Acronis Backup Recovery Advanced Server - 11.0 User Guide

Applies to the following editions:



Advanced Server



Virtual Edition



Advanced Server SBS Edition



Advanced Workstation



Server for Linux



Server for Windows



Workstation

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11

Update 0

User Guide

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and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis, Inc.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Table of contents

1 Introducing Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 ................................................................................ 9

1.1 What's new in Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 ....................................................................... 9

1.2 Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 components ........................................................................ 11

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

1.2.2 Agent for Linux........................................................................................................................................ 13

1.2.3 Agent for VMware vSphere ESX(i) .......................................................................................................... 13

1.2.4 Agent for Hyper-V ................................................................................................................................... 14

1.2.5 Components for centralized management............................................................................................. 14

1.2.6 Management Console ............................................................................................................................ 15

1.2.7 Bootable Media Builder .......................................................................................................................... 16

1.2.8 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy ................................................................................................................... 16

1.3 Supported file systems ........................................................................................................ 16

1.4 Technical Support ............................................................................................................... 17

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

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

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

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

2.1.3 Console options ...................................................................................................................................... 27

3 Understanding Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 ......................................................................... 30

3.1 Owners and credentials ...................................................................................................... 30

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

3.3 Full, incremental and differential backups ........................................................................... 32

3.4 What does a disk or volume backup store? ......................................................................... 33

3.5 About dynamic and logical volumes .................................................................................... 34

3.5.1 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows)........................................................................... 34

3.5.2 Backup and recovery of logical volumes and MD devices (Linux) .......................................................... 36

3.6 Compatibility with encryption software .............................................................................. 42

3.7 Support for SNMP ............................................................................................................... 43

4 Backup ...................................................................................................................................... 45

4.1 Back up now ....................................................................................................................... 45

4.2 Creating a backup plan........................................................................................................ 45

4.2.1 Selecting data to back up ........................................................................................................................ 47

4.2.2 Access credentials for source ................................................................................................................. 48

4.2.3 Source files exclusion .............................................................................................................................. 49

4.2.4 Access credentials for archive location ................................................................................................... 50

4.2.5 Backup schemes ..................................................................................................................................... 51

4.2.6 Backup location selection ....................................................................................................................... 60

4.2.7 Archive validation ................................................................................................................................... 63

4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials ....................................................................................................................... 63

4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup) ................................................................................ 64

4.2.10 Why is the program asking for the password? ....................................................................................... 65

4.3 Simplified naming of backup files ........................................................................................ 65

4.3.1 Usage examples ...................................................................................................................................... 66

4.3.2 The [DATE] variable ................................................................................................................................ 69

4.3.3 Backup splitting and simplified file naming ............................................................................................ 69

4.4 Scheduling .......................................................................................................................... 69

4.4.1 Daily schedule ......................................................................................................................................... 71

4.4.2 Weekly schedule ..................................................................................................................................... 73

4.4.3 Monthly schedule ................................................................................................................................... 75

4.4.4 At Windows Event Log event .................................................................................................................. 77

4.4.5 Upon an Acronis Drive Monitor alert ..................................................................................................... 79

4.4.6 Advanced scheduling settings ................................................................................................................ 79

4.4.7 Conditions ............................................................................................................................................... 81

4.5 Replication and retention of backups .................................................................................. 84

4.5.1 Supported locations ................................................................................................................................ 85

4.5.2 Setting up replication of backups ........................................................................................................... 86

4.5.3 Setting up retention of backups ............................................................................................................. 87

4.5.4 Retention rules for the Custom scheme ................................................................................................. 88

4.5.5 Replication/cleanup inactivity time ........................................................................................................ 89

4.5.6 Usage examples ...................................................................................................................................... 89

4.6 Setting up regular conversion to a virtual machine .............................................................. 91

4.6.1 Setting up a conversion schedule ........................................................................................................... 92

4.6.2 Selecting a machine that will perform conversion ................................................................................. 93

4.6.3 How regular conversion to VM works .................................................................................................... 94

4.7 Default backup options ....................................................................................................... 95

4.7.1 Additional settings .................................................................................................................................. 97

4.7.2 Archive protection .................................................................................................................................. 98

4.7.3 Backup cataloging ................................................................................................................................... 99

4.7.4 Backup performance ............................................................................................................................ 100

4.7.5 Backup splitting..................................................................................................................................... 101

4.7.6 Compression level................................................................................................................................. 102

4.7.7 Disaster recovery plan (DRP) ................................................................................................................ 102

4.7.8 Error handling ....................................................................................................................................... 103

4.7.9 Event tracing ......................................................................................................................................... 104

4.7.10 Fast incremental/differential backup ................................................................................................... 105

4.7.11 File-level backup snapshot.................................................................................................................... 105

4.7.12 File-level security .................................................................................................................................. 106

4.7.13 LVM snapshotting ................................................................................................................................. 106

4.7.14 Media components............................................................................................................................... 107

4.7.15 Mount points ........................................................................................................................................ 108

4.7.16 Multi-volume snapshot ........................................................................................................................ 108

4.7.17 Notifications.......................................................................................................................................... 109

4.7.18 Pre/Post commands ............................................................................................................................. 110

4.7.19 Pre/Post data capture commands ........................................................................................................ 112

4.7.20 Replication/cleanup inactivity time ...................................................................................................... 114

4.7.21 Sector-by-sector backup ....................................................................................................................... 114

4.7.22 Tape management................................................................................................................................ 114

4.7.23 Task failure handling ............................................................................................................................. 115

4.7.24 Task start conditions ............................................................................................................................. 116

4.7.25 Volume Shadow Copy Service .............................................................................................................. 117

5 Recovery ................................................................................................................................. 119

5.1 Creating a recovery task .................................................................................................... 119

5.1.1 What to recover .................................................................................................................................... 121

5.1.2 Access credentials for location ............................................................................................................. 125

5.1.3 Access credentials for destination ........................................................................................................ 125

5.1.4 Where to recover.................................................................................................................................. 125

5.1.5 When to recover ................................................................................................................................... 133

5.1.6 Task credentials .................................................................................................................................... 133

5.2 Acronis Universal Restore ................................................................................................. 134

5.2.1 Getting Universal Restore ..................................................................................................................... 134

5.2.2 Using Universal Restore ........................................................................................................................ 134

5.3 Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa........................................... 137

5.3.1 Recovering volumes.............................................................................................................................. 138

5.3.2 Recovering disks ................................................................................................................................... 139

5.4 Acronis Active Restore ...................................................................................................... 141

5.5 How to convert a disk backup to a virtual machine ........................................................... 143

5.5.1 Virtual machine type / virtualization server selection .......................................................................... 145

5.5.2 Virtual machine settings ....................................................................................................................... 145

5.6 Bootability troubleshooting .............................................................................................. 146

5.6.1 How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration ........................................................................ 147

5.6.2 About Windows loaders ....................................................................................................................... 149

5.7 Default recovery options ................................................................................................... 149

5.7.1 Additional settings ................................................................................................................................ 151

5.7.2 Error handling ....................................................................................................................................... 152

5.7.3 Event tracing ......................................................................................................................................... 152

5.7.4 File-level security .................................................................................................................................. 153

5.7.5 Mount points ........................................................................................................................................ 154

5.7.6 Notifications.......................................................................................................................................... 154

5.7.7 Pre/Post commands ............................................................................................................................. 155

5.7.8 Recovery priority .................................................................................................................................. 157

6 Storing the backed up data..................................................................................................... 158

6.1 Vaults ............................................................................................................................... 158

6.1.1 Working with vaults .............................................................................................................................. 159

6.1.2 Centralized vaults ................................................................................................................................. 160

6.1.3 Personal vaults ...................................................................................................................................... 167

6.2 Acronis Secure Zone ......................................................................................................... 170

6.2.1 Creating Acronis Secure Zone ............................................................................................................... 170

6.2.2 Managing Acronis Secure Zone ............................................................................................................ 172

6.3 Tape devices ..................................................................................................................... 173

6.3.1 What is a tape device? .......................................................................................................................... 173

6.3.2 Overview of tape support ..................................................................................................................... 174

6.3.3 Getting started with a tape device ....................................................................................................... 177

6.3.4 Tape management................................................................................................................................ 181

6.3.5 Vaults on tapes ..................................................................................................................................... 189

6.3.6 Usage examples .................................................................................................................................... 190

6.4 Storage nodes ................................................................................................................... 193

6.4.1 What is a storage node? ....................................................................................................................... 193

6.4.2 Supported types of storage .................................................................................................................. 194

6.4.3 Operations performed by storage nodes ............................................................................................. 194

6.4.4 Getting started with a storage node ..................................................................................................... 194

6.4.5 User privileges on a storage node ........................................................................................................ 196

6.4.6 Operations with storage nodes ............................................................................................................ 197

6.4.7 Deduplication........................................................................................................................................ 204

7 Operations with archives and backups ................................................................................... 211

7.1 Validating archives and backups........................................................................................ 211

7.1.1 Archive selection................................................................................................................................... 212

7.1.2 Backup selection ................................................................................................................................... 212

7.1.3 Vault selection ...................................................................................................................................... 212

7.1.4 Access credentials for source ............................................................................................................... 213

7.1.5 When to validate .................................................................................................................................. 213

7.1.6 Task credentials .................................................................................................................................... 214

7.2 Exporting archives and backups ........................................................................................ 214

7.2.1 Archive selection................................................................................................................................... 217

7.2.2 Backup selection ................................................................................................................................... 217

7.2.3 Access credentials for source ............................................................................................................... 217

7.2.4 Destination selection ............................................................................................................................ 218

7.2.5 Access credentials for destination ........................................................................................................ 219

7.3 Mounting an image ........................................................................................................... 220

7.3.1 Archive selection................................................................................................................................... 221

7.3.2 Backup selection ................................................................................................................................... 222

7.3.3 Access credentials ................................................................................................................................. 222

7.3.4 Volume selection .................................................................................................................................. 222

7.3.5 Managing mounted images .................................................................................................................. 223

7.4 Operations available in vaults ........................................................................................... 223

7.4.1 Operations with archives ...................................................................................................................... 223

7.4.2 Operations with backups ...................................................................................................................... 224

7.4.3 Converting a backup to full ................................................................................................................... 225

7.4.4 Deleting archives and backups ............................................................................................................. 226

8 Bootable media ...................................................................................................................... 227

8.1 How to create bootable media .......................................................................................... 228

8.1.1 Linux-based bootable media ................................................................................................................ 229

8.1.2 Adding the Acronis Plug-in to WinPE 1.x .............................................................................................. 233

8.1.3 Adding the Acronis Plug-in to WinPE 2.x or 3.0 .................................................................................... 234

8.1.4 Building Bart PE with Acronis Plug-in from Windows distribution ....................................................... 235

8.2 Connecting to a machine booted from media ................................................................... 235

8.3 Working under bootable media ........................................................................................ 236

8.3.1 Setting up a display mode..................................................................................................................... 236

8.3.2 Configuring iSCSI and NDAS devices ..................................................................................................... 237

8.4 List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media ............................ 237

8.5 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager ................................................................................... 239

8.6 Acronis PXE Server ............................................................................................................ 239

8.6.1 Acronis PXE Server Installation ............................................................................................................. 240

8.6.2 Setting up a machine to boot from PXE ................................................................................................ 240

8.6.3 Work across subnets............................................................................................................................. 241

9 Disk management................................................................................................................... 242

9.1 Supported file systems ...................................................................................................... 242

9.2 Basic precautions .............................................................................................................. 242

9.3 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite .................................................................................... 243

9.4 Choosing the operating system for disk management ....................................................... 243

9.5 "Disk management" view .................................................................................................. 243

9.6 Disk operations ................................................................................................................. 244

9.6.1 Disk initialization ................................................................................................................................... 244

9.6.2 Basic disk cloning .................................................................................................................................. 245

9.6.3 Disk conversion: MBR to GPT ............................................................................................................... 247

9.6.4 Disk conversion: GPT to MBR ............................................................................................................... 248

9.6.5 Disk conversion: basic to dynamic ........................................................................................................ 248

9.6.6 Disk conversion: dynamic to basic ........................................................................................................ 249

9.6.7 Changing disk status ............................................................................................................................. 250

9.7 Volume operations ........................................................................................................... 250

9.7.1 Creating a volume ................................................................................................................................. 250

9.7.2 Delete volume ...................................................................................................................................... 254

9.7.3 Set active volume.................................................................................................................................. 255

9.7.4 Change volume letter ........................................................................................................................... 255

9.7.5 Change volume label ............................................................................................................................ 256

9.7.6 Format volume ..................................................................................................................................... 256

9.8 Pending operations ........................................................................................................... 257

10 Administering a managed machine ........................................................................................ 258

10.1 Backup plans and tasks ..................................................................................................... 258

10.1.1 Actions on backup plans and tasks ....................................................................................................... 258

10.1.2 States and statuses of backup plans and tasks ..................................................................................... 260

10.1.3 Export and import of backup plans ...................................................................................................... 263

10.1.4 Deploying backup plans as files ............................................................................................................ 266

10.1.5 Backup plan details ............................................................................................................................... 267

10.1.6 Task/activity details .............................................................................................................................. 268

10.2 Log.................................................................................................................................... 269

10.2.1 Actions on log entries ........................................................................................................................... 269

10.2.2 Log entry details ................................................................................................................................... 270

10.3 Alerts ................................................................................................................................ 270

10.4 Collecting system information........................................................................................... 271

10.5 Adjusting machine options ................................................................................................ 271

10.5.1 Customer Experience Program ............................................................................................................. 272

10.5.2 Alerts ..................................................................................................................................................... 272

10.5.3 E-mail notifications ............................................................................................................................... 273

10.5.4 Event tracing ......................................................................................................................................... 274

10.5.5 Log cleanup rules .................................................................................................................................. 276

10.5.6 Machine management ......................................................................................................................... 276

10.5.7 Online backup proxy ............................................................................................................................. 277

11 Centralized management ....................................................................................................... 279

11.1 Understanding centralized management .......................................................................... 279

11.1.1 Basic concepts ...................................................................................................................................... 279

11.1.2 Privileges for centralized management ................................................................................................ 280

11.1.3 Communication between Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 components .............................................. 286

11.2 Creating a centralized backup plan.................................................................................... 289

11.2.1 Selecting data to back up ...................................................................................................................... 290

11.2.2 Selection rules for files and folders ....................................................................................................... 291

11.2.3 Selection rules for volumes .................................................................................................................. 293

11.2.4 Backup location selection ..................................................................................................................... 296

11.2.5 Centralized backup plan's credentials .................................................................................................. 297

11.2.6 What if a machine does not have data meeting the selection rules .................................................... 298

11.3 Administering Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Management Server ................................... 298

11.3.1 Dashboard ............................................................................................................................................ 298

11.3.2 Machines with agents ........................................................................................................................... 299

11.3.3 Virtual machines ................................................................................................................................... 312

11.3.4 Backup plans and tasks ......................................................................................................................... 313

11.3.5 Storage nodes ....................................................................................................................................... 315

11.3.6 Licenses ................................................................................................................................................. 316

11.3.7 Reporting .............................................................................................................................................. 318

11.3.8 Alerts ..................................................................................................................................................... 323

11.3.9 Log ........................................................................................................................................................ 324

11.3.10 Management server options ................................................................................................................ 326

11.4 Configuring Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 components ................................................... 331

11.4.1 Parameters set through administrative template ................................................................................ 332

11.4.2 Parameters set through GUI ................................................................................................................. 345

12 Online backup ........................................................................................................................ 346

12.1 Introduction to Acronis Backup & Recovery Online ........................................................... 346

12.1.1 What is Acronis Backup & Recovery Online?........................................................................................ 346

12.1.2 What data can I back up and recover? ................................................................................................. 346

12.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the online storage? ................................................................... 347

12.1.4 How to secure my data? ....................................................................................................................... 347

12.1.5 How to back up virtual machines to the online storage? ..................................................................... 347

12.1.6 Backup and recovery FAQ..................................................................................................................... 348

12.1.7 Initial Seeding FAQ ................................................................................................................................ 349

12.1.8 Large Scale Recovery FAQ..................................................................................................................... 354

12.1.9 Subscription lifecycle FAQ .................................................................................................................... 356

12.2 Where do I start? .............................................................................................................. 359

12.3 Choosing a subscription .................................................................................................... 359

12.4 Activating online backup subscriptions ............................................................................. 360

12.4.1 Activating subscriptions ........................................................................................................................ 360

12.4.2 Activating subscriptions ........................................................................................................................ 361

12.4.3 Reassigning an activated subscription .................................................................................................. 361

12.5 Configuring proxy settings ................................................................................................ 362

12.6 Limitations of the online storage ....................................................................................... 363

12.7 Terminology reference ...................................................................................................... 364

13 Glossary .................................................................................................................................. 366

1 Introducing Acronis Backup & Recovery 11

1.1 What's new in Acronis Backup & Recovery 11

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 builds on the success that Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 has established by bringing enterprise-class capabilities to the small business market at an affordable price in an easy-to-use package.

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 continues the trend of expanding the backup and recovery capabilities in physical, virtual and cloud environments. The following is a summary of the product's new features and enhancements.

All editions

 Simplified installation

The new installer makes the installation procedure simple and clear.

 Improved usability

The redesigned product's UI lets you perform any operation easier, faster and more intuitively.

 Advanced replication and retention of backups (p. 84)

Store a backup in multiple locations (possibly off-site) for redundancy. Move or copy backups to a cheaper or off-site storage automatically. Set a replication time window if you do not want copying or moving to occur during business hours.

 Data view for vaults (p. 121)

Select data from a vault by browsing either the archives and backups (in the Archive view) or the backed up data (in the Data view).

 Alert notifications (p. 270)

A new alert system has been introduced for both local and centralized management. Select the alerts you want to observe. Set up e-mail notifications about various types of alerts.

 UEFI/GPT support (p. 137)

Full support for UEFI-based systems and GPT disks. Recovery of BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based systems and vice versa.

 4-KB drives support (p. 131)

When recovering disks or volumes, the software automatically eliminates volume misalignment  a situation that occurs when volume clusters are not aligned with disk sectors.

 Partition (volume) alignment (p. 131)

Solid State Drives (SSD) require a specific partition alignment for optimal performance. The required alignment is set automatically during recovery, but you can change it manually if required.

 Automatic disk/volume mapping (p. 127)

When recovering disks or volumes, the software automatically maps the selected disk/volumes to the target disks in the optimal manner.

 Hardware snapshot provider support (p. 117)

The Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) can use hardware-based providers for taking snapshots.

 Applying Acronis Universal Restore without recovery (p. 134)

Using bootable media, you can apply Acronis Universal Restore to an operating system without performing the recovery.

 Linux LVM support (p. 36)

LVM structure is saved in a backup and can be recovered.

 Acronis Universal Restore for Linux systems (p. 137)

Recover Linux systems to dissimilar hardware.

 Exporting and importing backup plans (p. 263)

Export a backup plan to an .xml file and import it to a different machine.

 Deploying backup plans as files (p. 266)

Export a backup plan from one machine and deploy it as an .xml file to multiple machines.

 Disaster Recovery Plan (p. 102)

The software can generate a disaster recovery plan and send it via e-mail right after a backup creation. The plan contains step-by-step instructions on how to recover.

 Converting a backup to full (p. 225)

Convert an incremental or differential backup to a full one.

 New command line

Provides backup and recovery automation. Includes remote management.

 Automatic check for updates

The management console automatically checks for updates upon each start and provides notification once the newer version is available.

All advanced editions

 Data catalog and search (p. 123)

The centralized data catalog lets you easily find the required version of data in the centralized managed vaults and select it for recovery.

 Flexible selection of data items to back up (p. 290)

You can select different data items within each machine included in a centralized backup plan. You can also select entire machines or groups of machines, use templates and environmental variables.

 Better deduplication (p. 205)

Improved deduplication performance: 2.5 to 5 times faster. File backups are now deduplicated at a block level, which dramatically speeds up their deduplication at target.

 Better tape support (p. 173)

No dependency on Windows Removable Storage Manager. Manage tape media directly from the

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for parallel backups.

 Vault permissions (p. 162)

Specify user accounts that will have user and administrator rights for centralized managed vaults.

 Integrated remote installation

The management server lets you install agents to a number of machines in parallel.

 Integrated license management (p. 316)

The management server handles licenses on its own. There is no need to install a separate license server.

 Installation without a license server (except for the Virtual Edition)

When installing an agent, you can enter the license key instead of specifying the license server. As soon as the machine is registered on the management server, the key will be added to the list of licenses handled by the server.

 The management server web page for components installation

A web server component is installed together with the management server. Use the management server web page to download and install Acronis components.

Virtual Edition

 Off-load backup with Agent for VMware vSphere ESX(i) (Windows)

A Windows version of Agent for ESX(i) enables you to off-load backups from a ESX(i) host.

 Support for Hyper-V clusters

Back up and recover clustered virtual machines, including those located on Windows 2008 R2 Cluster Shared Volumes.

 Simultaneous backups of virtual machines

An agent can simultaneously back up as many as 10 virtual machines. The exact number is defined by the user.

 Backup to a locally attached storage

Add a dedicated virtual disk to Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance) and do backups directly to this storage, omitting LAN.

 Flexible configuration of the agents to handle one or multiple ESX(i) servers

Protect your virtual environment with as many agents as you want, from one agent for all hosts to one agent for each machine. The management server evenly distributes virtual machines among the agents; or, you can bind the agents with the machines manually.

 Automatic agent deployment

Just include ESX(i) virtual machines in a backup plan. The agents will be deployed and configured in the background, if you allowed this when configuring integration with the vCenter Server.

 Incremental conversion to a virtual machine (p. 94)

Conversion of an incremental backup updates the standby machine instead of creating it from scratch.

1.2 Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 components

This section contains a full list of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 components with a brief description of their functionality.

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 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 11. 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 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 11 components. Usage of the console is not licensed.

Bootable media builder

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

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

1.2.1 Agent for Windows

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

Disk backup

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

File backup

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

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

Disk management

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

1.2.1.1 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 the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.

1.2.1.2 Deduplication

This add-on enables the agent to back up data to deduplicating vaults managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node.

1.2.2 Agent for Linux

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

Disk backup

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

File backup

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

1.2.2.1 Universal Restore

1.2.2.2 Deduplication

This add-on enables the agent to back up data to deduplicating vaults managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node.

1.2.3 Agent for VMware vSphere ESX(i)

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for VMware vSphere ESX(i) enables backup and recovery of ESX(i) virtual machines without installing agents into the guest systems. This backup method is known as agent-less backup or backup at a hypervisor level.

The agent is delivered in two versions:

 Agent for VMware vSphere ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance) can be imported or deployed to a VMware

ESX(i) host.

 For off-loaded backup, Agent for VMware vSphere ESX(i) (Windows) can be installed on a

machine running Windows.

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for VMware vSphere ESX(i) is referred as Agent for ESX(i) later in this document.

1.2.4 Agent for Hyper-V

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for Hyper-V protects virtual machines residing on a Hyper-V virtualization server. The agent allows for backing up virtual machines from the host without having to install agents on each virtual machine. The agent installs on Windows 2008 Server x64 (any edition) or Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008.

1.2.5 Components for centralized management

This section lists the components included in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 editions that provide the centralized management capability. Besides these components, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agents have to be installed on all machines that need data protection.

1.2.5.1 Management Server

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 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 11 infrastructure  an easy way to protect data on numerous machines (p. 375) using centralized backup plans and

grouping

 integration with VMware vCenter to discover virtual machines for protection  enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality  built-in license management  the ability to create centralized vaults (p. 370) for storing enterprise backup archives (p. 367)  the ability to manage storage nodes (p. 378)  the centralized catalog (p. 371) of all data stored on the storage nodes.

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

1.2.5.2 Storage Node

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node is a server designed to optimize the usage of various resources (such as the corporate storage capacity, the network bandwidth, or the managed machines' CPU load) which are required to protect the enterprise data. This goal is achieved by organizing and managing the locations that serve as dedicated storages of the enterprise backup archives (managed vaults).

The most important function of a storage node is deduplication (p. 204) of backups stored in its vaults. This means that identical data will be backed up to this vault only once. This minimizes the network usage during backup and storage space taken by the archives.

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

The administrator controls the storage nodes centrally from the Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Management Server (p. 14). Direct console connection to a storage node is not possible.

1.2.5.3 Components for Remote Installation

These are Acronis component installation files which are used with the Remote Installation Wizard. The setup program saves these files in the default location and saves this location path in the registry. As a result, the components are readily available in the Remote Installation Wizard as "registered components".

How to disable installation of the components

Components for Remote Installation are selected by default when you use the Connect to remote machines or Centrally monitor and configure... check boxes in the setup program. Since the

installation files take about 600 MB of disk space, you may want to prohibit saving them locally every time you install the console. For example, you can extract the installation files to a shared folder. The files will be available for any management console that operates on the network. In the Remote Installation Wizard, you will specify the shared folder path instead of selecting "registered components".

To prohibit saving the installation files locally, select the I want to manually select the Acronis components check box and clear the Components for remote installation check box in the next window.

1.2.5.4 PXE Server

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

The network booting:

 Eliminates the need to have a technician onsite to install the bootable media (p. 368) into the

system that has to be booted

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

to using physical bootable media.

1.2.5.5 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.

316)".

1.2.6 Management Console

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Management Console is an administrative tool for remote or local access to Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 agents and, in the product editions that include the centralized management capability, to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 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 11 agent and Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 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 11 components is not available.  The Active Directory-related features, such as browsing the AD, are not available.

1.2.7 Bootable Media Builder

Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. 368). There are two media builder distributions: for installation in Windows and installation in Linux.

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

The Universal Restore (p. 13) 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 the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.

The Deduplication (p. 13) add-on enables you to create bootable media with the back up to a deduplicating vault functionality. This add-on can be installed to either of the media builder distributions.

1.2.8 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy

Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy enables Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Management Server to wake up for backup machines located in another subnet. Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy installs on any server in the subnet where the machines to be backed up are located.

1.3 Supported file systems

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 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 11 Storage Node

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

recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node

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

from disk backups located on Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node

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

Recovery 11 Storage Node

 Linux SWAP

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 can back up and recover corrupted or non-supported file systems using the sector-by-sector approach.

1.4 Technical Support

Maintenance and Support Program

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

Product Updates

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

2 Getting started

Step 1. Installation

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

Before installation, make sure that:

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

Procedure

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

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

a. Run the setup program and click Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 11. b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Centrally monitor and

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

c. In the license server selection window:

 Leave the default setting: Use the license server installed along with the management

server.

 Click Add license, and then type your license keys or import them from a text file.

d. Follow the on-screen instructions.

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

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

a. Run the setup program and click Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 11. b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Back up this machine's data

check box.

c. Click Take the keys from license server and enter the name or IP address of the previously

installed management server.

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

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

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

other machines.

a. Run the setup program and click Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 11. b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Store the backups of other

machines on this machine check box.

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

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

not the management server and does not have an agent.

a. Run the setup program and click Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.

 In Windows

Start the console by selecting Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 from the Start menu.

 In Linux

/usr/sbin/acronis_console

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

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

3. Proceed as described in "Linux-based bootable media" (p. 229).

Manage this machine

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

Manage a remote machine

If the agent is installed on a remote machine.

Connect to a management server

To manage multiple physical and virtual machines.

b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Connect to remote machines

check box.

c. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Step 2. Running

Run Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Management Console.

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

Step 3. Bootable media

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

Step 4. Connection

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

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

Step 5. Backup

Back up now (p. 45) (not available when the console is connected to the management server)

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

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

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

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

Create backup plan (p. 45)

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

Notes for users of advanced editions: When creating a backup plan on the management server, you can:

- Select entire machines or groups of machines.

- Select different data items on each machine.

- Use selection rules to select the same data items on different machines. This way, you will create a centralized backup plan to be deployed to the selected machines.

For more information, please refer to "Creating a centralized backup plan" (p. 289).

Step 6. Recovery

Recover (p. 119)

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

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

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

Notes for users of advanced editions: 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.

Step 7. Management

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

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

delete plans and tasks, view their states and progress.

 Use the Alerts view to rapidly identify and solve the problems.  Use the Log view to browse the operations log.  The location where you store backup archives is called a vault (p. 379). Navigate to the

Vaults (p. 158) view to obtain information about your vaults. Navigate further to the specific vault to view backups and their contents. You can also select the data to recover and perform manual operations with backups (mounting, validating, deleting).

Administering the management server

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

server. To effectively work with a large number of machines, organize them into groups (p. 300).

 Use the Virtual machines (p. 312) view to manage supported virtualization environments.  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 pane.

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

 Create centralized managed vaults on the storage node (p. 194) to be able to:

 Search the Data catalog (p. 123) for the required version of backed up data in all of the

managed vaults.

 Back up multiple machines to tape devices (p. 173) attached to the storage node.  Use deduplication (p. 204) to minimize storage space taken by the data and reduce network

load during backup.

2.1 Using the management console

As soon as the console connects to a managed machine (p. 376) or to a management server (p. 376), the respective items appear across the console's workspace (in the menu, in the main area with the Welcome screen, or in the Navigation pane) enabling you to perform agent-specific or server-specific operations.

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Management Console - Welcome screen

Key elements of the console workspace

Name

Description

Navigation pane

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

Main area

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

Menu bar

Appears across the top of the program window. Lets you perform most of operations available in Acronis Backup & Recovery 11. The menu items change dynamically depending on the item selected in the Navigation tree and the main area.

2.1.1 "Navigation" pane

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

Navigation tree

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

Views for a managed machine

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

The Short list displays

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Full list additionally displays

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

drives.

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

the managed machine.

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

to manage mounted images.

Views for a management server

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

The Short list displays

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

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

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

protected on the machines registered on the management server.

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

management server.

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

the management server.

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

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

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

the registered machines.

The Full list additionally displays

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

the centralized managed vaults.

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

create centralized vaults that will be managed by the node.

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

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

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

Shortcuts bar

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

To add a shortcut to a machine

1. Connect the console to a managed machine.

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

then select Create shortcut. If the console and agent are installed on the same machine, the shortcut to this machine will be

added to the shortcuts bar automatically as Local machine [Machine name].

Operations with pane

How to expand/minimize panes

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

How to change the panes' borders

1. Point to the pane's border.

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

2.1.2 Main area, views and action pages

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

2.1.2.1 Views

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

"Log" view

Common way of working with views

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

 Use filtering and sorting (p. 25) capabilities to search the table for the item in question.  In the table, select the desired item.

 In the information panel (collapsed by default), view the item's details. To expand the panel, click

Do the following

Sort items by any column

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

Click it once again to sort items in descending order.

Filter items by predefined column value

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

Filter items by entered value

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

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

Filter items by a predefined parameters

Depending on the view, you can filter a table items by some predefined parameters. To do this, click the respective buttons or links at the top of the table.

For example:

 In the Log view, you can filter the event entries by clicking buttons

associated with the result: Succeeded, Succeeded with warnings, or Failed.

 The Log view has the activity start time as the default parameter, and

three predefined settings for filtering activities by this parameter (All available, For last 3 months, or For custom period) are placed at the top

of the Log view.

Show or hide table columns

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

To show or hide columns

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

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

the arrow mark ( ).

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

selected items:

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

Sorting, filtering and configuring table items

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

2.1.2.2 Action pages

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

Action page - Create backup plan

Using controls and specifying settings

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

Action page - Controls

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 remembers the changes you made on the action pages. For example, if you started to create a backup plan, and then for any reason switched to another view without accomplishing the plan creation, you can click the Back navigation button on the menu. Or, if you have passed several steps forward, click the Down arrow and select the page where you started the plan creation from the list. Thus, you can perform the remaining steps and accomplish the backup plan creation.

Navigation buttons

2.1.3 Console options

The console options define the way information is represented in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.

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

2.1.3.1 Alert display options

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

The preset is: All alerts.

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

2.1.3.2 Credentials cache

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

The preset is: Disabled.

If the option is disabled, access credentials for various locations that you enter during a console session are stored only until the console is closed.

If the option is enabled, the credentials are saved for use during later sessions. In Windows, the credentials are stored in the Windows Credential Manager. In Linux, the credentials are stored in a special encrypted file.

2.1.3.3 Fonts

The option defines the fonts to be used in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup & Recovery

11. The Menu font setting affects the drop-down and context menus. The Application font setting affects all other GUI elements.

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

To make a selection, choose the font from the respective combo-box and set the font's properties. You can preview the font's appearance by clicking Browse to the right.

2.1.3.4 Pop-up messages

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

The “Activities Need Interaction” dialog

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

The preset is: Enabled.

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

The “Feedback Confirmation” dialog

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

The preset is: Enabled.

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

Notify if bootable media is not created

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

The preset is: Enabled.

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

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

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

The preset is: Enabled.

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

component of a different version check box.

About the task execution results

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

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

The preset is: Enabled for all results.

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

2.1.3.5 Startup page

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

The preset is: the Welcome screen.

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

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

3 Understanding Acronis Backup & Recovery 11

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

3.1 Owners and credentials

This section explains the concept of owner and the meaning of a backup plan's (or task's) credentials.

Plan (task) owner

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

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

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

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

Managing a plan (task) owned by another user

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

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

 Click Cancel and create your own plan or task. The original task will remain intact.  Continue editing. You will have to enter all credentials required for the plan or task execution.

Archive owner

An archive owner is the user who saved the archive to the destination. To be more precise, this is the user whose account was specified when creating the backup plan in the Where to back up step. By default, the plan's credentials are used.

Plan's credentials and task credentials

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

Manual start

You can skip the Plan's (Task) credentials step. Every time you start the task, the task will run under the credentials with which you are currently logged on. Any person that has administrative privileges on the machine can also start the task. The task will run under this person's credentials.

The task will always run under the same credentials, regardless of the user who actually starts the task, if you specify the task credentials explicitly. To do so, on the plan (task) creation page:

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Acronis Backup Recovery Advanced Server - 11.0 User Guide

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Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual