Acronis BACKUP AND RECOVERY 10 Installation Update 3

Update 3

Acronis® Backup & Recovery ™ 10

Advanced Workstation

Installation Guide

Table of contents

1 Before installation ...................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components .......................................................................... 4

1.1.1 Agent for Windows ................................................................................................................................... 4

1.1.2 Components for centralized management............................................................................................... 5

1.1.3 Management Console .............................................................................................................................. 8

1.1.4 Bootable Media Builder ............................................................................................................................ 8

1.1.5 Acronis Wake-On-LAN Proxy .................................................................................................................... 8

1.2 Supported operating systems ............................................................................................... 8

1.3 System requirements .......................................................................................................... 10

1.4 Licensing policy ................................................................................................................... 10

1.5 Using Acronis License Server ............................................................................................... 11

2 Installation of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 .......................................................................... 13

2.1 Local installation (Windows) ............................................................................................... 13

2.1.1 Preparation ............................................................................................................................................. 13

2.1.2 Installation procedure ............................................................................................................................ 13

2.1.3 Specifying credentials for Acronis services ............................................................................................. 14

2.1.4 Specifying Microsoft SQL servers ............................................................................................................ 15

2.1.5 Registering components on the management server ............................................................................ 16

2.1.6 Specifying users allowed to connect remotely ....................................................................................... 16

2.1.7 Update .................................................................................................................................................... 16

2.2 Remote installation (Windows) ........................................................................................... 17

2.3 Unattended installation in Windows ................................................................................... 18

2.4 Configuration script parameters ......................................................................................... 20

2.5 Installing the agent using Group Policy ................................................................................ 22

2.5.1 Preparing the agent's deployment ......................................................................................................... 22

2.5.2 Setting up the Group Policy object ......................................................................................................... 24

3 Upgrading from trial to full product version ............................................................................. 25

3.1 Changing a license .............................................................................................................. 25

3.2 Upgrading components for Windows .................................................................................. 26

4 Upgrading to advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 .......................................... 27

4.1 Before the upgrade ............................................................................................................. 27

4.2 Installing or upgrading the Acronis License Server ............................................................... 27

4.3 Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console .......................................... 28

4.4 Upgrading Acronis Group Server to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server .... 28

4.5 Upgrading Acronis Backup Server to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node ............. 30

4.6 Upgrading Acronis True Image Echo agents and local versions ............................................ 31

4.6.1 Importing a task ...................................................................................................................................... 33

5 Uninstalling advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10............................................ 34

5.1 Local uninstallation in Windows .......................................................................................... 34

5.2 Unattended uninstallation in Windows ............................................................................... 35

5.3 Deleting Acronis Secure Zone .............................................................................................. 35

1 Before installation

This section answers questions that might arise before the product installation.

1.1 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components

This section contains a full list of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components with a brief description of their functionality.

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 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 & Recovery 10. Agents require a license to perform operations on each managed machine. Agents have multiple features, or add-ons, that enable additional functionality and so might require additional licenses.

Components for centralized management

These components, delivered with the advanced editions, provide the centralized management capability. Usage of these components is not licensed.

Console

The console provides Graphical User Interface and remote connection to the agents and other Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 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. Availability of the agent add-ons in a rescue environment depends on whether an add-on is installed on the machine where the media builder is working.

1.1.1 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.

Other operations

Conversion to a virtual machine

Rather than converting a disk backup to a virtual disk file, which requires additional operations to bring the virtual disk into use, Agent for Windows performs the conversion by recovering a disk backup to a new virtual machine of any of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, Parallels Workstation or Citrix XenServer Open Virtual Appliance (OVA). 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.

1.1.1.1 Universal Restore

The Universal Restore add-on enables you to use the restore to dissimilar hardware functionality on the machine where the agent is installed, and create bootable media with this functionality. Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for Windows start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.

1.1.1.2 Deduplication

This add-on enables the agent to back up data to deduplicating vaults managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node.

1.1.2 Components for centralized management

This section lists the components included in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 editions that provide the centralized management capability. Besides these components, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agents have to be installed on all machines that need data protection.

1.1.2.1 Management Server

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 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 & Recovery 10 infrastructure  an easy way to protect data on numerous machines using backup policies and grouping  enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality  the ability to create centralized vaults for storing enterprise backup archives  the ability to manage 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.

The management server's databases

The management server uses three Microsoft SQL databases:

 The configuration database that stores the list of registered machines and other configuration

information, including backup policies created by the administrator.

 The synchronization database used for synchronization of the management server with

registered machines and storage nodes. This is a database with rapidly changing operational data.

 The reporting database that stores the centralized log. This database may grow large. Its size

depends on the logging level you set.

The configuration and synchronization databases should reside on the same Microsoft SQL Server (called an operational server) preferably installed on the same machine as the management server. The reporting database can be configured on the same or different SQL server.

When installing a management server, you can select for both operational and reporting servers what server to use. The following options are available:

1. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express that comes with the installation package and installs on the

same machine. In this case, an SQL server instance with three databases will be created on the machine.

2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (any edition) previously installed on any machine.

3. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (any edition) previously installed on any machine.

VMware vCenter integration

This feature provides the capability to view virtual machines managed by a VMware vCenter Server in the management server GUI, view the backup status of these machines in the vCenter, and automatically register virtual machines created by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 in the vCenter.

Integration is available in all Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 advanced editions; a license for Virtual Edition is not required. No software installation is required on the vCenter Server.

This feature also enables automatic deployment and configuration of Agent for ESX/ESXi to any ESX/ESXi server, that is not necessarily managed by the vCenter.

1.1.2.2 Storage Node

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node is a server aimed to optimize usage of various resources (such as the corporate storage capacity, the network bandwidth, or the managed machines' CPU load) required for the enterprise data protection. This goal is achieved through organizing and managing the locations that serve as dedicated storages of the enterprise backup archives (managed vaults).

The storage nodes enable creating highly scalable and flexible, in terms of the hardware support, storage infrastructure. Up to 20 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 & Recovery 10 Management Server. Direct console connection to a storage node is not possible.

Setting up the storage infrastructure

Install the storage nodes, add them to the management server (the procedure is similar to the managed machine registration) and create centralized vaults. When creating a centralized vault, specify the path to the vault, the storage node that will manage the vault, and the management operations to be performed on the vault.

A managed vault can be organized:

 on the hard drives local to the storage node  on a network share  on a Storage Area Network (SAN)  on a Network Attached Storage (NAS)  on a tape library locally attached to the storage node.

The management operations are as follows.

Storage node-side cleanup and validation

Archives, stored in unmanaged vaults, are maintained by the agents that create the archives. This means that each agent not only backs up data to the archive, but also executes service tasks that apply to the archive, the retention rules and validation rules specified by the backup plan. To relieve the managed machines of unnecessary CPU load, execution of the service tasks can be delegated to the storage node. Since the tasks' schedule exists on the machine the agent resides on, and therefore uses that machine’s time and events, the agent has to initiate the storage node-side cleanup and the storage node-side validation according to the schedule. To do so, the agent must be online. Further processing is performed by the storage node.

This functionality cannot be disabled in a managed vault. The next two operations are optional.

Deduplication

A managed vault can be configured as a deduplicating vault. This means that identical data will be backed up to this vault only once to minimize the network usage during backup and storage space taken by the archives. For more information, please see the "Deduplication" section in the User Guide.

Encryption

A managed vault can be configured so that anything written to it is encrypted and anything read from it is decrypted transparently by the storage node, using a vault-specific encryption key stored on the node server. In case the storage medium is stolen or accessed by an unauthorized person, the malefactor will not be able to decrypt the vault contents without access to this specific storage node.

If the archive is already encrypted by the agent, the storage node-side encryption is applied over the encryption performed by the agent.

1.1.2.3 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 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.

1.1.2.4 License Server

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

For more information about Acronis License Server please see "Using Acronis License Server (p. 11)".

1.1.3 Management Console

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console is an administrative tool for remote or local access to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agents, and in the product editions that include the centralized management capability, to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server.

The console has two distributions for installation on Windows and installation on Linux. While both distributions enable connection to any Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent and Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 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 & Recovery 10 components is not available  the Active Directory-related features, such as browsing the AD, are not available.

1.1.4 Bootable Media Builder

Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media. The media builder that installs on Windows can create bootable media based on either Windows Preinstallation Environment, or Linux kernel.

The Universal Restore (p. 5) add-on enables you to create bootable media with the restore to dissimilar hardware functionality. Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for Windows start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.

The Deduplication (p. 5) add-on enables you to create bootable media with the back up to a deduplicating vault functionality.

1.1.5 Acronis Wake-On-LAN Proxy

Acronis Wake-On-LAN Proxy enables Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 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.

1.2 Supported operating systems

Acronis License Server

 Windows XP Professional SP2+ (x86, x64)  Windows 2000 – all editions except for the Datacenter edition  Windows Server 2003/2003 R2 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server editions (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 Server 2008 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server, Foundation editions

(x86, x64)

 Windows Server 2008 R2 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server, Datacenter,

Foundation editions

 Windows MultiPoint Server 2010

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node handles tape libraries and autoloaders by using Removable Storage Management (RSM). Since Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 do not support RSM, a storage node installed in these operating systems does not support tape libraries and autoloaders.

x64)

 Windows Vista - all editions (x86, x64)  Windows 7 - all editions (x86, x64)  Windows Server 2008 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server, Foundation editions

(x86, x64)

 Windows Server 2008 R2 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server, Datacenter,

Foundation editions

 Windows MultiPoint Server 2010

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server and Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node

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 Server 2008 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server, Foundation editions

(x86, x64)

 Windows Server 2008 R2* - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server, Datacenter,

Foundation editions

 Windows MultiPoint Server 2010*

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows

 Windows 2000 Professional SP4  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)

1.3 System requirements

Component

Memory (above the OS and running applications)

Disk space required during installation or update

Disk space occupied by the component(s)

Additional

Complete installation

300 MB

2.7 GB

1.7 GB

including SQL Express Server

Agent for Windows

120 MB

700 MB

260 MB

Bootable Media Builder

80 MB

700 MB

300 MB

CD-RW or DVD-RW drive

Management Console

30 MB

950 MB

450 MB

Screen resolution 1024*768 pixels or higher

Management Server

40 MB

250 MB

400 MB for SQL Express Server

250 MB

400 MB for SQL Express Server

Wake-on-LAN Proxy

Negligible

30 MB

5 MB

Storage Node

100 MB

150 MB

When using a tape library, space required for tapes database: approx. 1 MB per 10 archives

Recommended hardware:

4 GB RAM

High speed storage such as hardware RAID

License Server

Negligible

25 MB

PXE Server

5 MB

80 MB

15 MB

Media type

Memory

ISO image size

Additional

Based on Windows PE

512 MB

300 MB

Linux-based

256 MB

130 MB

The components installed in Windows

Network interface card or virtual network adapter is a common requirement for all the components.

Bootable media

1.4 Licensing policy

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 licensing is based on the number of machines managed and protected by the product. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agents require a license to perform operations on each managed machine.

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server SBS Edition (ABR10 AS SBS)

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Workstation (ABR10 AW)

These editions include Acronis License Server that has to be installed prior to agent installation. License keys can be imported to the Acronis License Server from .txt or .eml files during the server installation or later on. One license key enables installation of the agent on a physical host and four virtual machines.

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent connects to Acronis License Server every time the agent service is started and then every 1–5 days, as specified by the agent configuration parameters. If the agent is unable to connect to the license server or does not find the appropriate license key for 1-60 days (as specified by the configuration parameters), it stops working until there has been a successful license check.

By default, the agent tries to connect to the license server every day and keeps working without a license server or license for 30 days.

Revoking licenses

If a managed machine is taken out of service permanently and replaced, or the machine's network card is replaced (which normally results in changing the MAC address), you can revoke the corresponding license in order to make it available again.

According to Acronis End User License Agreement:

You may reassign a Software License if you retire the licensed Hardware due to permanent Hardware failure. If you reassign a Software License, the Hardware to which you reassign the license becomes the new licensed Hardware for that particular Software License.

1.5 Using Acronis License Server

Acronis License Server is a mechanism that tracks licenses of Acronis products.

A license key is associated with the Media Access Control address (MAC address) of the machine managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent. In cases when the machine has multiple network interface cards (NICs), the license key is associated with the first enumerated physical NIC and its MAC address.

Acronis License Server can import multiple license keys from .txt or .eml files, saving you from the time-consuming procedure of typing in numbers.

When upgraded, recovered or reinstalled, the Acronis License Server keeps all the imported licenses intact. However, it is recommended that you copy the file(s) with license keys to removable media, or create a hard copy of that file(s) and keep it in a safe place. This ensures that you have license data available in case of hardware failure.

Viewing information about licenses

1. Run the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console.

2. Click Manage licenses. Connect to the machine where Acronis License Server is installed. This will

display all license keys available on the license server. One license key can contain multiple licenses.

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Acronis BACKUP AND RECOVERY 10 Installation Update 3

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual