to back up (i.e. which machines to back up). Where to store the backup archive (the backup archive name and location). The backup scheme, including the backup schedule and [optionally] the retention rules. [Optionally] the archive validation rules. The backup options.
C CBT (Changed Block Tracking) A feature of VMWare ESX which allows to identify which blocks of the virtual disks have changed and to transfer only those blocks during the backup/replication process. For example when using CBT technology, the incremental backup speed can increase up to 20 times. Cleanup Deleting backups (p. 103) from a backup archive (p. 104) in order to get rid of outdated backups or prevent the archive from exceeding the desired size.
Deduplication in Acronis vmProtect 7 is managing data within only one backup archive. For example if the backups are saved into 2 different archives (even if they are in the same location) then there will be no relations between these archives and they may contain duplicated data. Differential backup A differential backup stores changes to the data against the latest full backup (p. 109). You need access to the corresponding full backup to recover the data from a differential backup.
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.
To reduce the access time (a striped volume). To achieve fault tolerance by introducing redundancy (mirrored and RAID-5 volumes). When backing up virtual machines which contain dynamic disks inside, Acronis vmProtect 7 backs up the logical dynamic volumes instead of the entire dynamic disks structure. E Encrypted archive A backup archive (p. 104) encrypted according to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). When the encryption option and a password for the archive are set in the backup options (p.
I Incremental backup A backup (p. 103) that stores changes to the data against the latest backup. You need access to other backups from the same archive (p. 103) to restore data from an incremental backup. L Legacy mode Archive See Backup archive (p. 104). M Machine (Virtual machine) A virtual computer uniquely identified by an operating system installation. Media builder A dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. 105). P P2V Migration of physical machine to virtual environment.
Registered machine A virtual machine managed by Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent. All virtual machines which reside on the registered ESX(i) host or vCenter are automatically registered and can be managed by Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent. Replication A process of replicating the virtual machine to new location (new datastore and/or resource pool). As the result of this process there will be a duplicate virtual machine created which is running independently from the original one.
U Universal Restore (Acronis Universal Restore) The Acronis proprietary technology that helps boot up Windows on dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. The Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset. In Acronis vmProtect 7 the Universal Restore technology is primarily used for P2V (p. 110) migration scenarios. Universal Restore is not available when recovering Linux.
vCenter VMware vCenter Server, formerly VMware VirtualCenter, centrally manages VMware vSphere environments allowing IT administrators dramatically improved control over the virtual environment compared to other management platforms. See more details at http://vmware.com/products/vcenter-server/. In terms of Acronis vmProtect 7 product the “vCenter” item is considered to be a container for the ESX virtual infrastructure including datacenters, ESX hosts, etc.
