Acronis Backup Advanced 11.7 User Guide

Acronis Backup Advanced

Version 11.7

USER GUIDE

APPLIES TO THE FOLLOWING PRODUCTS

Advanced for Windows Server

Advanced for Linux Server Advanced for PC Advanced for VMware / Hyper-V / RHEV / Citrix XenServer / Oracle VM Advanced for Exchange Advanced for SQL Advanced for SharePoint Advanced for Active Directory For Windows Server Essentials

“Acronis” and “Acronis Secure Zone” are registered trademarks of Acronis International GmbH.

"Acronis Compute with Confidence", “Acronis Startup Recovery Manager”, “Acronis Active Restore”, “Acronis Instant Restore” and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis International GmbH.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

VMware and VMware Ready are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.

Windows and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners.

Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.

Distribution of this work or derivative work in any standard (paper) book form for commercial purposes is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder.

DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID.

Third party code may be provided with the Software and/or Service. The license terms for such third-parties are detailed in the license.txt file located in the root installation directory. You can always find the latest up-to-date list of the third party code and the associated license terms used with the Software and/or Service at http://kb.acronis.com/content/7696

Acronis patented technologies

Technologies, used in this product, are covered and protected by one or more U.S. Patent Numbers: 7,047,380; 7,275,139; 7,281,104; 7,318,135; 7,353,355; 7,366,859; 7,475,282; 7,603,533; 7,636,824; 7,650,473; 7,721,138; 7,779,221; 7,831,789; 7,886,120; 7,895,403; 7,934,064; 7,937,612; 7,949,635; 7,953,948; 7,979,690; 8,005,797; 8,051,044; 8,069,320; 8,073,815; 8,074,035; 8,145,607; 8,180,984; 8,225,133; 8,261,035; 8,296,264; 8,312,259; 8,347,137; 8,484,427; 8,645,748; 8,732,121 and patent pending applications.

Table of contents

1 Introducing Acronis Backup ............................................................................................ 10

1.1 What's new in Acronis Backup 11.7 .........................................................................................10

1.2 Acronis Backup components ...................................................................................................11

1.2.1 Agent for Windows ....................................................................................................................................... 12

1.2.2 Agent for Linux .............................................................................................................................................. 12

1.2.3 Agent for VMware ......................................................................................................................................... 13

1.2.4 Agent for Hyper-V ......................................................................................................................................... 13

1.2.5 Agent for SQL ................................................................................................................................................. 13

1.2.6 Agent for Active Directory ............................................................................................................................ 13

1.2.7 Components for centralized management ................................................................................................. 13

1.2.8 Management Console ................................................................................................................................... 15

1.2.9 Bootable Media Builder ................................................................................................................................ 15

1.2.10 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy ........................................................................................................................ 15

1.3 About using the product in the trial mode ..............................................................................15

1.4 Supported file systems ............................................................................................................16

1.5 Technical Support ....................................................................................................................16

2 Getting started .............................................................................................................. 18

2.1 Using the management console ..............................................................................................21

2.1.1 "Navigation" pane ......................................................................................................................................... 22

2.1.2 Main area, views and action pages .............................................................................................................. 24

2.1.3 Console options ............................................................................................................................................. 26

3 Understanding Acronis Backup ....................................................................................... 29

3.1 Owners .....................................................................................................................................29

3.2 Credentials used in backup plans and tasks ............................................................................29

3.3 User privileges on a managed machine ...................................................................................31

3.4 List of Acronis services .............................................................................................................31

3.5 Full, incremental and differential backups ..............................................................................34

3.6 What does a disk or volume backup store? .............................................................................35

3.7 About dynamic and logical volumes ........................................................................................36

3.7.1 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows) .............................................................................. 36

3.7.2 Backup and recovery of logical volumes and MD devices (Linux) ............................................................. 38

3.8 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks .............................................................44

3.9 Support for UEFI-based machines ...........................................................................................45

3.10 Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 ................................................................45

3.11 Compatibility with encryption software ..................................................................................47

3.12 Support for SNMP ....................................................................................................................48

4 Backup .......................................................................................................................... 50

4.1 Back up now .............................................................................................................................50

4.2 Creating a backup plan ............................................................................................................50

4.2.1 Selecting data to back up .............................................................................................................................. 52

4.2.2 Access credentials for source ....................................................................................................................... 54

4.2.3 Source files exclusion .................................................................................................................................... 55

4.2.4 Backup location selection ............................................................................................................................. 56

4.2.5 Access credentials for archive location ........................................................................................................ 59

4.2.6 Backup schemes ............................................................................................................................................ 60

4.2.7 Archive validation .......................................................................................................................................... 69

4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials ............................................................................................................................. 70

4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup) .................................................................................... 70

4.2.10 Sequence of operations in a backup plan ................................................................................................... 72

4.2.11 Why is the program asking for the password? ........................................................................................... 72

4.3 Simplified naming of backup files ............................................................................................72

4.3.1 The [DATE] variable ....................................................................................................................................... 73

4.3.2 Backup splitting and simplified file naming ................................................................................................. 74

4.3.3 Usage examples ............................................................................................................................................. 74

4.4 Scheduling ................................................................................................................................77

4.4.1 Daily schedule ................................................................................................................................................ 79

4.4.2 Weekly schedule ........................................................................................................................................... 81

4.4.3 Monthly schedule .......................................................................................................................................... 83

4.4.4 On Windows Event Log event ...................................................................................................................... 85

4.4.5 Advanced scheduling settings ...................................................................................................................... 87

4.4.6 Conditions ...................................................................................................................................................... 88

4.5 Replication and retention of backups ......................................................................................91

4.5.1 Supported locations ...................................................................................................................................... 93

4.5.2 Setting up replication of backups ................................................................................................................. 94

4.5.3 Setting up retention of backups ................................................................................................................... 94

4.5.4 Retention rules for the Custom scheme ...................................................................................................... 95

4.5.5 Usage examples ............................................................................................................................................. 97

4.6 How to disable backup cataloging .........................................................................................100

4.7 Default backup options ..........................................................................................................100

4.7.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 102

4.7.2 Archive protection ....................................................................................................................................... 104

4.7.3 Backup cataloging ....................................................................................................................................... 104

4.7.4 Backup performance ................................................................................................................................... 105

4.7.5 Backup splitting ........................................................................................................................................... 106

4.7.6 Compression level ....................................................................................................................................... 107

4.7.7 Disaster recovery plan (DRP) ...................................................................................................................... 108

4.7.8 E-mail notifications ...................................................................................................................................... 109

4.7.9 Error handling .............................................................................................................................................. 110

4.7.10 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 111

4.7.11 Fast incremental/differential backup ........................................................................................................ 112

4.7.12 File-level backup snapshot ......................................................................................................................... 112

4.7.13 File-level security ......................................................................................................................................... 113

4.7.14 LVM snapshotting ....................................................................................................................................... 114

4.7.15 Media components ..................................................................................................................................... 115

4.7.16 Mount points ............................................................................................................................................... 115

4.7.17 Multi-volume snapshot ............................................................................................................................... 116

4.7.18 Pre/Post commands .................................................................................................................................... 116

4.7.19 Pre/Post data capture commands ............................................................................................................. 118

4.7.20 Replication/cleanup inactivity time ........................................................................................................... 120

4.7.21 Sector-by-sector backup ............................................................................................................................. 120

4.7.22 Tape management ...................................................................................................................................... 121

4.7.23 Task failure handling ................................................................................................................................... 122

4.7.24 Task start conditions ................................................................................................................................... 123

4.7.25 Volume Shadow Copy Service .................................................................................................................... 124

5 Recovery ..................................................................................................................... 127

5.1 Creating a recovery task ........................................................................................................127

5.1.1 What to recover .......................................................................................................................................... 129

5.1.2 Access credentials for location ................................................................................................................... 133

5.1.3 Access credentials for destination ............................................................................................................. 134

5.1.4 Where to recover ........................................................................................................................................ 134

5.1.5 When to recover ......................................................................................................................................... 142

5.1.6 Task credentials ........................................................................................................................................... 142

5.2 Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa .............................................143

5.2.1 Recovering volumes .................................................................................................................................... 144

5.2.2 Recovering disks .......................................................................................................................................... 145

5.3 Acronis Active Restore ...........................................................................................................147

5.4 Bootability troubleshooting ...................................................................................................148

5.4.1 How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration ............................................................................ 150

5.4.2 About Windows loaders ............................................................................................................................. 151

5.5 Reverting a Windows system to its factory settings ..............................................................151

5.6 Default recovery options .......................................................................................................152

5.6.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 153

5.6.2 E-mail notifications ...................................................................................................................................... 154

5.6.3 Error handling .............................................................................................................................................. 156

5.6.4 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 156

5.6.5 File-level security ......................................................................................................................................... 157

5.6.6 Mount points ............................................................................................................................................... 158

5.6.7 Pre/Post commands .................................................................................................................................... 158

5.6.8 Recovery priority ......................................................................................................................................... 159

5.6.9 Tape management ...................................................................................................................................... 160

6 Conversion to a virtual machine ................................................................................... 161

6.1 Conversion methods ..............................................................................................................161

6.2 Conversion to an automatically created virtual machine ......................................................161

6.2.1 Considerations before conversion ............................................................................................................. 162

6.2.2 Setting up regular conversion to a virtual machine .................................................................................. 163

6.2.3 Recovery to the ''New virtual machine'' destination ................................................................................ 166

6.3 Recovery to a manually created virtual machine ..................................................................169

6.3.1 Considerations before conversion ............................................................................................................. 169

6.3.2 Steps to perform ......................................................................................................................................... 170

7 Storing the backed up data........................................................................................... 171

7.1 Vaults .....................................................................................................................................171

7.1.1 Working with vaults .................................................................................................................................... 172

7.1.2 Centralized vaults ........................................................................................................................................ 173

7.1.3 Personal vaults ............................................................................................................................................ 182

7.1.4 Changing the default cache folder for catalog files .................................................................................. 184

7.2 Acronis Secure Zone ..............................................................................................................185

7.2.1 Creating Acronis Secure Zone .................................................................................................................... 186

7.2.2 Managing Acronis Secure Zone .................................................................................................................. 188

7.3 Removable devices ................................................................................................................189

7.4 Tape devices ..........................................................................................................................190

7.4.1 What is a tape device? ................................................................................................................................ 190

7.4.2 Overview of tape support ........................................................................................................................... 190

7.4.3 Getting started with a tape device ............................................................................................................. 196

7.4.4 Tape management ...................................................................................................................................... 200

7.4.5 Vaults on tapes ............................................................................................................................................ 208

7.4.6 Usage examples ........................................................................................................................................... 208

7.5 Storage nodes ........................................................................................................................212

7.5.1 What is a storage node? ............................................................................................................................. 212

7.5.2 Supported types of storage ........................................................................................................................ 212

7.5.3 Operations performed by storage nodes .................................................................................................. 212

7.5.4 Getting started with a storage node .......................................................................................................... 213

7.5.5 User privileges on a storage node .............................................................................................................. 214

7.5.6 Operations with storage nodes .................................................................................................................. 215

7.5.7 Deduplication .............................................................................................................................................. 225

8 Operations with archives and backups.......................................................................... 232

8.1 Validating archives and backups ............................................................................................232

8.1.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 233

8.1.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 233

8.1.3 Vault selection ............................................................................................................................................. 233

8.1.4 Access credentials for source ..................................................................................................................... 234

8.1.5 When to validate ......................................................................................................................................... 235

8.1.6 Task credentials ........................................................................................................................................... 235

8.2 Exporting archives and backups ............................................................................................236

8.2.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 238

8.2.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 238

8.2.3 Access credentials for source ..................................................................................................................... 239

8.2.4 Destination selection .................................................................................................................................. 239

8.2.5 Access credentials for destination ............................................................................................................. 240

8.3 Mounting an image ................................................................................................................241

8.3.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 242

8.3.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 242

8.3.3 Access credentials ....................................................................................................................................... 242

8.3.4 Volume selection ......................................................................................................................................... 243

8.3.5 Managing mounted images........................................................................................................................ 243

8.4 Operations available in vaults ................................................................................................244

8.4.1 Operations with archives ............................................................................................................................ 244

8.4.2 Operations with backups ............................................................................................................................ 245

8.4.3 Converting a backup to full ......................................................................................................................... 246

8.4.4 Deleting archives and backups ................................................................................................................... 246

9 Bootable media ........................................................................................................... 248

9.1 How to create bootable media ..............................................................................................249

9.1.1 Linux-based bootable media ...................................................................................................................... 249

9.1.2 WinPE-based bootable media .................................................................................................................... 253

9.2 Connecting to a machine booted from media .......................................................................255

9.3 Working under bootable media.............................................................................................256

9.3.1 Setting up a display mode .......................................................................................................................... 257

9.3.2 Configuring iSCSI and NDAS devices .......................................................................................................... 257

9.4 List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media .............................258

9.5 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager .......................................................................................259

9.6 Acronis PXE Server .................................................................................................................260

9.6.1 Acronis PXE Server Installation ................................................................................................................... 260

9.6.2 Setting up a machine to boot from PXE .................................................................................................... 261

9.6.3 Work across subnets ................................................................................................................................... 261

10 Disk management .................................................................................................. 262

10.1 Supported file systems ..........................................................................................................262

10.2 Basic precautions ...................................................................................................................262

10.3 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite ........................................................................................263

10.4 Choosing the operating system for disk management ..........................................................263

10.5 "Disk management" view ......................................................................................................264

10.6 Disk operations ......................................................................................................................264

10.6.1 Disk initialization .......................................................................................................................................... 265

10.6.2 Basic disk cloning ......................................................................................................................................... 265

10.6.3 Disk conversion: MBR to GPT ..................................................................................................................... 267

10.6.4 Disk conversion: GPT to MBR ..................................................................................................................... 268

10.6.5 Disk conversion: basic to dynamic ............................................................................................................. 268

10.6.6 Disk conversion: dynamic to basic ............................................................................................................. 269

10.6.7 Changing disk status .................................................................................................................................... 270

10.7 Volume operations ................................................................................................................270

10.7.1 Creating a volume ....................................................................................................................................... 270

10.7.2 Delete volume ............................................................................................................................................. 274

10.7.3 Set active volume ........................................................................................................................................ 275

10.7.4 Change volume letter ................................................................................................................................. 275

10.7.5 Change volume label ................................................................................................................................... 275

10.7.6 Format volume ............................................................................................................................................ 276

10.8 Pending operations ................................................................................................................277

11 Protecting applications with disk-level backup ........................................................ 278

11.1 Backing up an application server ...........................................................................................278

11.1.1 Locating database files ................................................................................................................................ 280

11.1.2 Truncating transaction logs ........................................................................................................................ 283

11.1.3 Best practices when backing up application servers ................................................................................ 286

11.2 Recovering SQL Server data ...................................................................................................287

11.2.1 Recovering SQL Server databases from a disk backup ............................................................................. 288

11.2.2 Accessing SQL Server databases from a disk backup ............................................................................... 288

11.2.3 Attaching SQL Server databases ................................................................................................................ 289

11.3 Recovering Exchange Server data ..........................................................................................289

11.3.1 Recovering Exchange Server database files from a disk backup ............................................................. 290

11.3.2 Mounting Exchange Server databases ...................................................................................................... 290

11.3.3 Granular recovery of mailboxes ................................................................................................................. 291

11.4 Recovering Active Directory data ..........................................................................................291

11.4.1 Recovering a domain controller (other DCs are available) ...................................................................... 291

11.4.2 Recovering a domain controller (no other DCs are available) ................................................................. 292

11.4.3 Restoring the Active Directory database ................................................................................................... 293

11.4.4 Restoring accidentally deleted information .............................................................................................. 294

11.4.5 Avoiding a USN rollback .............................................................................................................................. 294

11.5 Recovering SharePoint data ..................................................................................................296

11.5.1 Recovering a content database .................................................................................................................. 296

11.5.2 Recovering configuration and service databases ..................................................................................... 298

11.5.3 Recovering individual items........................................................................................................................ 299

12 Protecting Microsoft SQL Server with single-pass backup ........................................ 301

12.1 General information ..............................................................................................................301

12.1.1 Agent for SQL ............................................................................................................................................... 301

12.1.2 Supported operating systems .................................................................................................................... 302

12.1.3 Supported Microsoft SQL Server versions ................................................................................................. 302

12.1.4 Permissions for SQL Server backup and recovery .................................................................................... 302

12.1.5 What else you need to know about single-pass backup .......................................................................... 303

12.2 Installation of Agent for SQL ..................................................................................................304

12.3 Backing up Microsoft SQL server ...........................................................................................304

12.3.1 Single-pass backup settings ........................................................................................................................ 305

12.4 Recovering Microsoft SQL Server data ..................................................................................306

12.4.1 Recovering SQL databases to instances .................................................................................................... 306

12.4.2 Extracting the database files to folders ..................................................................................................... 308

12.5 Mounting SQL Server databases from a single-pass backup .................................................309

12.5.1 Unmounting mounted SQL Server databases ........................................................................................... 309

12.6 Protecting clustered SQL Server instances and AAG .............................................................310

13 Protecting Microsoft Active Directory with single-pass backup ................................ 312

13.1 Agent for Active Directory .....................................................................................................312

13.2 Supported operating systems ................................................................................................312

13.3 Installation of Agent for Active Directory ..............................................................................312

13.4 Backing up Microsoft Active Directory ..................................................................................313

13.5 Recovering Microsoft Active Directory ..................................................................................313

13.5.1 Re-promoting the domain controller ........................................................................................................ 314

13.5.2 Recovering the Active Directory data from a single-pass backup ........................................................... 314

14 Administering a managed machine ......................................................................... 316

14.1 Backup plans and tasks ..........................................................................................................316

14.1.1 Actions on backup plans and tasks ............................................................................................................ 316

14.1.2 States and statuses of backup plans and tasks ......................................................................................... 318

14.1.3 Export and import of backup plans ............................................................................................................ 320

14.1.4 Deploying backup plans as files .................................................................................................................. 324

14.1.5 Backup plan details ..................................................................................................................................... 325

14.1.6 Task/activity details ..................................................................................................................................... 326

14.2 Log ..........................................................................................................................................326

14.2.1 Actions on log entries.................................................................................................................................. 327

14.2.2 Log entry details .......................................................................................................................................... 327

14.3 Alerts ......................................................................................................................................328

14.4 Changing a license .................................................................................................................329

14.5 Collecting system information ...............................................................................................330

14.6 Adjusting machine options ....................................................................................................330

14.6.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 330

14.6.2 Acronis Customer Experience Program ..................................................................................................... 331

14.6.3 Alerts ............................................................................................................................................................ 331

14.6.4 E-mail settings ............................................................................................................................................. 332

14.6.5 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 333

14.6.6 Log cleanup rules ......................................................................................................................................... 335

14.6.7 Machine management................................................................................................................................ 336

14.6.8 Cloud backup proxy ..................................................................................................................................... 336

15 Centralized management ....................................................................................... 338

15.1 Understanding centralized management ..............................................................................338

15.1.1 Basic concepts ............................................................................................................................................. 338

15.1.2 Privileges for centralized management ..................................................................................................... 339

15.1.3 Communication between Acronis Backup components .......................................................................... 343

15.2 Back up now ...........................................................................................................................347

15.3 Creating a centralized backup plan ........................................................................................348

15.3.1 Selecting data to back up ............................................................................................................................ 348

15.3.2 Selection rules for files and folders ............................................................................................................ 350

15.3.3 Selection rules for volumes ........................................................................................................................ 352

15.3.4 Backup location selection ........................................................................................................................... 355

15.3.5 Centralized backup plan's credentials ....................................................................................................... 356

15.3.6 What if a machine does not have data meeting the selection rules ....................................................... 357

15.4 Administering Acronis Backup Management Server .............................................................357

15.4.1 Dashboard .................................................................................................................................................... 357

15.4.2 Machines with agents ................................................................................................................................. 359

15.4.3 Virtual machines .......................................................................................................................................... 371

15.4.4 Backup plans and tasks ............................................................................................................................... 372

15.4.5 Storage nodes .............................................................................................................................................. 375

15.4.6 Licenses ........................................................................................................................................................ 375

15.4.7 Alerts ............................................................................................................................................................ 377

15.4.8 Reporting ..................................................................................................................................................... 378

15.4.9 Log ................................................................................................................................................................ 383

15.4.10 Management server options ...................................................................................................................... 385

15.5 Configuring Acronis Backup components ..............................................................................391

15.5.1 Parameters set by using Acronis Administrative Template ..................................................................... 391

15.5.2 Parameters set by using Windows registry ............................................................................................... 406

16 Cloud backup ......................................................................................................... 407

16.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup ...................................................................................407

16.1.1 What is Acronis Cloud Backup? .................................................................................................................. 407

16.1.2 What data can I back up and recover? ...................................................................................................... 407

16.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage? ........................................................................ 407

16.1.4 How do I secure my data? .......................................................................................................................... 408

16.1.5 How do I back up virtual machines to the cloud storage? ....................................................................... 408

16.1.6 Supported operating systems and virtualization products ...................................................................... 409

16.1.7 Backup and recovery FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 410

16.1.8 Initial Seeding FAQ ...................................................................................................................................... 411

16.1.9 Large Scale Recovery FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 417

16.1.10 Subscription lifecycle FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 418

16.2 Where do I start? ...................................................................................................................421

16.3 Choosing a subscription .........................................................................................................421

16.4 Configuring proxy settings .....................................................................................................422

16.5 Checking the firewall settings ................................................................................................422

16.6 Activating cloud backup subscriptions ..................................................................................423

16.6.1 Activating subscriptions in Acronis Backup Advanced ............................................................................. 423

16.6.2 Reassigning an activated subscription ....................................................................................................... 423

16.7 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser ..........................................425

16.8 Limitations of the cloud storage ............................................................................................426

16.9 Terminology reference ..........................................................................................................426

17 Glossary ................................................................................................................. 429

1 Introducing Acronis Backup

1.1 What's new in Acronis Backup 11.7

Installation

 Microsoft SQL Server 2014 can be used to store the databases of Acronis Backup Management

Server.

Licensing

 Support for the subscription licensing model. For more information, please refer to the Acronis

Backup Licensing FAQ.

Deduplication

 128 MB of RAM per 1 TB of unique data are required, instead of 3 GB.  No need to allocate the deduplication database on expensive SSD disks. Regular HDD disks can be

used without performance degradation.

 Recovery from a deduplicated backup is now 40 percent faster.  The backup speed does not reduce as the deduplication database size increases.  The Storage Node startup time on large data sets is reduced to 1-3 minutes.  Validating deduplicated backups and compacting the data store are now 2.5 times faster.

These improvements are effective when v11.7 agents back up to deduplicating vaults created on v11.7 storage nodes. When a new agent backs up to an old vault or an old agent backs up to a new vault, the old deduplication algorithm is used. To apply the new deduplication algorithm to old backups, you need to import the backups into a newly created vault.

Tape support

 Configurable block size (p. 192) for reading and writing to tapes. The default value is taken from

the tape device driver.

 Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and Hardware Compatibility Tool are introduced. Hardware

Compatibility List contains tape devices with confirmed support by Acronis Backup. To learn if your specific device is supported, use the Hardware Compatibility Tool.

 Full support for the LTO-7 technology. See the HCL for the exact names of the tested devices.

Centralized management

 It is possible to specify a custom backup location (p. 355) for each machine that is included in a

centralized backup plan.

 In addition to exporting licenses from the management server to an .xml file, you can export

them to a .txt file (p. 376).

Microsoft Exchange Server support

 Agent for Exchange can back up and recover Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 databases. Backup

and recovery of Exchange 2016 mailboxes (including mailbox recovery from database backups) are not supported.

Supported operating systems

 Support for Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4.  Support for Linux kernel version 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4.

 Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2, Oracle Linux 7.2, ClearOS, Debian 8.2, Ubuntu 15.10,

and Fedora 23.

 Support for Windows 2000 in Acronis Backup Advanced is limited. Components of v11.7 cannot

be installed in this operating system. To back up machines that run Windows 2000, use the agents of v11.5. The v11.5 agents are compatible with the management components of v11.7.

Acronis Backup for Windows Server and Acronis Backup for PC cannot be installed in Windows

2000. To back up machines that run this operating system, use v11.5.

Acronis Backup v11.5 supports Windows 2000 SP4.

Other

 It is possible to use compression in combination with third-party hardware or software

deduplication (for disk-level backups only). This effectively reduces the storage space occupied by the backups.

 More functionality is available via the command-line interface:

 Generating management server reports  Deploying Agent for VMware (Virtual Appliance)

 Agent for VMware does not back up independent disks and Raw Device Mapping (RDM) disks in

physical compatibility mode, regardless of the state of a virtual machine. This limitation is introduced for better predictability of the product behavior.

 32-bit Linux-based bootable media was optimized in size by removing the rarely used acrocmd

utility.

 When a disk backup is mounted in the read/write mode, the respective incremental backup is

not created immediately, but after the disk backup is unmounted, instead. While the backup is mounted, the changes are saved in the %Temp% folder.

1.2 Acronis Backup components

Acronis Backup includes the following main types of components.

Components for a managed machine (agents)

These are applications that perform data backup, recovery and other operations on the machines managed with Acronis Backup. Agents require a license to perform operations on each managed machine.

Components for centralized management

These components, included in Acronis Backup Advanced, provide centralized management capability. Usage of these components is not licensed.

Console

The console provides Graphical User Interface to other Acronis Backup components. Usage of the console is not licensed.

Bootable media builder

With bootable media builder, you can create bootable media in order to use the agents and other rescue utilities in a rescue environment.

Bootable Media Builder does not require a license if installed together with an agent. To use a media builder on a machine without an agent, you need to enter the license key or have at least one license on the license server. The license may be either available or assigned.

1.2.1 Agent for Windows

This agent enables disk-level and file-level data protection under Windows.

Disk backup

Disk-level data protection is based on backing up either a disk or a volume file system as a whole, along with all the information necessary for the operating system to boot; or all the disk sectors using the sector-by-sector approach (raw mode). A backup that contains a copy of a disk or a volume in a packaged form is called a disk (volume) backup or a disk (volume) image. It is possible to recover disks or volumes as a whole from such backup, as well as individual folders or files.

File backup

File-level data protection is based on backing up files and folders residing on the machine where the agent is installed or on a network share. Files can be recovered to their original location or to another place. It is possible to recover all files and folders that were backed up or select which of them to recover.

Conversion to a virtual machine

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, Citrix XenServer Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) or Red Hat Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM). Files of the fully configured and operational machine will be placed in the folder you select. You can start the machine using the respective virtualization software or prepare the machine files for further usage.

Disk management

Agent for Windows includes Acronis Disk Director Lite - a handy disk management utility. Disk management operations, such as cloning disks; converting disks; creating, formatting and deleting volumes; changing a disk partitioning style between MBR and GPT or changing a disk label, can be performed either in the operating system or using bootable media.

1.2.2 Agent for Linux

This agent enables disk-level and file-level data protection under Linux.

Disk backup

Disk-level data protection is based on backing up either a disk or a volume file system as a whole, along with all information necessary for the operating system to boot; or all the disk sectors using the sector-by-sector approach (raw mode.) A backup that contains a copy of a disk or a volume in a packaged form is called a disk (volume) backup or a disk (volume) image. It is possible to recover disks or volumes as a whole from such backup, as well as individual folders or files.

File backup

File-level data protection is based on backing up files and directories residing on the machine where the agent is installed or on a network share accessed using the smb or nfs protocol. Files can be recovered to their original location or to another place. It is possible to recover all files and directories that were backed up or select which of them to recover.

Conversion to a virtual machine

Agent for Linux performs the conversion by recovering a disk backup to a new virtual machine of any of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, Citrix XenServer Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) or Red Hat Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM). Files of the fully configured and operational machine will be placed in the directory you select. You can start the machine using the respective virtualization software or prepare the machine files for further usage.

1.2.3 Agent for VMware

Acronis Backup Agent for VMware enables backup and recovery of ESX(i) virtual machines without installing agents into the guest systems. This backup method is known as agent-less backup or backup at a hypervisor level. The agent can be imported or deployed to a VMware ESX(i) host as a virtual appliance.

1.2.4 Agent for Hyper-V

Acronis Backup Agent for Hyper-V protects virtual machines residing on a Hyper-V virtualization server. The agent allows for backing up virtual machines from the host without having to install agents on each virtual machine.

1.2.5 Agent for SQL

Acronis Backup Agent for SQL enables you to create single-pass disk and application backups and to recover Microsoft SQL databases from them. The databases can be recovered directly to a running SQL Server instance or extracted to a folder on a file system.

The agent uses Microsoft VSS to ensure the consistency of the backed-up databases. After a successful backup, the agent can truncate the SQL Server transaction log.

The agent is included in the setup program of Acronis Backup Advanced.

The agent is installed with Agent for Windows (p. 12) or on a machine where Agent for Windows is already installed.

1.2.6 Agent for Active Directory

Acronis Backup Agent for Active Directory enables you to create single-pass disk and application backups and to extract Microsoft Active Directory data from them to a folder on a file system.

The agent uses Microsoft VSS to ensure the consistency of the backed-up data.

The agent is included in the setup program of Acronis Backup Advanced.

The agent is installed with Agent for Windows (p. 12) or on a machine where Agent for Windows is already installed.

1.2.7 Components for centralized management

This section lists the components that are included in Acronis Backup Advanced and provide the centralized management capability. Besides these components, Acronis Backup Agents have to be installed on all machines that need data protection.

1.2.7.1 Management Server

Acronis Backup Management Server is the central server that drives data protection within the enterprise network. The management server provides the administrator with:

 a single entry point to the Acronis Backup infrastructure  an easy way to protect data on numerous machines (p. 438) using centralized backup plans and

grouping

 integration with VMware vCenter to discover virtual machines for protection  enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality  built-in license management  the ability to create centralized vaults (p. 432) for storing enterprise backup archives (p. 430)  the ability to manage storage nodes (p. 440)  the centralized catalog (p. 433) of all data stored on the storage nodes.

If there are multiple management servers on the network, they operate independently, manage different machines and use different centralized vaults for storing archives.

1.2.7.2 Storage Node

Acronis Backup Storage Node is a server designed to optimize the usage of various resources (such as the corporate storage capacity, the network bandwidth, or the managed machines' CPU load) which are required to protect the enterprise data. This goal is achieved by organizing and managing the locations that serve as dedicated storages of the enterprise backup archives (managed vaults).

The most important function of a storage node is deduplication (p. 225) of backups stored in its vaults. This means that identical data will be backed up to this vault only once. This minimizes the network usage during backup and storage space taken by the archives.

The storage nodes enable creating highly scalable and flexible, in terms of the hardware support, storage infrastructure. Up to 50 storage nodes can be set up, each being able to manage up to 20 vaults.

The administrator controls the storage nodes centrally from the Acronis Backup Management Server (p. 14). Direct console connection to a storage node is not possible.

1.2.7.3 Components for Remote Installation

These are Acronis component installation packages used by the management console (p. 15) for installation on remote machines.

Components for Remote Installation need to be installed on the machine with the console or with the management server (p. 14). During installation, the setup program saves the components in the default location and saves this location path in the registry. As a result, the components are readily available in the Remote Installation Wizard as "registered components".

1.2.7.4 PXE Server

Acronis PXE Server allows for booting machines into Acronis bootable components through the network.

The network booting:

 Eliminates the need to have a technician onsite to install the bootable media (p. 431) into the

system that has to be booted

 During group operations, reduces the time required for booting multiple machines as compared

to using physical bootable media.

1.2.7.5 License Server

The server enables you to manage licenses of Acronis products and install the components that require licenses.

You can install a license server as a separate component or use the one integrated into the management server. The functionality of the license server (p. 375) is similar for both types of installation.

1.2.8 Management Console

Acronis Backup Management Console is an administrative tool for access to Acronis Backup agents and, in Acronis Backup Advanced, to Acronis Backup Management Server.

The console has two distributions: for installation on Windows and installation on Linux. While both distributions enable connection to any Acronis Backup agent and Acronis Backup Management Server, we recommend that you use the console for Windows if you have a choice between the two. The console that installs on Linux has limited functionality:

 Remote installation of Acronis Backup components is not available.  The Active Directory-related features, such as browsing the AD, are not available.

1.2.9 Bootable Media Builder

Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. 431). There are two media builder distributions: for installation in Windows and installation in Linux.

The media builder that installs on Windows can create bootable media based on either Windows Preinstallation Environment, or Linux kernel. The media builder that installs on Linux creates bootable media based on Linux kernel.

1.2.10 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy

Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy enables Acronis Backup Management Server to wake up for backup machines located in another subnet. Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy installs on any server in the subnet where the machines to be backed up are located.

1.3 About using the product in the trial mode

Before buying an Acronis Backup license, you may want to try the software. This can be done without a license key.

To install the product in the trial mode, run the setup program locally or use the remote installation functionality. Unattended installation and other ways of installation are not supported.

Limitations of the trial mode

When working under bootable media:

 The disk management functionality is not available. You can try the user interface, but there is no

option to commit the changes.

 The recovery functionality is available, but the backup functionality is not. To try the backup

functionality, install the software in the operating system.

Upgrading to the full mode

After the trial period expires, the product GUI displays a notification requesting you to specify or obtain a license key.

To specify a license key, click Help > Change License (p. 329). Specifying the key by running the setup program is not possible.

If you have activated a trial or purchased a subscription for the cloud backup service (p. 407), cloud backup will be available until the subscription period expires, regardless of whether you specify a license key.

1.4 Supported file systems

Acronis Backup can back up and recover the following file systems with the following limitations:

 FAT16/32  NTFS  ReFS - volume recovery without the volume resize capability. Supported in Windows Server

2012/2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016 (p. 45) only.

 Ext2/Ext3/Ext4  ReiserFS3 - particular files cannot be recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup

Storage Node

 ReiserFS4 - volume recovery without the volume resize capability; particular files cannot be

recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup Storage Node

 XFS - volume recovery without the volume resize capability; particular files cannot be recovered

from disk backups located on Acronis Backup Storage Node

 JFS - particular files cannot be recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup Storage

Node

 Linux SWAP

Acronis Backup can back up and recover corrupted or non-supported file systems using the sector-by-sector approach.

1.5 Technical Support

Maintenance and Support Program

If you need assistance with your Acronis product, please go to http://www.acronis.com/en-us/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 (http://www.acronis.com/en-us/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.acronis.com/content/8128).

2 Getting started

Step 1. Installation

These brief installation instructions enable you to start using the product quickly. For the complete description of installation methods and procedures, please refer to the Installation documentation.

Before installation, make sure that:

 Your hardware meets the system requirements.  You have license keys for the product of your choice.  You have the setup program. You can download it from the Acronis website.

Procedure

When following the instructions below, you can select more than one machine role.

1. Install the management server to be able to manage multiple machines.

a. Run the setup program and click Install Acronis Backup. b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Centrally monitor and

configure the backing up of physical and virtual machines check box.

c. Type your license keys or import them from a text file. d. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Details. The console will also be installed so that you can control the management server locally.

2. Install an agent on each machine you want to back up.

a. Run the setup program and click Install Acronis Backup. b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Back up this machine's data

check box.

c. Select I purchased a license or a subscription. d. Select the Use the following license server check box, and then enter the name or IP address

of the previously installed management server.

e. When prompted, register the machine on the management server. f. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Details. The console will also be installed on each machine.

3. [Optional] Install the storage node on the machine that will serve as a storage for backups of

other machines.

a. Run the setup program and click Install Acronis Backup. b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Store the backups of other

machines on this machine check box.

c. When prompted, register the storage node on the management server. d. Follow the on-screen instructions.

4. [Optional] Install the console on a machine from which you prefer to operate, if this machine is

not the management server and does not have an agent.

a. Run the setup program and click Install Acronis Backup. b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Connect to remote machines

check box.

c. Follow the on-screen instructions.

 In Windows

Start the console by selecting Acronis Backup from the Start menu.

 In Linux

/usr/sbin/acronis_console

1. Select Tools > Create bootable media in the menu.

2. Click Next in the welcome screen. Keep clicking Next until the list of components appears.

3. Proceed as described in "Linux-based bootable media" (p. 249).

Manage this machine

If the agent is installed on the same machine as the console.

Manage a remote machine

If the agent is installed on a remote machine.

Connect to a management server

To manage multiple physical and virtual machines.

Step 2. Running

Run Acronis Backup Management Console.

For understanding of the GUI elements see "Using the management console" (p. 21).

Step 3. Bootable media

To be able to recover an operating system that fails to start, or deploy it on bare metal, create bootable media.

Step 4. Connection

Connect the console to the managed machine, or to the management server.

On the first page of the console, click one of the following:

Step 5. Backup

Back up now (p. 50)

Click Back up now to do a one-time backup in a few simple steps. The backup process will start immediately after you perform the required steps.

To save your machine to a file: Under Where to back up, click Location, and select the location where the backup will be

saved. Click OK to confirm your selection. Click OK at the bottom of the window to start the backup.

Tip. Using the bootable media, you can do off-line ("cold") backups in the same way as in the operating system.

Create backup plan (p. 50)

Create a backup plan if you need a long-term backup strategy including backup schemes, schedules and conditions, timely deleting of backups, or moving them to different locations.

Notes for users of Acronis Backup Advanced: When creating a backup plan on the management server, you can:

- Select entire machines or groups of machines.

- Select different data items on each machine.

- Use selection rules to select the same data items on different machines.

This way, you will create a centralized backup plan to be deployed to the selected machines. For more information, please refer to "Creating a centralized backup plan" (p. 348).

Step 6. Recovery

Recover (p. 127)

To recover data, you need to select the backed-up data and the destination the data will be recovered to. As a result, a recovery task will be created.

Recovery of a disk or volume over a volume locked by the operating system requires a reboot. After the recovery is completed, the recovered operating system goes online automatically.

If the machine fails to boot or if you need to recover a system to bare metal, boot the machine using the bootable media and configure the recovery operation in the same way as the recovery task.

Notes for users of Acronis Backup Advanced: You cannot control operations under bootable media by using the management server. But you can disconnect the console from the server and connect it to the machine booted from the media.

Step 7. Management

The Navigation pane (at the left part of the console) enables you to navigate across the product views that are used for different administering purposes.

 Use the Backup plans and tasks view to manage backup plans and tasks: run, edit, stop and

delete plans and tasks, view their states and progress.

 Use the Alerts view to rapidly identify and solve the problems.  Use the Log view to browse the operations log.  The location where you store backup archives is called a vault (p. 441). Navigate to the

Vaults (p. 171) view to obtain information about your vaults. Navigate further to the specific vault to view backups and their contents. You can also select the data to recover and perform manual operations with backups (mounting, validating, deleting).

Administering the management server

 Use the Machines with agents view to manage machines registered on the management

server. To effectively work with a large number of machines, organize them into groups (p. 359).

 Use the Virtual machines (p. 371) view to manage supported virtualization environments.

 If you opt for storing all backup archives in a single or a few networked locations, create

Name

Description

Navigation pane

Contains the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar. Lets you navigate to the different views. For details, see Navigation pane (p. 22).

Main area

Here you configure and monitor backup, recovery and other operations. The main area displays views and action pages (p. 24) depending on the items selected in the menu or Navigation tree.

centralized vaults in these locations. After a vault is created, you can view and administer its content by selecting Vaults > Centralized > 'Vault name' in the Navigation pane.

The shortcut to the vault will be deployed to all the registered machines. The vault can be specified as a backup destination in any backup plan created by you or by the registered machines' users.

 Create centralized managed vaults on the storage node (p. 213) to be able to:

 Search the Data catalog (p. 131) for the required version of backed up data in all of the

managed vaults.

 Back up multiple machines to tape devices (p. 190) attached to the storage node.  Use deduplication (p. 225) to minimize storage space taken by the data and reduce network

load during backup.

2.1 Using the management console

As soon as the console connects to a managed machine (p. 438) or to a management server (p. 439), the respective items appear across the console's workspace (in the menu, in the main area with the Welcome screen, or in the Navigation pane) enabling you to perform agent-specific or server-specific operations.

Acronis Backup Management Console - Welcome screen

Key elements of the console workspace

Menu bar

Appears across the top of the program window. Lets you perform most of operations available in Acronis Backup. The menu items change dynamically depending on the item selected in the Navigation tree and the main area.

2.1.1 "Navigation" pane

The navigation pane includes the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar.

Navigation tree

The Navigation tree enables you to navigate across the program views. Views depend on whether the console is connected to a managed machine or to the management server. In both cases, you can choose between the Full list or the Short list of views. The Short list contains the most frequently used views from the Full list.

Views for a managed machine

When the console is connected to a managed machine, the following views are available in the navigation tree.

The Short list displays

 [Machine name]. This is the root of the tree also called a Welcome screen. It displays the

name of the machine the console is currently connected to. Use this view for quick access to the main operations, available on the managed machine.

 Backup plans and tasks. Use this view to manage backup plans and tasks on the

managed machine: run, edit, stop and delete plans and tasks, view their progress.

 Vaults. Use this view to manage personal vaults and archives stored in there, add new

vaults, rename and delete the existing ones, validate vaults, explore backup content, perform operations on archives and backups, etc. If the machine is registered on the management server, you can browse the centralized vaults and perform operations on the archives for which you have the appropriate permissions.

 Alerts. Use this view to examine warning messages for the managed machine.

The Full list additionally displays

 Tape management. Use this view to perform operations with tapes.  Disk management. Use this view to perform operations on the machine's hard disk

drives.

 Log. Use this view to examine information on operations performed by the program on

the managed machine.

 Mounted images. This node is displayed if at least one volume is mounted. Use this view

to manage mounted images.

Views for a management server

When the console is connected to a management server, the following views are available in the navigation tree.

The Short list displays

 [Management server name]. This is the root of the tree also called a Welcome screen.

Displays the name of the management server the console is currently connected to. Use this view for quick access to the main operations, available on the management server.

 Dashboard. Use this view to estimate at a glance whether the data is successfully

protected on the machines registered on the management server.

 Machines with agents. Use this view to manage machines registered on the

management server.

 Backup plans and tasks. Use this view to manage centralized backup plans and tasks on

the management server.

 Vaults. Use this view to manage centralized vaults and archives stored in there: create

new centralized vaults, rename and delete the existing ones, assign vault users and administrators, perform operations on archives and backups.

 Alerts. Use this view to examine warning messages for the management server and all

the registered machines.

The Full list additionally displays

 Data catalog. Use this view for quick search of the required version of backed up data in

the centralized managed vaults.

 Virtual machines. Use this view to manage supported virtualization environments.  Storage nodes. Use this view to manage storage nodes. Add a storage node to be able to

create centralized vaults that will be managed by the node.

 Tape management. Use this view to perform operations with tapes.  Licenses. Use this view manage licenses.  Reports. Use this view to generate reports.

 Log. Use this view to examine the history of centralized management operations, as well

as the history of operations logged in the local logs of the registered machines and the storage nodes.

Shortcuts bar

The Shortcuts bar appears under the navigation tree. It offers you an easy and convenient way of connection to the machines in demand by adding them as shortcuts.

To add a shortcut to a machine

1. Connect the console to a managed machine.

2. In the navigation tree, right-click the machine's name (a root element of the navigation tree), and

then select Create shortcut.

If the console and agent are installed on the same machine, the shortcut to this machine will be added to the shortcuts bar automatically as Local machine [Machine name].

Operations with pane

How to expand/minimize panes

By default, the Navigation pane appears expanded. You might need to minimize the pane in order to free some additional workspace. To do this, click the chevron ( ). The pane will be minimized and the chevron changes its direction ( ). Click the chevron once again to expand the pane.

How to change the panes' borders

1. Point to the pane's border.

2. When the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the pointer to move the border.

2.1.2 Main area, views and action pages

The main area is a basic place where you work with the console. Here you create, edit and manage backup plans, recovery tasks and perform other operations. The main area displays different views and action pages according the items you select in the menu, or Navigation tree.

2.1.2.1 Views

A view appears on the main area when clicking any item in the Navigation tree in the Navigation pane (p. 22).

"Log" view

Common way of working with views

Generally, every view contains a table of items, a table toolbar with buttons, and the Information panel.

 Use filtering and sorting (p. 24) 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. To expand the panel, click

the arrow mark ( ).

 Perform actions on the selected item. There are several ways of performing the same action on

selected items:

 By clicking the buttons on the table toolbar.  By selecting the items in the Actions menu.  By right-clicking the item and selecting the operation in the context menu.

Sorting, filtering and configuring table items

The following is a guideline to sort, filter and configure table items in any view.

Do the following

Sort items by any column

Click a column's header to sort items in ascending order.

Click it once again to sort items in descending order.

Filter items by predefined column value

In a field below the corresponding column's header, select the required value from the drop-down list.

Filter items by entered value

In a field below the corresponding column's header, type a value.

As a result you will see the list of values, fully or just partly coincide with the entered value.

Filter items by predefined parameters

Click the appropriate buttons above the table.

For example, in the Log view, you can filter the log entries by event type (Error, Warning, Information) or by the period when the event occurred (For last 24 hours, For last week, For last three months, or For custom period).

Show or hide table columns

By default, any table has a fixed number of columns that are shown, others are hidden. If required, you can hide the shown columns and show the hidden ones.

To show or hide columns

1. Right-click any column header to open the context menu.

2. Click the items you want to be displayed/hidden.

2.1.2.2 Action pages

An action page appears in the main area when clicking any action item in the Actions menu. It contains steps you need to perform in order to create and launch any task or a backup plan.

Action page - Create backup plan

Using controls and specifying settings

Use active controls to specify a backup plan or recovery task settings and parameters. By default, such fields as credentials, options, comments, and some others are hidden. Most settings are configured by clicking the respective Show… links. Others are selected from the drop-down list, or typed manually in the page's fields.

Action page - Controls

Acronis Backup remembers the changes you made on the action pages. For example, if you started to create a backup plan, and then for any reason switched to another view without accomplishing the plan creation, you can click the Back navigation button on the menu. Or, if you have passed several steps forward, click the Down arrow and select the page where you started the plan creation from the list. Thus, you can perform the remaining steps and accomplish the backup plan creation.

Navigation buttons

2.1.3 Console options

The console options define the way information is represented in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup.

To access the console options, select Options > Console options from the top menu.

2.1.3.1 Alert display options

The option specifies which alerts to show and which to hide in the Alerts view.

The preset is: All alerts.

To show (hide) alerts, select (clear) the check boxes next to the respective alert types.

2.1.3.2 Credentials cache

The option specifies whether to store the credentials entered while using the management console.

The preset is: Enabled.

If the option is enabled, the credentials for various locations that you enter during a console session are saved for use during later sessions. In Windows, the credentials are stored in the Windows Credential Manager. In Linux, the credentials are stored in a special encrypted file.

If the option is disabled, the credentials are stored only until the console is closed.

To clear the credentials cache for the current user account, click the Clear credentials cache button.

2.1.3.3 Fonts

The option defines the fonts to be used in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup. The Menu font setting affects the drop-down and context menus. The Application font setting affects all other

GUI elements.

The preset is: System Default font for both the menus and the application interface items.

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 Browse to the right.

2.1.3.4 Pop-up messages

These options are effective when the console is connected to a managed machine or to the management server.

The “Interaction Required” dialog

This option defines whether to display a pop-up window when one or more activities require user interaction. This window enables you to specify your decision, such as to confirm reboot or to retry after freeing-up the disk space, on all the activities in the same place. Until at least one activity requires interaction, you can open this window at any time from the managed machine's welcome screen. Alternatively, you can review the task execution states in the Backup plans and tasks view and specify your decision on each task in the information panel.

The preset is: Enabled.

To make a selection, select or clear the The “Interaction Required” dialog check box.

The “Feedback Confirmation” dialog

This option defines whether to display a pop-up window with the information about your system after an error occurs. You can send this information to Acronis technical support.

The preset is: Enabled.

To make a selection, select or clear the The “Feedback Confirmation” dialog check box.

Notify if bootable media is not created

This option defines whether to display a pop-up window when the management console is launched on a machine and no bootable media has been created on that machine.

The preset is: Enabled.

To make a selection, select or clear the Notify if bootable media is not created check box.

Notify when the management console is connected to a component of a different version

This option defines whether to display a pop-up window when a console is connected to an agent/management server and their versions differ.

The preset is: Enabled.

To make a selection, select or clear the Notify when the management console is connected to a

component of a different version check box.

Request description when ejecting a tape

This option defines whether to display a prompt for you to describe a tape when you eject (p. 204) it from a tape device by using Acronis Backup. For example, you may describe the physical location where the tape will be kept (recommended). If a tape is ejected automatically according to the Eject tapes after successful backups option (p. 121), no such prompt is displayed.

The preset is: Enabled.

To make a selection, select or clear the Request description when ejecting a tape check box.

Note Tape devices can only be used with Acronis Backup Advanced.

About the task execution results

This option is effective only when the console is connected to a managed machine.

The option defines whether to display the pop-up messages about task run results: successful completion, failure or success with warnings. When the displaying of pop-up messages is disabled, you can review the task execution states and results in the Backup plans and tasks view.

The preset is: Enabled for all results.

To make a setting for each result (successful completion, failure or success with warnings) individually, select or clear the respective check box.

2.1.3.5 Startup page

This option defines whether to show the Welcome screen or the Dashboard view on the console connection to the management server.

The preset is: the Welcome screen.

To make a selection, select or clear the check box for Show the "Dashboard" view.

This option can also be set on the Welcome screen. If you select the check box for At startup, show the Dashboard instead of the current view on the Welcome screen, the setting mentioned above will be updated accordingly.

3 Understanding Acronis Backup

This section attempts to give its readers a clear understanding of the product so that they can use the product in various circumstances without step-by-step instructions.

3.1 Owners

This section explains the concept of a backup plan (task) owner and an archive owner.

Plan (task) owner

A local backup plan owner is the user who created or last modified the plan.

A centralized backup plan owner is the management server administrator who created or last modified the centralized backup plan.

Tasks, belonging to a backup plan, either local or centralized, are owned by the backup plan owner.

Tasks that do not belong to a backup plan, such as the recovery task, are owned by the user who has created or last modified the task.

Managing a plan (task) owned by another user

Having Administrator privileges on the machine, a user can modify local backup plans and tasks owned by any user registered in the operating system.

When a user opens a plan or task for editing, which is owned by another user, all passwords set in the task are cleared. This prevents the "modify settings, leave passwords" trick. The program displays a warning each time you are trying to edit a plan (task) last modified by another user. On seeing the warning, you have two options:

 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.

3.2 Credentials used in backup plans and tasks

This section explains the concept of access credentials, backup plan's credentials and task credentials.

Access credentials

When browsing backup locations, setting up backups, or creating recovery tasks, you may need to provide credentials for accessing various resources, such as the data you are going to back up or the location where the backups are (or will be) stored.

If the Credentials cache (p. 26) option is enabled (it is enabled by default), the credentials which you provide during a console session are saved for use during the later sessions. Thus, there is no need to

enter the credentials next time. The credentials are cached independently for each user who uses the console on the machine.

Backup plan's credentials

Any backup plan running on a machine runs on behalf of a user.

In Windows

By default, the plan runs under the agent service account, if created by a user having administrative privileges on the machine. If created by a regular user, such as a member of the Users group, the plan runs under this user's account.

When creating a backup plan, you are only asked for credentials in specific cases. For example:

 You are scheduling backups as a regular user and did not enter credentials when connecting the

console to the machine. This may be the case when the console is installed on the same machine that you are backing up.

 You are backing up a Microsoft Exchange cluster to a storage node.

Specifying the credentials explicitly

You have the option to explicitly specify a user account under which the backup plan will run. To do this, on the backup plan creation page:

1. In the Plan parameters section, click Show plan's credentials, comments, label.

2. Click Plan's credentials.

3. Enter the credentials under which the plan will run. When entering the name of an Active

Directory user account, be sure to also specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain).

In Linux

You do not need to specify backup plan's credentials. In Linux, backup plans always run under the root user account.

Task credentials

Like a backup plan, any task runs on behalf of a user.

In Windows

When creating a task, you have the option to explicitly specify an account under which the task will run. Your choice depends on whether the task is intended for manual start or for executing on schedule.

 Manual start

Every time you manually start the task, the task will run under the credentials with which you are currently logged on. Any person that has administrative privileges on the machine can also start the task. The task will run under this person's credentials.

The task will always run under the same credentials, regardless of the user who actually starts the task, if you specify the task credentials explicitly.

 Scheduled or postponed start

The task credentials are mandatory. You cannot complete the task creation until you specify the task credentials. Task credentials are specified on the task creation page in a similar manner as the plan’s credentials are specified.

In Linux

You do not need to specify task credentials. In Linux, tasks always run under the root user account.

3.3 User privileges on a managed machine

Windows

When managing a machine running Windows, the scope of a user's management rights depends on the user's privileges on the machine.

Regular users

A regular user, such as a member of the Users group, has the following management rights:

 Perform file-level backup and recovery of the files that the user has permissions to access—but

without using a file-level backup snapshot (p. 112).

 Create backup plans and tasks and manage them.  View—but not manage—backup plans and tasks created by other users.  View the local event log.

Backup operators

A user who is a member of the Backup Operators group, also has the following management right:

 Back up and recover the entire machine or any data on the machine, with or without using a disk

snapshot. Using a hardware snapshot provider may still require administrative privileges.

Administrators

A user who is a member of the Administrators group, also has the following management right:

 View and manage backup plans and tasks owned by any user on the machine.

Linux

When managing a machine running Linux, the user has or obtains the root privileges, and so can:

 Back up and recover any data or the entire machine, having full control over all Acronis Backup

agent operations and log files on the machine.

 Manage local backup plans and tasks owned by any user registered in the operating system.

To avoid routine logging on to the system as root, the root user can log on with the ordinary user credentials and then switch user as required.

3.4 List of Acronis services

During installation, Acronis Backup creates several services.

 Main services present the main components of Acronis Backup: the agent, the management

server, the storage node.

 Auxiliary services enable certain functionalities of the main components.  Common services assist multiple Acronis Backup components and other Acronis products.

Services of Acronis Backup components

A main service can run under a dedicated account or under an account you specify during installation. Either account is given privileges that are needed for the service to work. The privileges include a set

of user rights, membership in security groups, and the Full Control permissions on respective registry

Service name

Purpose

Account used by the service

Privileges added to the account

User rights

Group

membership

Permissions on registry

keys

Services for Acronis Backup agents

Acronis Managed Machine Service

(Main service)

Backing up and recovering data on the machine

Acronis Agent User (new

account) or user-specified account

Log on as a service

Adjust memory quotas for a process

Replace a process level token

Modify firmware environment values

Backup Operators

(for any account)

Administrators

(for new account only)

BackupAndRecovery

Encryption

Global

MMS

Acronis VSS Provider

(Auxiliary service; created only for Agent for Windows in a Windows Server operating system)

Using a Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) provider (p. 124) that comes with Acronis Backup

Local System

No additional privileges

Acronis Removable Storage Management Service

(Auxiliary service)

Managing locally attached tape devices. Can be also used by the Storage Node Service.

Local System

No additional privileges

Services for Acronis Backup Management Server

Acronis Management Server Service

(Main service)

Centrally managing backup operations on multiple machines

AMS User (new account) or user-specified account

Log on as a service

Acronis Centralized Admins

AMS

BackupAndRecovery

keys in the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Acronis. There are no permissions granted on other registry keys.

The following table lists the services of Acronis Backup components and the privileges for their accounts.

Service name

Purpose

Account used by the service

Privileges added to the account

User rights

Group

membership

Permissions on registry

keys

SQL Server (ACRONIS)

(Auxiliary service; created only if a new SQL server is installed)

Running a Microsoft SQL Server that is optionally installed with the management server

Local System

No additional privileges

Acronis Web Server Service

(Auxiliary service)

Hosting the management server Web page

Same as for Acronis Management Server Service

Services for Acronis Backup Storage Node

Acronis Storage Node Service

(Main service)

Managing and deduplicating backup archives, maintaining the centralized data catalog

ASN User (new account) or

user-specified account

Log on as a service

Backup Operators

(for any account)

Administrators

(for new account only)

ASN

BackupAndRecovery

Encryption

Acronis Removable Storage Management Service

(Auxiliary service)

Managing locally attached tape devices. Can also be used by the Managed Machine Service.

Local System

No additional privileges

Common services

Service name

Purpose

Account used by the service

Services for Acronis PXE Server

Acronis PXE Server Service

Booting machines into Acronis bootable components over the network

Local System

Acronis File Server Service

Providing bootable components for Acronis PXE Server

Local System Remote-access and scheduling services

Acronis Remote Agent Service

Providing connectivity among Acronis components

Local System (Windows Vista and later)

NetworkService (earlier than Windows Vista)

The following services can be used by multiple components of Acronis Backup and by other Acronis products. These services always run under a system account. No additional privileges are given to the account.

Acronis Scheduler2 Service

Providing scheduling for tasks performed by Acronis components

Local System

Dependencies on other services

The main services depend on Acronis Scheduler2 Service and on the following standard Windows services: Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Protected Storage. Acronis Managed Machine Service and Acronis Storage Node Service also depend on the Windows Management Instrumentation standard service.

To view the list of dependencies for a service, do the following:

1. In the Services snap-in, double-click the name of the service.

2. On the Dependencies tab, examine the This service depends… field.

3.5 Full, incremental and differential backups

Acronis Backup 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. All backup schemes are based on full, incremental and differential backup methods. The term "scheme" in fact denotes the algorithm of applying these methods plus the algorithm of the archive cleanup.

Comparing backup methods with each other does not make much sense because the methods work as a team in a backup scheme. Each method should play its specific role according to its advantages. A competent backup scheme will benefit from the advantages of all backup methods and lessen the

influence of all the methods’ shortcomings. For example, weekly differential backup facilitates

archive cleanup because it can be easily deleted along with the weekly set of daily incremental backups depending on it.

Backing up with the full, incremental or differential backup method results in a backup (p. 430) of the corresponding type.

Full backup

A full backup stores all data selected for backup. A full backup underlies any archive and forms the base for incremental and differential backups. An archive can contain multiple full backups or consist of only full backups. A full backup is self-sufficient - you do not need access to any other backup to recover data from a full backup.

It is widely accepted that a full backup is the slowest to do but the fastest to restore. 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.

Example: An Internet cafe, school or university lab where the administrator often undoes changes made by the students or guests but rarely updates the reference backup (in fact, after installing software updates only). The backup time is not crucial in this case and the recovery time will be minimal when recovering the systems from the full backup. The administrator can have several copies of the full backup for additional reliability.

Incremental backup

Parameter

Full backup

Differential backup

Incremental backup

Storage space

Maximal

Medium

Minimal

Creation time

Maximal

Medium

Minimal

Recovery time

Minimal

Medium

Maximal

An incremental backup stores changes to the data against the latest backup. You need access to other backups from the same archive to recover data from an incremental backup.

An incremental backup is most useful when:

 you need the possibility to roll back to any one of multiple saved states  the data changes tend to be small as compared to the total data size.

It is widely accepted that incremental backups are less reliable than full ones because if one backup in the "chain" is corrupted, the next ones can no longer be used. However, storing multiple full backups is not an option when you need multiple prior versions of your data, because reliability of an oversized archive is even more questionable.

Example: Backing up a database transaction log.

Differential backup

A differential backup stores changes to the data against the latest full backup. You need access to the corresponding full backup to recover the data from a differential backup. A differential backup is most useful when:

 you are interested in saving only the most recent data state  the data changes tend to be small as compared to the total data size.

The typical conclusion is: "differential backups take longer to do and are faster to restore, while incremental ones are quicker to do and take longer to restore." In fact, there is no physical difference between an incremental backup appended to a full backup and a differential backup appended to the same full backup at the same point of time. The above mentioned difference implies creating a differential backup after (or instead of) creating multiple incremental backups.

An incremental or differential backup created after disk defragmentation might be considerably larger than usual because defragmentation changes file locations on the disk and the backup reflects these changes. It is recommended that you re-create a full backup after disk defragmentation.

The following table summarizes the advantages and shortcomings of each backup type as they appear based on common knowledge. In real life, these parameters depend on numerous factors such as the amount, speed and pattern of data changes; the nature of the data, the physical specifications of the devices, the backup/recovery options you set, to name a few. Practice is the best guide to selecting the optimal backup scheme.

3.6 What does a disk or volume backup store?

A disk or volume backup stores a disk or a volume file system as a whole and includes all of the information necessary for the operating system to boot. It is possible to recover disks or volumes as a whole from such backups as well as individual folders or files.

Windows

A volume backup stores all files and folders of the selected volume independent of their attributes (including hidden and system files), the boot record, the file allocation table (FAT) if it exists, the root and the zero track of the hard disk with the master boot record (MBR).

A disk backup stores all volumes of the selected disk (including hidden volumes such as the vendor's maintenance partitions) and the zero track with the master boot record.

The following items are not included in a disk or volume backup (as well as in a file-level backup):

 The swap file (pagefile.sys) and the file that keeps the RAM content when the machine goes

into hibernation (hiberfil.sys). After recovery, the files will be re-created in the appropriate place with the zero size.

 Windows shadow storage. The path to it is determined in the registry value VSS Default

Provider which can be found in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBa ckup. This means that in operating systems starting with Windows Vista, Windows Restore

Points are not backed up.

Linux

A volume backup stores all files and directories of the selected volume independent of their attributes, a boot record, and the file system super block.

A disk backup stores all disk volumes as well as the zero track with the master boot record.

With the sector-by-sector (raw mode) option enabled, a disk backup stores all the disk sectors. The sector-by-sector backup can be used for backing up disks with unrecognized or unsupported file systems and other proprietary data formats.

3.7 About dynamic and logical volumes

3.7.1 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows)

This section explains in brief how to back up and recover dynamic volumes (p. 436) using Acronis Backup.

A dynamic volume is a volume located on dynamic disks (p. 435), or more exactly, on a disk group (p.

435). Acronis Backup supports the following dynamic volume types/RAID levels:

 simple/spanned  striped (RAID 0)  mirrored (RAID 1)  a mirror of stripes (RAID 0+1)  RAID-5.

Backing up dynamic volumes

Dynamic volumes are backed up in the same way as basic volumes. When creating a backup plan through the GUI, all types of volumes are available for selection as Items to back up. When using the command line, specify the dynamic volumes with the DYN prefix.

Command line examples

acrocmd backup disk --volume=DYN1,DYN2 --loc=\\srv1\backups

--credentials=netuser1,pass1 --arc=dyn1_2_arc

This will back up volumes DYN1 and DYN2 to a network shared folder.

acrocmd backup disk --volume=DYN --loc=\\srv1\backups --credentials=netuser1,pass1

--arc=alldyn_arc

This will back up all dynamic volumes of the local machine to a network shared folder.

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.  To a disk which has not been initialized.

Recovery over an existing volume

When a dynamic volume is recovered over an existing volume, either basic or dynamic, the

target volume’s data is overwritten with the backup content. The type of target volume (basic,

simple/spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID 0+1, RAID-5) will not change. The target volume size has to be enough to accommodate the backup content.

Recovery to disk group unallocated space

When recovering a dynamic volume to disk group unallocated space, the software preserves the volume's original type and size. If the disk group configuration does not allow for the original volume type, the volume will be recovered as a simple or spanned volume. If this volume does not fit the unallocated space, the volume will be resized by decreasing its free space.

Examples of when the disk group configuration does not allow the original type of the volume Example 1. The group contains fewer disks than is required for the dynamic volume. Assume you

are going to recover an 80 GB RAID-5 volume that had resided on three disks, to a disk group consisting of two disks. The total size of unallocated space is 100 GB: 40 GB on the first disk and 60 GB on the second. The RAID-5 volume will be recovered as a spanned volume across two disks.

Example 2. Unallocated space distribution does not allow recovery of certain types of dynamic volumes. Assume you are going to recover a 30 GB striped volume to a disk group consisting of two disks. The total size of unallocated space is 50 GB: 10 GB on the first disk and 40 GB on the second. The striped volume will be recovered to the second disk as simple.

Recovery to a disk that has not been initialized

In this case, the target disk will be automatically initialized to the MBR partitioning style. The dynamic volumes will be recovered as basic ones. If the volumes cannot fit into unallocated space, they will be proportionally resized (by decreasing their free space).

The table below demonstrates the resulting volume types depending on the backed-up source and the recovery target.

Backup (source):

Recovered to:

Dynamic volume

Basic volume

Dynamic volume

Type as of the target

Dynamic volume

Type as of the target

Unallocated space (disk group)

Dynamic volume

Type as of the source

Dynamic volume

Simple

Basic volume or unallocated space on a basic disk

Basic volume

Moving and resizing volumes during recovery

You can manually resize the resulting basic volume during recovery, or change the volume's location on the disk. A resulting dynamic volume cannot be moved or resized manually.

Preparing disk groups and volumes

Before recovering dynamic volumes to bare metal you should create a disk group on the target hardware.

You also might need to create or increase unallocated space on an existing disk group. This can be done by deleting volumes or converting basic disks to dynamic.

You might want to change the target volume type (basic, simple/spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID 0+1, RAID 5). This can be done by deleting the target volume and creating a new volume on the resulting unallocated space.

Acronis Backup includes a handy disk management utility which enables you to perform the above operations both under the operating system and on bare metal. To find out more about Acronis Disk Director Lite, see the Disk management (p. 262) section.

3.7.2 Backup and recovery of logical volumes and MD devices

(Linux)

This section explains how you would back up and recover volumes managed by Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM), called logical volumes; and multiple-disk (MD) devices, called Linux Software RAID.

To learn more about LVM please visit http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/ or http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/5.1/Deployment_Guide/ch-lvm.html.

3.7.2.1 Backing up logical volumes

Acronis Backup Agent for Linux can access, back up, and recover logical volumes when running in Linux starting with 2.6.x kernel or under Linux-based bootable media.

Backup

In Acronis Backup GUI, logical volumes appear under Dynamic volumes at the end of the list of volumes available for backup. If you select logical volumes for backup, the logical volume structure will be saved to the backup along with the volume contents. This structure can be automatically recreated when you recover these volumes under a Linux-based bootable media.

To back up all available disks, specify all logical volumes plus basic volumes not belonging to them. This is the default choice when you open the Create backup plan page.

Basic volumes included in logical volumes are shown in the list with None in the File system column. If you select such volumes, the program will back them up sector-by-sector. Normally this is not required.

Recovery

When recovering logical volumes, you have two options:

 Recovering volume contents only. The type or other properties of the target volume will not

change.

This option is available both in the operating system and under bootable media.

This option is useful in the following cases:

 When some data on the volume was lost, but no hard disks were replaced.  When recovering a logical volume over a basic disk or volume. You can resize the resulting

volume in this case.

A system, recovered from a logical volume backup to a basic disk, cannot boot because its kernel tries to mount the root file system at the logical volume. To boot the system, change the loader configuration and /etc/fstab so that LVM is not used and reactivate your boot loader (p. 150).

 When recovering a basic or logical volume to an existing logical volume.

If the boot partition (/boot) was located on a basic volume, we recommend recovering it to a basic volume, even if your boot loader supports booting from logical volumes.

 Recovering both the structure of logical volumes and their contents.

Such is the case when recovering on bare metal or on a machine with different volume structure. The structure of logical volumes can be automatically created at the time of recovery (p. 41).

This option is available only under bootable media.

For detailed instructions on how to recover logical volumes, see Recovering MD devices and logical volumes (p. 40).

3.7.2.2 Backing up MD devices

MD devices, known as Linux Software RAID, combine several volumes and make solid block devices (/dev/md0, /dev/md1, ..., /dev/md31). The information about MD devices is stored in /etc/raidtab or in dedicated areas of those volumes.

You can back up active (mounted) MD devices in the same way as logical volumes. The MD devices appear at the end of the list of volumes available for backup. If you select MD devices for backup, the structure of the MD devices will be backed up along with their contents.

Backing up volumes included in MD devices does not make sense when an MD device is mounted, as it won’t be possible to recover them.

When recovering MD devices under bootable media, the structure of MD devices can be recreated automatically. For detailed information about recovering MD devices under bootable media, see Recovering MD devices and logical volumes (p. 40).

For information about assembling MD devices when performing recovery in Linux, see Assembling MD devices for recovery (Linux) (p. 40).

3.7.2.3 Backing up hardware RAID arrays (Linux)

Hardware RAID arrays under Linux combine several physical drives to create a single partitionable disk. The special file related to a hardware RAID array is usually located in /dev/ataraid. You can back up hardware RAID arrays in the same way as ordinary hard disks.

Physical drives that are part of hardware RAID arrays may be listed alongside other disks as if they had a bad partition table or no partition table at all. Backing up such disks does not make sense as it won’t be possible to recover them.

3.7.2.4 Assembling MD devices for recovery (Linux)

In Linux, when performing recovery from a disk backup to an existing MD device (also called Linux Software RAID), make sure that this device is assembled at the time of recovery.

If the device is not assembled, assemble it by using the mdadm utility. Here are two examples:

Example 1. The following command assembles the device /dev/md0 combined from the volumes /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdc1:

mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 -ayes /dev/sdb1 /sdc1

Example 2. The following command assembles the device /dev/md0 combined from the disks /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc:

mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 -ayes /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

If the recovery requires the machine to be rebooted (usually, when the volumes to recover include the boot partition), follow these guidelines:

 If all parts of the MD device are volumes (a typical case, such as in the first example), make sure

that each volume type—called partition type or system ID—is Linux raid automount; the hexadecimal code of this partition type is 0xFD. This will guarantee that the device will be automatically assembled following the reboot. To view or change the partition type, use a disk partitioning utility such as fdisk.

 Otherwise (such as in the second example), perform the recovery from bootable media. No

reboot will be required in that case. In bootable media, you may need to create the MD device manually or automatically, as described in Recovering MD devices and logical volumes (p. 40).

3.7.2.5 Recovering MD devices and logical volumes

Recovering MD devices and/or volumes created by Logical Volume Manager (logical volumes) assumes that the corresponding volume structure will be recreated.

In Linux-based bootable media, you can choose to recreate the volume structure automatically (p.

41).

This functionality is intended primarily for bare-metal recovery of an entire machine. The software backs up and recreates the entire logical volume structure, even if not all MD devices or logical volumes are being backed up or recovered. Therefore, you need at least as many disks as the original volume structure used.

Do not try to recreate the volume structure automatically in any of the following cases:

 The machine has data that must be preserved. The software will destroy all data on the disks

that it chooses to recreate the volume structure on.

 The machine has fewer physical disks than the original volume structure used. The software will

fail to recreate the volume structure even if the capacity of the physical disks is enough to fit all the data being recovered.

 The backup does not contain the volume structure information. This information might be

absent in backups created by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, because saving it was optional.

In these cases, create the volume structure manually (p. 41) prior to recovery. You can do this by using the mdadm and lvm utilities, either in Linux-based bootable media or in Linux.

Creating the volume structure automatically

Use the following procedure to automatically recreate the logical volume structure on a machine.

Caution As a result of the following procedure, the current volume structure on the machine will be replaced with the one stored in the backup. This will destroy the data that is currently stored on some or all of the machine's hard disks.

If disk configuration has changed. An MD device or a logical volume resides on one or more disks. If you replaced any of these disks between backup and recovery (or if you are recovering the volumes to a different machine), ensure that the new disk configuration includes at least the same number of disks as the original volume structure did. The capacity of the disks must be enough to fit all the data being recovered.

To create the volume structure automatically

1. Boot the machine from a Linux-based bootable media.

2. Click Acronis Bootable Agent. Then, click Run management console.

3. In the management console, click Recover.

Under the archive contents, Acronis Backup will display a message saying that it detected information about the volume structure.

4. Click Details in the area with that message.

5. Review the volume structure, and then click Apply RAID/LVM to create it.

Creating the volume structure manually

The following is a general procedure for recovering MD devices and logical volumes by using a Linux-based bootable media, and an example of such recovery. You can use a similar procedure in Linux.

To create the volume structure manually

1. Boot the machine from a Linux-based bootable media.

2. Click Acronis Backup. Then, click Run management console.

3. On the toolbar, click Actions, and then click Start shell. Alternatively, you can press

CTRL+ALT+F2.

4. If necessary, examine the structure of volumes which are stored in the archive, by using the

acrocmd utility. Also, you can use this utility to mount one or more of these volumes as if they were regular volumes (see "Mounting backup volumes" later in this topic).

5. Create the volume structure according to that in the archive, by using the mdadm utility (for MD

devices), the lvm utility (for logical volumes), or both.

Note: Logical Volume Manager utilities such as pvcreate and vgcreate, which are normally available in Linux, are not included in the bootable media environment, so you need to use the lvm utility with a corresponding command. For example: lvm pvcreate, lvm vgcreate, and lvm lvcreate.

6. If you previously mounted the backup by using the acrocmd utility, use this utility again to

unmount the backup (see "Mounting backup volumes" later in this topic).

7. Return to the management console by pressing ALT+F1.

(Do not reboot the machine at this point. Otherwise, you will have to create the volume structure again.)

8. Click Recover, then specify the path to the archive and any other required parameters, and then

click OK.

Note: This procedure will not work if you connect to Acronis Backup Bootable Agent remotely, because the command shell is not available in this case.

Example

Suppose that you previously performed a disk-level 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 are in the RAID-1

configuration, and are mounted on /dev/md0 and /dev/md1, respectively.

 A logical volume is based on the two MD devices and is mounted on

/dev/my_volgroup/my_logvol.

The following picture illustrates this configuration.

Do the following to recover data from this archive.

Step 1: Creating the volume structure

1. Boot the machine from a Linux-based bootable media.

2. In the management console, press CTRL+ALT+F2.

3. Run the following commands to create the MD devices:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[ab] mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[cd]

4. Run the following commands to create the logical volume group:

Caution: The pvcreate command destroys all data on the /dev/md0 and /dev/md1 devices.

lvm pvcreate /dev/md0 /dev/md1 lvm vgcreate my_volgroup /dev/md0 /dev/md1 lvm vgdisplay

The output of the lvm vgdisplay command will contain lines similar to the following:

--- Volume group --VG Name my_volgroup ... VG Access read/write VG Status resizable ... VG Size 1.99 GB ... VG UUID 0qoQ4l-Vk7W-yDG3-uF1l-Q2AL-C0z0-vMeACu

5. Run the following command to create the logical volume; in the -L parameter, specify the size

given by VG Size:

lvm lvcreate -L1.99G --name my_logvol my_volgroup

6. Activate the volume group by running the following command:

lvm vgchange -a y my_volgroup

7. Press ALT+F1 to return to the management console.

Step 2: Starting the recovery

1. In the management console, click Recover.

2. In Archive, click Change and then specify the name of the archive.

3. In Backup, click Change and then select the backup from which you want to recover data.

4. In Data type, select Volumes.

5. In Items to recover, select the check box next to my_volgroup-my_logvol.

6. Under Where to recover, click Change, and then select the logical volume that you created in

Step 1. Click the chevron buttons to expand the list of disks.

7. Click OK to start the recovery.

For a complete list of commands and utilities that you can use in the bootable media environment, see List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media (p. 258). For detailed descriptions of the acrocmd utility, see the Acronis Backup command-line reference.

Mounting backup volumes

You may want to mount a volume stored in a disk backup, for example, to view some files in it before starting the recovery.

To mount a backup volume

1. Use the acrocmd list content command to list the disks and volumes that are stored in the

backup. For example, the following command lists the content of the latest backup of the linux_machine archive:

acrocmd list content --loc=\\server\backups --credentials=user,MyPassWd

--arc=linux_machine

The output will contain lines similar to the following:

type: disk Num Partition Flags Size Type GUID

---------- -------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------- ------

-Dyn1 my_volgroup-my_lo... 4 GB Ext 3 Dyn2 md0 2.007 GB Ext 2 Disk 1 sda 16 GB DT_FIXED 1-1 sda1 Act,Pri 203.9 MB Ext 2 1-2 sda2 Pri 11.72 GB Reiser 1-3 sda3 Pri 1.004 GB Linux swap Disk 2 sdb 8 GB DT_FIXED 2-1 sdb1 Pri 2.007 GB Ext 2 2-2 sdb2 Pri 2.007 GB None Disk 3 sdc 1 GB DT_FIXED Disk 4 sdd 8 GB DT_FIXED 4-1 sdd1 Pri 2.007 GB Ext 2 4-2 sdd2 Pri 2.007 GB None

2. Use the acrocmd mount command, specifying the volume's name in the --volume parameter.

For example:

acrocmd mount --loc=\\server\backups --arc=linux_machine --mount_point=/mnt

--volume=DYN1

This command mounts the logical volume DYN1 on the mount point /mnt.

To unmount a backup volume

 Use the acrocmd umount command, specifying the volume's mount point as a parameter. For

example:

acrocmd umount --mount_point=/mnt

3.8 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks

Acronis Backup can back up hard disks with a sector size of 4 KB (known as Advanced Format disks), as well as traditional hard disks that have 512-byte sectors.

Acronis Backup can recover data from one disk to another as long as both disks have the same logical sector size. (This is the sector size presented to the operating system.) Acronis Backup automatically aligns the disk’s volumes (p. 140) if necessary. This way, the start of a cluster in the file system always matches the start of a physical sector on the disk.

The disk management (p. 262) functionality of Acronis Backup is not available for disks with a 4-KB logical sector size.

Determining the logical sector size

By disk specification

Development of the Advanced Format technology is coordinated by the International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association (IDEMA). For more details, see http://www.idema.org/?page_id=2.

In terms of the logical sector size, IDEMA specifies two types of Advanced Format disks:

 512 Byte emulation (512e) disks have a 512-byte logical sector size. These disks are supported in

Windows starting with Windows Vista, and in modern Linux distributions. Microsoft and Western Digital use the term “Advanced Format” exclusively for this type of disk.

 4K native (4Kn) disks have a 4-KB logical sector size. Modern operating systems can store data on

these disks, but they generally cannot boot from these disks. These disks are commonly external drives with USB connection.

By running the appropriate command

To find out the logical sector size of a disk, do the following.

In Windows:

1. Make sure that the disk contains an NTFS volume.

2. Run the following command as an administrator, specifying the drive letter of the NTFS

volume:

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo D:

3. Examine the value in the Bytes Per Sector line. For example, the output may be the

following:

Bytes Per Sector : 512

In Linux:

1. Determine the device name of the disk, such as /dev/sdb.

2. Run the following command as the root user, specifying the device name:

parted /dev/sdb print

3. Examine the first value in the Sector size (logical/physical) line. For example, the output may

be the following:

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B

3.9 Support for UEFI-based machines

Acronis Backup can back up and recover machines that use 64-bit Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) in the same way as it does for machines that use BIOS for booting.

This applies to both physical and virtual machines, no matter if the virtual machines are backed up at a hypervisor level or from inside a guest OS.

Backup and recovery of devices that use 32-bit UEFI are not supported.

Limitations

 WinPE-based bootable media of versions earlier than 4.0 and Acronis PXE Server do not support

UEFI booting.

 Acronis Active Restore (p. 429) is not available on UEFI machines.  Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (ASRM) (p. 429) is not supported on UEFI machines running

Linux. On UEFI machines running Windows, activate ASRM in Windows rather than under bootable media.

 A machine running Linux cannot be transferred between UEFI and BIOS. For details about

transferring Windows machines, see "Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based or vice versa" (p. 143).

3.10 Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

This section describes how Acronis Backup supports features that are introduced in the Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 operating systems.

The information in this section also applies to Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10, and Windows Server 2016.

Limitations

 Acronis Disk Director Lite (p. 262) is not available under Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.  Disk management operations under bootable media may work incorrectly if storage spaces are

configured on the machine.

 The Windows To Go feature of Windows 8 is not supported.

WinPE 4.0 and WinPE 5.0

Acronis Media Builder can create bootable media based on these versions of Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE).

These bootable media support new features of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 (see later in this section). They can boot on machines that use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).

To create bootable media based on these versions of WinPE, you need Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK). For more details, see the “WinPE-based bootable media” (p. 253) section.

UEFI Secure Boot

On a machine that runs Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 and uses UEFI, the Secure Boot feature of UEFI may be turned on. Secure Boot ensures that only trusted boot loaders can boot the machine.

By using Acronis Media Builder, you can create a bootable media that has a trusted boot loader. To do this, choose to create a 64-bit Linux-based media or a 64-bit media based on WinPE 4 or later.

Resilient file system (ReFS)

In Windows Server 2012, you can format a volume by using the ReFS file system. This file system provides a more reliable way of storing data on the volume as compared with the NTFS file system.

In Windows Server 2012 and under a bootable media based on WinPE 4 or later, you can back up and recover a ReFS volume. Resizing a ReFS volume during recovery is not supported.

Linux-based bootable media and bootable media based on WinPE version earlier than 4.0 cannot write files to a ReFS volume. Therefore, you cannot recover files to a ReFS volume by using these media; and you cannot select a ReFS volume as a backup destination.

Storage spaces

In Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, you can combine several physical disks into a storage pool. In this storage pool, you can create one or more logical disks, called storage spaces. As with ordinary disks, storage spaces can have volumes.

In Windows 8, in Windows Server 2012, and under a bootable media based on WinPE 4 or later, you can back up and recover storage spaces. In Windows Server 2012 and under a bootable media based on WinPE 4 or later, you also can recover a storage space to an ordinary disk or vice versa.

Linux-based bootable media does not recognize storage spaces. It backs up the underlying disks sector-by-sector. The same applies to Agent for VMware and Agent for Hyper-V. If you recover all of the underlying disks to the original disks, the storage spaces will be recreated.

Data Deduplication

In Windows Server 2012, you can enable the Data Deduplication feature for an NTFS volume. Data Deduplication reduces the used space on the volume by storing duplicate fragments of the volume's files only once.

You can back up and recover a data deduplication–enabled volume at a disk level, without limitations. File-level backup is supported, except when using Acronis VSS Provider. To recover files from a disk backup, mount the backup (p. 241) on a machine running Windows Server 2012, and then copy the files from the mounted volume.

The Data Deduplication feature of Windows Server 2012 is unrelated to the Acronis Backup Deduplication feature.

3.11 Compatibility with encryption software

Acronis Backup fully retains its functionality when interacting with file-level encryption software.

Disk-level encryption software encrypts data on the fly. This is why data contained in the backup is not encrypted. Disk-level encryption software often modifies system areas: boot records, or partition tables, or file system tables. These factors affect disk-level backup and recovery, the ability of the recovered system to boot and access to Acronis Secure Zone.

Under some conditions, Acronis Backup is compatible with the following disk-level encryption software:

 Microsoft BitLocker Drive Encryption  McAfee Endpoint Encryption  PGP Whole Disk Encryption.

To ensure reliable disk-level recovery, follow the common rules and software-specific recommendations.

Common installation rule

The strong recommendation is to install the encryption software before installing Acronis Backup.

The way of using Acronis Secure Zone

Acronis Secure Zone must not be encrypted with disk-level encryption. This is the only way to use Acronis Secure Zone:

1. Install encryption software; then, install Acronis Backup.

2. Create Acronis Secure Zone.

3. Exclude Acronis Secure Zone when encrypting the disk or its volumes.

Common backup rule

You can do a disk-level backup in the operating system. Do not try to back up using bootable media or Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.

Software-specific recovery procedures

Microsoft BitLocker Drive Encryption

To recover a system that was encrypted by BitLocker:

1. Boot from the bootable media.

2. Recover the system. The recovered data will be unencrypted.

3. Reboot the recovered system.

4. Turn on BitLocker.

If you only need to recover one partition of a multi-partitioned disk, do so under the operating system. Recovery under bootable media may make the recovered partition undetectable for Windows.

McAfee Endpoint Encryption and PGP Whole Disk Encryption

You can recover an encrypted system partition by using bootable media only.

If the recovered system fails to boot, rebuild Master Boot Record as described in the following Acronis knowledge base article: http://kb.acronis.com/content/1507 and reboot.

3.12 Support for SNMP

SNMP objects

Acronis Backup provides the following Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) objects to SNMP management applications:

 Type of event

Object identifier (OID): 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0

Syntax: OctetString

The value may be "Information", "Warning", 'Error" and "Unknown". "Unknown" is sent only in the test message.

 Text description of the event

Object identifier (OID): 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0

Syntax: OctetString

The value contains the text description of the event (it looks identical to messages published by Acronis Backup in its log).

Example of varbind values:

1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0:Information

1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0:I0064000B

Supported operations

Acronis Backup supports only TRAP operations. It is not possible to manage Acronis Backup using GET- and SET- requests. This means that you need to use an SNMP Trap receiver to receive TRAP-messages.

About the management information base (MIB)

The MIB file acronis-abr.mib is located in the Acronis Backup installation directory. By default: %ProgramFiles%\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery in Windows and /usr/lib/Acronis/BackupAndRecovery in Linux.

This file can be read by a MIB browser or a simple text editor such as Notepad or vi.

About the test message

When configuring SNMP notifications, you can send a test message to check if your settings are correct.

The parameters of the test message are as follows:

 Type of event

OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0

Value: "Unknown"

 Text description of the event

OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0

Value: "?00000000"

4 Backup

4.1 Back up now

Use the Back up now feature to configure and run a one-time backup in a few simple steps. The backup process will start immediately after you perform the required steps and click OK.

For a long-time backup strategy that includes schedules and conditions, timely deleting of backups or moving them to different locations, consider creating a backup plan.

Configuring immediate backup is similar to creating a backup plan (p. 50) except for the following:

 There are no options to schedule backups and to set up retention rules.  Simplified naming of backup files (p. 72) is used, if the backup destination supports it. Otherwise,

the standard backup naming is used.

The following locations do not support simplified file naming: managed vaults, tape, Acronis Secure Zone or Acronis Cloud Storage.

Due to simplified file naming, an RDX drive or USB flash drive can only be used in the removable media (p. 189) mode.

 Conversion of a disk-level backup to a virtual machine is not available as a part of the backup

operation. You can convert the resulting backup afterwards.

4.2 Creating a backup plan

Before creating your first backup plan (p. 430), please familiarize yourself with the basic concepts used in Acronis Backup.

To create a backup plan, perform the following steps.

What to back up

Items to back up (p. 52)

Select the type of data to back up and specify the data items. The type of data depends on the agents installed on the machine.

Access credentials, exclusions To access these settings, click Show access credentials, exclusions. Access credentials (p. 54)

Provide credentials for the source data if the plan's account does not have access permissions to the data.

Exclusions (p. 55)

Set up exclusions for the specific types of files you do not wish to back up.

Where to back up

Location (p. 56)

Specify a path to the location where the backup archive will be stored and the archive name. The archive name has to be unique within the location. Otherwise, backups of the newly created backup plan will be placed to the existing archive that belongs to another backup plan. The default archive name is Archive(N) where N is the sequence number of the archive in the location you have selected.

Select the mode the removable device will be used in (p. 189)

If the specified location is an RDX drive or USB flash drive, select the device mode:

Removable media or Fixed drive. Backup file naming, access credentials, archive comments To access these settings, click Show backup file naming, access credentials, archive comments. File naming (p. 72)

[Optional] Select the Name backup files using the archive name, as in Acronis True Image

Echo, rather than auto-generated names check box if you want to use simplified file naming

for the archive’s backups.

Not available when backing up to a managed vault, tape, Acronis Secure Zone, or Acronis

Cloud Storage. When backing up to an RDX drive or USB flash drive, the file naming scheme is

determined by the removable device mode (p. 189).

Access credentials (p. 59)

[Optional] Provide credentials for the location if the plan account does not have access

permissions to the location. Archive comments

[Optional] Enter comments on the archive.

Single-pass disk and application backup (p. 305)

Applies only to machines that have a license for single-pass backup

Specify settings related to single-pass disk and application backup.

How to back up

Backup scheme (p. 60)

Specify when and how often to back up your data; define for how long to keep the created

backup archives in the selected location; set up schedule for the archive cleanup procedure

(see “Replication and retention settings” below).

Replication and retention settings (p. 91)

Not available for removable media or when simplified naming of backup files (p. 72) is

chosen.

Define whether to copy (replicate) the backups to another location, and whether to move or

delete them according to retention rules. The available settings depend on the backup

scheme. 2nd location

[Optional] To set up replication of backups, select the Replicate newly created backup to

another location check box. For more information about backup replication, see Setting up

replication of backups (p. 94). Validation, convert to virtual machine To access these settings, click Show validation, convert to virtual machine. When to validate (p. 69)

[Optional] Depending on the selected backup scheme, define when and how often to

perform validation and whether to validate the entire archive or the latest backup in the

archive. Convert to virtual machine (p. 163)

[Optional] Applies to: disk or volume backup, backup of entire virtual machines or volumes of

a virtual machine.

Set up a regular conversion of a disk or volume backup to a virtual machine.

Plan parameters

Plan name

[Optional] Enter a unique name for the backup plan. A conscious name lets you identify the

plan among others. Backup options

[Optional] Configure parameters of the backup operation, such as pre/post backup

commands, maximum network bandwidth allocated for the backup stream or the backup

archive compression level. If you do nothing in this section, the default values (p. 100) will be

used.

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 Reset to default. 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. Therefore, in this section you

always see only the settings that differ from the default values.

To reset all the settings to the default values, click Reset to default. Plan's credentials, comments, label To access these settings, click Show plan's credentials, comments, label. Plan's credentials (p. 70)

[Optional] Specify the credentials under which the plan will run. Comments

[Optional] Type a description of the backup plan. Label (p. 70)

[Optional] Type a text label for the machine you are going to back up. The label can be used

to identify the machine in various scenarios.

After you have performed all the required steps, click OK to create the backup plan.

After that, you might be prompted for the password (p. 72).

The plan you have created will be accessible for examination and managing in the Backup plans and tasks (p. 316) view.

4.2.1 Selecting data to back up

To select the data to back up

1. In Data to back up section, select the type of data you want to be backed up. The list of available

data types depends on the agents running on the machine and the types of licenses: Disks/volumes

To be able to back up this data, you must have Administrator or Backup operator privileges.

Select this option to back up:

 Entire physical machines or their individual disks or volumes, if Acronis Backup Agent for

Windows or Acronis Backup Agent for Linux is installed.

A disk-level backup enables you to recover the entire system in case of severe data damage or hardware failure. Also, you can individually recover files and folders. The backup procedure is faster than copying files, and may significantly speed up the backup process when backing up large volumes of data.

 Microsoft SQL databases by means of single-pass disk and application backup, if Acronis

Backup Agent for SQL is installed.

Agent for SQL enables you to create application-aware disk backups and to recover Microsoft SQL databases from such backups. For more information, see the "Protecting Microsoft SQL Server..." (p. 301) section.

 Microsoft Active Directory data by means of single-pass disk and application backup, if

Acronis Backup Agent for Active Directory is installed.

Agent for Active Directory enables you to create application-aware disk backups and to recover Microsoft Active Directory data from such backups. For more information, see the "Protecting Microsoft Active Directory ..." (p. 312) section.

Folders/files

Available if Acronis Backup Agent for Windows or Acronis Backup Agent for Linux is installed.

Select this option to back up specific files and folders.

A file-level backup is not sufficient for recovery of the operating system. Choose file backup if

you plan to keep safe only certain data (the current project, for example). This will reduce

the archive size, thus saving storage space.

In order to recover your operating system along with all the settings and applications, you

have to perform a disk backup. Virtual machines

Available if Acronis Backup Agent for VMware or Acronis Backup Agent for Hyper-V is

installed.

Select this option to back up entire virtual machines residing on a virtualization server or

their disks or volumes.

Backing up an entire virtual machine, its disks, or volumes yields a standard disk backup (p.

434). In addition, this backup stores the virtual machine configuration. This configuration will

be suggested by default when recovering the backup content to a new virtual machine. For

more information about backing up virtual machines see "Backing up virtual machines". Microsoft Exchange information store

Available if Acronis Backup Agent for Exchange is installed.

Select this option to back up information store, individual storage groups or databases of

Microsoft Exchange servers. In case of disaster, you will be able to recover lost or corrupted

databases or storage groups. Also, you can individually recover mailboxes, public

folders, single emails, contacts, calendar events, and other items.

To be able to back up Exchange data, a domain user account that has administrative

privileges on the Exchange server is required. In a cluster, the account must have

administrative privileges on each of the cluster’s nodes.

For more information about backing up Microsoft Exchange data see "Backing up Microsoft

Exchange Server data". Microsoft Exchange mailboxes

Available if Acronis Backup Agent for Exchange is installed.

Select this option to back up individual mailboxes and public folders without backing up the

entire Microsoft Exchange database. By using the exclusion filters, you can specify items to

be skipped during mailbox backups.

To be able to back up Exchange data, a domain user account that has administrative

privileges on the Exchange server is required. In a cluster, the account must have

administrative privileges on each of the cluster’s nodes.

For more information about backing up Microsoft Exchange data see "Backing up Microsoft

Exchange Server data".

2. In the tree below Data to back up section, select the items to back up.

To back up all items of the selected data type present on a machine, select the check box next to the machine. To back up individual data items, expand the machine and select check boxes next to the required items.

Notes for Disks/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.

 Note for Linux users: Logical volumes and MD devices are shown under Dynamic volumes.

For more information about backing up such volumes and devices, see "Backup and recovery

of logical volumes and MD devices (Linux)" (p. 38).

 Note for Linux users: We recommend that you unmount any volumes that contain

non-journaling file systems—such as the ext2 file system—before backing them up.

Otherwise, these volumes might contain corrupted files upon recovery; recovery of these

volumes with resize might fail. Notes for Virtual machines

 Backing up entire virtual machines comes in handy when having small (in terms of virtual

disks size) but numerous legacy servers such as those resulting from workload consolidation.

A separate archive will be created for each machine.

 Backing up individual disks or volumes within a virtual machine comes in handy when the

operating system and applications, such as a database server, run on a virtual disk, but the

data, such as a database, is stored on a large capacity physical disk added to the same

machine. You will be able to use different backup strategies for the virtual disk and the

physical storage.

3. Having specified the data to back up, click OK.

4.2.2 Access credentials for source

Specify the credentials required for access to the data you are going to back up.

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 Plan parameters section.

 Use the following credentials

The program will access the source data using the credentials you specify.

Use this option if the plan's account does not have access permissions to the data.

Specify:

 User name. When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also

specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain).

 Password. The password for the account.

 Confirm password. Re-enter the password.

2. Click OK.

4.2.3 Source files exclusion

This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media.

This option is effective for disk-level backup of NTFS, FAT, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems only. This option is effective for file-level backup of all supported file systems.

The option defines which files and folders to skip during the backup process and thus exclude from the list of backed-up items.

Note: Exclusions override selection of data items to back up. For example, if you select to back up file MyFile.tmp and to exclude all .tmp files, file MyFile.tmp will not be backed up.

To specify which files and folders to exclude, set up any of the following parameters.

Exclude all hidden files and folders

Select this check box to skip files and folders that have the Hidden attribute (for file systems that are supported by Windows) or that start with a period (.) (for file systems in Linux such as Ext2 and Ext3). If a folder is hidden, all of its contents (including files that are not hidden) will be excluded.

Exclude all system files and folders

This option is effective only for file systems that are supported by Windows. Select this check box to skip files and folders with the System attribute. If a folder has the System attribute, all of its contents (including files that do not have the System attribute) will be excluded.

Tip: You can view file or folder attributes in the file/folder properties or by using the attrib command. For more information, refer to the Help and Support Center in Windows.

Exclude files matching the following criteria

Select this check box to skip files and folders matching any of the criteria. Use the Add, Edit, Remove and Remove All buttons to create the list of criteria.

The criteria are not case-sensitive in Windows and Linux. For example, if you choose to exclude all .tmp files and the C:\Temp folder, also excluded will be all .Tmp files, all .TMP files, and the C:\TEMP folder.

Criteria: full path

Specify the full path to the file or folder, starting with the drive letter (when backing up Windows) or the root directory (when backing up Linux).

Both in Windows and Linux, you can use a forward slash in the file or folder path (as in C:/Temp and

C:/Temp/File.tmp). In Windows, you can also use the traditional backslash (as in C:\Temp and C:\Temp\File.tmp).

Under a Windows-style bootable media, a volume might have a different drive letter than in Windows. For more information, see "Working under bootable media" (p. 256).

Criteria: name

Specify the name of the file or folder, such as Document.txt. All files and folders with that name will be excluded.

Wildcard characters

Criterion

Example

Description

Windows and Linux

By name

F.log

Excludes all files named "F.log"

Excludes all folders named "F"

By mask (*)

*.log

Excludes all files with the .log extension

Excludes all files and folders with names starting with "F" (such as folders F, F1 and files F.log, F1.log)

By mask (?)

F???.log

Excludes all .log files with names consisting of four symbols and starting with "F"

Windows

By file path

C:\Finance\F.log

Excludes the file named "F.log" located in the folder C:\Finance

By folder path

C:\Finance\F or C:\Finance\F\

Excludes the folder C:\Finance\F (be sure to specify the full path starting from the drive letter)

Linux

By file path

/home/user/Finance/F.log

Excludes the file named "F.log" located in the folder (directory) /home/user/Finance

By folder path

/home/user/Finance or /home/user/Finance/

Excludes the folder (directory) /home/user/Finance

You can use one or more wildcard characters * and ? in the criterion. These characters can be used both within the full path and in the file or folder name.

The asterisk (*) substitutes for zero or more characters in a file name. For example, the criterion Doc*.txt covers files such as Doc.txt and Document.txt

The question mark (?) substitutes for exactly one character in a file name. For example, the criterion Doc?.txt covers files such as Doc1.txt and Docs.txt, but not the files Doc.txt or Doc11.txt

Exclusion examples

4.2.4 Backup location selection

Specify where the archive will be stored.

1. Selecting the destination

In the Path field, enter the full path to the destination, or select the desired destination in the location tree as described in "Selecting backup destinations" (p. 57).

2. Using the archives table

To assist you with choosing the right destination, the table displays the names of the archives contained in each location you select. While you are reviewing the location content, archives can be

added, deleted or modified by another user or by the program itself according to scheduled operations. Use the Refresh button to refresh the list of archives.

3. Naming the new archive

Once you select the archive destination, the program generates a name for the new archive and displays it in the Name field. The name commonly looks like Archive(N), where N is a sequence number. The generated name is unique within the selected location. If you are satisfied with the automatically generated name, click OK. Otherwise enter another unique name.

If the automatically generated name looks like [Machine Name]_Archive(N), this means that the name contain variables. Such might be the case when you have selected virtual machines to back up. The [Machine Name] stands for the virtual machine name. You can add suffixes to the name but never delete the variables, since each virtual machine has to back up to a separate archive with the unique name.

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.

By selecting the existing archive, you are meddling in the area of another backup plan that uses the archive. This is not an issue if the other plan is discontinued. However, you should generally follow the rule: "one backup plan - one archive". Doing the opposite will not prevent the program from functioning but is not practical or efficient, except for some specific cases.

Why two or more plans should not back up to the same archive

1. Backing up different sources to the same archive makes it difficult to use archive. When it comes

to recovery, every second counts, and you might be "lost" in the archive content.

Backup plans that operate with the same archive should back up the same data items (say, both plans back up volume C.)

2. Applying multiple retention rules to an archive makes the archive content unpredictable. Since

each of the rules will be applied to the entire archive, the backups belonging to one backup plan can be easily deleted along with the backups belonging to the other. You should not expect the classic behavior of the GFS and Tower of Hanoi backup schemes.

Normally, each complex backup plan should back up to its own archive.

4.2.4.1 Selecting backup destinations

Acronis Backup lets you back up data to various physical storages.

Destination

Details

Cloud storage

To back up data to Acronis Cloud Storage, click Log in and specify the credentials to log in to the cloud storage. Then, expand the Cloud storage group and select the account.

Prior to backing up to the cloud storage, you need to buy a subscription (p. 421) to the cloud backup service and activate (p. 423) the subscription on the machine(s) you want to back up.

Cloud backup is not available under bootable media.

Cloud backup of Microsoft Exchange Server data by using Agent for Exchange is not possible.

Note Acronis Cloud Backup might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://www.acronis.com/en-us/my/cloud-backup/corporate

Personal

To back up data to a personal vault, expand the Vaults group and click the vault. Acronis Secure Zone is considered as a personal vault available to all users that can log on to the system.

Centralized

To back up data to a centralized vault, expand the Vaults group and click the vault.

Machine

Local machine

Local folders

To back up data to a local folder of the machine, expand the <Machine name> group and select the required folder.

CD, DVD, BD

To back up data to optical media such as CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Discs (BD), expand the <Machine name> group, then select the required drive.

RDX, USB

To back up data to an RDX drive or USB flash drive, expand the <Machine name> group, then select the required drive. For information about using these drives, see the "Removable devices" (p. 189) section.

Tape device

To back up data to a locally attached tape device, expand the <Machine name> group, then click the required device.

Note Tape devices can only be used with Acronis Backup Advanced.

For information about using tapes, see the "Tape devices" (p. 190) section.

Network folders

To back up data to a network folder, expand the Network folders group, select the required networked machine, and then click the shared folder.

If the network share requires access credentials, the program will ask for them.

Note for Linux users: To specify a Common Internet File System (CIFS) network share which is mounted on a mount point such as /mnt/share, select this mount point instead of the network share itself.

Destination

Details

FTP, SFTP

To back up data to FTP or SFTP, type the server name or address in the Path field as follows:

ftp://ftp_server:port _number or sftp://sftp_server:port number

To establish an active mode FTP connection, use the following notation:

aftp://ftp_server:port _number

If the port number is not specified, port 21 is used for FTP and port 22 is used for SFTP.

After entering access credentials, the folders on the server become available. Click the appropriate folder on the server.

You can access the server as an anonymous user if the server enables such access. To do so, click Use anonymous access instead of entering credentials.

Note: 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.

Storage nodes

When you need to back up data to a storage node that is not registered on the management server, or when operating on a machine booted with bootable media:

 To access a managed vault, type the following string in the Path field:

bsp://node_address/vault_name/

 To access an unmanaged centralized vault, type the full path to the vault's folder.

NFS folders

To back up data to an NFS share, expand the NFS folders group and click the folder.

Available only in Linux and under Linux-based bootable media.

4.2.5 Access credentials for archive location

Specify credentials required for access to the location where the backup archive will be stored. The user whose name is specified will be considered as the archive owner.

To specify credentials

1. Select one of the following:

 Use the plan's credentials

The program will access the source data using the credentials of the backup plan account

specified in the Plan parameters section.

 Use the following credentials

The program will access the source data using the credentials you specify.

Use this option if the plan account does not have access permissions to the location. You

2. Click OK.

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.

 Confirm password. Re-enter the password.

Warning: 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.

4.2.6 Backup schemes

Choose one of the available backup schemes:

 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. The scheme does

not allow data to be backed up more than once a day. You set the days of week when the daily backup will be performed and select from these days the day of weekly/monthly backup. Then you set the retention periods for the daily (referred to as "sons"), weekly (referred to as "fathers") and monthly (referred to as "grandfathers") backups. The expired backups will be deleted automatically.

 Tower of Hanoi – to use the Tower of Hanoi backup scheme. This scheme allows you to schedule

when and how often to back up (sessions) and select the number of backup levels (up to 16). The data can be backed up more than once a day. By setting up the backup schedule and selecting backup levels, you automatically obtain the rollback period – the guaranteed number of sessions that you can go back at any time. The automatic cleanup mechanism maintains the required rollback period by deleting the expired backups and keeping the most recent backups of each level.

 Custom – to create a custom scheme, where you are free to set up a backup strategy in the way

your enterprise needs it most: specify multiple schedules for different backup types, add conditions and specify the retention rules.

 Manual start – to create a backup task for manual start.  Initial seeding – to save locally a full backup whose final destination is Acronis Cloud Storage.

Note for Microsoft Exchange users: For information about backup schemes used when backing up Exchange databases, storage groups or mailboxes, refer to the "Backup schemes" section of the "Backing up Microsoft Exchange Server data" documentation.

4.2.6.1 Simple scheme

With the simple backup scheme, you just schedule when and how often to back up data. Other steps are optional.

To set up the simple backup scheme, specify the appropriate settings as follows.

Schedule

Set up when and how often to back up the data. To learn more about setting up the schedule, see the Scheduling (p. 77) section.

Retention rules

Specify how long to store backups in the location and whether to move or delete them afterward. The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. The Keep backups indefinitely is set by default, which means that no backups will be deleted automatically. For more information about retention rules, see Setting up retention of backups (p. 94).

Backup type

To access this setting, click Show backup type, validation, convert to virtual machine.

Select the backup type.

 Full - selected by default for all backup locations (except for Acronis Cloud Storage).

Jan 1—Jan 7

D D D D W - -

Jan 8—Jan 14

D D D D W - -

Jan 15—Jan 21

D D D D W - -

Jan 22—Jan 28

D D D D M - -

Jan 29—Feb 4

D D D D W - -

Feb 5—Feb 11

D D D D W - -

Feb 12—Feb 18

D D D D W - -

Feb 19—Feb 25

D D D D M - -

Feb 26—Mar 4

D D D D W - -

Start backup at

Specifies when to start a backup. The default value is 12:00 PM.

Back up on

Specifies the days of the week when a backup will be performed. The default value is

Workdays.

Weekly/Monthly

Specifies which day of the week (out of the days selected in the Back up on field) you want to reserve for weekly and monthly backups.

The default value is Friday. With this value, a monthly backup will run on the last Friday of each month. Weekly backups will run on all other Fridays. If you choose a different day of week, these rules will apply to the day chosen.

 Incremental. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be

incremental. Selected as the one and only backup type for Acronis Cloud Storage.

Note: When the Incremental backup type is selected along with retention rules, the archive will be

cleaned up using consolidation (p. 433), which is a more time-consuming and resource-intensive

operation.

4.2.6.2 Grandfather-Father-Son scheme

At a glance

 Daily ("Son"), weekly ("Father"), and monthly ("Grandfather") backups  Custom day for weekly and monthly backups  Custom retention periods for backups of each type

Description

Let us suppose that we want to set up a backup plan that will regularly produce a series of daily (D), weekly (W), and monthly (M) backups. Here is a natural way to do this: the following table shows a sample two-month period for such a plan.

Daily backups run every workday except Friday, which is left for weekly and monthly backups. Monthly backups run on the last Friday of each month, and weekly backups run on all other Fridays. As a result, you will normally obtain 12 monthly backups over a full year.

Parameters

You can set up the following parameters of a Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme.

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.

Daily: 5 days (recommended minimum)

Weekly: 7 weeks

Monthly: indefinitely

The retention period for weekly backups must exceed that for daily backups; the monthly backups' retention period must be greater than the weekly backups' retention period.

We recommend setting a retention period of at least one week for daily backups.

Backup type

Specifies the types of daily, weekly and monthly backups

 Always full - all the daily, weekly and monthly backups will always be full. This is

the default selection for cases when a tape drive is selected as a backup location.

 Full/Differential/Incremental - daily backups are incremental, weekly backups

are differential, and monthly backups are full.

The first backup is always full. However, this does not mean that it is a monthly backup. It will be kept as a daily, weekly or monthly backup, depending on the day of week it is created.

Advanced settings

Available only in Acronis Backup Advanced when creating a centralized backup plan. See the "Advanced scheduling settings" (p. 87) section for details.

A backup is not deleted until all backups that directly depend on it become subject to deletion as well. This is

why you might see a backup, marked with the icon, for a few days past its expected expiration date.

Examples

Each day of the past week, each week of the past month

Let us consider a GFS backup scheme that many may find useful.

 Back up files every day, including weekends  Be able to recover files as of any date over the past seven days  Have access to weekly backups of the past month  Keep monthly backups indefinitely.

Backup scheme parameters can then be set up as follows.

 Start backup at: 11:00 PM  Back up on: All days  Weekly/monthly: Saturday (for example)  Keep backups:

 Daily: 1 week  Weekly: 1 month  Monthly: indefinitely

As a result, an archive of daily, weekly, and monthly backups will be created. Daily backups will be available for seven days since creation. For instance, a daily backup of Sunday, January 1, will be

available through next Sunday, January 8; the first weekly backup, the one of Saturday, January 7, will be stored on the system until February 7. Monthly backups will never be deleted.

Limited storage

If you do not want to arrange a vast amount of space to store a huge archive, you may set up a GFS scheme so as to make your backups more short-lived, at the same time ensuring that your information can be recovered in case of an accidental data loss.

Suppose that you need to:

 Perform backups at the end of each working day  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: 6:00 PM  Back up on: Workdays  Weekly/monthly: Friday  Keep backups:

 Daily: 1 week  Weekly: 10 days  Monthly: 6 months

With this scheme, you will have a week to recover a previous version of a damaged file from a daily backup; as well as 10-day access to weekly backups. Each monthly full backup will be available for six months since the creation date.

Work schedule

Suppose you are a part-time financial consultant and work in a company on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On these days, you often make changes to your financial documents, statements, and update the spreadsheets etc. on your laptop. To back up this data, you may want to:

 Track changes to the financial statements, spreadsheets, etc. performed on Tuesdays and

Thursdays (daily incremental backup).

 Have a weekly summary of file changes since last month (Friday weekly differential backup).  Have a monthly full backup of your files.

Moreover, assume that you want to retain access to all backups, including the daily ones, for at least six months.

The following GFS scheme suits such purposes:

 Start backup at: 11:30 PM  Back up on: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday  Weekly/monthly: Friday  Keep backups:

 Daily: 6 months  Weekly: 6 months

 Monthly: 5 years

Parameter

Meaning

Full backup schedule

Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform a full backup.

For example, the full backup can be set up to run every Sunday at 1:00 AM as soon as all users are logged off.

Incremental backup schedule

Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform an incremental backup.

If the archive contains no backups at the time of the task run, a full backup is created instead of the incremental backup.

Differential backup schedule

Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform a differential backup.

If the archive contains no full backups at the time of the task run, a full backup is created instead of the differential backup.

Here, daily incremental backups will be created on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with weekly and monthly backups performed on Fridays. Note that, in order to choose Friday in the Weekly/monthly field, you need to first select it in the Back up on field.

Such an archive would allow you to compare your financial documents as of the first and the last day of work, and have a five-year history of all documents, etc.

No daily backups

Consider a more exotic GFS scheme:

 Start backup at: 12:00 PM  Back up on: Friday  Weekly/monthly: Friday  Keep backups:

 Daily: 1 week  Weekly: 1 month  Monthly: indefinitely

Backup is thus performed only on Fridays. This makes Friday the only choice for weekly and monthly backups, leaving no other date for daily backups. The resulting “Grandfather-Father” archive will hence consist only of weekly differential and monthly full backups.

Even though it is possible to use GFS to create such an archive, the Custom scheme is more flexible in this situation.

4.2.6.3 Custom backup scheme

At a glance

 Custom schedule and conditions for backups of each type  Custom schedule and retention rules

Parameters

Parameter

Meaning

Clean up archive

Specifies how to get rid of old backups: either to apply retention rules (p. 95) regularly or clean up the archive during a backup when the destination location runs out of space.

By default, the retention rules are not specified, which means older backups will not be deleted automatically.

Using retention rules

Specify the retention rules and when to apply them.

This setting is recommended for backup destinations such as shared folders or centralized vaults.

When there is insufficient space while backing up

The archive will be cleaned up only during backup and only if there is not enough space to create a new backup. In this case, the software will act as follows:

 Delete the oldest full backup with all dependent incremental/differential

backups

 If there is only one full backup left and a full backup is in progress, then

delete the last full backup with all dependent incremental/differential backups

 If there is only one full backup left, and an incremental or differential backup

is in progress, an error occurs saying there is a lack of available space

This setting is recommended when backing up to a USB drive or Acronis Secure Zone. This setting is not applicable to managed vaults, FTP and SFTP servers.

This setting enables deletion of the last backup in the archive, in case your storage device cannot accommodate more than one backup. However, you might end up with no backups if the program is not able to create the new backup for some reason.

Apply retention rules

(only if the retention rules are set)

Specifies when to apply the retention rules (p. 95).

For example, the cleanup procedure can be set up to run after each backup, and also on schedule.

This option is available only if you have set at least one retention rule in Retention rules.

Cleanup schedule

(only if On schedule is selected)

Specifies a schedule for archive cleanup.

For example, the cleanup can be scheduled to start on the last day of each month.

This option is available only if you selected On schedule in Apply retention rules.

2nd location, 3rd location, and so on

Specifies where to copy or move (p. 91) the backups from the current location.

This option is available only if you selected either the Replicate newly created

backup to another location check box under How to back up, or Move the oldest backups to another location in the Retention rules window.

Examples

Weekly full backup

The following scheme yields a full backup performed every Friday night.

Full backup: Schedule: Weekly, every Friday, at 10:00 PM

Here, all parameters except Schedule in Full backup are left empty. All backups in the archive are kept indefinitely (no archive cleanup is performed).

Full and incremental backup plus cleanup

With the following scheme, the archive will consist of weekly full backups and daily incremental backups. We further require that a full backup begin only after all users have logged off.

Full backup: Schedule: Weekly, every Friday, at 10:00 PM

Full backup: Conditions: User is logged off

Incremental: Schedule: Weekly, every workday, at 9:00 PM

Also, let all backups older than one year be deleted from the archive, and let the cleanup be performed upon creating a new backup.

Retention rules: Delete backups older than 12 months

Apply the rules: After backing up

By default, a one-year-old full backup will not be deleted until all incremental backups that depend on it become subject to deletion too. For more information, see Retention rules (p. 95).

Monthly full, weekly differential, and daily incremental backups plus cleanup

This example demonstrates the use of all options available in the Custom scheme.

Suppose that we need a scheme that will produce monthly full backups, weekly differential backups, and daily incremental backups. Then the backup schedule can look as follows.

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. This is set up in the Conditions fields for each backup type.

Full backup: Conditions: Location available

Incremental: Conditions: User is logged off

Differential: Conditions: User is idle

As a result, a full backup—originally scheduled at 9:00 PM—may actually start later: as soon as the backup location becomes available. Likewise, backup tasks for incremental and differential backups will wait until all users are logged off and users are idle, respectively.

Finally, we create retention rules for the archive: let us retain only backups that are no older than six months, and let the cleanup be performed after each backup task and also on the last day of every month.

Retention rules: Delete backups older than 6 months

Apply the rules: After backing up, On schedule

Cleanup schedule: Monthly, on the Last day of All months, at 10:00 PM

By default, a backup is not deleted as long as it has dependent backups that must be kept. For

Schedule

Set up a daily (p. 79), weekly (p. 81), or monthly (p. 83) schedule. Setting up schedule parameters allows for the creation of simple schedules (example of a simple daily schedule: a backup task will be run every 1 day at 10 AM) as well as more complex schedules (example of a complex daily schedule: a task will be run every 3 days, starting from January 15. During the specified days the task will be repeated every 2 hours from 10 AM to 10 PM). Thus, complex schedules specify the sessions on which the scheme should run. In the discussion below, "days" can be replaced with "scheduled sessions".

Number of levels

Select from 2 to 16 backup levels. See the example stated below for details.

Roll-back period

The guaranteed number of sessions that one can go back in the archive at any time. Calculated automatically, depending on the schedule parameters and the numbers of levels you select. See the example below for details.

Backup type

Specifies what backup types the backup levels will have

 Always full - all levels of backups will be full. This is the default selection for cases

when a tape drive is selected as a backup location.

 Full/Differential/Incremental - backups of different levels will have different types:

- Last-level backups are full

- Backups of intermediate levels are differential

- First-level backups are incremental

example, if a full backup has become subject to deletion, but there are incremental or differential backups that depend on it, the deletion is postponed until all the dependent backups can be deleted as well.

For more information, see Retention rules (p. 95).

4.2.6.4 Tower of Hanoi scheme

At a glance

 Up to 16 levels of full, differential, and incremental backups  Next-level backups are twice as rare as previous-level backups  One backup of each level is stored at a time  Higher density of more recent backups

Parameters

You can set up the following parameters of a Tower of Hanoi scheme.

Example

Schedule parameters are set as follows

 Recur: Every 1 day  Frequency: Once at 6 PM

Number of levels: 4

Backup type: Full/Differential/Incremental

This is how the first 14 days (or 14 sessions) of this scheme's schedule look. Shaded numbers denote backup levels.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 3

Backups of different levels have different types:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 4 1 2 1 3 1 2

Number of levels

Full backup every

On different days, can go back

Roll-back period

2 days

1 to 2 days

1 day

4 days

2 to 5 days

2 days

8 days

4 to 11 days

4 days

16 days

8 to 23 days

8 days

32 days

16 to 47 days

16 days

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

12 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

13 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1

 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.

The scheme allows for efficient data storage: more backups accumulate toward the current time. Having four backups, we could recover data as of today, yesterday, half a week, or a week ago.

Roll-back period

The number of days we can go back in the archive is different on different days. The minimum number of days we are guaranteed to have is called the roll-back period.

The following table shows full backup and roll-back periods for schemes of various levels.

Adding a level doubles the full backup and roll-back periods.

To see why the number of recovery days varies, let us return to the previous example.

Here are the backups we have on day 12 (numbers in gray denote deleted backups).

A new level 3 differential backup has not yet been created, so the backup of day five is still stored. Since it depends on the full backup of day one, that backup is available as well. This enables us to go as far back as 11 days, which is the best-case scenario.

The following day, however, a new third-level differential backup is created, and the old full backup is deleted.

This gives us only a four day recovery interval, which turns out to be the worst-case scenario.

On day 14, the interval is five days. It increases on subsequent days before decreasing again, and so

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

14 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 3 1

on.

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.

4.2.6.5 Manual start

With the Manual start scheme, you do not have to specify the backup schedule. You can run the backup plan from the Plans and Tasks view manually at any time afterwards.

Specify the appropriate settings as follows.

Backup type

Select the type of backup

 Full - selected by default for all backup locations (except for Acronis Cloud Storage).  Incremental. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be

incremental. Selected as the one and only backup type for Acronis Cloud Storage.

 Differential. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be

differential.

4.2.6.6 Initial seeding

This backup scheme is available when Acronis Cloud Storage is selected as the backup destination. A backup is only successful if you have an Initial Seeding license.

The Initial Seeding service might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://kb.acronis.com/content/15118.

Initial seeding enables you to transfer the first backup, which is full and usually the largest, to the cloud storage on a hard drive instead of over the Internet. Subsequent backups, which are all incremental and thus usually much smaller, can be transferred over the Internet after the full backup has arrived in the cloud storage.

If you back up 500 GB of data or more, initial seeding ensures faster delivery of the backed-up data and lower traffic costs.

Please refer to the "Initial Seeding FAQ (p. 411)" section for more details.

4.2.7 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.

Validation of a file backup imitates recovery of all files from the backup to a dummy destination. Validation of a volume backup calculates a checksum for every data block saved in the backup.

To set up validation, specify the following parameters

1. When to validate – select when to perform the validation. As the validation is a

resource-intensive operation, it makes sense to schedule the validation to the managed machine's off-peak period. On the other hand, if the validation is a major part of your data

protection strategy and you prefer to be immediately informed whether the backed-up data is not corrupted and can be successfully recovered, think of starting the validation right after backup creation.

2. What to validate – select either to validate the entire archive or the latest backup in the archive.

Validation of the archive will validate all the archive’s backups and may take a long time and a lot

of system resources.

Validation of the latest backup may also take time, even if this backup is incremental or differential, and small in size. This is because the operation validates not only the data physically contained in the backup, but all of the data recoverable by selecting the backup. This requires access to previously created backups.

3. Validation schedule (appears only if you have selected On schedule in step 1) - set the schedule

of validation. For more information see the Scheduling (p. 77) section.

4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials

Provide the credentials for the account under which the plan will run. By default, the plan runs under the agent service account, if created by a user having administrative privileges on the machine. If created by a regular user, such as a member of the Users group, the plan runs under this user's account.

To specify credentials explicitly

1. If you have administrative privileges on the machine, select Use the following credentials.

Otherwise skip this step.

2. Specify:

 User name. When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also

specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain).

 Password. The password for the account.  Confirm password. Re-enter the password.

3. Click OK.

To learn more about operations available depending on the user privileges, see the Users' privileges on a managed machine (p. 31) section.

4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup)

Any time data on a machine is backed up, information about the machine name, operating system, Windows service pack and security identifier (SID) is added to the backup, along with the user-defined text label. The label may include the department or machine owner's name or similar information that can be used as a tag or a key.

If you recover (p. 127) the machine to a VMware ESX(i) using Agent for VMware, or convert (p. 163) the backup to a ESX(i) virtual machine, these properties will be transferred to the virtual machine's configuration. You can view them in the virtual machine settings: Edit settings > Options > Advanced > General > Configuration parameters. You can select, sort and group the virtual machines with the help of these custom parameters. This can be useful in various scenarios.

Example:

Let's assume you migrate your office or datacenter to a virtual environment. By using third-party software that can access configuration parameters through VMware API, you can automatically apply security policies to each machine even before powering it on.

To add a text label to a backup:

Parameter

Value

Description

acronisTag.label

A user-defined label.

The label can be set by a user when creating a backup plan.

acronisTag.hostname

Host name (FQDN)

acronisTag.os.type

Operating system

acronisTag.os.servicepack

0, 1, 2...

The version of the Service Pack installed in the system.

For Windows OS only.

acronisTag.os.sid

Machine's SID.

For example: S-1-5-21-874133492-782267321-3928949834.

For Windows OS only.

Windows XP All Editions

winXPProGuest

Windows XP All Editions (64 bit)

winXPPro64Guest

Windows Server 2003, All Editions

winNetStandardGuest

Windows Server 2003, All Editions (64 bit)

winNetStandard64Guest

Windows 2008

winLonghornGuest

Windows 2008 (64 bit)

winLonghorn64Guest

Windows Vista

winVistaGuest

Windows Vista (64 bit)

winVista64Guest

Windows 7

windows7Guest

Windows 7 (64 bit)

windows7_64Guest

Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit)

windows7Server64Guest

Linux

otherLinuxGuest

Linux (64 bit)

otherLinux64Guest

Other Operating System

otherGuest

Other Operating System (64 bit)

otherGuest64

1. On the Create backup plan (p. 50) page, click Show plan's credentials, comments, label.

2. In Label, enter the text label or select it from the drop-down menu.

Parameters specification

Values of the "acronisTag.os.type" parameter

Example

acronisTag.label = “DEPT:BUCH; COMP:SUPERSERVER; OWNER:EJONSON”

acronisTag.hostname = “superserver.corp.local”

acronisTag.os.type = “windows7Server64Guest”

acronisTag.os.servicepack = “1”

acronisTag.os.sid = “S-1-5-21-874133492-782267321-3928949834”

4.2.10 Sequence of operations in a backup plan

If a backup plan contains multiple operations, Acronis Backup performs them in the following order:

1. Cleanup (if configured Before backup) and validation (if cleanup has been performed and

validation is configured to run After the retention rules are applied).

If a backup was moved to a different location during the cleanup, all the operations configured for the subsequent locations are performed before continuing to the following steps in the primary location.

2. Pre-backup command execution.

3. Backup: a. Pre-data capture command execution b. Snapshot creation c. Post-data capture command execution d. Backup process

4. Start of backup cataloging.

Backup cataloging can be a time-consuming process. It is performed in parallel with the following steps.

5. Post-backup command execution.

6. Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) creation.

7. Conversion to a virtual machine.

8. Backup replication.

9. Cleanup.

If the replication took place, or a backup was moved to a different location during the cleanup, all the operations configured for the subsequent locations are performed before continuing to the following steps in the primary location.

10. Validation.

11. Tape media ejection.

12. Sending e-mail notification.

4.2.11 Why is the program asking for the password?

A scheduled or postponed task has to run regardless of users being logged on. In case you have not explicitly specified the credentials, under which the task(s) will run, the program proposes using your account. Enter your password, specify another account or change the scheduled start to manual.

4.3 Simplified naming of backup files

To use simplified naming of backup files, do either of the following:

 In the welcome screen, click Create backup plan (p. 50), expand Show backup file naming,

archive comments, and then select the Name backup files using the archive name… check box. When you back up to a locally attached RDX drive or USB flash drive, the Name backup files

using the archive name... check box does not appear. Instead, the removable device mode (p.

189) determines whether the standard or simplified naming scheme will be used. In Linux, the check box appears after you manually mount the device.

 In the welcome screen, click Back up now (p. 50). Simplified naming will be used whenever the

backup destination supports it (see “Restrictions” below).

When you use simplified file naming

 The file name of the first (full) backup in the archive will consist of the archive name; for

example: MyData.tib. The file names of subsequent (incremental or differential) backups will have an index. For example: MyData2.tib, MyData3.tib, and so on.

This simple naming scheme enables you to create a portable image of a machine on a detachable media or move the backups to a different location by using a script.

 Before creating a new full backup, the software will delete the entire archive and start a new

one.

This behavior is useful when you rotate USB hard drives and want each drive to keep a single full backup (p. 75) or all backups created during a week (p. 76). But you might end up with no backups if a full backup to your only drive fails.

This behavior can be suppressed by adding the [Date] variable (p. 73) to the archive name.

When you use standard file naming

 Each backup will have a unique file name with the exact time stamp and the backup type. For

example: MyData_2010_03_26_17_01_38_960D.tib. This standard file naming allows for a wider range of backup destinations and backup schemes.

Restrictions

Simplified file naming is not available in the following cases:

 Using a centralized backup plan.  Backing up to a managed vault, tape, Acronis Secure Zone, or Acronis Cloud Storage.  Backing up virtual machines by using Agent for VMware or Agent for Hyper-V.  Backing up Microsoft Exchange Server data by using Agent for Exchange.

When using simplified file naming, the following functionality is not available:

 Setting up full, incremental and differential backups within a single backup plan. You need to

create separate backup plans for each type of backup.

 Setting up replication of backups.  Setting up retention rules.  Setting up regular conversion of backups to a virtual machine.  Converting an incremental or differential backup into a full one.

Restrictions on archive names

 The archive name cannot end with a number.  The FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS file systems do not allow the following characters in the file name:

backslash (\), slash (/), colon (:), asterisk (*), question mark (?), quotation mark ("), less than sign (<), greater than sign (>), and pipe (|).

4.3.1 The [DATE] variable

If you specify the [DATE] variable in the archive name, the file name of each backup will include that backup’s creation date.

When using this variable, the first backup of a new day will be a full backup. Before creating the next full backup, the software deletes all backups taken earlier that day. Backups taken before that day are kept. This means you can store multiple full backups with or without incremental ones, but no

more than one full backup per day. You can sort the backups by date. You can also use a script to copy, move, or delete the older backups.

The value of this variable is the current date surrounded by brackets ([]). The date format depends on the regional options on the machine. For example, if the date format is year-month-day, the value for January 31, 2012, is [2012-01-31]. Characters that are not supported in a file name, such as slashes (/), are replaced with underscores (_).

You can place this variable anywhere in the archive name. You can use both lowercase and uppercase letters in this variable.

Examples

Example 1. Suppose that you perform incremental backups twice a day (at midnight and noon) for two days, starting on January 31, 2012. The archive name is MyArchive-[DATE], the date format is year-month-day. Here is the list of backup files after day two:

MyArchive-[2012-01-31].tib (full, created on January 31 at midnight) MyArchive-[2012-01-31]2.tib (incremental, created on January 31 at noon) MyArchive-[2012-02-01].tib (full, created on February 1 at midnight) MyArchive-[2012-02-01]2.tib (incremental, created on February 1 at noon)

Example 2. Suppose that you perform full backups, with the same schedule, archive name, and date

format as in the previous example. Then, the list of backup files after day two is the following:

MyArchive-[2012-01-31].tib (full, created on January 31 at noon) MyArchive-[2012-02-01].tib (full, created on February 1 at noon)

This is because the full backups created at midnight were replaced by new full backups of the same day.

4.3.2 Backup splitting and simplified file naming

When a backup is split according to backup splitting (p. 106) settings, the same indexing is used to also name parts of the backup. The file name for the next backup will have the next available index.

For example, suppose that the first backup of the archive MyData has been split in two parts. Then, the file names for this backup are MyData1.tib and MyData2.tib. The second backup (supposing that it is not split) will be named MyData3.tib.

4.3.3 Usage examples

This section provides examples of how you can use simplified file naming.

4.3.3.1 Example 1. Daily backup replacing the old one

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a daily full backup of your machine.  You want to store the backup on a locally attached USB hard drive in the file MyMachine.tib.  You want each new backup to replace the old one.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan, specify the USB hard drive as the archive location, specify MyMachine as the archive name, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, and select Full as the backup type.

Result. The archive consists of a single file: MyMachine.tib. This file is deleted before creating a new backup.

If you choose to back up to a locally attached RDX drive or USB flash drive, you will not see the Name backup files using the archive name... check box. Instead, make sure that the removable device mode (p. 189) is set to Removable media.

4.3.3.2 Example 2. Daily full backups with a date stamp

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a daily full backup of your machine.  You want to move older backups to a remote location by using a script.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan, specify MyMachine-[DATE] as the archive name, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, and select Full as the backup type.

Result:

 The backups of January 1, 2012, January 2, 2012, and so on, are stored respectively as

MyMachine-[2012-01-01].tib, MyMachine-[2012-01-02].tib, and so on.

 Your script can move older backups based on the date stamp.

See also “The [Date] variable” (p. 73).

4.3.3.3 Example 3. Hourly backups within a day

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform hourly backups of your server's critical files every day.  You want the first backup of each day to be full and to run at midnight; and the subsequent

backups of the day to be differential and to run at 01:00, 02:00, and so on.

 You want to keep older backups in the archive.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan, specify ServerFiles[Date] as the archive name, select the Name backup files using the archive name… check box, specify Differential as the backup type, and schedule the backups to run every hour from midnight.

Result:

 The 24 backups of January 1, 2012, will be stored as ServerFiles[2012-01-01].tib,

ServerFiles[2012-01-01]2.tib, and so on up to ServerFiles[2012-01-01]24.tib.

 The following day, the backups will start with the full backup ServerFiles[2012-01-02].tib.

4.3.3.4 Example 4. Daily full backups with daily drive swaps

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a daily full backup of your machine.  You want to store the backup on a locally attached USB hard drive in the file MyMachine.tib.  You have two such drives. You want to swap them before each backup so that one drive contains

today’s backup and the other drive yesterday’s backup.

 You want each new backup to replace the backup on the currently attached drive.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan:

 Specify MyMachine as the archive name.  In Windows, specify D:\ as the archive location, where D is the letter each of the drives has in the

operating system when attached to the machine. In Linux, create a directory such as /mnt/backup and specify it as the archive location. Each time

you attach a drive, make sure to mount it to the mount point /mnt/backup.

 Select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box.  Select Full as the backup type.

Result. Each hard disk drive will contain one full backup. While one drive is attached to the machine, you can keep the other drive off-site for extra data protection.

In Windows, if you choose to back up to locally attached RDX drives or USB flash drives, the Name backup files using the archive name... check box does not appear. Instead, make sure that the removable device mode (p. 189) is set to Removable media.

4.3.3.5 Example 5. Daily backups with weekly drive swaps

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform daily backups of your machine: a full backup each Monday and incremental

backups on Tuesday through Sunday.

 You want to store the backups on a locally attached USB hard drive in the archive MyMachine.  You have two such drives. You want to swap them each Monday so that one drive contains

backups of the current week (Monday through Sunday), and the other drive those of the previous week.

In this scenario, you need to create two backup plans as follows:

a) When creating the first backup plan:

 Specify MyMachine as the archive name.  In Windows, specify D:\ as the archive location, where D is the letter either of the drives has

in the operating system when attached to the machine. In Linux, create a directory such as /mnt/backup and specify it as the archive location. Each

time you attach a drive, make sure to mount it to the mount point /mnt/backup.

 Select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box.  Select Full as the backup type.  Schedule the backups to run every week on Monday.

b) When creating the second backup plan, specify the same settings as in the first backup plan, but

select Incremental as the backup type and schedule the backups to run every week on Tuesday through Sunday.

Result:

 Before creating a Monday backup (by the first backup plan), all backups will be deleted from the

currently attached drive.

 While one drive is attached to the machine, you can keep the other drive off-site for extra data

protection.

4.3.3.6 Example 6. Backups within working hours

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to back up your server’s critical files every day.  You want the first backup of each day to be full and to run at 01:00 AM.  You want the backups during working hours to be differential and to run every hour from

8:00 AM through 5:00 PM.

 You want to include a creation date in the name of each backup file.

In this scenario, you need to create two backup plans as follows:

a) When creating the first backup plan, specify ServerFiles[DATE] as the archive name, select the

Name backup files using the archive name… check box, select Full as the backup type, and schedule the backups to run every day at 01:00:00 AM.

b) When creating the second backup plan, specify the same settings as in the first backup plan, but

select Differential as the backup type and schedule the backups as follows:

 Run the task: Daily  Every: 1 Hour(s)  From: 08:00:00 AM  Until: 05:01:00 PM

Result:

 The full backup of January 31, 2012, will be stored as ServerFiles[2012-01-31].tib.  The 10 differential backups of January 31, 2012, will be stored as ServerFiles[2012-01-31]2.tib,

ServerFiles[2012-01-31]3.tib, and so on up to ServerFiles[2012-01-31]11.tib.

 The following day, February 1, the backups will start with the full backup

ServerFiles[2012-02-01].tib. The differential backups will start with ServerFiles[2012-02-01]2.tib.

See also “The [Date] variable” (p. 73).

4.4 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 scheduling is available when creating a backup plan (p. 50) with any of the following backup schemes: Simple, Custom or Tower of Hanoi. The schedule also can be set for validation tasks (p.

232).

The scheduler uses local time of the machine the backup plan exists on. Before creating a schedule, be sure the machine’s date and time settings are correct.

Schedule

To define when a task has to be executed, you need to specify an event or multiple events. The task will be launched as soon as any of the events occurs. The table below lists the events available under Windows and Linux operating systems.

Event

Windows

Linux

Time: Daily, Weekly, Monthly

Time since completion of the last successful backup within the same backup plan

(specify the length of time)

User logon

(any user, current user, specify the user’s account)

User logoff*

(any user, current user, specify the user’s account)

*Shutting down is not the same as logging off. The task will not run at a system shutdown.

System startup

System shutdown

An event in Windows Event Log

(specify the parameters of the event)

Condition

Condition: run the task only if

Windows

Linux

User is idle (a screen saver is running or the machine is locked)

Location's host is available

The task run time is within the specified time interval

All users are logged off

The specified period of time has passed since the completion of the last successful backup within the same backup plan

For backup operations only, you can specify a condition or multiple conditions in addition to the events. Once any of the events occurs, the scheduler checks the condition and runs the task if the condition is met. With multiple conditions, all of them must be met simultaneously to enable task execution. The table below lists the conditions available under Windows and Linux operating systems.

The scheduler behavior, in case the event occurs but the condition (or any of multiple conditions) is not met is defined by the Task start conditions (p. 123) backup option.

What-ifs

 What if an event occurs (and a condition, if any, is met) while the previous task run has not

completed?

The event will be ignored.

 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. To automatically handle this situation, you can set the time interval after which the task will run regardless of the condition.

4.4.1 Daily schedule

Every: <...> day(s)

Set up the certain number of days you want the task to be run. For example, if you set Every 2 day(s), the task will be started on every other day.

Once at: <...>

Set up the time at which the task will be run once.

Every: <...>

From: <...> Until: <...>

Set up how many times the task will be run during the specified time interval. For example, setting the task frequency to Every 1 hour From 10:00:00 AM Until 10:00:00 PM allows the task to be run 13 times from 10 AM to 10 PM during one day.

From: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be enabled (an effective date). If this check box is cleared, the task will be started on the nearest day and time you have specified above.

To: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be disabled. If this check box is cleared, the task will be run for an indefinite number of days.

Daily schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems.

To specify a daily schedule

In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows:

In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following:

In the Effective... area, set the following settings:

If one or more task launches were missed while the machine was powered off, the software tries to create a backup at the machine startup. If you do not need this extra backup, clear the If the machine is turned off, run missed tasks at the machine startup check box.

Advanced scheduling settings (p. 87) are available only for machines registered on Acronis Backup Management Server. To specify these settings, click Change in the Advanced settings area.

All the settings you made are displayed in the Result field at the bottom of the window.

Examples

"Simple" daily schedule

Run the task every day at 6PM.

The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows.

1. Every: 1 day(s).

2. Once at: 06:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: not set. The task will be started on the current day, if it has been created before 6PM. If you have created the task after 6 PM, the task will be started for the first time on the next day at 6 PM.

To: not set. The task will be performed for an indefinite number of days.

"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.

The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows.

1. Every: 1 day(s).

2. Every: 3 hours

From: 12:00:00 AM (midnight) Until: 09:00:00 PM - thus, the task will be performed 8 times a day with a 3 hour time interval. After the last daily recurrence at 9 PM, the next day comes and the task starts over again from midnight.

3. Effective:

From: 09/15/2009. If September 15, 2009 is the current date of the task's creation and, say, 01:15 PM is the task's creation time, the task will be started when the nearest time interval comes: at 03:00 PM in our example.

To: 12/15/2009. On this date the task will be performed for the last time, but the task itself is still available in the Tasks view.

Several daily schedules for one task

There are some cases when you might need the task to be run several times a day, or even several times a day with different time intervals. For such cases, consider adding several schedules to a single task.

For example, suppose that the task has to be run every 3rd day, starting from 09/20/2009, five times a day:

 first at 8 AM  second at 12 PM (noon)  third at 3 PM  fourth at 5 PM  fifth at 7 PM

The obvious way is to add five simple schedules. If you spend one minute for examination, you can think out a more optimal way. As you can see, the time interval between the first and the second task's recurrences is 4 hours, and between the third, fourth and fifth is 2 hours. In this case, the optimal way is to add two schedules to the task.

First daily schedule

1. Every: 3 day(s).

2. Every: 4 hours.

From: 08:00:00 AM Until: 12:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: 09/20/2009. To: not set.

Second daily schedule

1. Every: 3 day(s).

2. Every: 2 hour(s).

From: 03:00:00 PM Until: 07:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: 09/20/2009. To: not set.

4.4.2 Weekly schedule

Every: <...> week(s) on: <...>

Specify a certain number of weeks and the days of the week you want the task to be run. For example, with the Every 2 week(s) on Mon setting, the task will be performed on Monday of every other week.

Once at: <...>

Set up the time at which the task will be run once.

Every: <...>

From: <...> Until: <...>

From: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be enabled (an effective date). If this check box is cleared, the task will be started on the nearest day and time you have specified above.

To: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be disabled. If this check box is cleared, the task will be run for an indefinite number of weeks.

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:

In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following:

In the Effective... area, set the following settings:

Advanced scheduling settings (p. 87) are available only for machines registered on Acronis Backup Management Server. To specify these settings, click Change in the Advanced settings area.

All the settings you made are displayed in the Result field at the bottom of the window.

Examples

"One day in the week" schedule

Run the task every Friday at 10PM, starting from a certain date (say 05/14/2009) and ending after six months.

The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows.

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Fri.

2. Once at: 10:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: 05/13/2009. The task will be started on the nearest Friday at 10 PM. To: 11/13/2009. The task will be performed for the last time on this date, but the task itself will

still be available in the Tasks view after this date. (If this date were not a Friday, the task would be last performed on the last Friday preceding this date.)

This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme. 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. For more details, see the Full and incremental backups plus cleanup example in the Custom backup scheme (p. 64) section.

"Workdays" schedule

Run the task every week on workdays: from Monday through Friday. During a workday, the task starts only once at 9 PM.

The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows.

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: <Workdays> - selecting the <Workdays> check box automatically selects the

corresponding check boxes (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, and Fri), and leaves the remaining ones unchanged.

2. Once at: 09:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: empty. If you have created the task, say on Monday at 11:30 AM, the task will be started on the same day at 9 PM. If the task was created, say on Friday after 9 PM, then it will be started for the first time on the nearest workday (Monday in our example) at 9 PM.

End date: empty. The task will be restarted for an indefinite number of weeks.

This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme. The "Workdays"-like schedule is added to the incremental backups, while the full backup is scheduled to be performed one day in the week. For more details, see the Full and incremental backups plus cleanup example in the Custom backup scheme (p. 64) section.

Several weekly schedules for one task

In the case when the task needs to be run on different days of the weeks with different time intervals, consider adding a dedicated schedule to every desired day of the week, or to several days.

For example, you need the task to be run with the following schedule:

 Monday: twice at 12 PM (noon) and 9 PM  Tuesday: every 3 hours from 9 AM until 9 PM  Wednesday: every 3 hours from 9 AM until 9 PM  Thursday: every 3 hours from 9 AM until 9 PM  Friday: twice at 12 PM and 9 PM (i.e. same as on Monday)  Saturday: once at 9 PM  Sunday: once at 9 PM

Combining the identical times, the following three schedules can be added to the task:

First schedule

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Mon, Fri.

2. Every: 9 hours

From: 12:00:00 PM Until: 09:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: not set. To: not set.

Second schedule

1. Every 1 week(s) on: Tue, Wed, Thu.

2. Every 3 hours

From 09:00:00 AM until 09:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

Months: <...>

Select a certain month(s) you want to run the task in.

Days: <...>

Select specific days of the month to run the task on. You can also select the last day of the month, irrespective of its actual date.

On: <...> <...>

Select specific days of the weeks to run the task on.

Once at: <...>

Set up the time at which the task will be run once.

Every: <...>

From: <...> Until: <...>

From: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be enabled (an effective date). If this check box is cleared, the task will be started on the nearest day and time you have specified above.

To: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be disabled. If this check box is cleared, the task will be run for an indefinite number of months.

From: not set. To: not set.

Third schedule

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Sat, Sun.

2. Once at: 09:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: not set. To: not set.

4.4.3 Monthly schedule

Monthly schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems.

To specify a monthly schedule

In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows:

In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following:

In the Effective... area, set the following settings:

Advanced scheduling settings (p. 87) are available only for machines registered on Acronis Backup Management Server. To specify these settings, click Change in the Advanced settings area.

All the settings you made are displayed in the Result field at the bottom of the window.

Examples

"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. Months: <All months>.

2. Days: Last. The task will run on the last day of every month despite its actual date.

3. Once at: 10:00:00 PM.

4. Effective:

From: empty. To: empty.

This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme. The "Last day of every month" schedule is added to the full backups, while the differential backups are scheduled to be performed once a week and incremental on workdays. For more details, see the Monthly full, weekly differential, and daily incremental backups plus cleanup example in the Custom backup scheme (p. 64) section.

"Season" schedule

Run the task on all workdays during the northern autumn seasons of 2009 and 2010. During a workday, the task is performed every 6 hours from 12 AM (midnight) until 6 PM.

The schedule's parameters are set up as follows.

1. Months: September, October, November.

2. On: <all> <workdays>.

3. Every: 6 hours.

From: 12:00:00 AM Until: 06:00:00 PM.

4. Effective:

From: 08/30/2009. Actually the task will be started on the first workday of September. By setting up this date we just define that the task must be started in 2009.

To: 12/01/2010. Actually the task will end on the last workday of November. By setting up this date we just define that the task must be discontinued in 2010, after autumn ends in the northern hemisphere.

Several monthly schedules for one task

In the case when the task needs to be run on different days or weeks with different time intervals depending on the month, consider adding a dedicated schedule to every desired month or several months.

Suppose that the task goes into effect on 11/01/2009.

 During northern winter, the task runs once at 10PM on every workday.  During northern spring and autumn, the task runs every 12 hours on all workdays.  During northern summer, the task runs every first and fifteenth of every month at 10 PM.

Thus, the following three schedules are added to the task.

First schedule

1. Months: December, January, February.

2. On: <All> <All workdays>

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: <All> <All workdays>.

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. Months: June, July, August.

2. Days: 1, 15.

3. Once at: 10:00:00 PM.

4. Effective:

From: 11/01/2009. To: not set.

4.4.4 On Windows Event Log event

This type of schedule is effective only in Windows operating systems.

You can schedule a backup task to start when a certain Windows event has been recorded in one of the event logs such as the Application, Security, or System log.

For example, you may want to set up a backup plan that will automatically perform an emergency full backup of your data as soon as Windows discovers that your hard disk drive is about to fail.

Parameters

Log name

Specifies the name of the log. Select the name of a standard log (Application, Security, or System) from the list, or type a log name—for example: Microsoft Office Sessions

Event source

Specifies the event source, which typically indicates the program or the system component that caused the event—for example: disk

Event type

Specifies the event type: Error, Warning, Information, Audit success, or Audit failure.

Event ID

Specifies the event number, which typically identifies the particular kind of events among events from the same source.

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.

When Windows detects a bad block on a hard disk, it records an event with the event source disk and the event number 7 into the System log; the type of this event is Error.

When creating the plan, type or select the following in the Schedule area:

 Log name: System  Event source: disk  Event type: Error  Event ID: 7

Important: To ensure that such a task will complete despite the presence of bad blocks, you must make the task ignore bad blocks. To do this, in Backup options, go to Error handling, and then select the Ignore bad sectors check box.

Pre-update backup in Vista

Suppose that you want to create a backup plan that will automatically perform a backup of the system—for example, by backing up the volume where Windows is installed—every time that Windows is about to install updates.

Having downloaded one or more updates and scheduled their installation, the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system records an event with the event source Microsoft-Windows-WindowsUpdateClient and event number 18 into the System log; the type of this event is Information.

When creating the plan, type or select the following in the Schedule area:

 Log name: System  Event source: Microsoft-Windows-WindowsUpdateClient  Event type: Information  Event ID: 18

Tip: To set up a similar backup plan for machines running Microsoft Windows XP, replace the text in Event source with Windows Update Agent and leave the remaining fields the same.

How to view events in Event Viewer

To open a log in Event Viewer

1. On the Desktop or in the Start menu, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.

2. In the Computer Management console, expand System Tools, and then expand Event Viewer.

3. 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.

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. In the Event Properties dialog box, view the event's properties such as the event source, shown

in the Source field; and the event number, shown in the Event ID field.

When you are finished, click OK to close the Event Properties dialog box.

4.4.5 Advanced scheduling settings

The following advanced settings are available when setting up a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule in a centralized backup plan.

Use Wake-on-LAN

When this setting is enabled, Acronis Backup Management Server will use the Wake-on-LAN functionality to wake up turned-off registered machines when a backup, cleanup, or validation is scheduled to start. If you start any of these operations manually, the Wake-on-LAN functionality will not be used.

If the backup task on each machine starts with a delay (see the next setting), the management server will wake up the machines according to those delays.

Before using this setting, ensure that you have enabled Wake-on-LAN on the registered machines. The machine's basic input/output system (BIOS) configuration, network adapter configuration, and the operating system configuration must allow waking up the machine from the powered-off state, also known as the S5 or G2 power state.

Distribute start time within the time window

When this setting is enabled, the backup task on each registered machine will start with a specific delay from the start time set in the backup plan. This distributes the tasks' actual start times within a time interval.

You may want to use this setting when creating a centralized backup plan for backing up multiple machines to a network location, to avoid excessive network load.

The delay values range from zero to the specified maximum delay value, and are determined according to the chosen distribution method. The delay value for each machine is determined when the backup plan is deployed to the machine, and remains the same until you edit the backup plan and change the maximum delay value.

The conditions, if any, will be checked at the task's actual start time on each machine.

The following examples illustrate this setting.

Example 1

Suppose that you are deploying a centralized backup plan with the following schedule to three machines:

Run the task: Daily Once at: 09:00:00 AM

Distribute start time within the time window Maximum delay: 1 Hour(s) Distribution method: Random

In this case, the task's start time on each machine may be any time between 09:00:00 AM and 09:59:59 AM. For instance:

First machine: Every day at 09:30:03 AM

Second machine: Every day at 09:00:00 AM

Third machine: Every day at 09:59:59 AM

Example 2

Suppose that you are deploying a centralized backup plan with the following schedule to three machines:

Run the task: Daily Every: 2 Hour(s) From: 09:00:00 AM Until: 11:00:00 AM

Distribute start time within the time window Maximum delay: 1 Hour(s) Distribution method: Random

In this case, the time of the task's first run on each machine may be any time between 09:00:00 AM and 09:59:59 AM; the interval between the first and the second run is exactly two hours. For instance:

First machine: Every day at 09:30:03 AM and at 11:30:03 AM

Second machine: Every day at 09:00:00 AM and at 11:00:00 AM

Third machine: Every day at 09:59:59 AM and at 11:59:59 AM

To specify advanced settings

1. Connect to the management server and then start creating a backup plan.

2. In How to back up, select the Simple, GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son), Tower of Hanoi, or Custom

backup scheme.

3. Depending on the backup scheme, do one of the following:

 For the GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) backup scheme, click Advanced settings.  For the Simple, Tower of Hanoi, or Custom backup scheme:

a. Click Schedule to specify a schedule for the scheme. b. Under Run the task, select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. c. In the Advanced settings area, click Change.

4. To enable the use of the Wake-on-LAN functionality, select the Use Wake-on-LAN check box.

5. To distribute the centralized backup tasks' start times, select the Distribute start time within the

time window check box and then specify the maximum delay value and the distribution method.

4.4.6 Conditions

Conditions add more flexibility to the scheduler, enabling to execute backup tasks with respect to certain conditions. Once a specified event occurs (see the "Scheduling (p. 77)" section for the list of available events), the scheduler checks the specified condition and executes the task if the condition is met.

Conditions are available only when the custom backup scheme (p. 64) is used. You can set conditions for full, incremental and differential backup separately.

The scheduler behavior in case the event occurs but the condition (or any of multiple conditions) is not met, is defined by the Task start conditions (p. 123) backup option. There, you can specify how important the conditions are for the backup strategy:

 conditions are obligatory - put the backup task run on hold until all the conditions are met.  conditions are preferable, but a backup task run has higher priority - put the task on hold for the

specified time interval. If the time interval lapses and the conditions are still not met, run the task anyway. With this setting, the program will automatically handle the situation when the conditions are not met for too long and further delaying the backup is undesirable.

 backup task start time matters - skip the backup task if the conditions are not met at the time

when the task should be started. Skipping the task run makes sense when you need to back up data strictly at the specified time, especially if the events are relatively often.

Adding multiple conditions

If two or more conditions are specified, the backup will start only when all of them are met.

4.4.6.1 User is idle

Applies to: Windows

"User is idle" means that a screen saver is running on the managed machine or the machine is locked.

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.

(2) If the user becomes idle between 9PM and 11PM, the backup task will start immediately after the user becomes idle.

(3) If the user is still active at 11PM, the backup task starts anyway.

4.4.6.2 Location's host is available

Applies to: Windows, Linux

"Location's host is available" means that the machine hosting the destination for storing archives on a networked drive is available.

Example:

Backing up data to the networked location is performed on workdays at 9:00 PM. If the location's host is not available at that moment (for instance, due to maintenance work), skip the backup and wait for the next workday to start the task. It is assumed that the backup task should not be started at all rather than failed.

 Event: Weekly, Every 1 week(s) on <workdays>; Once at 09:00:00 PM.  Condition: Location's host is available  Task start conditions: Skip the task execution.

As a result,

(1) If 9:00 PM comes and the location's host is available, the backup task starts right on time.

(2) If 9:00 PM comes but the host is unavailable at the moment, the backup task will start on the next workday if the location's host is available.

(3) If the location's host will never be available on workdays at 9:00 PM, the task never starts.

4.4.6.3 Fits the time interval

Applies to: Windows, Linux

Restricts a backup task's start time to a specified interval.

Example

A company uses different locations on the same network-attached storage for backing up users data and servers. The workday starts at 8AM and ends at 5 PM. Users' data should be backed up as soon as the users log off, but not earlier than 4:30 PM and not later than 10 PM. Every day at 11 PM the company's servers are backed up. So, all the users' data should be preferably backed up before this 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.

As a result,

(1) if the user logs off between 04:30:00 PM and 10:00:00 PM, the backup task will start immediately following the logging off.

(2) if the user logs off at any other time, the task will be skipped.

What if...

What if a task is scheduled to be executed at a certain time and this time is outside the specified time interval?

For example:

 Event: Daily, Every 1 day(s); Once at 03:00:00 PM.  Condition: Fits the time interval, from 06:00:00 PM until 11:59:59 PM.

In this case, whether and when the task will run depends on the task start conditions:

 If the task start conditions are Skip the task execution, the task will never run.  If the task start conditions are Wait until the conditions are met and the Run the task anyway

after check box is cleared, the task (scheduled to run at 3:00 PM) will start at 6:00 PM—the time when the condition is met.

 If the task start conditions are Wait until the conditions are met and the Run the task anyway

after check box is selected with, say, the 1 Hour waiting time, the task (scheduled to run at

3:00 PM) will start at 4:00 PM—the time when the waiting period ends.

4.4.6.4 Users logged off

Applies to: Windows

Enables to put a backup task run on hold until all users log off from Windows on the managed machine.

Example

Run the backup task at 8 PM on the first and third Friday of every month, preferably when all users are logged off. If one of the users is still logged on at 11 PM, run the task anyway.

 Event: Monthly, Months: <All>; On: <First>, <Third> <Friday>; Once at 08:00:00 PM.  Condition: Users logged off.  Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met, Run the task anyway after 3 hour(s).

As a result,

(1) If all users are logged off at 8PM, the backup task will start at 8PM.

(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.

4.4.6.5 Time since last backup

Applies to: Windows, Linux

Postpones a backup until the specified time passes since the completion of the last successful backup within the same backup plan.

Example:

Run the backup task at system startup, but only if more than 12 hours have passed since the last successful backup.

 Event: At startup, Start the task on machine startup.  Condition: Time since last backup, Time since the last backup: 12 hour(s).  Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met.

As a result,

(1) if the machine is restarted before 12 hours pass since the completion of the latest successful backup, the scheduler will wait until 12 hours pass, and then will start the task.

(2) if the machine is restarted after 12 hours have passed since the completion of the latest successful backup, the backup task will start immediately.

(3) if the machine is never restarted, the task will never start. You can start the backup manually, if need be, in the Backup plans and tasks view.

4.5 Replication and retention of backups

When creating a backup plan (p. 50), you specify the primary location for the backups. In addition, you can do the following:

 Replicate (copy) each backup to a second location immediately after creation.

Backup scheme

Can copy backups

Can move backups

Can delete backups

Manual start (p. 69)

Yes

Simple (p. 60)

Yes

Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) (p. 61)

Yes

 Retain the backups according to the retention rules you specify, and then either move them to a

second location or delete them.

Similarly, you can copy or move backups from a second location to a third location and so on. Up to five consecutive locations are supported (including the primary one).

Note: The replication feature replaces and enhances the Dual destination option, which was available in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10.

Example. You back up your machine to a local folder. The backup is immediately copied to a network folder. In the original local folder, the backup is stored for just one month.

The following picture illustrates this example.

Usage scenarios

 Reliable disaster recovery (p. 97)

Store your backups both on-site (for immediate recovery) and off-site (to secure the backups from local storage failure or a natural disaster).

 Keeping only the latest recovery points (p. 97)

Delete older backups from a fast storage according to retention rules, in order to not overuse expensive storage space.

 Using Acronis Cloud Backup to protect data from a natural disaster (p. 98)

Replicate the archive to the cloud storage by transferring only the data changes outside working hours.

 Reduced costs of storing the backed-up data (p. 99)

Store your backups on a fast storage for as long as a need to access them is likely. Then, move them to a lower-cost storage to keep them there for a longer term. This enables you to meet legal requirements on data retention.

 Backup to a slow device within a narrow backup window (p. 99)

Back up overnight to a managed vault on a fast storage, and then let Acronis Backup Storage Node move the backups to tapes during the day.

Replication and retention in backup schemes

The following table shows availability of replication and retention rules in various backup schemes.

Tower of Hanoi (p. 67)

Yes

Custom (p. 64)

Yes

Initial seeding (p. 69)

Notes:

 Setting up both copying and moving backups from the same location is not possible.  With simplified naming of backup files (p. 72), neither replication nor use of retention rules is

available.

4.5.1 Supported locations

You can copy or move a backup from any of these locations:

 A local folder on a fixed drive  A network folder  An FTP or SFTP server  Acronis Backup Storage Node  Acronis Secure Zone

You can copy or move a backup to any of these locations:

 A local folder on a fixed drive  A network folder  An FTP or SFTP server  Acronis Backup Storage Node  A tape device  Acronis Cloud Storage  A removable device (p. 189) used in the Fixed drive mode. (You select the removable device

mode when creating a backup plan.)

Backups that were copied or moved to the next location do not depend on the backups remaining in the original location and vice versa. You can recover data from any backup without access to other locations.

Restrictions

 Copying or moving backups to and from optical discs (CD, DVD, Blu-ray discs) is not supported.  Copying or moving backups to and from removable devices used in the Removable media mode

is not supported.

 Copying or moving backups from Acronis Backup Storage Node to a local folder is not supported.

A local folder means a folder on the machine with the agent that created the backup.

 A tape device and Acronis Cloud Storage can only be the final locations. Further copying or

moving backups from them is not possible.

 You cannot specify the same location more than once. For example, you cannot move a backup

from one folder to another and then back to the original folder.

Which machine performs the operation?

Copying, moving or deleting a backup from any location is initiated by the agent that created the backup, and is performed:

 By that agent, if the location is not a managed vault.  By the corresponding storage node, if the location is a managed vault. However, copying or

moving the backup from the managed vault to the cloud storage is performed by the agent that created the backup.

As follows from the above description, the operation will be performed only if the machine with the agent is powered on. If the operation is scheduled, the schedule will use that machine's date and time.

Copying and moving backups between managed vaults

Copying or moving a backup from one managed vault to another managed vault is performed by the storage node.

If the target vault is a deduplicating vault (p. 434) (possibly on a different storage node), the source storage node sends only those blocks of data that are not present in the target vault. In other words, like an agent, the storage node performs deduplication at source (p. 226). This saves network traffic when you replicate data between geographically separated storage nodes.

4.5.2 Setting up replication of backups

Setting up replication of backups is available when creating a backup plan (p. 50).

 To set up replication from the primary location, select the Replicate newly created backup to

another location check box.

 To set up replication from the second or a further location, select the Replicate backups to

another location as soon as they appear in this location check box.

Next, select the location where to replicate the backups.

If allowed by the backup scheme, you can also specify when to automatically delete the backups from each of the locations.

A backup is replicated to the next location as soon as it appears in the previous location. If earlier backups were not replicated (for example, the network connection was lost), the software also replicates all of the backups that appeared after the last successful replication.

4.5.3 Setting up retention of backups

You can set retention rules for backups when creating a backup plan (p. 50). The available retention rules depend on the chosen backup scheme.

Applying retention rules can be restricted by the Replication/cleanup inactivity time (p. 120) option.

Simple scheme

Each backup is retained until its age exceeds a limit you specify. Then, it is either deleted or moved.

To set up deleting the backups:

 In Retention rules, select Delete backups older than…, and then specify the retention period.

To set up moving the backups:

 In Retention rules, select Move backups older than…, specify the retention period. Under Where

to replicate/move backups, specify the location.

The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. For the second and next locations, creating a backup means copying or moving a backup there from the previous location.

Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme

Backups of each type (daily, weekly, and monthly) are retained for the periods you specify in Keep backups, and then deleted.

The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. They are applied sequentially in the primary, the second and all next locations.

Tower of Hanoi scheme

Each backup is retained based on its level (p. 67), and then deleted. You specify the number of levels in Number of levels.

The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. They are applied sequentially in the primary, the second and all next locations.

Custom scheme

Each backup is retained until the rules you specify are met. Then, it is either deleted or moved.

To set up deleting the backups:

 In Clean up archive, select Using retention rules. In the Retention Rules window (p. 95), specify

the rules and select If the specified conditions are met: Delete the oldest backups.

 In Apply retention rules, specify when to apply the rules.

To set up moving the backups:

 In Clean up archive, select Using retention rules. In the Retention Rules window (p. 95), specify

the rules and select If the specified conditions are met: Move the oldest backups to another location. Click OK and then specify the location under Where to replicate/move backups.

 In Apply retention rules, specify when to apply the rules.

You can choose to apply the retention rules before creating a backup, after creating a backup, on a schedule, or combine these options. For the second and next locations, creating a backup means copying or moving a backup there from the previous location.

4.5.4 Retention rules for the Custom scheme

In the Retention Rules window, you can select how long to store backups in the location and whether to move or delete them afterward.

The rules will be applied to all the backups taken on the specific machine and put in this specific location by this specific backup plan. In Acronis Backup, such set of backups is called an archive.

To set up retention rules for backups:

1. Specify one of the following (options (a) and (b) are mutually exclusive):

a. Backups older than... and/or Archive size greater than....

A backup will be stored until the specified condition (or both of the conditions) are met. Note: In a deduplicating vault (p. 434), almost all backed-up data is stored in a data store

outside the archive. Thus, the Archive size greater than condition is not effective and is not displayed.

Example:

Backups older than 5 days

Archive size greater than 100 GB

With these settings, a backup will be stored until it is older than five days and the size of the archive containing it exceeds 100 GB.

b. Number of backups in the archive exceeds...

If the number of backups exceeds the specified value, one or more of the oldest backups will be moved or deleted. The minimal setting is 1.

2. Select whether to delete the backups or to move them to another location if the specified

conditions are met.

You will be able to specify the location where to move the backups and set up retention rules for that location after you click OK.

Deleting the last backup in the archive

The retention rules are effective if the archive contains more than one backup. This means that the last backup in the archive will be kept, even if a retention rule violation is detected. Please do not try to delete the only backup you have by applying the retention rules before backup. This will not work. Use the alternative setting Clean up archive > When there is insufficient space while backing up (p.

64) if you accept the risk of losing the last backup.

Deleting or moving backups with dependencies

To access this setting, click Show advanced settings in the Retention Rules window.

Retention rules presume deleting or moving some backups while retaining the others. What if the archive contains incremental and differential backups that depend on each other and on the full backups they are based on? You cannot, say, delete an outdated full backup and keep its incremental “children”.

When deletion or movement of a backup affects other backups, one of the following rules is applied:

 Retain the backup until all dependent backups become subject to deletion (movement)

The outdated backup (marked with the icon) will be kept until all backups that depend on it also become outdated. Then, all the chain will be deleted at once during the regular cleanup. If you chose moving outdated backups to the next location, the backup will be copied there without delay. Only its deletion from the current location is postponed.

This mode helps to avoid the potentially time-consuming consolidation but requires extra space for storing backups whose deletion is postponed. The archive size and/or the backup age or number can exceed the values you specify.

This mode is not available for Acronis Cloud Storage when you copy or move backups there. In the cloud storage, all backups are incremental except the first backup of an archive which is always full. This chain cannot be entirely deleted because the most recent backup must always be kept.

 Consolidate these backups

The software will consolidate the backup that is subject to deletion or movement, with the next dependent backup. For example, the retention rules require to delete a full backup but to retain the next incremental one. The backups will be combined into a single full backup which will be dated with the incremental backup date. When an incremental or differential backup from the middle of the chain is deleted, the resulting backup type will be incremental.

This mode ensures that after each cleanup the archive size and the age or number of backups are within the bounds you specify. The consolidation, however, may take a lot of time and system

resources. You still need some extra space in the vault for temporary files created during consolidation.

This mode is not available if you selected the Archive size greater than rule for any archive location except for Acronis Cloud Storage.

What you need to know about consolidation

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.

4.5.5 Usage examples

This section provides examples of how you can replicate backups and set up retention rules for them.

4.5.5.1 Example 1. Replicating backups to a network folder

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a full backup of your machine manually.  You want to store the backups in Acronis Secure Zone (p. 185) on the machine.  You want to store a copy of the backups in a network folder.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Manual start scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify Acronis Secure Zone in the Location field, select Full in the Backup type field, select the Replicate newly created backup to another location check box, and then specify the network folder in the 2nd location field.

Result:

 You can recover the machine’s volumes or files from a readily available local backup, which is

stored in a dedicated area of the hard disk.

 You can recover the machine from the network folder if the machine’s hard disk drive fails.

4.5.5.2 Example 2. Limiting the age and total size of stored backups

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a weekly full backup of your machine.  You want to keep all backups that are younger than a month.  You want to keep even older backups, as long as the total size of all backups stays below 200 GB.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Custom scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify a weekly schedule for the full backup. In Clean up archive, select Using retention rules.

Click Retention rules, select the Backups older than and the Archive size greater than check boxes, and specify respectively 1 month and 200 GB. In If the specified conditions are met, select Delete the oldest backups.

Click OK. In Apply retention rules, select the After backup check box.

Result:

 Backups that are younger than one month are kept, regardless of their total size.

 Backups that are older than one month are kept only if the total size of all backups (older plus

younger) does not exceed 200 GB. Otherwise, the software deletes some or all of the older backups, starting from the oldest one.

4.5.5.3 Example 3. Replicating backups to the cloud storage

This example assumes that you have activated (p. 423) a cloud backup subscription (p. 407) for the machine that you are backing up.

The following scenario assumes that the amount of data you want to back up is relatively small. For larger backups, see “Replicating large amounts of data to the cloud storage” later in this section.

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to occasionally back up your machine to a local folder.  You want to keep a copy of the resulting archive off-site in Acronis Cloud Storage.  No matter when you start the backup, you want the replication to take place outside working

hours, when demand on the Internet connection is lower.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with the desired backup scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify a local folder in the Location field. Select the Replicate newly created backup to another location check box, and then specify the cloud storage in the 2nd location field.

In Backup options, go to Replication/cleanup inactivity time (p. 120), and specify the working hours (for example, Monday through Friday from 8:00 until 17:00).

Result:

 After the backup plan starts, the data is backed up to the local folder.  If the backup finishes outside the working hours, replication starts immediately. Otherwise,

replication is postponed until the end of the working hours.

Note: In the cloud storage, the second and further backups of an archive will always be incremental, no matter what type they are in the original location. This leads to efficient use of storage space for your cloud backup subscription.

Replicating large amounts of data to the cloud storage

If you are planning to back up 500 GB of data or more, you may want to send the first backup to the cloud storage on a physical hard drive. This option is provided by the Initial Seeding service (p. 411) which you can buy in addition to your cloud backup subscription.

The Initial Seeding service might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://kb.acronis.com/content/15118.

During the subsequent backups, only changes to the original data will be sent to the cloud storage and will not affect network traffic as much.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Initial seeding scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify a local folder in the Location field. This can be a folder on the hard drive that you are going to send. For more details, see “How to perform initial seeding?” (p. 413).

After you have sent the hard drive and the order status becomes The data upload has been completed, edit the backup plan. Change the backup scheme, destination, and replication settings to those previously described in this section.

The updated backup plan will produce backups that will be replicated to the cloud storage outside working hours.

4.5.5.4 Example 4. Moving older backups to tapes

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a daily backup of your machine.  You want to store the backups locally for one week.  You want to move the backups that are older than one week to a tape device.

Such scenario is sometimes called disk staging, or D2D2T (disk-to-disk-to-tape).

In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Simple scheme and a daily schedule. (All backups will be full by default.) When creating the backup plan, specify a local folder or Acronis Secure Zone in the Location field. Under Retention rules, select Move backups older than 1 week. Then, specify the tape device in the 2nd location field.

Make sure that the tape device is ready to work. The preparation steps are described in the "Backing up a machine to a directly attached tape device" (p. 196) section.

Result:

 After a backup is completed, the agent checks for backups that need to be moved.  The agent moves the backups that are older than one week, by copying them to the tape device

and then deleting them from the original location.

 You can eject tapes with backups and securely store them off-site. Once you select data for

recovery, Acronis Backup will prompt you which tapes to insert.

4.5.5.5 Example 5. Backing up to tapes within a narrow backup window

This example assumes that you are using Acronis Backup Advanced.

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to back up servers every workday after working hours.  You want to do a monthly full backup on one of the workdays, and partial (incremental or

differential) backups on the other workdays.

 You want to store the backups on a tape library.  The backup window for the servers is narrow, so they cannot be backed up to the tapes directly.

In this scenario, install Acronis Backup Storage Node and create two managed vaults: one on a hard disk local to the storage node, and another on the tape library locally attached to it.

Create a centralized backup plan for all of the machines with the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify the vault on the hard disk in the Location field. Under Backup type, select Full/Incremental/Differential.

For the primary location, in Keep backups, choose to keep monthly backups for one month (you need to clear the Keep indefinitely check box). This way, the vault will serve as an intermediate, short-term storage for the backups.

Select the Replicate newly created backup to another location check box, and then specify the vault on the tape library in the 2nd location field. For the second location, select to keep monthly backups indefinitely.

Result:

 Agents back up their machines to the vault on the hard disk.  The storage node copies the backups to the tape device. No CPU resource from the machines is

taken.

 The lifetime of backups on the hard disk does not exceed one month. On the tape library, the

monthly backups are kept indefinitely.

4.6 How to disable backup cataloging

Cataloging a backup adds the contents of the backup to the data catalog as soon as the backup is created. This process can be time-consuming, especially in environments with a large amount of machines. Therefore, you may want to disable cataloging in the entire environment.

To disable backup cataloging

These steps can be performed in any order.

1. Modify the Windows registry (p. 406) on the management server.

2. Modify the Windows registry (p. 223) on storage nodes.

3. [On managed machines in an Active Directory domain] Load Acronis Administrative Template (p.

391) on the domain controller and configure the Cataloging setting in the Acronis Backup Agent for Windows (p. 396) category of the template.

4. [On managed machines not included in an Active Directory domain] Connect the console to each

machine, go to Options > Machine options, and configure the Backup cataloging option.

4.7 Default backup options

Each Acronis agent has its own default backup options. Once an agent is installed, the default options have pre-defined values, which are referred to as presets in the documentation. When creating a backup plan, you can either use a default option, or override the default option with the custom value that will be specific for this plan only.

You can also customize a default option itself by changing its value against the pre-defined one. The new value will be used by default in all backup plans you will create later on this machine.

To view and change the default backup options, connect the console to the managed machine and then select Options > Default backup and recovery options > Default backup options from the top menu.

Availability of the backup options

The set of available backup options depends on:

 The environment the agent operates in (Windows, Linux, bootable media).  The type of the data being backed up (disk, file).  The backup destination (networked location or local disk).  The backup scheme (manual start or using the scheduler).

The following table summarizes the availability of the backup options.

Acronis Backup Advanced 11.7 User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

1 Introducing Acronis Backup

1.1 What's new in Acronis Backup 11.7

1.2 Acronis Backup components

1.2.1 Agent for Windows

1.2.2 Agent for Linux

1.2.3 Agent for VMware

1.2.4 Agent for Hyper-V

1.2.5 Agent for SQL

1.2.6 Agent for Active Directory

1.2.7 Components for centralized management

1.2.7.1 Management Server

1.2.7.2 Storage Node

1.2.7.3 Components for Remote Installation

1.2.7.4 PXE Server

1.2.7.5 License Server

1.2.8 Management Console

1.2.9 Bootable Media Builder

1.2.10 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy

1.3 About using the product in the trial mode

1.4 Supported file systems

1.5 Technical Support

2 Getting started

2.1 Using the management console

2.1.1 "Navigation" pane

2.1.2 Main area, views and action pages

2.1.2.1 Views

Sorting, filtering and configuring table items

2.1.2.2 Action pages

2.1.3 Console options

2.1.3.1 Alert display options

2.1.3.2 Credentials cache

2.1.3.3 Fonts

2.1.3.4 Pop-up messages

2.1.3.5 Startup page

3 Understanding Acronis Backup

3.1 Owners

3.2 Credentials used in backup plans and tasks

3.3 User privileges on a managed machine

3.4 List of Acronis services

3.5 Full, incremental and differential backups

3.6 What does a disk or volume backup store?

3.7 About dynamic and logical volumes

3.7.1 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows)

3.7.2.1 Backing up logical volumes

3.7.2.2 Backing up MD devices

3.7.2.3 Backing up hardware RAID arrays (Linux)

3.7.2.4 Assembling MD devices for recovery (Linux)

3.7.2.5 Recovering MD devices and logical volumes

Creating the volume structure automatically

Creating the volume structure manually

3.8 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks

3.9 Support for UEFI-based machines

3.10 Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

3.11 Compatibility with encryption software

3.12 Support for SNMP

4 Backup

4.1 Back up now

4.2 Creating a backup plan

4.2.1 Selecting data to back up

4.2.2 Access credentials for source

4.2.3 Source files exclusion

4.2.4 Backup location selection

4.2.4.1 Selecting backup destinations

4.2.5 Access credentials for archive location

4.2.6 Backup schemes

4.2.6.1 Simple scheme

4.2.6.2 Grandfather-Father-Son scheme

4.2.6.3 Custom backup scheme

4.2.6.4 Tower of Hanoi scheme

4.2.6.5 Manual start

4.2.6.6 Initial seeding

4.2.7 Archive validation

4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials

4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup)

4.2.10 Sequence of operations in a backup plan

4.2.11 Why is the program asking for the password?