Acronis Backup Advanced (Cloud) User Guide

Acronis Cloud Backup

Advanced

USER GUIDE

APPLIES TO THE FOLLOWING PRODUCTS

Acronis Backup Advanced for Windows Server

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

Table of contents

1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup ...............................................................................4

1.1 What is Acronis Cloud Backup? ................................................................................................. 4

1.2 What data can I back up and recover? ...................................................................................... 4

1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage? ......................................................... 4

1.4 How do I secure my data? ......................................................................................................... 5

1.5 How do I back up virtual machines to the cloud storage? ........................................................ 5

1.6 Supported operating systems and virtualization products ....................................................... 6

1.7 Backup and recovery FAQ .......................................................................................................... 7

1.7.1 What backup methods are available? ........................................................................................................... 7

1.7.2 What recovery methods are available? ......................................................................................................... 7

1.7.3 Is the cloud storage available under Acronis bootable media? ................................................................... 7

1.7.4 What if a network connection is lost during cloud backup or recovery? ................................................... 8

1.7.5 What happens if I run out of space? .............................................................................................................. 8

1.7.6 What is the cleanup task for? ......................................................................................................................... 8

1.7.7 How do I make a recovered machine recognize its subscription? .............................................................. 8

1.8 Initial Seeding FAQ ..................................................................................................................... 8

1.8.1 What is Initial Seeding? ................................................................................................................................... 9

1.8.2 Why would I want to use Initial Seeding? ..................................................................................................... 9

1.8.3 Is Initial Seeding a paid service? ..................................................................................................................... 9

1.8.4 What types of hard drive can I use for Initial Seeding? ................................................................................ 9

1.8.5 Can I send more than one backup under a single Initial Seeding license? ................................................. 9

1.8.6 Can I send backups taken from a number of machines on a single hard drive? ........................................ 9

1.8.7 How to buy an Initial Seeding license? .......................................................................................................... 9

1.8.8 How do I perform initial seeding? ................................................................................................................ 10

1.8.9 How to package a hard drive for shipment? ............................................................................................... 11

1.8.10 How do I track an Initial Seeding order status? .......................................................................................... 13

1.9 Large Scale Recovery FAQ ........................................................................................................14

1.9.1 What is Large Scale Recovery? ..................................................................................................................... 14

1.9.2 Why would I use Large Scale Recovery? ...................................................................................................... 14

1.9.3 Do I need to perform initial seeding to be able to use Large Scale Recovery?......................................... 14

1.9.4 Is Large Scale Recovery a paid service? ....................................................................................................... 14

1.9.5 Can I perform large scale recovery on a different machine? ..................................................................... 14

1.9.6 Can I obtain backups taken from a number of machines on a single hard drive? ................................... 14

1.9.7 How to buy a Large Scale Recovery license? ............................................................................................... 15

1.9.8 How do I track a Large Scale Recovery order status? ................................................................................. 15

1.9.9 How to perform large scale recovery? ........................................................................................................ 15

1.10 Subscription lifecycle FAQ .......................................................................................................15

1.10.1 How do I access my account management webpage? .............................................................................. 16

1.10.2 Where do I find the subscriptions that I purchased? ................................................................................. 16

1.10.3 When does my subscription begin? ............................................................................................................. 16

1.10.4 What happens when my subscription expires? .......................................................................................... 16

1.10.5 How do I renew a subscription? ................................................................................................................... 16

1.10.6 What is the “Group” column for? ................................................................................................................ 17

1.10.7 Can I revoke a subscription from a machine? ............................................................................................. 17

1.10.8 Can I cancel my subscription? ...................................................................................................................... 18

2 Where do I start? ........................................................................................................... 18

3 Choosing a subscription ................................................................................................. 18

4 Software installation ...................................................................................................... 19

4.1 What software do I need to install? ........................................................................................19

4.2 About Acronis Backup Advanced .............................................................................................19

4.3 Supported operating systems ..................................................................................................20

4.4 Installing Acronis Backup Advanced ........................................................................................21

5 Starting Acronis Backup ................................................................................................. 22

6 Configuring proxy settings .............................................................................................. 23

7 Activating cloud backup subscriptions ............................................................................ 23

7.1 Activating subscriptions in Acronis Backup Advanced ............................................................24

7.2 Reassigning an activated subscription .....................................................................................24

8 Creating a centralized vault for cloud backups ................................................................ 25

9 Backup to the cloud storage ........................................................................................... 26

9.1 Backing up an individual machine ...........................................................................................26

9.2 Backing up multiple machines .................................................................................................27

9.3 Backing up using Initial Seeding ...............................................................................................27

9.3.1 Preparation for initial seeding ...................................................................................................................... 27

9.3.2 Creating the full backup ................................................................................................................................ 28

9.3.3 Sending the full backup................................................................................................................................. 28

9.3.4 Creating subsequent backups ...................................................................................................................... 28

10 Accessing backups stored in the cloud vault .............................................................. 29

11 Operations with backups stored in the cloud storage ................................................ 29

12 Recovery from the cloud storage .............................................................................. 29

12.1 Recovering files ........................................................................................................................29

12.2 Recovering volumes .................................................................................................................30

12.3 Recovering using Large Scale Recovery ...................................................................................31

13 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser ................................. 31

14 Limitations of the cloud storage ............................................................................... 32

15 Technical Support .................................................................................................... 33

16 Glossary ................................................................................................................... 35

This document explains how to use Acronis Backup Advanced for cloud backups by taking advantage of the Acronis Cloud Backup service.

Acronis Backup Advanced enables you to manage backups of multiple machines using a single server called Management Server. This server provides a single entry point to the backup infrastructure, as well as the monitoring and reporting functionality. Setting up a backup of each individual server or workstation is also possible.

This document contains an overview of Acronis Cloud Backup and step-by-step instructions for the typical software installation and usage scenarios. The instructions are intended to help users who are not familiar with Acronis Backup Advanced with their first cloud backups. For detailed information about the functionality provided by Acronis Backup Advanced, please refer to the product help system. Context-sensitive help is available in every program window by pressing F1.

1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup

This section contains a brief overview of Acronis Cloud Backup and answers questions that may arise during evaluation and usage of this product.

1.1 What is Acronis Cloud Backup?

Acronis Cloud Backup is a service that enables you to back up data to Acronis Cloud Storage. To use this service, you need to buy a subscription that determines the amount of storage space reserved for your backups (storage quota) and how long the cloud backup service will be available to you.

Examples of subscriptions:

 A 1 TB volume subscription means that you can back up data from an unlimited number of

physical and/or virtual machines, for a period of one year. The backups can occupy no more than one terabyte.

 A subscription for PC means that you can back up data from a machine running a non-server

Windows operating system, for a period of one year. The storage quota is unlimited.

1.2 What data can I back up and recover?

You can back up files, volumes, disks, or the entire physical machine as often as you wish. Unlike most cloud backup solutions, Acronis Cloud Backup enables bare metal recovery directly from the cloud storage. Files can be recovered from disk-level backups as well as from file-level backups.

For information about backing up virtual machines see "How do I back up virtual machines to the cloud storage?" (p. 5)

1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the cloud

storage?

Your backups remain in the cloud storage until you delete them or until the subscription expires. Recovering data from the cloud storage is possible for 30 days following the subscription expiration date.

For effective use of the storage space, you have the option to set up the "Delete backups older than" retention rule.

Example

You might want to use the following backup strategy for a file server.

Back up the critical files twice a day on a schedule. Set the retention rule "Delete backups older than" 7 days. This means that after every backup the software will check for backups older than 7 days and delete them automatically.

Run backup of the server's system volume manually as required. For example, after the operating system updates. Manually delete the backups that you do not need.

1.4 How do I secure my data?

Backups can be encrypted using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cryptographic algorithm and the password you set. This guarantees that your data is not accessed by anyone else.

1.5 How do I back up virtual machines to the cloud

storage?

Use either of the following methods or both.

Install Acronis software onto the virtualization host

This approach comes in handy when the virtualization product installed on the host server is VMware ESX(i), Windows Server with Hyper-V, or Microsoft Hyper-V Server.

Host-based backup is available only for paid licenses of VMware ESXi. If your ESXi uses a free license, choose the alternative approach described later in this section.

In this approach, you install one or more Acronis agents onto the virtualization hosts. Each agent can back up multiple virtual machines by using a single subscription for servers. Therefore, you need as many subscriptions as the number of the agents. Alternatively, the agents can use a volume subscription that can be shared with other virtual or physical machines.

You will be able to back up and recover entire virtual machines or individual disks and volumes. In addition, you can recover individual files and folders to a network share, FTP or SFTP server. You cannot recover files directly to a virtual machine’s file system.

Installing the software, backing up, and recovery are described in the "Backing up Virtual Machines" document for Acronis Backup Advanced. When installing Acronis Backup for cloud backup only, you do not need to enter a license key during installation.

Because ESX(i) machines may be automatically redistributed among the agents, you need to manually bind the machines to their agents so that the machines always use the same subscription.

Install Acronis software into the guest system

This approach comes in handy when:

 the machine is not hosted on a virtualization server  the virtualization product installed on the host server is not VMware ESX(i), Windows Server with

Hyper-V, or Microsoft Hyper-V Server

 you want to back up an RDM disk attached in the physical compatibility mode on a running ESX(i)

machine

 you want to back up a pass-through disk of a Hyper-V virtual machine  you want to use pre/post backup or pre/post data capture commands on the virtual machine  you want to back up individual files and folders of the virtual machine  you want to recover files directly to the virtual machine’s file system.

The machine will be treated as a physical one. If you do not have a volume subscription, you will need a separate server or PC subscription for this machine.

Installing the software, backing up, and recovery are the same as with a physical machine.

1.6 Supported operating systems and virtualization

products

Acronis Cloud Backup supports the following operating systems and virtualization platforms.

Server operating systems

Windows

Windows Server 2003/2003 R2 – Standard and Enterprise editions (x86, x64)

Windows Small Business Server 2003/2003 R2

Windows Server 2008 – Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, and Web editions (x86, x64)

Windows Small Business Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 R2 – Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Foundation, and Web editions

Windows MultiPoint Server 2010/2011/2012

Windows Small Business Server 2011 – all editions

Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 – all editions

Windows Storage Server 2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2

Linux

Linux with kernel from 2.4.20 to 3.13 and glibc 2.3.2 or later

Various x86 and x86_64 Linux distributions, including:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x

Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 11.04, 11.10, 12.04, 12.10, 13.04, and 13.10

Fedora 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and 11

Debian 4, 5, 6, 7.0, 7.2, 7.4, and 7.5

CentOS 5.x and 6.x

Oracle Linux 5.x and 6.x – both Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel and Red Hat Compatible Kernel

Before installing the product on a system that does not use RPM Package Manager, such as an Ubuntu system, you need to install this manager manually; for example, by running the following command (as the root user): apt-get install rpm

Workstation operating systems

Windows XP Professional SP2+ (x86, x64)

Windows Vista – all editions except for Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium (x86, x64)

Windows 7 – all editions except for the Starter and Home editions (x86, x64)

Windows 8/8.1 – all editions except for the Windows RT editions (x86, x64)

Virtualization products (host-based backup of virtual machines)

VMware ESX(i) 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5

(Host-based backup is available only for paid licenses of VMware ESXi.)

Windows Server 2008 (x64) with Hyper-V

Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008/2008 R2

Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 with Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012/2012 R2

1.7 Backup and recovery FAQ

This section answers questions related to backup and recovery processes.

1.7.1 What backup methods are available?

Full and incremental backup methods are available through several backup schemes. Regardless of the backup scheme, the first task run produces a full backup; subsequent task runs produce incremental backups. The following backup schemes are available:

 Manual start (postponed start). You can run the task again manually.  Simple (start on schedule). With this backup scheme, you can set up a retention rule to

automatically delete old backups.

 GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) (start on schedule). You specify which of the daily backups to

consider as weekly backups and monthly backups. You can set up separate retention rules for daily, weekly, and monthly backups.

 Tower of Hanoi (start on schedule). You set up the number of levels. This is the number of

backups stored at a time. The excessive backups will be deleted in a manner that leaves more recovery points for recent dates and fewer recovery points for older dates.

 An additional backup scheme that is available only for cloud backups is Initial seeding. With this

scheme, the backup starts immediately to a local destination and using the full backup method. To use this scheme, you need a license for the Initial Seeding (p. 35) service.

1.7.2 What recovery methods are available?

There are two methods to recover your data from Acronis Cloud Storage:

 Recovering (p. 29) disks or files by using Acronis Backup GUI or command line interface. This

method enables you to use a wide range of Acronis Backup functionality.

 Retrieving files (p. 31) from file-level backups by using a web browser. To do this, you only need a

machine with Internet access.

1.7.3 Is the cloud storage available under Acronis bootable

media?

Recovery from Acronis Cloud Storage is available but backup to the storage is not.

1.7.4 What if a network connection is lost during cloud backup or

recovery?

The software will try to reach the cloud storage every 30 seconds. The attempts will be stopped as soon as the connection is resumed OR a certain number of attempts are performed, depending on which comes first. The default number of attempts is 300 when backing up and 30 when recovering.

You can change the number of attempts and the interval between the attempts in the Error handling > Re-attempt, if an error occurs option. Every backup plan or recovery task includes this option.

1.7.5 What happens if I run out of space?

When a machine's backups are about to exceed the storage space allowed by its subscription, you receive an e-mail notification with an alert. In addition, you can see this alert on the account management webpage near the machine. This means you have to free some space for future backups. Or, you can consider increasing the storage quota. You may also want to set or edit the retention rule (p. 4) so that an overflow does not occur in future. Once the occupied space reaches the limit, the backups will cease to run.

1.7.6 What is the cleanup task for?

Any backup plan where the retention rule is set contains a cleanup task in addition to a backup task. The cleanup task checks the archive created by the backup plan for backups that have outlived their lifetime. If such backups are found, the task makes the cloud storage delete them. Since the deletion is performed on the cloud storage side, it does not take your machine's CPU resource.

The cleanup task runs after every cloud backup, even if the backup has failed. The last successful backup is always kept though. For more information about the retention rule please refer to "How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage?" (p. 4)

Normally, there is no need to start and stop the cleanup task manually. But it is possible to do so in the Backup plans and tasks view.

1.7.7 How do I make a recovered machine recognize its

subscription?

When you recover a physical machine from a backup, a new machine identifier is created. Therefore, the machine is not able to back up to the subscription it used before recovery.

To continue backing up the machine to the same subscription, reassign (p. 24) the subscription to the machine. If you do this, the next machine's backup can be incremental. If you assign a new subscription to the machine, the software will have to do a new full backup.

1.8 Initial Seeding FAQ

This section explains what Initial Seeding is, why you would want to use it and provides some usage details.

1.8.1 What is Initial Seeding?

Initial Seeding is an extra service that lets you save an initial full backup locally and then send it to Acronis on a hard disk drive.

Acronis uploads the backup to the cloud storage. After that, you can add incremental backups to this full backup, either manually or on a schedule.

The hard disk drive is sent back to you but it is not possible to recover from it. However, recovery from a locally attached device is possible with the Large scale recovery (p. 14) option.

1.8.2 Why would I want to use Initial Seeding?

This service helps you save time and network traffic during the initial full backup. It is useful when backing up very large volumes of data or entire machines to the cloud storage.

1.8.3 Is Initial Seeding a paid service?

Yes, you need to buy one Initial Seeding license per machine.

1.8.4 What types of hard drive can I use for Initial Seeding?

Acronis accepts hard disk drives of the following interface types: IDE, ATA, SATA, USB connected drives. SCSI drives are not accepted.

You can back up directly to the device or back up to a local or network folder and then copy the backup to the device. Make sure that the device has only one volume and that the file system on that volume is NTFS or FAT32.

1.8.5 Can I send more than one backup under a single Initial

Seeding license?

No. An Initial Seeding license allows you to create only one backup on the machine.

However, if you have made a mistake or have decided to create another backup for any reason, you can cancel the initial seeding order. As a result, the license will become available again.

1.8.6 Can I send backups taken from a number of machines on a

single hard drive?

Yes. However, the number of required licenses is still one per machine.

1.8.7 How to buy an Initial Seeding license?

You can buy an Initial Seeding license from an Acronis partner or from the Acronis online store.

Having purchased a license from an Acronis partner, you receive a confirmation e-mail with a registration code. Log in to your Acronis account and enter the registration code in the product registration section. The registered license appears on the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab on your account management webpage.

A license purchased from the Acronis online store appears on the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab immediately after the payment is processed.

1.8.8 How do I perform initial seeding?

Preparing

1. Ensure that you have activated an Acronis Cloud Backup subscription on the machine where you

will do initial seeding (skip this step if you have a volume subscription).

2. If you are currently using a trial subscription, ensure that you also have a paid subscription

available and assigned to this machine. Do not use the Initial Seeding service if you do not have a paid subscription.

3. Decide on the media (p. 9) that you will send.

4. Choose the shipping company that you will use to ship your media. We strongly recommend that

you use a recognized provider, such as UPS, FedEx, or DHL.

Creating the initial full backup

1. Attach the media to the machine you are going to back up. Alternatively, you can back up to a

local or network folder and then copy/move the backup to the media.

2. Start Acronis Backup, click Create backup plan and create a backup plan on this machine:

 Under What to back up, select disks, volumes or files/folders you want to back up.  Under Where to back up, specify Cloud Storage.  In Backup scheme, select Initial seeding. Specify the said media as the backup destination.  [Optional, but strongly recommended] Enable backup encryption in Backup options >

Archive protection.

The backup starts immediately after you click the final OK.

3. [Optional] If you want to add backups from another machine, attach the media to that machine

and perform the same steps. You need a separate Initial Seeding license for each machine that you want to back up.

Packaging and sending

1. Package the media along with a prepaid return shipping label.

Important Carefully follow the instructions in the "How to package a hard drive for shipment?" (p. 11) section, to ensure that your hard drive is safely delivered and returned.

2. Send the media to Acronis by physical mail.

3. On your account management webpage, mark the order as "shipped" and track (p. 13) the order

status.

Creating subsequent backups

Once you observe that the backup has been uploaded to the cloud storage, you can edit the backup plan to do incremental backups:

 In Backup scheme, select the desired backup scheme and specify its settings.  Click Save.

When started manually or on a schedule, your backup plan will add incremental backups to the initial backup stored in the cloud storage.

1.8.9 How to package a hard drive for shipment?

It is very important that your hard drive be packaged carefully. Careful packaging will protect your drive from any damage during shipment.

Hard drive types

Acronis accepts hard disk drives of the following interface types: IDE, ATA, SATA, USB connected drives.

SCSI drives are not accepted.

Packaging

If possible, use the original packaging. Otherwise, packaging materials can be obtained at any shipping outlet or stationary store. You should also include all necessary cables or adapters to the drive. Acronis will not be able to process your initial seeding request if there are no cables included.

The following are instructions about how to package your hard disk drive.

Step 1

Delicately remove your hard disk drive from the machine.

Step 2

Place the hard drive into an anti-static bag to protect the drive from electrostatic discharge. If you do not have an anti-static bag, simply wrap the hard drive into aluminum foil.

Step 3

Use a sturdy box that is at least twice the size of the drive. Pack the drive with a bubble wrap around all 6 sides so it can fit tight into the box and cannot be moved within.

DO NOT use Styrofoam peanuts for packing as they do not provide enough protection. DO NOT send your media in jiffy bags

Step 4

Using the website of the shipping company that you chose, prepare and print two prepaid shipping labels:

1. Shipping label for sending your hard drive. This label is placed on the top of the box. You should

send your package to one of the Acronis data centers. The data center address can be obtained on the Initial seeding / Recovery tab of your account management page by clicking Datacenter address.

We recommend that you use overnight shipping, if you want to start doing incremental backups as soon as possible. The data is generally available the next business day after the data center receives it.

2. Shipping label for returning your hard drive. Put this label in the box. When returning your hard

drive, we will reuse the same packaging unless it is damaged. If you do not enclose the label, your drive will be securely discarded.

You might want to use the most cost-efficient delivery method for having your hard drive returned.

Step 5

Securely seal the box with a sturdy tape. Then, stick the shipping label for sending your hard drive to the top of the box, so the label does not wrap around the edge of the package.

1.8.10 How do I track an Initial Seeding order status?

On the Acronis website, the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab shows you the status of all your orders. In addition, you will receive e-mail notifications about the most important events.

 Available – The license is available for using on any machine.  An order was created – The backup is about to start and the license cannot be used for the same

or any other machine. From this point on, you can cancel the order if something goes wrong. This will return the license to the pool of available licenses.

 A full backup has started – This status is set when the first backup starts. The order start time

occurs at this moment.

 A full backup has been successfully completed – The backup has been completed and the order

is ready to ship. You can now ship the media:

Step 1. Package the media following the drive packaging and shipment instructions (p. 11) to avoid damage during shipment. If you want the media to be returned to you after the data is uploaded, prepare a prepaid return shipping label and place it inside the package together with the drive.

Step 2. Send the drive via your preferred carrier to the Acronis datacenter.

Step 3. Let us know when you have shipped the order by marking your order as "shipped".

You will receive a notification message when Acronis receives the order and when the order is completed. If necessary, Acronis may contact you during order processing.

 [Occasional] Backup creation error – An error occurred when backing up. Please check the

backup plan parameters and try again.

 The media has been shipped – This status is set after you mark the order as "shipped".  The media has been received by Acronis – Acronis has started processing your order. From this

point on, you cannot cancel the order. Creating a new initial seeding backup will require a new Initial Seeding license.

 The data upload has started – The process of uploading data to Acronis Cloud Storage has

started.

 The data upload has been completed – The initial full backup has been successfully uploaded to

the cloud storage. You can do incremental cloud backups now.

 The order has been completed. The media has been returned (or: Returning the media was not

requested) – Your media has been shipped back (the carrier and the tracking number are

specified). If a prepaid shipping label was not provided with the media, the media will be discarded.

 [Occasional] The order is on hold – Your order was placed on hold due to technical difficulties

processing the order. Acronis is working on resolving these issues.

 [Occasional] The order has been cancelled – The order had been cancelled before the media was

shipped, so returning the media is not required.

 [Occasional] The order has been cancelled. The media has been returned (or: Returning the

media was not requested) – The order was cancelled while the media was in the datacenter. The

media has been shipped back (the carrier and the tracking number are specified). If a prepaid shipping label was not provided with the media, the media will be discarded.

1.9 Large Scale Recovery FAQ

This section explains what Large Scale Recovery is, why you would want to use it and provides some usage details.

1.9.1 What is Large Scale Recovery?

Large Scale Recovery is an extra service that enables you to obtain a copy of the backups you have in the cloud storage. You can then recover data from this copy.

Once you order Large Scale Recovery for a particular machine, Acronis sends you a USB hard disk drive with all of the backups made from this machine. You can recover data directly from the disk or copy the backups to a local or network folder.

1.9.2 Why would I use Large Scale Recovery?

In the event of a disaster or the need to recover large volumes of data or the entire machines quickly, this service helps you save time and network traffic. Recovering hundreds of gigabytes over the Internet may take days. This process will deliver a faster recovery.

1.9.3 Do I need to perform initial seeding to be able to use Large

Scale Recovery?

No, these services are independent.

1.9.4 Is Large Scale Recovery a paid service?

Yes, you need to buy one Large Scale Recovery license per machine. The license enables you to get a disk with all of the currently available backups of this machine. To obtain backups that will be created in the future, you will need a new Large Scale Recovery license.

1.9.5 Can I perform large scale recovery on a different machine?

Yes. You can recover the data an unlimited number of times on any machine you wish.

1.9.6 Can I obtain backups taken from a number of machines on

a single hard drive?

No. A separate hard drive is required for each machine.

1.9.7 How to buy a Large Scale Recovery license?

You can buy a Large Scale Recovery license from an Acronis partner or from the Acronis online store.

A license purchased from the Acronis online store appears on the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab immediately after the payment is processed.

1.9.8 How do I track a Large Scale Recovery order status?

On the Acronis website, the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab shows you the status of all your orders. In addition, you will receive e-mail notifications about most important events.

 Available – The license can be used for any machine.  An order was created – This status is set upon completion of the Large Scale Recovery order

form. This means that the license cannot be used for any other machine. From this point on, you can cancel the order if something goes wrong. This will return the license to the pool of available licenses.

 The order is being processed - Order processing in the datacenter started.  Writing data – Your backups are being written onto the media. From this point on, you cannot

cancel the order.

 Writing data has been completed – Your backups have been successfully written to the media.  Ready to ship the media – Your order has been processed and the media will be shipped shortly.  The order has been completed. The media has been shipped – The media has been shipped to

you (the carrier and the tracking number are specified).

 [Occasional] The order is on hold – Your order was placed on hold due to technical difficulties

processing the order. Acronis is working on resolving these issues.

 [Occasional] The order has been cancelled – The order has been cancelled.  [Occasional] Address is undeliverable – Acronis cannot send the disk. On the same Web page,

click Change my delivery address and specify the correct address for the order.

 [Occasional] Address has been updated – This status is set after you have updated the delivery

address on Acronis website.

1.9.9 How to perform large scale recovery?

The recovery procedure (p. 31) is the same as when recovering from the cloud storage. Just specify the path to the location where your backups are. For detailed information about recovery please refer to the context-sensitive help.

1.10 Subscription lifecycle FAQ

This section explains a subscription lifecycle and subscription operations that you can perform on your account management webpage.

1.10.1 How do I access my account management webpage?

Go to http://www.acronis.com/my/cloud-backup/corporate and log in to your account (create one if you are not registered).

To access this webpage from Acronis Backup:

1. On the Actions menu, click Back up now or Create backup plan.

2. Click Location, and then click Buy or manage your subscriptions.

3. Log in to your account (create one if you are not registered).

1.10.2 Where do I find the subscriptions that I purchased?

If you purchased your subscriptions from an Acronis partner, you should have received an e-mail confirming the registration codes for each subscription. Go to your account management webpage, click Enter new registration code, and then enter the registration codes. The subscriptions will appear in the list of available subscriptions on the Manage subscriptions tab.

Subscriptions that are purchased from the Acronis website are available on this tab immediately.

1.10.3 When does my subscription begin?

The subscription period of a volume subscription begins at the time of purchase.

The subscription period of a machine subscription begins as soon as the subscription is activated on a machine.

1.10.4 What happens when my subscription expires?

A month before the subscription expiration date you receive an e-mail notification with an alert. In addition, you can see this alert on the account management webpage near the machine. This means you need to renew (p. 16) the subscription to continue backing up the machine.

If you do not renew the subscription, you will be able to back up data to the cloud storage for five days following the expiration date. You will be able to recover data from the cloud storage for 30 days following the expiration date.

1.10.5 How do I renew a subscription?

Buy another subscription and specify it as the next subscription of the same machine. The new subscription will be activated as soon as the current subscription expires.

An expired subscription can be renewed within five days after expiration. In such cases, the new subscription will be activated immediately.

1.10.5.1 Renewing a single subscription

You can renew an activated subscription to a subscription with the same or a larger storage quota.

To renew a volume subscription, you need a volume subscription. To renew a machine subscription, you need a machine subscription of the same type or a volume subscription.

A subscription for virtual machines (now deprecated) can be renewed to a server subscription or to a volume subscription.

Volume subscriptions

To renew a volume subscription, go to the account management webpage, click Renew next to the volume subscription, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

The new expiration date will appear in the Expires column.

 If the new subscription has the same storage quota as the old one, the subscription periods will

be added together.

 If the new subscription has a larger storage quota, the resulting subscription period will be

recalculated.

Machine subscriptions

To renew a machine subscription, go to the account management webpage, find the machine that you want to renew the subscription for, click Renew next to the machine, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

The new subscription will appear in the Next subscription column for the machine.

1.10.5.2 Renewing a number of activated subscriptions at once

This operation is possible if the appropriate number of new subscriptions are identical to the currently used subscriptions.

Make sure the new subscriptions are available on your account management webpage. Then click Renew all. The confirmation window will summarize which subscriptions will be renewed. If identical subscriptions are not found for some of the machines, you have the option to cancel automatic renewal and renew each subscription individually.

1.10.5.3 What does "Auto-renew" mean?

Auto-renewal means that when the current subscription expires, the next subscription will be automatically selected from the available subscriptions. The next subscription must be identical to the current subscription.

If an identical subscription is not found, auto-renewal will not take place and your backups may fail. No subscriptions will be bought automatically. Only those subscriptions available at the time of auto-renewal can be used. You can select auto-renewal for each individual subscription or set up bulk auto-renewal of all of the activated subscriptions you have.

1.10.6 What is the “Group” column for?

So you can apply actions, such as Renew all or Auto-renew all, to your selection of the subscriptions. Specify the desired group name, for example, SalesDept, near each of the subscriptions you want to group. Click the Group column header to sort the subscriptions and then apply the desired actions to the group.

1.10.7 Can I revoke a subscription from a machine?

You cannot return an activated subscription to the list of available subscriptions, but you can reassign (p. 24) it to a different machine in Acronis Backup GUI.

1.10.8 Can I cancel my subscription?

Just wait until the subscription expires. Refunds are not available for the cloud backup subscriptions.

2 Where do I start?

Go to http://www.acronis.com/my/cloud-backup/corporate and log in to your account (create one if you are not registered). This is your account management webpage. Here you can get a trial subscription, locate an Acronis partner or buy subscriptions online. The newly obtained subscriptions are listed as available subscriptions on the Manage subscriptions tab.

If you purchased your subscriptions from an Acronis partner, register them manually using the Enter new registration code link. The registration codes come with the purchase confirmation e-mail.

Next, install Acronis software (p. 19) (if not yet installed) and activate (p. 23) the subscriptions on the machines that you want to back up. After that, you can start backing up (p. 26) to Acronis Cloud Storage.

3 Choosing a subscription

Volume subscriptions

A volume subscription enables you to back up an unlimited number of physical and/or virtual machines. All backed up machines share a common storage quota. The subscription period begins at the time of purchase.

Machine subscriptions

A machine subscription enables you to back up either a single physical machine or all virtual machines managed by one Agent for VMware or Agent for Hyper-V. The storage quota applies to this physical machine or to all of the virtual machines managed by the agent. The subscription period begins when the subscription is activated on the machine.

For a physical machine, choose the subscription for server or for PC based on the operating system that the machine is running. If you doubt whether the machine is a server or a workstation, refer to the list of the supported operating systems (p. 6).

For virtual machines managed by Agent for VMware or Agent for Hyper-V, use a server subscription. In addition to backing up virtual machines, this subscription allows you to back up their physical host.

If your backups are likely to exceed the storage quota for the subscription, you may want to use a server subscription on a workstation. The inverse usage is not possible. You cannot back up a server by using a subscription for PC.

Trial subscriptions

You can obtain one free trial subscription per account. The trial subscription enables you to back up a single machine. The subscription period is limited to one month.

Obtaining a trial subscription is possible until you buy a paid subscription. You can use a trial subscription along with paid ones. The same expiration rules apply to trial and paid subscriptions.

To continue using the service after the trial subscription expires, buy a subscription, and then renew the trial subscription specifying the paid subscription. Your backed up data will be kept. Regular backups of your machines will continue uninterrupted. The service will not need to perform a new full backup.

To get a trial subscription, do either of the following:

 On the account management webpage, click the cloud backup trial link, and then select the

necessary subscription type.

 Install Acronis Backup (p. 21), start the product, connect the console to the machine you want to

back up, click Back up now or Create backup plan, click Location, and then click Get trial subscription. Log in to your account (create one if you are not registered yet). A trial subscription

will be automatically created and assigned to the machine.

4 Software installation

This section contains information on how to choose the necessary software and step-by-step installation instructions.

4.1 What software do I need to install?

Download and install Acronis Backup or Acronis Backup Advanced. A license key is not required if you are going to back up to the cloud storage only.

Acronis Backup enables you to set up and monitor a backup locally on each machine you want to back up. Acronis Backup Advanced enables remote and centralized management. Local management is also available.

The following sections describe Acronis Backup Advanced.

4.2 About Acronis Backup Advanced

Acronis Backup Advanced contains the following main components:

 Acronis Backup Agent for Windows: Backs up and recovers data  Acronis Backup Agent for Linux: Backs up and recovers data  Acronis Backup Management Server: Performs centralized management of the machines, such

as backing up groups of machines

 Acronis Backup Management Console: Enables you to connect to machines and the

management server to set up backup and recovery

The minimum configuration that enables you to back up a machine includes an Agent and Management Console. By adding Management Server, you obtain more powerful management capabilities and a single entry point to the system.

Having connected the console to the management server, you can back up or recover any machine that is registered on the server. You can also create centralized backup plans to back up several machines. Alternatively, you can connect the console to each individual machine and perform backup and recovery directly on the machine.

Install an Agent on each machine you want to back up. Management Server can be installed on any machine that provides continuous services availability and has a network connection to the machines

that you want to back up. Management Console, which provides the GUI to the agents and to the management server, should be installed on the machine from where the backup will be set up and monitored.

4.3 Supported operating systems

Agent

You can install the agent in any server or workstation operating system listed in "Supported operating systems and virtualization products" (p. 6).

Management Server

You can install the management server in any of these operating systems:

Windows XP Professional SP3 (x86, x64)

Windows Server 2003/2003 R2 – Standard and Enterprise editions (x86, x64)

Windows Small Business Server 2003/2003 R2

Windows Vista – all editions except for Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium (x86, x64)

Windows Server 2008 – Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions (x86, x64)

Windows Small Business Server 2008

Windows 7 – all editions except for the Starter and Home editions (x86, x64)

Windows Server 2008 R2 – Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, and Foundation editions

Windows MultiPoint Server 2010/2011/2012

Windows Small Business Server 2011 – all editions

Windows 8/8.1 – all editions except for the Windows RT editions (x86, x64)

Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 – all editions

Windows Storage Server 2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2

Management Console

Windows

You can install the management console in any of these operating systems:

Windows XP Professional SP2+ (x86, x64)

Windows Server 2003/2003 R2 – Standard and Enterprise editions (x86, x64)

Windows Small Business Server 2003/2003 R2

Windows Vista – all editions (x86, x64)

Windows Server 2008 – Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, and Web editions (x86, x64)

Windows Small Business Server 2008

Windows 7 – all editions (x86, x64)

Windows Server 2008 R2 – Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Foundation, and Web editions

Windows MultiPoint Server 2010/2011/2012

Windows Small Business Server 2011 – all editions

Windows 8/8.1 – all editions except for the Windows RT editions (x86, x64)

Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 – all editions

Windows Storage Server 2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2

Linux

You can install the console in any Linux distribution listed in "Supported operating systems and virtualization products" (p. 6).

4.4 Installing Acronis Backup Advanced

If you do not have Acronis Backup Advanced, install it without a product license key. You will be able to back up to the cloud storage only.

The following step-by-step instructions will guide you through basic installation when using default settings. Please refer to the Acronis Backup Advanced installation documentation if advanced installation options are required. For example, you can install agents remotely or deploy them over an Active Directory domain using Group Policy.

Downloading the setup program

Download the Acronis Backup Advanced setup program from http://www.acronis.com/my/cloud-backup/corporate. To install the product in Linux, download additional installation files.

Installing the management server, the management console and an agent

Perform these steps on any Windows machine that has a network connection to the machines that you will back up.

1. Start the setup program.

2. Click Install Acronis Backup.

3. Accept the terms of the license agreement, and then click Next.

4. Select the Back up this machine's data, Centrally monitor and configure the backing up of

physical and virtual machines, and Connect to remote machines check boxes. Click Next to continue.

5. Select I purchased a license or a subscription, and then click Next.

6. In License for backup of ..., select Cloud backup only - license not required, click Next, and then

click Yes in the confirmation window.

7. Specify the password of the account with which you are logged on. Click Next to continue.

Details. The password is required to register the agent on the management server during installation.

8. Choose whether the machine will participate in the Acronis Customer Experience Program (CEP).

Click Next to continue.

9. Click Install to proceed with installation.

10. On successful installation, click Finish to close the wizard window.

Creating a bootable media

We recommend creating a bootable media at this point.

1. Start Acronis Backup.

2. In the welcome screen, under Tools, click Create bootable media. The Acronis Bootable Media

Builder wizard will open.

3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Installing the agents

Perform these steps on each machine that you will back up.

Installation in Windows

1. Log on as an administrator and start the setup program.

2. Click Install Acronis Backup.

3. Accept the terms of the license agreement, and then click Next.

4. Select the Back up this machine's data check box, and then click Next.

5. Select I purchased a license or a subscription, and then click Next.

6. In License for backup of ..., select Cloud backup only - license not required, click Next, and then

click Yes in the confirmation window.

7. Click Register now, and then specify:

 The name or IP address of the management server.  The user name and password of an administrator of the machine where the management

server is installed.

Click Next to continue.

Details. The setup program will automatically register the machine on the management server. Or, you can add the machine to the management server later.

8. Choose whether the machine will participate in the Acronis Customer Experience Program (CEP).

Click Next to continue.

9. Click Install to proceed with installation.

10. On successful installation, click Finish to close the wizard window.

Installation in Linux

Use the AcronisBackupAdvancedAgentL.i686 installation file for 32-bit machines and the AcronisBackupAdvancedAgentL64.x86_64 installation file for 64-bit machines. Run the file as the

root user, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

5 Starting Acronis Backup

To start the management console, select from the start menu: Acronis > Acronis Backup Management Console > Acronis Backup.

When in the management console, you can manage a machine where the agent is installed in either of two ways:

 By connecting to the machine directly  By using the management server

To connect to a machine directly

1. Click Manage this machine or Manage a remote machine.

2. If you chose to manage a remote machine, enter its name or IP address.

3. If prompted for credentials, specify the user name and password. If you chose to manage a

remote machine, the user has to be a member of the Acronis Remote Users group on that machine.

To connect to the management server

1. Click Connect to a management server.

2. Enter the server name or IP address.

3. If prompted for credentials, specify the user name and password. The user has to be a member

of the Acronis Remote Users and the Acronis Centralized Admins groups on the server.

The step-by-step instructions provided later in this document focus on managing the machine through the management server.

The management console is referred to as the console later in this document.

6 Configuring proxy settings

If one or more machines where you installed agents connect to the Internet through a proxy server, you need to configure each of the agents to use the proxy server.

The management server connects to the Internet to retrieve information about cloud backup subscriptions. The proxy settings for the management server also need to be configured.

Proxy settings for the agent and the management server are configured separately, even if both are installed on the same machine.

To configure proxy settings for an agent

1. Connect the console to the machine for which you want to configure proxy settings.

2. On the Options menu, click Machine options.

3. Click Cloud backup proxy.

4. Enter the proxy server settings. For detailed information about the settings please refer to the

context-sensitive help.

5. Repeat steps 2–4 for all machines that connect to the Internet through a proxy server.

To configure proxy settings for the management server

1. Connect the console to the management server.

2. On the Options menu, click Management server options.

3. Click Cloud backup proxy.

4. Enter the proxy server settings. For detailed information about the settings please refer to the

context-sensitive help.

7 Activating cloud backup subscriptions

Activating a subscription on a machine means allowing the machine to back up to the cloud storage.

A volume subscription is activated automatically as soon as you start backing up the machine to Acronis Cloud Storage.

A machine subscription (for PC or for server) needs to be activated manually. Its subscription period starts at the moment of activation.

Important Before activating the first subscription for your account, check the country selected in your profile. Depending on this country, the service determines the data center where your backups will be sent. Make sure to select the country where all or most of the machines you want to back up to the cloud storage are located. Otherwise, the data may unnecessarily travel a long way. Later, you will not be able to change the data center even if you change the country in your profile. To access your profile, go to the Acronis website, select User Login, log in to your account, and then click Personal Profile.

7.1 Activating subscriptions in Acronis Backup Advanced

To begin with, make sure that the machines whose subscriptions you want to activate are registered on the management server and available (turned on).

If you need to back up ESX(i) virtual machines, bind them to Agent for VMware as described in the "Agent for VMware binding" section of the "Backing up virtual machines" document. When activating a subscription, select the machine where the agent is running.

To activate subscriptions

1. Connect the console to the management server.

2. On the Actions menu, click Activate cloud backup subscriptions.

3. Specify the credentials to log in to the cloud storage.

4. Select any number of machines from either the Workstations or the Servers list, and then click

Select subscription.

5. Select the type of subscriptions you want to activate for the machines. The number of the

subscriptions must be at least the same as the number of the selected machines.

6. Click Activate now.

7. Perform the previous three steps for other machines you want to activate subscriptions on.

Alternatively, you can activate a subscription when the console is connected to a machine instead of the management server.

7.2 Reassigning an activated subscription

Sometimes you may want to use an already activated subscription instead of an available subscription. In these cases, for example:

 You no longer need to back up one of your machines and you want to reuse that machine’s

subscription for another machine.

 You reinstalled Acronis Backup on a machine and want to resume its cloud backups.  You recovered a machine to bare metal (or to a state when it did not yet have an activated

subscription) and want to resume its cloud backups.

Reassigning a subscription does not restart its subscription period.

To assign an activated subscription to a machine

1. On the machine to which you want to assign an activated subscription, go to the subscription

activation window.

2. Click Reassign an already used subscription.

3. Select the machine whose subscription you want to reassign to the current machine.

4. Click Reassign now.

Example

The diagram below shows what happens if you reassign a subscription to a different machine. Let's assume Machine 1 has four backups in Subscription 1. Machine 2 has two backups in Subscription 2. At that point, you reassign Subscription 1 to Machine 2. Machine 2 does its third backup to Subscription 1.

Depending on your settings, this backup will be either full or incremental. But its size is not likely to be less than a full backup size. Therefore, it is not practical to reassign a subscription to a machine

whose first backup was done as an initial seeding. You will need to either redo the initial seeding (which requires a new license) or to transfer the sizeable backup over the Internet.

All earlier created backups remain intact. You can delete them manually if necessary. Keep in mind though, backups can be deleted from a subscription only by the machine to which the subscription is assigned. In our example, you have the following options.

Before reassigning

Delete backups from Subscription 1 using Machine 1 (if it is available and turned on). Delete backups from Subscription 2 using Machine 2.

After reassigning

Delete backups from Subscription 1 using Machine 2. You cannot delete backups from Subscription 2, unless you assign this subscription to any machine.

8 Creating a centralized vault for cloud backups

In this step, you will create a centralized vault on the cloud storage. This will enable easy access to all your future backups from both the management server and managed machines.

To create a centralized vault

1. Connect the console to the management server.

2. In the Navigation tree, click Vaults, and then click Create.

3. In Name, type the name of the shortcut—for example: Cloud vault.

4. In Type, select Unmanaged.

5. Click Path. In the list of backup locations, click Cloud storage.

6. Click Log in and then specify the credentials to log in to the cloud storage.

7. Click OK to close the window.

8. Click OK to create the vault.

9 Backup to the cloud storage

This section provides step-by-step instructions for backing up data to the cloud storage.

These instructions focus on a typical scenario described below. By modifying the schedule, items to back up, or list of machines in these instructions, you can set up a backup strategy that best suits your needs. For detailed information about backup please refer to Acronis Backup Advanced built-in help.

Scenario

Let's assume that you have 30 workstations and two servers, one of which is a file server. This section shows how to set up the following backup strategy:

 Daily backup of files from the file server, and deleting backups older than one year. See "Backing

up an individual machine" (p. 26).

 Daily backup of user files from the workstations, and deleting backups older than one month. See

"Backing up multiple machines" (p. 27).

 Monthly backup of the operating system and installed programs on both servers, with the first

(large) backup being sent on a hard drive; and deleting backups older than six months. See "Backing up using Initial Seeding" (p. 27).

The Initial Seeding service might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://kb.acronis.com/content/15118.

In Acronis Backup Advanced, individual machines are backed up according to a backup plan. Centralized backup is performed by using a centralized backup plan.

9.1 Backing up an individual machine

In this step, you will set up a backup plan for daily backup of files from a machine to the cloud storage. Using a similar procedure, you can back up a machine's volumes or an entire machine.

To back up a machine to the cloud storage

1. Connect the console to the machine you want to back up.

2. Click Create backup plan.

3. Under What to back up, click Items to back up.

4. In Data to back up, select Files, and then select the files and folders that you want to back up.

Click OK to close the window.

5. Under Where to back up, click Location, and choose the cloud storage. If you are not authorized

yet, click Log in and specify your credentials for the cloud storage.

6. You can also change the default archive name. Click OK to close the window.

7. Under How to back up, in Backup scheme, select Simple.

Details. This scheme will perform the first full backup and subsequent incremental backups. Each backup will run on the default schedule.

8. In Retention rules, select Delete backups older than..., and then specify the value of 12 months.

9. Click OK to save the backup plan.

Details. You will see the Backup plans and tasks view with the backup plan you have just created.

9.2 Backing up multiple machines

In this step, you will set up a centralized backup plan for backup of user files from all Windows machines registered on the management server to the cloud storage. Using a similar procedure, you can back up machine volumes or entire machines.

To back up multiple machines to the cloud storage

1. Connect the console to the management server.

2. Click Create backup plan.

3. Under What to back up, click Items to back up.

4. In Data to back up, select Files.

5. Select Use policy rules for selection.

6. In Use the following rules, select [All Profiles Folder], and then click Add rule.

7. Click %ALLUSERSPROFILE% and click Delete.

Details. This selection rule means that the folders containing Windows users’ files (such as C:\Documents and Settings and C:\Users) will be backed up regardless of where they are located on a particular machine. You can add more selection rules to the same policy.

8. Select the Management Server check box. Click OK to close the window.

9. Under Where to back up, click Location.

10. In the folders tree, expand Centralized and select the centralized cloud vault. If prompted,

specify the credentials for the cloud storage.

11. You can also change the default archive name. Click OK to close the window.

12. Under How to back up, in Backup scheme, select Simple.

Details. This scheme will perform the first full backup and subsequent incremental backups. Each backup will run on the default schedule.

13. In Retention rules, select Delete backups older than..., and then specify the value of 1 month.

14. Click OK to save the backup plan.

Details. You will see the Backup plans and tasks view with the backup plan you have just created.

9.3 Backing up using Initial Seeding

This section illustrates how to set up a backup plan to perform monthly disk-level backups of a machine. You will use the Initial Seeding scheme to upload the initial full backup.

Subsequent backups, which are incremental and thus are usually much smaller, will be transferred over the Internet. You can run incremental backups manually or on a schedule, after the full backup has been uploaded to the cloud storage.

You need a separate license, called an Initial Seeding license, for each machine that you want to back up under this scheme. Each Initial Seeding license allows you to upload one backup from a single machine to the cloud storage.

9.3.1 Preparation for initial seeding

Before backing up by using Initial Seeding, make sure that:

 You activated (p. 23) a cloud backup subscription for the machine (skip this step if you have a

volume subscription).

 You bought (p. 9) an Initial Seeding license for the machine.  The machine is connected to the Internet. It needs access to the cloud storage to check for the

Initial Seeding licenses.

 You have a supported hard drive (p. 9) that is ready to be sent by physical mail.

9.3.2 Creating the full backup

Do the following to back up one or more volumes of a machine by using the Initial Seeding scheme:

1. Connect the console to the management server.

2. Click Create backup plan.

3. Under What to back up, click Items to back up, and then select the volumes that you want to

back up. Click OK to close the window.

4. Under Where to back up, click Location, and choose the cloud storage. If you are not authorized

yet, click Log in and specify your credentials for the cloud storage.

5. You can also change the default archive name. Click OK to close the window.

6. Under How to back up, in Backup scheme, select Initial seeding.

7. Click Full backup and specify the local or network folder where you want to create the full

backup. You can create the backup directly on the hard drive you are going to send.

8. [Optional, but strongly recommended.] Set up encryption for the backup. Under Plan parameters,

click Backup options, click Archive protection, and specify the password and the encryption algorithm (for example, AES 256). Click OK to close the window.

9. Click OK to start the backup.

After creating an initial seeding backup, the software automatically validates it.

9.3.3 Sending the full backup

After the full backup has been created, send it to the cloud storage.

1. Copy or move the full backup to the hard drive you are going to send. You can place two or more

full backups on a single hard drive. Make sure that the hard drive is of a supported type (p. 9).

2. Package (p. 11) the hard drive for shipment. Make sure to enclose a prepaid return shipping label

if you want your hard drive to be sent back to you.

3. Send the hard drive to Acronis. You can find the address on the account management webpage.

4. Track (p. 13) the status of your Initial Seeding order.

9.3.4 Creating subsequent backups

After the full backup has been uploaded to the cloud storage, modify the backup plan to set up subsequent incremental backups of the same items. You may want to run the backups manually or on a schedule.

To schedule regular incremental backups

1. Connect the console to the management server.

2. In the Navigation tree, click Backup plans and tasks.

3. Right-click the backup plan that created the full backup, and then click Edit.

4. In Backup scheme, change Initial seeding to Simple.

5. Click Schedule, and then specify the schedule according to which the incremental backups will

run, for example on the last Saturday of each month, as follows:

a. In Run the task:, click Monthly. b. Under Schedule, click On:, and then leave only the Last and the Sat check boxes selected in

the respective lists.

c. Under During the day execute the task…, specify the time of day when you want the

backups to run.

6. Click OK to close the Schedule window.

7. In Retention rules, select Delete backups older than..., and then specify the value of six months.

8. Click Save to update the backup plan.

9. If prompted, specify the credentials which the plan's scheduled tasks will use to run.

10 Accessing backups stored in the cloud vault

To access the backups stored in the cloud vault

1. Connect the console to the management server or a managed machine.

2. In the Navigation tree, expand Vaults, then expand Centralized, and then click the vault name.

11 Operations with backups stored in the cloud

storage

When the console is connected to a machine, you can perform the following operations with backups stored in the cloud storage:

 View the content of any backup of any machine  Recover (p. 29) data from any backup of any machine  Delete any backup of the machine to which the console is connected

You cannot delete backups when the console is connected to the management server.

For detailed information about these operations, please refer to the "Operations with backups" section of the Acronis Backup Advanced built-in help.

12 Recovery from the cloud storage

This section provides step-by-step instructions for recovering data from the cloud storage.

12.1 Recovering files

These steps show how to recover files from a backup stored in the cloud storage to a folder you specify.

To recover files from the cloud storage

1. Connect the console to the management server.

2. Click Recover.

3. Click Select data, click Data path, and then click Browse.

4. Expand Centralized and select the centralized cloud vault. If prompted, specify the credentials for

the cloud storage. Click OK to confirm your selection.

5. Select the backup from which you want to recover data.

6. If the selected backup is a disk-level one, in Backup contents, select Files. If the backup is a

file-level one, skip this step.

7. Select the files that you want to recover. Click OK to confirm your selection.

Details. Here, you can specify the date and time to which you want to revert your files if there is more than one backup in the archive.

8. Click Specify the machine where to create the task and select the machine to which you want to

recover. Click OK to confirm your selection.

9. Click Destination, click New location, and then specify the folder to recover the files to. Or you

can select this folder from the folder tree.

Tip. By default, the program recovers files to the location from which they were backed up. This may require a reboot if some of the files are locked by the operating system.

10. Click OK to immediately start the recovery.

Details. You will see the window with the recovery task details.

12.2 Recovering volumes

These steps show how to recover a machine’s system and boot volumes from a disk backup stored in

the cloud storage.

To recover system and boot volumes from the cloud storage

1. Connect the console to the machine that you want to recover.

2. Click Recover.

3. Click Select data and then click Browse.

4. Expand Centralized and select the centralized cloud vault. If prompted, specify the credentials for

the cloud storage. Click OK to confirm your selection.

5. Select the backup from which you want to recover data.

6. In Backup contents, select Volumes.

7. Select the system volume and the boot volume. Click OK to confirm your selection.

Details. It is assumed that you can identify the system and boot volumes by their labels. For Windows operating systems prior to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the system volume and the boot volume are commonly the same.

8. Under Where to recover, select the disk where the master boot record (MBR) will be recovered

to.

9. Map each volume selected for recovery to a volume or an unallocated space on the destination

disk.

10. Click OK to immediately start the recovery.

Details. You will see the window with the recovery task details.

The most recent operating systems remain bootable when recovered to dissimilar hardware, or the VMware or Hyper-V platforms. If a recovered operating system does not boot, use the Acronis Universal Restore tool to update the drivers and modules that are critical for the operating system startup. For details, see the Acronis Universal Restore page at http://www.acronis.com/aur/.

12.3 Recovering using Large Scale Recovery

In these steps, you will recover a machine’s system and boot volumes from a disk backup. You will use the Large Scale Recovery service to retrieve backups from the cloud storage on a hard disk instead of over the Internet.

You need a separate license, called a Large Scale Recovery license, for each machine whose backups you want to retrieve in this way.

Note: Recovering a system volume requires a machine reboot.

To recover data using Large Scale Recovery

Retrieving backups

Perform these steps on the account management webpage:

1. Buy (p. 15) a Large Scale Recovery license, if you do not yet have one.

2. Place a large scale recovery order, specifying:

 The machine whose backups you want to retrieve.  The address where you want the hard drive to be sent.

After placing the order, wait until the hard drive arrives. The hard drive remains yours.

What else you may want to know before recovery

 You can recover the data an unlimited number of times on any machine you wish.  If your archives are encrypted or password-protected, you will need to enter the password set by

you or your colleague during backup. Acronis does not know the password to your archives.

Recovering data

Note: The following steps assume that the system is bootable and that the agent is operational on the machine. In case the system is corrupted, you must use a bootable media. To recover the system, boot the machine using this media and perform similar steps.

1. Attach the hard drive you received to the machine that you want to recover. Or, you can copy

this hard drive's contents to a network share accessible from this machine.

2. Connect the console to the machine that you want to recover.

3. Click Recover.

4. Click Select data and then click Browse. Browse to the attached disk or the network share. Click

OK to confirm your selection.

5. Continue as described in Recovering volumes (p. 30) starting from step 5.

For detailed information about recovery please refer to the context-sensitive help.

13 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a

web browser

By using a web browser, you can browse Acronis Cloud Storage, view contents of file-level archives, and download the selected files and folders.

The following browsers support these operations:

 Internet Explorer 7 or later

 Mozilla Firefox 3.5 or later  Google Chrome 10 or later  Safari 5.0.5 or later

To retrieve files from the cloud storage:

1. Go to the account management webpage (p. 16) and click Recover files from Acronis Cloud. You

will see the list of the machines backed up by using the specified account. The list of machines that share a volume subscription appears when you select this subscription.

2. Click the name of the machine whose data you want to retrieve. The software displays both

file-level and disk-level archives of this machine's data.

Note for users of the Initial Seeding (p. 35) service. While an initial seeding backup is being uploaded from your hard drive to Acronis Cloud Storage, the backup is visible but its data is not retrievable.

3. Click the required file-level archive. If prompted, enter the archive password. The software

displays all of files and folders that were ever backed up to this archive.

4. If necessary, browse to the required folder or use search to obtain the list of the required files

and folders.

Details. The search string can contain one or more wildcard characters * and ?.

5. Do one of the following:

 To get the latest version of a single file or folder, simply click its name.  To get the latest versions of multiple files and folders, select the check boxes to the left of

them and click the Download button.

 To get an earlier version of a single file, click the icon to the right of it and choose View

versions. This opens a window with the version list. In this window, select the required version by its date and time and click Download.

 [Not available if you used search] To get earlier versions of multiple files and folders, select

the required date and time from the Versions list. Select the check boxes to the left of the files and folders and click the Download button.

Details. You will get the file and folder versions that were backed up prior and closest to the selected point in time.

6. To download the selected files, click Save.

Details. If you selected a single file, it is downloaded as is. Otherwise, the selected data will be archived into a .zip file (named AcronisArchive.zip by default).

7. Select the location to save the data to, and then click Save.

14 Limitations of the cloud storage

Unlike other types of storage available in Acronis Backup, the cloud storage has the following limitations.

Operations

The following operations are not possible.

Backup operations:

 Backing up from bootable media  Backing up with Agent for Exchange

 Creating differential backups  Using the Custom backup scheme  Simplified naming of backup files  Simultaneous host-based backup of multiple virtual machines  Setting up regular conversion of backups to a virtual machine

Operations with backups:

 Validating a backup*  Exporting a backup  Mounting a backup  Replicating or moving backups from the cloud storage  Converting an incremental backup to full

Operation with archives (an archive is a set of backups):

 Validating an archive  Exporting an archive

These limitations also apply to backing up data using Initial Seeding and to recovering data using Large Scale Recovery.

* An initial seeding backup is automatically validated immediately after its creation.

Backup and recovery options

Some backup and recovery options are not supported by cloud backups. For example, Backup splitting.

By using the Backup performance > Network connection speed option, you can vary the transferring speed as kilobytes per second, but not as a percentage.

15 Technical Support

Maintenance and Support Program

If you need assistance with your Acronis product, please go to http://www.acronis.com/support/

Product Updates

You can download the latest updates for all your registered Acronis software products from our website at any time after logging into your Account (http://www.acronis.com/my) and registering the product. See Registering Acronis Products at the Website (http://kb.acronis.com/content/4834) and Acronis Website User Guide (http://kb.acronis.com/content/8128).

“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.

16 Glossary

Activate a subscription

Allow the machine to use the cloud storage according to the subscription.

Activated subscription

A subscription that is currently being used by a machine.

Assign a subscription to a machine

Reserve a subscription for a particular machine in order to renew (p. 36) its current subscription.

Assigned subscription

A subscription that has been assigned (p. 35) to a machine.

Available subscription

A subscription that is not assigned to any machine.

Extra service

A service that you can use in addition to cloud backup subscriptions (p. 36).

Increase storage quota

Replace a subscription (p. 36) with another one that has a greater storage quota. The remaining subscription period (p. 36) is reduced in proportion to the capacity increase.

Initial Seeding

An extra service (p. 35) that enables you to save an initial full backup locally and then send it to Acronis on a hard disk drive. Acronis uploads the backup to the cloud storage. After that, you can add incremental backups to this full backup, either manually or on a schedule.

The Initial Seeding service might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://kb.acronis.com/content/15118.

Large Scale Recovery

An extra service (p. 35) that enables you to obtain a copy of the backups you have in the cloud storage. You can then recover data from this copy.

The Large Scale Recovery service might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://kb.acronis.com/content/15118.

License

Permission for a machine to use an extra service (p. 35) of Acronis Cloud Backup.

You can buy Initial Seeding licenses and/or Large Scale Recovery licenses.

Reassign a subscription

Assign a subscription that is already activated, to a different machine.

Registration code

A character string for registering a subscription (p. 36) or license (p. 36) that was bought from an Acronis partner.

When you purchase such subscriptions or licenses, you receive a confirmation e-mail containing the registration codes for each of them. You then enter the registration codes on the account management webpage, and these subscriptions and licenses become available for use.

Renew a subscription

Assign (p. 35) a subscription of the same type and with the same or a larger storage quota as the current, activated subscription.

This subscription will become activated as soon as the current subscription expires.

Storage quota

The amount of storage space that can be occupied according to the subscription (p. 36).

Subscription

Permission for a machine or for multiple machines to use a specific amount of space in the cloud storage, for a specific period of time.

Subscription period

The period during which the subscription remains activated. You can back up and recover the machine during this period. Recovery is possible for extra 30 days after this period ends.

Unassign a subscription

Make an assigned subscription available again.

You can unassign a subscription as long as it is not activated.

Acronis Backup Advanced (Cloud) User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual