Acronis BACKUP AND RECOVERY 10 User Manual Update 3
Acronis® Backup & Recovery ™ 10
Advanced Workstation
Update 3
User's Guide
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010. All rights reserved.
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Software and/or Service at http://kb.acronis.com/content/7696
Table of contents
1 Introducing Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 ......................................................................... 8
1.1 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 overview .................................................................................. 8
1.2 Getting started ........................................................................................................................... 9
1.2.1 Using the management console ................................................................................................................11
1.3 Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components ...........................................................................17
1.3.1 Agent for Windows .....................................................................................................................................18
1.3.2 Components for centralized management ...............................................................................................19
1.3.3 Management Console ................................................................................................................................21
1.3.4 Bootable Media Builder .............................................................................................................................21
1.3.5 Acronis WOL Proxy .....................................................................................................................................22
1.4 Supported file systems ............................................................................................................22
1.5 Supported operating systems ..................................................................................................23
1.6 System requirements ...............................................................................................................24
1.7 Technical Support ....................................................................................................................25
2 Understanding Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 ....................................................................... 26
2.1 Basic concepts ..........................................................................................................................26
2.2 Full, incremental and differential backups ..............................................................................30
2.3 User privileges on a managed machine ...................................................................................32
2.4 Owners and credentials ...........................................................................................................32
2.5 GFS backup scheme .................................................................................................................33
2.6 Tower of Hanoi backup scheme ..............................................................................................37
2.7 Retention rules ........................................................................................................................39
2.8 Backing up dynamic volumes (Windows) ................................................................................42
2.9 Tape support ............................................................................................................................44
2.9.1 Tape compatibility table .............................................................................................................................44
2.9.2 Using a single tape drive .............................................................................................................................45
2.10 Support for SNMP ....................................................................................................................46
2.11 Proprietary Acronis technologies ............................................................................................47
2.11.1 Acronis Secure Zone ...................................................................................................................................47
2.11.2 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager ...........................................................................................................48
2.11.3 Universal Restore (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore) ....................................................49
2.11.4 Acronis Active Restore ...............................................................................................................................50
2.12 Understanding centralized management ................................................................................52
2.12.1 Basic concepts ............................................................................................................................................52
2.12.2 Setting up centralized data protection in a heterogeneous network ......................................................53
2.12.3 Grouping the registered machines ............................................................................................................57
2.12.4 Policies on machines and groups ...............................................................................................................57
2.12.5 Backup policy's state and statuses .............................................................................................................61
2.12.6 Deduplication .............................................................................................................................................64
2.12.7 Privileges for centralized management .....................................................................................................69
2.12.8 Communication between Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components ..................................................73
3 Options .................................................................................................................................. 80
3.1 Console options .......................................................................................................................80
3.1.1 Startup page ...............................................................................................................................................80
3.1.2 Pop-up messages ........................................................................................................................................80
3.1.3 Time-based alerts .......................................................................................................................................81
3.1.4 Number of tasks .........................................................................................................................................81
3.1.5 Fonts ...........................................................................................................................................................81
3.2 Management server options ...................................................................................................82
3.2.1 Logging level ...............................................................................................................................................82
3.2.2 Log cleanup rules ........................................................................................................................................82
3.2.3 Event tracing ...............................................................................................................................................83
3.2.4 Domain access credentials .........................................................................................................................84
3.2.5 Acronis WOL Proxy .....................................................................................................................................84
3.2.6 VM protection options ...............................................................................................................................84
3.2.7 Online backup proxy ...................................................................................................................................85
3.3 Machine options ......................................................................................................................86
3.3.1 Machine management ...............................................................................................................................86
3.3.2 Event tracing ...............................................................................................................................................87
3.3.3 Log cleanup rules ........................................................................................................................................89
3.3.4 Online backup proxy ...................................................................................................................................89
3.3.5 Customer Experience Program ..................................................................................................................89
3.4 Default backup and recovery options ......................................................................................90
3.4.1 Default backup options ..............................................................................................................................90
3.4.2 Default recovery options ......................................................................................................................... 112
4 Vaults .................................................................................................................................. 121
4.1 Centralized vaults ................................................................................................................. 122
4.1.1 Working with the "Centralized vault" view ............................................................................................ 123
4.1.2 Actions on centralized vaults .................................................................................................................. 124
4.1.3 Tape libraries ........................................................................................................................................... 129
4.2 Personal vaults ...................................................................................................................... 152
4.2.1 Working with the "Personal vault" view ................................................................................................. 153
4.2.2 Actions on personal vaults ...................................................................................................................... 154
4.3 Common operations ............................................................................................................. 155
4.3.1 Operations with archives stored in a vault ............................................................................................. 155
4.3.2 Operations with backups ........................................................................................................................ 156
4.3.3 Deleting archives and backups ................................................................................................................ 157
4.3.4 Filtering and sorting archives .................................................................................................................. 158
5 Scheduling ........................................................................................................................... 159
5.1 Daily schedule ....................................................................................................................... 160
5.2 Weekly schedule ................................................................................................................... 162
5.3 Monthly schedule ................................................................................................................. 164
5.4 Advanced scheduling settings .............................................................................................. 166
5.5 At Windows Event Log event ................................................................................................ 168
5.6 When an ADRM alert is received .......................................................................................... 170
5.7 Conditions ............................................................................................................................. 170
5.7.1 User is idle ................................................................................................................................................ 171
5.7.2 Location's host is available ...................................................................................................................... 171
5.7.3 Fits time interval ...................................................................................................................................... 172
5.7.4 User logged off ........................................................................................................................................ 172
5.7.5 Time since last backup ............................................................................................................................ 173
6 Direct management ............................................................................................................. 174
6.1 Administering a managed machine ...................................................................................... 174
6.1.1 Dashboard ............................................................................................................................................... 174
6.1.2 Backup plans and tasks ........................................................................................................................... 176
6.1.3 Log ............................................................................................................................................................ 187
6.2 Creating a backup plan ......................................................................................................... 189
6.2.1 Why is the program asking for the password? ....................................................................................... 192
6.2.2 Backup plan's credentials ........................................................................................................................ 192
6.2.3 Source type .............................................................................................................................................. 192
6.2.4 Items to back up ...................................................................................................................................... 193
6.2.5 Access credentials for source .................................................................................................................. 194
6.2.6 Exclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 195
6.2.7 Archive ..................................................................................................................................................... 196
6.2.8 Simplified naming of backup files ........................................................................................................... 197
6.2.9 Access credentials for archive location ................................................................................................... 201
6.2.10 Backup schemes ...................................................................................................................................... 202
6.2.11 Archive validation .................................................................................................................................... 212
6.2.12 Setting up regular conversion to a virtual machine ............................................................................... 212
6.3 Recovering data .................................................................................................................... 213
6.3.1 Task credentials ....................................................................................................................................... 216
6.3.2 Archive selection ..................................................................................................................................... 216
6.3.3 Data type.................................................................................................................................................. 217
6.3.4 Content selection .................................................................................................................................... 217
6.3.5 Access credentials for location ................................................................................................................ 218
6.3.6 Destination selection ............................................................................................................................... 219
6.3.7 Access credentials for destination .......................................................................................................... 226
6.3.8 When to recover ...................................................................................................................................... 226
6.3.9 Universal Restore .................................................................................................................................... 226
6.3.10 How to convert a disk backup to a virtual machine ............................................................................... 228
6.3.11 Bootability troubleshooting .................................................................................................................... 229
6.3.12 Recovering the storage node .................................................................................................................. 232
6.4 Validating vaults, archives and backups ............................................................................... 233
6.4.1 Task credentials ....................................................................................................................................... 234
6.4.2 Archive selection ..................................................................................................................................... 234
6.4.3 Backup selection ...................................................................................................................................... 235
6.4.4 Location selection .................................................................................................................................... 236
6.4.5 Access credentials for source .................................................................................................................. 236
6.4.6 When to validate ..................................................................................................................................... 237
6.5 Mounting an image ............................................................................................................... 237
6.5.1 Archive selection ..................................................................................................................................... 238
6.5.2 Backup selection ...................................................................................................................................... 239
6.5.3 Access credentials ................................................................................................................................... 239
6.5.4 Volume selection ..................................................................................................................................... 239
6.6 Managing mounted images .................................................................................................. 240
6.7 Exporting archives and backups ........................................................................................... 240
6.7.1 Task credentials ....................................................................................................................................... 243
6.7.2 Archive selection ..................................................................................................................................... 243
6.7.3 Backup selection ...................................................................................................................................... 244
6.7.4 Access credentials for source .................................................................................................................. 244
6.7.5 Location selection .................................................................................................................................... 245
6.7.6 Access credentials for destination .......................................................................................................... 246
6.8 Acronis Secure Zone ............................................................................................................. 247
6.8.1 Creating Acronis Secure Zone ................................................................................................................. 247
6.8.2 Managing Acronis Secure Zone ............................................................................................................... 249
6.9 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager ...................................................................................... 250
6.10 Bootable media ..................................................................................................................... 251
6.10.1 How to create bootable media ............................................................................................................... 252
6.10.2 Connecting to a machine booted from media ....................................................................................... 260
6.10.3 Working under bootable media .............................................................................................................. 260
6.10.4 List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media ............................................. 262
6.10.5 Recovering MD devices and logical volumes .......................................................................................... 263
6.10.6 Acronis PXE Server ................................................................................................................................... 267
6.11 Disk management ................................................................................................................. 268
6.11.1 Basic precautions ..................................................................................................................................... 269
6.11.2 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite .......................................................................................................... 269
6.11.3 Choosing the operating system for disk management .......................................................................... 270
6.11.4 "Disk management" view ........................................................................................................................ 270
6.11.5 Disk operations ........................................................................................................................................ 271
6.11.6 Volume operations .................................................................................................................................. 277
6.11.7 Pending operations ................................................................................................................................. 283
6.12 Collecting system information .............................................................................................. 284
7 Centralized management ..................................................................................................... 285
7.1 Administering Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server .................................... 285
7.1.1 Dashboard ............................................................................................................................................... 285
7.1.2 Backup policies ........................................................................................................................................ 287
7.1.3 Physical machines .................................................................................................................................... 292
7.1.4 Virtual machines ...................................................................................................................................... 309
7.1.5 Storage nodes .......................................................................................................................................... 314
7.1.6 Tasks ......................................................................................................................................................... 318
7.1.7 Log ............................................................................................................................................................ 320
7.1.8 Reporting ................................................................................................................................................. 324
7.2 Configuring Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 components .................................................... 329
7.2.1 Parameters set through administrative template .................................................................................. 330
7.2.2 Parameters set through GUI ................................................................................................................... 344
7.2.3 Parameters set through Windows registry ............................................................................................ 345
7.3 Creating a backup policy ....................................................................................................... 346
7.3.1 Policy credentials ..................................................................................................................................... 348
7.3.2 Items to back up ...................................................................................................................................... 349
7.3.3 Access credentials for source .................................................................................................................. 354
7.3.4 Exclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 354
7.3.5 Archive ..................................................................................................................................................... 355
7.3.6 Access credentials for location ................................................................................................................ 357
7.3.7 Backup scheme selection ........................................................................................................................ 357
7.3.8 Archive validation .................................................................................................................................... 367
8 Online backup ..................................................................................................................... 367
8.1 Introduction to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Online ........................................................ 368
8.1.1 What is Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Online? .................................................................................... 368
8.1.2 What data can I back up and recover? ................................................................................................... 368
8.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the online storage? ..................................................................... 369
8.1.4 How to secure my data? ......................................................................................................................... 369
8.1.5 How to back up virtual machines to the online storage? ...................................................................... 369
8.1.6 Backup and recovery FAQ ....................................................................................................................... 370
8.1.7 Initial Seeding FAQ ................................................................................................................................... 371
8.1.8 Large Scale Recovery FAQ ....................................................................................................................... 376
8.1.9 Subscription lifecycle FAQ ....................................................................................................................... 378
8.2 Where do I start? .................................................................................................................. 380
8.3 Choosing a subscription ........................................................................................................ 380
8.4 Activating online backup subscriptions ................................................................................ 381
8.4.1 Activating subscriptions .......................................................................................................................... 381
8.4.2 Reassigning an activated subscription .................................................................................................... 382
8.5 Configuring proxy settings .................................................................................................... 383
8.6 Limitations of the online storage .......................................................................................... 384
8.7 Terminology reference ......................................................................................................... 385
9 Glossary ............................................................................................................................... 387
1 Int roduci ng Acroni s® Backup & Recovery™ 10
1.1 Acronis Bac kup & Recovery 10 overview
Based on Acronis’ patented disk imaging and bare metal restore technologies, Acronis Backup &
Recovery 10 succeeds Acronis True Image Echo as the next generation disaster recovery solution.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Workstation inherits the benefits of the Acronis True
Image Echo product family:
Backup of an entire disk or volume, including the operating system, all applications, and data
Bare metal recovery to any hardware
File and folder backup and recovery
Scalability from a single machine to an enterprise
Centralized management for distributed workstations
Dedicated servers for storage resource optimization.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Workstation offers new benefits that help organizations
meet challenging Recovery Time Objectives while reducing both capital expense and software
maintenance costs.
Leveraging existing IT infrastructure
Data deduplication to reduce storage consumption and network bandwidth utilization
Flexible deduplication mechanism allowing deduplication of backup data both at the source
and at the storage
Improved support for robotic tape libraries
Backward compatibility and an easy upgrade from Acronis True Image Echo
Highly automated data protection
All-round planning of data protection (backup, retention and validation of backups) within a
backup policy
Built-in Tower of Hanoi and Grandfather-Father-Son backup schemes with customizable
parameters
A variety of events and conditions can be chosen to trigger a backup
Policy-based centralized management
Applying backup policies to groups of machines
Static and dynamic machine grouping
Easy work with virtual environments
Conversion of a backup to a fully configured VMware, Microsoft, Parallels, or Citrix virtual
machine
Redesigned GUI
Dashboard for quick operational decision making
Overview of all configured and running operations with color-coding for successful and failed
operations
Enterprise level of security
Controlling user rights to perform operations and access backups
8 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Running services with minimal user rights
Restricted remote access to a backup agent
Secure communication between the product components
Using third-party certificates for authentication of the components
Data encryption options for both data transmission and storage
Backup of remote machines to a centralized storage node behind firewalls.
1.2 Getting started
Direct management
1. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console and Acronis Backup & Recovery 10
Agent.
2. Start the console.
Windows
Start the console by selecting it from the start menu.
3. Connect the console to the machine where the agent is installed.
Where to go from here
For what to do next see "Basic concepts (p. 26)".
For understanding of the GUI elements see "Using the management console (p. 11)".
Centralized management
We recommend that you first try to manage the single machine using direct management as
described above.
To start with centralized management:
1. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server (p. 19).
2. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agents on the machines that need data protection. When
installing the agents, register each of the machines on the management server. To do so, enter
the server's IP or name and the centralized administrator's credentials in one of the installation
wizard's windows.
3. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console (p. 21) on the machine from which
you prefer to operate. We recommend that you use the console that installs on Windows if you
have a choice between Windows and Linux console distributions. Install Acronis Bootable Media
Builder.
4. Start the console. Create the bootable media.
5. Connect the console to the management server.
The simplified way of centralized management
Backup
Using the Back up control, select the machine which you want to back up and then create a backup
plan (p. 389) on the machine. You can create backup plans on multiple machines in turn.
Recovery
Using the Recover control, select the machine where the data recovery is required and create a
recovery task on the machine. You can create recovery tasks on multiple machines in turn.
9 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
To recover the entire machine or the operating system that fails to start, use the bootable media (p.
390). You cannot control operations under bootable media using the management server, but you
can disconnect the console from the server and connect it to the machine booted from the media.
Managing plans and tasks
To manage the plans and tasks existing on the registered machines, select Machines > All machines
in the Navigation tree and then select each machine in turn. The Information pane below shows the
state and the details of plans and tasks existing on each machine and enables you to start, stop, edit,
and delete the plans and tasks.
You can also use the Tasks view that displays all tasks existing on the registered machines. The tasks
can be filtered by machines, backup plans and other parameters. Refer to the context help for
details.
Viewing log
To view the centralized log, collected from the registered machines, select Log in the Navigation
tree. The log entries can be filtered by machines, backup plans and other parameters. Refer to the
context help for details.
Creating centralized vaults
If you opt for storing all backup archives in a single or a few networked locations, create centralized
vaults in these locations. After a vault is created, you can view and administer its content by selecting
Vaults > Centralized > 'Vault name' in the Navigation tree. The shortcut to the vault will be deployed
to all the registered machines. The vault can be specified as a backup destination in any backup plan
created by you or by the registered machines' users.
The advanced way of centralized management
To make the best use of the centralized management capabilities offered by Acronis Backup &
Recovery 10, you can opt for:
Using deduplication
1. Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node (p. 20) and add it to the management
server.
2. Create the deduplicating managed vault on the storage node.
3. Install the Acronis Deduplication add-on to the agent on all machines that will back up to the
deduplicating vault.
4. Ensure that the backup plans you create use the managed vault as destination for the backup
archives.
Creating a backup policy rather than backup plans
Set up a centralized backup policy and apply it to the All machines group. This way you will deploy
backup plans on each machine with a single action. Select Actions > Create backup policy from the
top menu and then refer to the context help.
Grouping the machines registered on the management server
Group the registered machines by appropriate parameters, create several policies and apply each
policy to the appropriate group of machines. For more information please refer to "Grouping the
registered machines (p. 57)".
The comprehensive example of advanced centralized management is provided in the "Setting up
centralized data protection in a heterogeneous network (p. 53)" section.
10 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
1.2.1 Using the management console
As soon as the console connects to a managed machine (p. 396) or to a management server (p. 397),
the respective items appear across the console's workspace (in the menu, in the main area with the
Welcome screen, the Navigation pane, the Actions and tools pane) enabling you to perform agentspecific or server-specific operations.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console - Welcome screen
Key elements of the console workspace
Name Description
Navigation pane Contains the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar and lets you navigate to
Actions and tools pane Contains bars with a set of actions that can be performed and tools (see the
Main area The main place of working, where you create, edit and manage backup plans,
Menu bar Appears across the top of the program window and lets you perform all the
1024x768 or higher display resolution is required for comfortable work with the management
console.
11 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
the different views (see the Navigation pane (p. 12) section.)
Actions and Tools pane (p. 13) section).
policies, tasks and perform other operations. Displays the different views and
action pages (p. 15) depending on items selected in the menu, Navigation
tree, or on the Actions and Tools pane.
operations, available on both panes. Menu items change dynamically.
1.2.1.1 "Navigation" pane
The navigation pane includes the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar.
Navigation tree
The Navigation tree enables you to navigate across the program views. Views depend on whether
the console is connected to a managed machine or to the management server.
Views for a managed machine
When the console is connected to a managed machine, the following views are available in the
navigation tree.
[Machine name]. Root of the tree also called a Welcome view. Displays the name of the
machine the console is currently connected to. Use this view for quick access to the main
operations, available on the managed machine.
Dashboard. Use this view to estimate at a glance whether the data is successfully
protected on the managed machine.
Backup plans and tasks. Use this view to manage backup plans and tasks on the managed
machine: run, edit, stop and delete plans and tasks, view their states and statuses, monitor
plans.
Vaults. Use this view to manage personal vaults and archives stored in there, add new
vaults, rename and delete the existing ones, validate vaults, explore backup content, mount
backups as virtual drives, etc.
Log. Use this view to examine information on operations performed by the program on
the managed machine.
Disk management. Use this view to perform operations on the machine's hard disk drives.
Views for a management server
When the console is connected to a management server, the following views are available in the
navigation tree.
[Management server name]. Root of the tree also called a Welcome view. Displays the name
of the management server the console is currently connected to. Use this view for quick access
to the main operations, available on the management server.
Dashboard. Use this view to estimate at a glance whether the data is successfully
protected on the machines registered on the management server.
Backup policies. Use this view to manage backup policies existing on the management
server.
Physical machines. Use this view to manage machines registered on the management
server.
Vaults. Use this view to manage centralized vaults and archives stored in there: create
new managed and unmanaged vaults, rename and delete the existing ones.
Storage nodes. Use this view to manage storage nodes. Add a storage node to be able to
create centralized vaults that will be managed by the node.
Tasks. Use this view to manage tasks, run, edit, stop and delete tasks, monitor their
states, examine task history.
12 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Log. Use this view to examine the history of centralized management operations, such as
creating a managed entities group, applying a policy, managing a centralized vault; as well as
the history of operations logged in the local logs of the registered machines and the storage
nodes.
Shortcuts bar
The Shortcuts bar appears under the navigation tree. It offers you an easy and convenient way of
connection to the machines in demand by adding them as shortcuts.
To add a shortcut to a machine
1. Connect the console to a managed machine.
2. In the navigation tree, right-click the machine's name (a root element of the navigation tree), and
then select Create shortcut.
If the console and agent are installed on the same machine, the shortcut to this machine will be
added to the shortcuts bar automatically as Local machine [Machine name].
If the console has ever been connected to Acronis Management Server, the shortcut is added
automatically as AMS [Machine name].
1.2.1.2 "Actions and tools" pane
The Actions and tools pane enables you to easily and efficiently work with Acronis Backup &
Recovery 10. The pane's bars provide quick access to program's operations and tools. All items of the
Actions and tools bar are duplicated in the program menu.
Bars
'[Item's name]' actions
Contains a set of actions that can be performed on the items selected in any of the navigation views.
Clicking the action opens the respective action page (p. 16). Items of different navigation views have
their own set of actions. The bar's name changes in accordance with the item you select. For
example, if you select the backup plan named System backup in the Backup plans and tasks view, the
actions bar will be named as 'System backup' actions and will have the set of actions typical to
backup plans.
All actions can also be accessed in the respective menu items. A menu item appears on the menu bar
when you select an item in any of the navigation views.
Examples of "'Item name' actions" bars
13 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Actions
Contains a list of common operations that can be performed on a managed machine or on a
management server. Always the same for all views. Clicking the operation opens the respective
action page (see the Action pages (p. 16) section.)
All the actions can also be accessed in the Actions menu.
"Actions" bar on a managed machine and on a management server
Tools
Contains a list of the Acronis tools. Always the same across all the program views.
All the tools can also be accessed in the Tools menu.
"Tools" bar
Help
Contains a list of help topics. Different views and action pages of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10
provided with lists of specific help topics.
1.2.1.3 Operations with panes
How to expand/minimize panes
By default, the Navigation pane appears expanded and the Actions and Tools - minimized. You might
need to minimize the pane in order to free some additional workspace. To do this, click the chevron
- for the Navigation pane; - for the Actions and tools pane). The pane will be minimized and
(
the chevron changes its direction. Click the chevron once again to expand the pane.
How to change the panes' borders
1. Point to the pane's border.
2. When the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the pointer to move the border.
14 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
The management console "remembers" the way the panes' borders are set. When you run the
management console next time, all the panes' borders will have the same position that was set
previously.
1.2.1.4 Main area, views and action pages
The main area is a basic place where you work with the console. Here you create, edit and manage
backup plans, policies, tasks and perform other operations. The main area displays different views
and action pages according the items you select in the menu, Navigation tree, or on the Actions and
Tools pane.
Views
A view appears on the main area when clicking any item in the Navigation tree in the Navigation
pane (p. 12).
"Tasks" view
Common way of working with views
Generally, every view contains a table of items, a table toolbar with buttons, and the Information
panel.
Use filtering and sorting capabilities to search the table for the item in question
In the table, select the desired item
In the Information panel (collapsed by default), view the item's details
Perform actions on the selected item. There are several ways of performing the same action on
selected items:
By clicking the buttons on the table toolbar;
15 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
By clicking in the items in the [Item's name] Actions bar (on the Actions and Tools pane);
By selecting the items in the Actions menu;
By right-clicking the item and selecting the operation in the context menu.
Action pages
An action page appears in the main area when clicking any action item in the Actions menu, or in the
Actions bar on the Actions and tools pane. It contains steps you need to perform in order to create
and launch any task, or a backup plan, or backup policy.
Action page - Create backup plan
Using controls and specifying settings
The action pages offer two ways of representation: basic and advanced. The basic representation
hides such fields as credentials, comments, etc. When the advanced representation is enabled, all
the available fields are displayed. You can switch between the views by selecting the Advanced view
check box at the top of the action page.
Most settings are configured by clicking the respective Change… links to the right. Others are
selected from the drop-down list, or typed manually in the page's fields.
16 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Action page - Controls
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 remembers the changes you made on the action pages. For example,
if you started to create a backup plan, and then for any reason switched to another view without
accomplishing the plan creation, you can click the Back navigation button on the menu. Or, if you
have passed several steps forward, click the Down arrow and select the page where you started the
plan creation from the list. Thus, you can perform the remaining steps and accomplish the backup
plan creation.
Navigation buttons
1.3 Acronis Bac kup & Recovery 10 c omponents
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.
17 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
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.
1.3.1 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.
1.3.1.1 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.
1.3.1.2 Deduplication
This add-on enables the agent to back up data to deduplicating vaults managed by Acronis Backup &
Recovery 10 Storage Node.
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1.3.2 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.
1.3.2.1 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 (p. 396) using backup policies (p. 389) and
grouping
enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality
the ability to create centralized vaults (p. 391) for storing enterprise backup archives (p. 388)
the ability to manage storage nodes (p. 398).
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.
19 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
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.
1.3.2.2 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 (p. 397). 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 (p. 398)) and create centralized vaults (p. 391). 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 (p. 388) 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 (p. 389). 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 (p. 399) and the storage node-side validation (p. 399) 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 (p. 64)" section in the
User Guide.
20 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
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.
1.3.2.3 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 (p. 390) 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.
1.3.2.4 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".
1.3.3 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.
1.3.4 Bootable Media Builder
Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. 390). The media
builder that installs on Windows can create bootable media based on either Windows Preinstallation
Environment, or Linux kernel.
The Universal Restore (p. 18) 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.
21 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
The Deduplication (p. 18) add-on enables you to create bootable media with the back up to a
deduplicating vault functionality.
1.3.5 Acronis WOL Proxy
This option works in combination with the Use Wake-On-LAN (p. 166) advanced scheduling setting.
Use this option if the management server has to wake up for backup machines located in another
subnet.
When the scheduled operation is about to start, the management server sends out magic packets to
wake up the appropriate machines. (A magic packet is a packet that contains 16 contiguous copies of
the receiving NIC's MAC address). The Acronis WOL Proxy, installed in the other subnet, transfers the
packets to machines located in that subnet.
The preset is: Disabled.
To bring this option into use:
1. Install Acronis WOL Proxy on any server in the subnet where the machines to be woken are
located. The server has to provide continuous services availability. With multiple subnets, install
Acronis WOL Proxy in every subnet where you need to use the Wake-On-LAN functionality.
2. Enable Acronis WOL Proxy in the Management server options as follows:
a. Select the Use the following proxies check box.
b. Click Add, and then enter the name or IP address of the machine where the Acronis WOL
Proxy is installed. Provide access credentials for the machine.
c. Repeat this step if there are several Acronis WOL Proxies.
3. When scheduling a backup policy, enable the Use Wake-On-LAN setting.
You also have the ability to delete proxies from the list. Please keep in mind that any change to this
option affects the entire management server. If you delete a proxy from the list, the Wake-On-LAN
functionality in the corresponding subnet will be disabled for all policies, including the policies
already applied.
1.4 Supported file s ystems
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 can back up and recover the following file systems with the following
limitations:
FAT16/32
NTFS
Ext2/Ext3/Ext4
ReiserFS3 - particular files cannot be recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup &
Recovery 10 Storage Node
ReiserFS4 - volume recovery without the volume resize capability; particular files cannot be
recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node
XFS - volume recovery without the volume resize capability; particular files cannot be recovered
from disk backups located on Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node
JFS - particular files cannot be recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup &
Recovery 10 Storage Node
Linux SWAP
22 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 can back up and recover corrupted or non-supported file systems
using the sector-by-sector approach.
1.5 Supported operating sy stems
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
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 (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
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*
23 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
* 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.
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)
1.6 System requ irements
The components installed in Windows
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-
Management Console 30 MB 950 MB 450 MB Screen resolution
Management Server 40 MB 250 MB
400 MB for SQL
Express Server
Wake-on-LAN Proxy Negligible 30 MB 5 MB
Storage Node 100 MB 150 MB 150 MB
250 MB
400 MB for SQL
Express Server
When using a tape
library, space
required for tapes
database: approx.
1 MB per 10
archives
RW drive
1024*768 pixels
or higher
Recommended
hardware:
4 GB RAM
High speed
storage such as
hardware RAID
License Server Negligible 25 MB 25 MB
PXE Server 5 MB 80 MB 15 MB
Network interface card or virtual network adapter is a common requirement for all the components.
24 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Bootable media
Media type Memory ISO image size Additional
Based on Windows PE 512 MB 300 MB
Linux-based 256 MB 130 MB
1.7 Technical Support
Maintenance and Support Program
If you need assistance with your Acronis product, please go to http://www.acronis.eu/support/
Product Updates
You can download the latest updates for all your registered Acronis software products from our
website at any time after logging into your Account (https://www.acronis.eu/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).
25 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
2 Understanding Acronis Backup & Reco ve ry 10
This section attempts to give its readers a clear understanding of the product so that they can use
the product in various circumstances without step-by-step instructions.
2.1 Basic concepts
Please familiarize yourself with the basic notions used in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 graphical
user interface and documentation. Advanced users are welcome to use this section as a step-by-step
quick start guide. The details can be found in the context help.
Backup under operating system
1. To protect data on a machine, install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent (p. 388) on the
machine which becomes a managed machine (p. 396) from this point on.
2. To be able to manage the machine using Graphical User Interface, install Acronis Backup &
Recovery 10 Management Console (p. 392) on the same machine or any machine from which you
prefer to operate. If you have the standalone product edition, skip this step since in your case the
console installs with the agent.
3. Run the console. To be able to recover the machine's operating system if the system fails to start,
create bootable media (p. 390).
4. Connect the console to the managed machine.
5. Create a backup plan (p. 389).
To do so, you have to specify, at the very least, the data to be protected and the location where
the backup archive (p. 388) will be stored. This will create a minimal backup plan consisting of
one task (p. 399) that will create a full backup (p. 388) of your data every time the task is
manually started. A complex backup plan might consist of multiple tasks which run on schedule;
create full, incremental or differential backups (p. 30); perform archive maintenance operations
such as backup validation (p. 400) or deleting outdated backups (archive cleanup (p. 391)). You
can customize backup operations using various backup options, such as pre/post backup
commands, network bandwidth throttling, error handling or notification options.
6. Use the Backup plans and tasks page to view information about your backup plans and tasks and
monitor their execution. Use the Log page to browse the operations log.
7. The location where you store backup archives is called a vault (p. 400). Navigate to the Vaults
page to view information about your vaults. Navigate further to the specific vault to view
archives and backups and perform manual operations with them (mounting, validating, deleting,
viewing contents). You can also select a backup to recover data from it.
26 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
The following diagram illustrates the notions discussed above. For more definitions please refer to
the Glossary.
27 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Backup using bootable media
You can boot the machine using the bootable media, configure the backup operation in the same
way as a simple backup plan and execute the operation. This will help you extract files and logical
volumes from a system that failed to boot, take an image of the offline system or back up sector-bysector an unsupported file system.
Recovery under operating system
When it comes to data recovery, you create a recovery task on the managed machine. You specify
the vault, then select the archive and then select the backup referring to the date and time of the
backup creation, or more precisely, to the time when the creation has started. In most cases, the
data will be reverted to that moment.
Examples of exceptions to this rule:
Recovering a database from a backup that contains the transaction log (a single backup provides multiple
recovery points and so you can make additional selections).
Recovering multiple files from a file backup taken without snapshot (each file will be reverted to the moment
when it was actually copied to the backup).
You also specify the destination where to recover the data. You can customize the recovery
operation using recovery options, such as pre/post recovery commands, error handling or
notification options.
28 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
The following diagram illustrates data recovery under the operating system (online). No backup can
proceed on the machine while the recovery operation is taking place. If required, you can connect
the console to another machine and configure a recovery operation on that machine. This ability
(remote parallel recovery) first appeared in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10; the previous Acronis
products do not provide it.
Recovery using bootable media
Recovery over a volume locked by the operating system, such as the volume where the operating
system resides, requires a reboot to the bootable environment which is a part of the agent. After the
recovery is completed, the recovered operating system goes online automatically.
29 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
If the machine fails to boot or you need to recover data to bare metal, you boot the machine using
the bootable media and configure the recovery operation in the same way as the recovery task. The
following diagram illustrates the recovery using the bootable media.
2.2 Full, incremental and differential backups
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides the capability to use popular backup schemes, such as
Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi, as well as to create custom backup schemes. All backup
schemes are based on full, incremental and differential backup methods. The term "scheme" in fact
denotes the algorithm of applying these methods plus the algorithm of the archive cleanup.
Comparing backup methods with each other does not make much sense because the methods work
as a team in a backup scheme. Each method should play its specific role according to its advantages.
A competent backup scheme will benefit from the advantages of all backup methods and lessen the
influence of all the methods’ shortcomings. For example, weekly differential backup facilitates
archive cleanup because it can be easily deleted along with the weekly set of daily incremental
backups depending on it.
Backing up with the full, incremental or differential backup method results in a backup (p. 388) of the
corresponding type.
Full backup
A full backup stores all data selected for backup. A full backup underlies any archive and forms the
base for incremental and differential backups. An archive can contain multiple full backups or consist
of only full backups. A full backup is self-sufficient - you do not need access to any other backup to
recover data from a full backup.
30 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
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