Acronis Backup Recovery Advanced Server - 11.0 User Guide

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Applies to the following editions:

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Advanced Server

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Virtual Edition

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Advanced Server SBS Edition

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Advanced Workstation

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Server for Linux

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Server for Windows

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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:

1. In the Plan parameters (or Task parameters) section, click Show plan's credentials, comments,

label (or Show task credentials).

2. Click Plan's (Task) credentials.

3. Enter the credentials under which the plan (task) will run. Scheduled or postponed start

The plan (task) credentials are mandatory. If you skip the credentials step, you will be asked for credentials after finishing the plan (task) creation.

Why does the program compel me to specify credentials?

A scheduled or postponed task has to run anyway, regardless if any user is logged on or not (for example, the system is at the Windows "Welcome" screen) or a user other than the task owner is logged on. It is sufficient that the machine be on (that is, not in standby or hibernate) at the scheduled task start time. That's why the Acronis scheduler needs the explicitly specified credentials to be able to start the task.

3.2 User privileges on a managed machine

Windows

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

Regular users

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

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

without using a file-level backup snapshot.

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

Administrative users

A user who has administrative privileges on the machine, such as a member of the Administrators or Backup Operators group, additionally has the following management rights:

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

snapshot.

Members of the Administrators group also can:

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

Linux

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

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

Recovery 11 agent operations and log files on the machine.

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

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

3.3 Full, incremental and differential backups

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 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



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. 367) of the corresponding type.

Full backup

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

It is widely accepted that a full backup is the slowest to do but the fastest to restore. With Acronis technologies, recovery from an incremental backup may be not slower than recovery from a full one.

A full backup is most useful when:

 you need to roll back the system to its initial state  this initial state does not change often, so there is no need for regular backup.

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

Incremental backup

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

An incremental backup is most useful when:

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

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

Example: Backing up a database transaction log.

Differential backup

Parameter

Full backup

Differential backup

Incremental backup

Storage space

Maximal

Medium

Minimal

Creation time

Maximal

Medium

Minimal

Recovery time

Minimal

Medium

Maximal

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

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

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

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

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

3.4 What does a disk or volume backup store?

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

With the sector-by-sector (raw mode) option enabled, a disk backup stores all the disk sectors.

For supported file systems, with the sector-by-sector option turned off, a disk or volume backup stores only those sectors that contain data. This reduces the resulting backup size and speeds up the backup and recovery operations.

Windows

The swap file (pagefile.sys) and the file that keeps the RAM content when the machine goes into hibernation (hiberfil.sys) are not backed up. After recovery, the files will be re-created in the appropriate place with the zero size.

A volume backup stores all other files and folders of the selected volume independent of their attributes (including hidden and system files), the boot record, the file allocation table (FAT) if it exists, the root and the zero track of the hard disk with the master boot record (MBR). The boot code of GPT volumes is not backed up.

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

Linux

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

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

3.5 About dynamic and logical volumes

3.5.1 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows)

This section explains in brief how to back up and recover dynamic volumes (p. 373) using Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.

A dynamic volume is a volume located on dynamic disks (p. 372), or more exactly, on a disk group (p.

372). Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 supports the following dynamic volume types/RAID levels:

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

Backing up dynamic volumes

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

Command line examples

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

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

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

acrocmd backup disk --volume=DYN --loc=\\srv1\backups

--credentials=netuser1,pass1 --arc=alldyn_arc

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

Recovering dynamic volumes

A dynamic volume can be recovered:

 Over any type of existing volume.  To unallocated space of a disk group.  To unallocated space of a basic disk.  To a disk which has not been initialized.

Recovery over an existing volume

When a dynamic volume is recovered over an existing volume, either basic or dynamic, the target en with the backup content. The type of target volume (basic, simple/spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID 0+1, RAID-5) will not change. The target volume size has to be enough to accommodate the backup content.

Recovery to disk group unallocated space

When recovering a dynamic volume to disk group unallocated space, the software preserves the

Backup (source):

Recovered to:

Dynamic volume

Basic volume

Dynamic volume

Type as of the target

Dynamic volume

Type as of the target

Unallocated space (disk group)

Dynamic volume

Type as of the source

Dynamic volume

Simple

Basic volume or unallocated space on a basic disk

Basic volume

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

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

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

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

Recovery to a disk that has not been initialized

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

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

Moving and resizing volumes during recovery

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

Preparing disk groups and volumes

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

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

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

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 includes a handy disk management utility which enables you to perform the above operations both under the operating system and on bare metal. To find out more about Acronis Disk Director Lite, see the Disk management (p. 242) section.

3.5.2 Backup and recovery of logical volumes and MD devices

(Linux)

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

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

3.5.2.1 Backing up logical volumes

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for Linux can access, back up and recover logical volumes when running in Linux with 2.6.x kernel or a Linux-based bootable media.

Backup

In Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 GUI, logical volumes appear under Dynamic volumes at the end of the list of volumes available for backup. If you select logical volumes for backup, the logical volume structure will be saved to the backup along with the volume contents. This structure can be automatically recreated when you recover these volumes under a Linux-based bootable media.

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

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

Recovery

When recovering logical volumes, you have two options:

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

change. This option is available both in the operating system and under bootable media. This option is useful in the following cases:

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

volume in this case.

A system, recovered from a logical volume backup to a basic disk, cannot boot because its kernel tries to mount the root file system at the logical volume. To boot the system, change the loader configuration and /etc/fstab so that LVM is not used and reactivate your boot loader (p. 147).

 When recovering a basic or logical volume to a previously created logical volume. Such is the

case when you create the structure of logical volumes manually (p. 38) by using the lvm utility.

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

Such is the case when recovering on bare metal or on a machine with different volume structure. The structure of logical volumes can be automatically created at the time of recovery (p. 38).

This option is available only under bootable media.

For detailed instructions on how to recover logical volumes, see Recovering MD devices and logical volumes (p. 38).

3.5.2.2 Backing up MD devices

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

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

Backing up volumes included in MD devices does not make sense when an MD device is mounted, as 

When recovering MD devices under bootable media, the structure of MD devices can be recreated automatically. For detailed information about recovering MD devices under bootable media, see Recovering MD devices and logical volumes (p. 38).

For information about assembling MD devices when performing recovery in Linux, see Assembling MD devices for recovery (Linux) (p. 37).

3.5.2.3 Backing up hardware RAID arrays (Linux)

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

Physical drives that are part of hardware RAID arrays may be listed alongside other disks as if they had a bad partition table or no partition table at all. Backing up such disks does not make sense as it 

3.5.2.4 Assembling MD devices for recovery (Linux)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

that each volume typecalled partition type or system IDis Linux raid automount; the hexadecimal code of this partition type is 0xFD. This will guarantee that the device will be

automatically assembled following the reboot. To view or change the partition type, use a disk partitioning utility such as fdisk.

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

reboot will be required in that case. In bootable media, you may need to create the MD device manually or automatically, as described in Recovering MD devices and logical volumes (p. 38).

3.5.2.5 Recovering MD devices and logical volumes

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

In Linux-based bootable media, you can create the volume structure automatically (p. 38) when recovering the volumes from:

 A backup created by Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.  A backup created by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, provided that the volume structure

information was saved in the backup. (It is saved by default.)

In other cases, before starting the recovery, you need to create the volume structure manually (p.

38) by using the mdadm and lvm utilities.

Creating the volume structure automatically

Use the following procedure to create the volume structure in a Linux-based bootable media.

Note: If you are recovering the volumes from a backup created by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, this procedure works only if the volume structure information was saved in the backup. (It is saved by default.)

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

If disk configuration has changed. An MD device or a logical volume resides on one or more disks, each of its own size. If you replaced any of these disks between backup and recovery (or if you are recovering the volumes to a different machine), make sure that the new disk configuration includes enough disks whose sizes are at least those of the original disks.

To create the volume structure automatically

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

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

3. In the management console, click Recover.

Under the archive contents, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 will display a message saying that it detected information about the volume structure.

4. Click Details in the area with that message.

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

Creating the volume structure manually

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

To create the volume structure manually

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

2. Click Acronis Backup & Recovery 11. Then, click Run management console.

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

CTRL+ALT+F2.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

click OK.

Note: This procedure will not work if you connect to Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Bootable Agent remotely, because the command shell is not available in this case.

Example

Suppose that you previously performed a disk-level backup of a machine with the following disk configuration:

 The machine has two 1-gigabyte and two 2-gigabyte SCSI hard disks, mounted on /dev/sda,

/dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, and /dev/sdd, respectively.

 The first and second pairs of hard disks are configured as two MD devices; both are in the RAID-1

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

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

/dev/my_volgroup/my_logvol.

The following picture illustrates this configuration.

Do the following to recover data from this archive.

Step 1: Creating the volume structure

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

given by VG Size:

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

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

lvm vgchange -a y my_volgroup

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

Step 2: Starting the recovery

1. In the management console, click Recover.

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

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

4. In Data type, select Volumes.

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

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

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

7. Click OK to start the recovery.

For a complete list of commands and utilities that you can use in the bootable media environment, see List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media (p. 237). For detailed descriptions of the acrocmd utility, see the Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 command-line reference.

Mounting backup volumes

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

To mount a backup volume

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

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

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

--arc=linux_machine

The output will contain lines similar to the following:

type: disk Num Partition Flags Size Type GUID

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

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

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

For example:

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

--volume=DYN1

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

To unmount a backup volume

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

example:

acrocmd umount --mount_point=/mnt

3.6 Compatibility with encryption software

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 fully retains its functionality when interacting with file-level encryption software.

Disk-level encryption software encrypts data on the fly. This is why data contained in the backup is not encrypted. Disk-level encryption software often modifies system areas: boot records, or partition tables, or file system tables. These factors affect disk-level backup and recovery, the ability of the recovered system to boot and access to Acronis Secure Zone.

Under some conditions, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 is compatible with the following disk-level encryption software:

 Microsoft BitLocker Drive Encryption  McAfee Endpoint Encryption  PGP Whole Disk Encryption.

To ensure reliable disk-level recovery, follow the common rules and software-specific recommendations.

Common installation rule

The strong recommendation is to install the encryption software before installing Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.

The way of using Acronis Secure Zone

Acronis Secure Zone must not be encrypted with disk-level encryption. This is the only way to use Acronis Secure Zone:

1. Install encryption software; then, install Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.

2. Create Acronis Secure Zone.

3. Exclude Acronis Secure Zone when encrypting the disk or its volumes.

Common backup rule

You can do a disk-level backup in the operating system. Do not try to back up using bootable media or Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.

Software-specific recovery procedures

Microsoft BitLocker Drive Encryption

To recover a system that was encrypted by BitLocker:

1. Boot from the bootable media.

2. Recover the system. The recovered data will be unencrypted.

3. Reboot the recovered system.

4. Turn on BitLocker. If you only need to recover one partition of a multi-partitioned disk, do so under the operating

system. Recovery under bootable media may make the recovered partition undetectable for Windows.

McAfee Endpoint Encryption and PGP Whole Disk Encryption

You can recover an encrypted system partition by using bootable media only.

If the recovered system fails to boot, rebuild Master Boot Record as described in the following Restoring Windows Boot Loader Manually

3.7 Support for SNMP

SNMP objects

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 provides the following Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) objects to SNMP management applications:

 Type of event

Object identifier (OID): 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0 Syntax: OctetString The value may be "Information", "Warning", 'Error" and "Unknown". "Unknown" is sent only in

the test message.

 Text description of the event

Object identifier (OID): 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0 Syntax: OctetString The value contains the text description of the event (it looks identical to messages published by

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 in its log).

Example of varbind values:

1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0:Information

1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0:I0064000B

Supported operations

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 supports only TRAP operations. It is not possible to manage Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 using GET- and SET- requests. This means that you need to use an SNMP Trap receiver to receive TRAP-messages.

About the management information base (MIB)

The MIB file acronis-abr.mib is located in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 installation directory. By default: %ProgramFiles%\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery in Windows and /usr/lib/Acronis/BackupAndRecovery in Linux.

This file can be read by a MIB browser or a simple text editor such as Notepad or vi.

About the test message

When configuring SNMP notifications, you can send a test message to check if your settings are correct.

The parameters of the test message are as follows:

 Type of event

OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0 Value: "Unknown"

 Text description of the event

OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0 Value: "?00000000"

4 Backup

4.1 Back up now

Use the Back up now feature to configure and run a one-time backup in a few simple steps. The backup process will start immediately after you perform the required steps and click OK.

For a long-time backup strategy that includes schedules and conditions, timely deleting of backups or moving them to different locations, consider creating a backup plan.

Configuring immediate backup is similar to creating a backup plan (p. 45) except for the following:

 There are no options to schedule backups and to set up retention rules.  Simplified naming of backup files (p. 65) is used, if the backup destination supports it. Otherwise,

the standard backup naming is used. The following locations do not support simplified file naming: managed vaults, tape, Acronis

Secure Zone or Acronis Online Backup Storage.

 Conversion of a disk-level backup to a virtual machine is not available as a part of the backup

operation. You can convert the resulting backup afterwards.

4.2 Creating a backup plan

Before creating your first backup plan (p. 368), please familiarize yourself with the basic concepts used in Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.

To create a backup plan, perform the following steps.

What to back up

Items to back up (p. 47)

Select the type of data to back up and specify the data items. The type of data depends on

the agents installed on the machine. Access credentials, exclusions To access these settings, click Show access credentials, exclusions. Access credentials (p. 48)

Provide credentials for the source data if the plan's account does not have access

permissions to the data. Exclusions (p. 49)

Set up exclusions for the specific types of files you do not wish to back up.

Where to back up

Location (p. 60)

Specify a path to the location where the backup archive will be stored and the archive name.

The archive name has to be unique within the location. Otherwise, backups of the newly

created backup plan will be placed to the existing archive that belongs to another backup

plan. The default archive name is Archive(N) where N is the sequence number of the archive

in the location you have selected. Backup file naming, access credentials, archive comments

To access these settings, click Show backup file naming, access credentials, archive comments. File naming (p. 65)

[Optional] Select the Name backup files using the archive name, as in Acronis True Image

Echo, rather than auto-generated names check box if you want to use simplified file naming



Not available when backing up to a managed vault, tape, Acronis Secure Zone or Acronis

Online Backup Storage.

Access credentials (p. 50)

[Optional] Provide credentials for the location if the plan account does not have access

permissions to the location. Archive comments

[Optional] Enter comments on the archive.

How to back up

Backup scheme (p. 51)

Specify when and how often to back up your data; define for how long to keep the created

backup archives in the selected location; set up schedule for the archive cleanup procedure

-known optimized backup schemes,

such as Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi; create a custom backup scheme, or

back up data once.

Replication and retention settings (p. 84)

Not available when choosing simplified naming of backup files (p. 65).

Define whether to copy (replicate) the backups to another location, and whether to move or

delete them according to retention rules. The available settings depend on the backup

scheme. 2nd location, validation, convert to virtual machine To access these settings, click Show 2nd location, validation, convert to virtual machine. 2nd location

[Optional] To set up replication of backups, select the Replicate just created backup to

another location check box. For more information about backup replication, see Setting up

replication of backups (p. 86). When to validate (p. 63)

[Optional] Depending on the selected backup scheme, define when and how often to

perform validation and whether to validate the entire archive or the latest backup in the

archive. Convert to virtual machine (p. 91)

[Optional] Applies to: disk or volume backup, backup of entire virtual machines or volumes of

a virtual machine.

Set up a regular conversion of a disk or volume backup to a virtual machine.

Plan parameters

Plan name

[Optional] Enter a unique name for the backup plan. A conscious name lets you identify the

plan among others. Backup options

[Optional] Configure parameters of the backup operation, such as pre/post backup

commands, maximum network bandwidth allocated for the backup stream or the backup

archive compression level. If you do nothing in this section, the default values (p. 95) will be

used.

After any of the settings is changed against the default value, a new line that displays the

newly set value appears. The setting status changes from Default to Reset to default. Should

you modify the setting again, the line will display the new value unless the new value is the

default one. When the default value is set, the line disappears. Therefore, in this section you

always see only the settings that differ from the default values.

To reset all the settings to the default values, click Reset to default. Plan's credentials, comments, label To access these settings, click Show plan's credentials, comments, label. Plan's credentials (p. 63)

[Optional] The backup plan will run on behalf of the user who is creating the plan. You can

change the plan's credentials if necessary. Comments

[Optional] Type a description of the backup plan. Label (p. 64)

[Optional] Type a text label for the machine you are going to back up. The label can be used

to identify the machine in various scenarios.

After you have performed all the required steps, click OK to create the backup plan.

After that, you might be prompted for the password (p. 65).

The plan you have created will be accessible for examination and managing in the Backup plans and tasks (p. 258) view.

4.2.1 Selecting data to back up

To select the data to back up

1. In the Data to back up section, select the type of data you want to be backed up. The list of

available data types depends on the agents running on the machine and the types of licenses: Disks/volumes

Available if Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for Windows or Acronis Backup & Recovery

11 Agent for Linux is installed.

Select this option to back up entire physical machine or its individual disks or volumes. To be

able to back up this data, you must have Administrator or Backup operator privileges.

A disk-level backup enables you to recover the entire system in case of severe data damage

or hardware failure. The backup procedure is faster than copying files, and may significantly

speed up the backup process when backing up large volumes of data. Folders/files

Available if Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for Windows or Acronis Backup & Recovery

11 for Linux is installed.

Select this option to back up specific files and folders.

A file-level backup is not sufficient for recovery of the operating system. Choose file backup if

you plan to keep safe only certain data (the current project, for example). This will reduce

the archive size, thus saving storage space.

In order to recover your operating system along with all the settings and applications, you

have to perform a disk backup. Virtual machines

Available if Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for ESX(i) or Acronis Backup & Recovery 11

Hyper-V is installed.

Select this option to back up entire virtual machines residing on a virtualization server or

their disks or volumes.

Backing up an entire virtual machine, its disks, or volumes yields a standard disk backup (p.

372). In addition, this backup stores the virtual machine configuration. This configuration will

be suggested by default when recovering the backup content to a new virtual machine. For

more information about backing up virtual machines see "Backing up virtual machines".

2. In the tree below the Data to back up section, select the items to back up by selecting check

boxes next to the items. Selecting a check box for a machine means backing up all the machine's disks. To select individual

disks and/or volumes, expand the machine item and select check boxes next to the disks and/or volumes.

Notes for Disks/volumes

 If your operating system and its loader reside on different volumes, always include both

volumes in the backup. The volumes must also be recovered together; otherwise there is a

high risk that the operating system will not start.

 Note for Linux users: Logical volumes and MD devices are shown under Dynamic volumes.

For more information about backing up such volumes and devices, see "Backup and recovery

of logical volumes and MD devices (Linux)" (p. 36).

 Note for Linux users: We recommend that you unmount any volumes that contain

non-journaling file systemssuch as the ext2 file systembefore backing them up.

Otherwise, these volumes might contain corrupted files upon recovery; recovery of these

volumes with resize might fail. Notes for Virtual machines

 Backing up entire virtual machines comes in handy when having small (in terms of virtual

disks size) but numerous legacy servers such as those resulting from workload consolidation.

A separate archive will be created for each machine.

 Backing up individual disks or volumes within a virtual machine comes in handy when the

operating system and applications, such as a database server, run on a virtual disk, but the

data, such as a database, is stored on a large capacity physical disk added to the same

machine. You will be able to use different backup strategies for the virtual disk and the

physical storage.

3. Having specified the data to backup, click OK.

4.2.2 Access credentials for source

Specify the credentials required for access to the data you are going to backup.

To specify credentials

1. Select one of the following:

 Use the plan's credentials

The program will access the source data using the credentials of the backup plan account

specified in the Plan parameters section.

 Use the following credentials

The program will access the source data using the credentials you specify.

Use this option if the plan's account does not have access permissions to the data.

Specify:

 User name. When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also

specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain).

 Password. The password for the account.

2. Click OK.

4.2.3 Source files exclusion

This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media.

This option is effective for disk-level backup of NTFS and FAT file systems only. This option is effective for file-level backup of all supported file systems.

The option defines which files and folders to skip during the backup process and thus exclude from the list of backed-up items.

The preset is: Exclude files matching the following criteria: *.tmp, *.~, *.bak.

To specify which files and folders to exclude:

Set up any of the following parameters:

 Exclude all hidden files and folders

This option is effective only for file systems that are supported by Windows. Select this check box to skip files and folders with the Hidden attribute. If a folder is Hidden, all of its contents  including files that are not Hidden  will be excluded.

 Exclude all system files and folders

This option is effective only for file systems that are supported by Windows. Select this check box to skip files and folders with the System attribute. If a folder is System, all of its contents  including files that are not System  will be excluded.

You can view file or folder attributes in the file/folder properties or by using the attrib command. For more information, refer to the Help and Support Center in Windows.

 Exclude files matching the following criteria

Select this check box to skip files and folders whose names match any of the criteria  called file masks  in the list; use the Add, Edit, Remove and Remove All buttons to create the list of file masks.

You can use one or more wildcard characters * and ? in a file mask: The asterisk (*) substitutes for zero or more characters in a file name; for example, the file mask

Doc*.txt yields files such as Doc.txt and Document.txt The question mark (?) substitutes for exactly one character in a file name; for example, the file

mask Doc?.txt yields files such as Doc1.txt and Docs.txt  but not the files Doc.txt or Doc11.txt

To exclude a folder specified by a path containing the drive letter, add a backslash (\) to the folder name in the criterion; for example: C:\Finance\

Exclusion examples

Criterion

Example

Description

Windows and Linux

By name

F.log

Excludes all files named "F.log"

Excludes all folders named "F"

By mask (*)

*.log

Excludes all files with the .log extension

Excludes all files and folders with names starting with "F" (such as folders F, F1 and files F.log, F1.log)

By mask (?)

F???.log

Excludes all .log files with names consisting of four symbols and starting with "F"

Windows

By file path

C:\Finance\F.log

Excludes the file named "F.log" located in the folder C:\Finance

By folder path

C:\Finance\F\

Excludes the folder C:\Finance\F (be sure to specify the full path starting from the disk letter)

Linux

By file path

/home/user/Finance/F.log

Excludes the file named "F.log" located in the folder /home/user/Finance

By folder path

/home/user/Finance/

Excludes the folder /home/user/Finance

The above settings are not effective for the files or folders that were explicitly selected for backup. For example, assume that you selected the folder MyFolder and the file MyFile.tmp outside that folder, and selected to skip all .tmp files. In this case, all .tmp files in the folder MyFolder will be skipped during the backup process, but the file MyFile.tmp will not be skipped.

4.2.4 Access credentials for archive location

Specify credentials required for access to the location where the backup archive will be stored. The user whose name is specified will be considered as the archive owner.

To specify credentials

1. Select one of the following:

 Use the plan's credentials

The program will access the source data using the credentials of the backup plan account

specified in the Plan parameters section.

 Use the following credentials

The program will access the source data using the credentials you specify.

Use this option if the plan account does not have access permissions to the location. You

might need to provide special credentials for a network share or a storage node vault.

Specify:

 User name. When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also

specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain).

 Password. The password for the account.

2. Click OK.

Warning: According to the original FTP specification, credentials required for access to FTP servers are transferred through a network as plaintext. This means that the user name and password can be intercepted by an eavesdropper using a packet sniffer.

4.2.5 Backup schemes

Choose one of the available backup schemes:

 Simple  to schedule when and how often to backup data and specify retention rules.  Run now - to perform the backup immediately right after you click the OK button.  Grandfather-Father-Son  to use the Grandfather-Father-Son backup scheme. The scheme does

not allow data to be backed up more than once a day. You set the days of week when the daily backup will be performed and select from these days the day of weekly/monthly backup. Then you set the retention periods for the daily (referred to as "sons"), weekly (referred to as "fathers") and monthly (referred to as "grandfathers") backups. The expired backups will be deleted automatically.

 Tower of Hanoi  to use the Tower of Hanoi backup scheme. This scheme allows you to schedule

when and how often to back up (sessions) and select the number of backup levels (up to 16). The data can be backed up more than once a day. By setting up the backup schedule and selecting backup levels, you automatically obtain the rollback period  the guaranteed number of sessions that you can go back at any time. The automatic cleanup mechanism maintains the required rollback period by deleting the expired backups and keeping the most recent backups of each level.

 Custom  to create a custom scheme, where you are free to set up a backup strategy in the way

your enterprise needs it most: specify multiple schedules for different backup types, add conditions and specify the retention rules.

 Manual start  to create a backup task for manual start OR schedule one-time task execution in

the future.

 Initial seeding - to save locally a full backup whose final destination is Acronis Online Backup

Storage.

4.2.5.1 Simple scheme

With the simple backup scheme, you just schedule when and how often to back up data. Other steps are optional.

To set up the simple backup scheme, specify the appropriate settings as follows.

Schedule

Set up when and how often to back up the data. To learn more about setting up the schedule, see the Scheduling (p. 69) section.

Retention rules

Specify how long to store backups in the location and whether to move or delete them afterward. The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. The Keep backups indefinitely is set by default, which means that no backups will be deleted automatically. For more information about retention rules, see Setting up retention of backups (p. 87).

Backup type

To access this setting, click Show backup type, 2nd location, validation, convert to virtual

Jan 1Jan 7

D D D D W - -

Jan 8Jan 14

D D D D W - -

Jan 15Jan 21

D D D D W - -

Jan 22Jan 28

D D D D M - -

Jan 29Feb 4

D D D D W - -

Feb 5Feb 11

D D D D W - -

Feb 12Feb 18

D D D D W - -

Feb 19Feb 25

D D D D M - -

Feb 26Mar 4

D D D D W - -

machine. Select the backup type.

 Full - selected by default for all backup locations (except for Acronis Online Backup Storage).  Incremental. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be

incremental. Selected as the one and only backup type for Acronis Online Backup Storage.

Note: When the Incremental backup type is selected along with retention rules, the archive will be

cleaned up using consolidation (p. 370), which is a more time-consuming and resource-intensive

operation.

4.2.5.2 Run now scheme

With the Run now scheme, the backup will be performed immediately, right after you click the OK button at the bottom of the Create Backup Plan page.

In the Backup type field, select whether you want to create a full, incremental or differential backup (p. 32).

4.2.5.3 Grandfather-Father-Son scheme

At a glance

 Daily ("Son") incremental, weekly ("Father") differential, and monthly ("Grandfather") backups  Custom day for weekly and monthly backups  Custom retention periods for backups of each type

Description

Let us suppose that we want to set up a backup plan that will regularly produce a series of daily (D), weekly (W), and monthly (M) backups. Here is a natural way to do this: the following table shows a sample two-month period for such a plan.

Daily backups run every workday except Friday, which is left for weekly and monthly backups. Monthly backups run every fourth Friday, and weekly backups run on all other Fridays.

Parameters

You can set up the following parameters of a Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme.

Start backup at

Specifies when to start a backup. The default value is 12:00 PM.

Back up on

Specifies the days on which to perform a backup. The default value is Workdays.

Weekly/Monthly

Specifies which of the days selected in the Back up on field you want to reserve for weekly and monthly backups. A monthly backup will be performed every fourth such day. The default value is Friday.

Keep backups

Specifies how long you want the backups to be stored in the archive. A term can be set in hours, days, weeks, months, or years. For monthly backups, you can also select Keep indefinitely if you want them to be saved forever.

The default values for each backup type are as follows.

Daily: 5 days (recommended minimum)

Weekly: 7 weeks

Monthly: indefinitely

The retention period for weekly backups must exceed that for daily backups; the monthly backups' retention period must be greater than the weekly backups' retention period.

We recommend setting a retention period of at least one week for daily backups.

Backup type

Specifies the types of daily, weekly and monthly backups

 Always full - all the daily, weekly and monthly backups will be always full. This is

the default selection for cases when a tape drive is selected as a backup location.

 Full/Differential/Incremental - daily backups are incremental, weekly backups

are differential, and monthly backups are full.

Advanced settings

Available only for advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 when creating a centralized backup plan. See the "Advanced scheduling settings" (p. 79) section for details.

A backup is not deleted until all backups that directly depend on it become subject to deletion as well. This is why you might see a weekly or a monthly backup remain in the archive for a few days past its expected expiration date.

If the schedule starts with a daily or a weekly backup, a full backup is created instead.

Examples

Each day of the past week, each week of the past month

Let us consider a GFS backup scheme that many may find useful.

 Back up files every day, including weekends  Be able to recover files as of any date over the past seven days  Have access to weekly backups of the past month  Keep monthly backups indefinitely.

Backup scheme parameters can then be set up as follows.

 Start backup at: 11:00 PM  Back up on: All days  Weekly/monthly: Saturday (for example)

 Keep backups:

 Daily: 1 week  Weekly: 1 month  Monthly: indefinitely

As a result, an archive of daily, weekly, and monthly backups will be created. Daily backups will be available for seven days since creation. For instance, a daily backup of Sunday, January 1, will be available through next Sunday, January 8; the first weekly backup, the one of Saturday, January 7, will be stored on the system until February 7. Monthly backups will never be deleted.

Limited storage

If you do not want to arrange a vast amount of space to store a huge archive, you may set up a GFS scheme so as to make your backups more short-lived, at the same time ensuring that your information can be recovered in case of an accidental data loss.

Suppose that you need to:

 Perform backups at the end of each working day  Be able to recover an accidentally deleted or inadvertently modified file if this has been

discovered relatively quickly

 Have access to a weekly backup for 10 days after it was created  Keep monthly backups for half a year.

Backup scheme parameters can then be set up as follows.

 Start backup at: 6:00 PM  Back up on: Workdays  Weekly/monthly: Friday  Keep backups:

 Daily: 1 week  Weekly: 10 days  Monthly: 6 months

With this scheme, you will have a week to recover a previous version of a damaged file from a daily backup; as well as 10-day access to weekly backups. Each monthly full backup will be available for six months since the creation date.

Work schedule

Suppose you are a part-time financial consultant and work in a company on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On these days, you often make changes to your financial documents, statements, and update the spreadsheets etc. on your laptop. To back up this data, you may want to:

 Track changes to the financial statements, spreadsheets, etc. performed on Tuesdays and

Thursdays (daily incremental backup).

 Have a weekly summary of file changes since last month (Friday weekly differential backup).  Have a monthly full backup of your files.

Moreover, assume that you want to retain access to all backups, including the daily ones, for at least six months.

The following GFS scheme suits such purposes:

 Start backup at: 11:30 PM

Parameter

Meaning

Full backup schedule

Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform a full backup.

For example, the full backup can be set up to run every Sunday at 1:00 AM as soon as all users are logged off.

Incremental backup schedule

Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform an incremental backup.

If the archive contains no backups at the time of the task run, a full backup is created instead of the incremental backup.

 Back up on: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday  Weekly/monthly: Friday  Keep backups:

 Daily: 6 months  Weekly: 6 months  Monthly: 5 years

Here, daily incremental backups will be created on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with weekly and monthly backups performed on Fridays. Note that, in order to choose Friday in the Weekly/monthly field, you need to first select it in the Back up on field.

Such an archive would allow you to compare your financial documents as of the first and the last day of work, and have a five-year history of all documents, etc.

No daily backups

Consider a more exotic GFS scheme:

 Start backup at: 12:00 PM  Back up on: Friday  Weekly/monthly: Friday  Keep backups:

 Daily: 1 week  Weekly: 1 month  Monthly: indefinitely

Backup is thus performed only on Fridays. This makes Friday the only choice for weekly and monthly - hence consist only of weekly differential and monthly full backups.

Even though it is possible to use GFS to create such an archive, the Custom scheme is more flexible in this situation.

4.2.5.4 Custom backup scheme

At a glance

 Custom schedule and conditions for backups of each type  Custom schedule and retention rules

Parameters

Differential backup schedule

Specifies on what schedule and under which conditions to perform a differential backup.

If the archive contains no full backups at the time of the task run, a full backup is created instead of the differential backup.

Clean up archive

Specifies how to get rid of old backups: either to apply retention rules (p. 88) regularly or clean up the archive during a backup when the destination location runs out of space.

By default, the retention rules are not specified, which means older backups will not be deleted automatically.

Using retention rules

Specify the retention rules and when to apply them.

This setting is recommended for backup destinations such as shared folders or centralized vaults.

When there is insufficient space while backing up

The archive will be cleaned up only during backup and only if there is not enough space to create a new backup. In this case, the software will act as follows:

 Delete the oldest full backup with all dependent incremental/differential

backups

 If there is only one full backup left and a full backup is in progress, then

delete the last full backup with all dependent incremental/differential backups

 If there is only one full backup left, and an incremental or differential backup

is in progress, an error occurs saying there is a lack of available space

This setting is recommended when backing up to a USB drive or Acronis Secure Zone. This setting is not applicable to managed vaults, FTP and SFTP servers.

This setting enables deletion of the last backup in the archive, in case your storage device cannot accommodate more than one backup. However, you might end up with no backups if the program is not able to create the new backup for some reason.

Apply retention rules

(only if the retention rules are set)

Specifies when to apply the retention rules (p. 88).

For example, the cleanup procedure can be set up to run after each backup, and also on schedule.

This option is available only if you have set at least one retention rule in Retention rules.

Cleanup schedule

(only if On schedule is selected)

Specifies a schedule for archive cleanup.

For example, the cleanup can be scheduled to start on the last day of each month.

This option is available only if you selected On schedule in Apply retention rules.

2nd location, 3rd location, and so on

Specifies where to copy or move (p. 84) the backups from the current location.

This option is available only if you selected either the Replicate just created

backup to another location check box under How to back up, or Move the oldest backups to another location in the Retention rules window.

Examples

Weekly full backup

The following scheme yields a full backup performed every Friday night.

Full backup: Schedule: Weekly, every Friday, at 10:00 PM

Here, all parameters except Schedule in Full backup are left empty. All backups in the archive are kept indefinitely (no archive cleanup is performed).

Full and incremental backup plus cleanup

With the following scheme, the archive will consist of weekly full backups and daily incremental backups. We further require that a full backup begin only after all users have logged off.

Full backup: Schedule: Weekly, every Friday, at 10:00 PM

Full backup: Conditions: User is logged off

Incremental: Schedule: Weekly, every workday, at 9:00 PM

Also, let all backups older than one year be deleted from the archive, and let the cleanup be performed upon creating a new backup.

Retention rules: Delete backups older than 12 months

Apply the rules: After backing up

By default, a one-year-old full backup will not be deleted until all incremental backups that depend on it become subject to deletion too. For more information, see Retention rules (p. 88).

Monthly full, weekly differential, and daily incremental backups plus cleanup

This example demonstrates the use of all options available in the Custom scheme.

Suppose that we need a scheme that will produce monthly full backups, weekly differential backups, and daily incremental backups. Then the backup schedule can look as follows.

Full backup: Schedule: Monthly, every Last Sunday of the month, at 9:00 PM

Incremental: Schedule: Weekly, every workday, at 7:00 PM

Differential: Schedule: Weekly, every Saturday, at 8:00 PM

Further, we want to add conditions that have to be satisfied for a backup task to start. This is set up in the Conditions fields for each backup type.

Full backup: Conditions: Location available

Incremental: Conditions: User is logged off

Differential: Conditions: User is idle

As a result, a full backuporiginally scheduled at 9:00 PMmay actually start later: as soon as the backup location becomes available. Likewise, backup tasks for incremental and differential backups will wait until all users are logged off and users are idle, respectively.

Finally, we create retention rules for the archive: let us retain only backups that are no older than six

Schedule

Set up a daily (p. 71), weekly (p. 73), or monthly (p. 75) schedule. Setting up schedule parameters allows for the creation of simple schedules (example of a simple daily schedule: a backup task will be run every 1 day at 10 AM) as well as more complex schedules (example of a complex daily schedule: a task will be run every 3 days, starting from January 15. During the specified days the task will be repeated every 2 hours from 10 AM to 10 PM). Thus, complex schedules specify the sessions on which the scheme should run. In the discussion below, "days" can be replaced with "scheduled sessions".

Number of levels

Select from 2 to 16 backup levels. See the example stated below for details.

Roll-back period

The guaranteed number of sessions that one can go back in the archive at any time. Calculated automatically, depending on the schedule parameters and the numbers of levels you select. See the example below for details.

Backup type

Specifies what backup types the backup levels will have

 Always full - all levels of backups will be full. This is the default selection for cases

when a tape drive is selected as a backup location.

 Full/Differential/Incremental - backups of different levels will have different types:

- Last-level backups are full

- Backups of intermediate levels are differential

- First-level backups are incremental

months, and let the cleanup be performed after each backup task and also on the last day of every month.

Retention rules: Delete backups older than 6 months

Apply the rules: After backing up, On schedule

Cleanup schedule: Monthly, on the Last day of All months, at 10:00 PM

By default, a backup is not deleted as long as it has dependent backups that must be kept. For example, if a full backup has become subject to deletion, but there are incremental or differential backups that depend on it, the deletion is postponed until all the dependent backups can be deleted as well.

For more information, see Retention rules (p. 88).

4.2.5.5 Tower of Hanoi scheme

At a glance

 Up to 16 levels of full, differential, and incremental backups  Next-level backups are twice as rare as previous-level backups  One backup of each level is stored at a time  Higher density of more recent backups

Parameters

You can set up the following parameters of a Tower of Hanoi scheme.

Example

Schedule parameters are set as follows

 Recur: Every 1 day

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

14 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 3 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4 1 2 1 3 1 2

Number of levels

Full backup every

On different days, can go back

Roll-back period

2 days

1 to 2 days

1 day

4 days

2 to 5 days

2 days

8 days

4 to 11 days

4 days

16 days

8 to 23 days

8 days

32 days

16 to 47 days

16 days

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

12 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1

 Frequency: Once at 6 PM

Number of levels: 4

Backup type: Full/Differential/Incremental

This is how the first 14 days (or 14 sessions) of this scheme's schedule look. Shaded numbers denote backup levels.

Backups of different levels have different types:

 Last-level (in this case, level 4) backups are full;  Backups of intermediate levels (2, 3) are differential;  First-level (1) backups are incremental.

A cleanup mechanism ensures that only the most recent backups of each level are kept. Here is how the archive looks on day 8, a day before creating a new full backup.

The scheme allows for efficient data storage: more backups accumulate toward the current time. Having four backups, we could recover data as of today, yesterday, half a week, or a week ago.

Roll-back period

The number of days we can go back in the archive is different on different days. The minimum number of days we are guaranteed to have is called the roll-back period.

The following table shows full backup and roll-back periods for schemes of various levels.

Adding a level doubles the full backup and roll-back periods.

To see why the number of recovery days varies, let us return to the previous example.

Here are the backups we have on day 12 (numbers in gray denote deleted backups).

A new level 3 differential backup has not yet been created, so the backup of day five is still stored.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

13 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

14 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 3 1

Since it depends on the full backup of day one, that backup is available as well. This enables us to go as far back as 11 days, which is the best-case scenario.

The following day, however, a new third-level differential backup is created, and the old full backup is deleted.

This gives us only a four day recovery interval, which turns out to be the worst-case scenario.

On day 14, the interval is five days. It increases on subsequent days before decreasing again, and so on.

The roll-back period shows how many days we are guaranteed to have even in the worst case. For a four-level scheme, it is four days.

4.2.5.6 Manual start

With the Manual start scheme, you do not have to specify the backup schedule. You can run the backup plan from the Plans and Tasks view manually at any time afterwards.

Specify the appropriate settings as follows.

Backup type

Select the type of backup

 Full - selected by default for all backup locations (except for Acronis Online Backup Storage).  Incremental. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be

incremental. Selected as the one and only backup type for Acronis Online Backup Storage.

 Differential. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be

differential.

4.2.5.7 Initial seeding

This backup scheme is only available when you have an Initial Seeding license and selected the Online Backup Storage as the backup destination.

Initial seeding enables you to transfer the first backup, which is full and usually the largest, to the online storage on a hard drive instead of over the Internet. Subsequent backups, which are all incremental and thus usually much smaller, can be transferred over the Internet after the full backup has arrived in the online storage.

If you back up a large amount of data, initial seeding ensures faster delivery of the backed-up data and lower traffic costs.

Please refer to the "Initial Seeding FAQ (p. 349)" section for more details.

4.2.6 Backup location selection

Specify where the archive will be stored.

1. Selecting the destination

Destination

Details

In the Path field, enter the full path to the destination, or select the desired destination in the location tree as described in "Selecting backup destinations" (p. 61).

2. Using the archives table

To assist you with choosing the right destination, the table displays the names of the archives contained in each location you select. While you are reviewing the location content, archives can be added, deleted or modified by another user or by the program itself according to scheduled operations. Use the Refresh button to refresh the list of archives.

3. Naming the new archive

Once you select the archive destination, the program generates a name for the new archive and displays it in the Name field. The name commonly looks like Archive(N), where N is a sequence number. The generated name is unique within the selected location. If you are satisfied with the automatically generated name, click OK. Otherwise enter another unique name.

If the automatically generated name looks like [Machine Name]_Archive(N), this means that the name contain variables. Such might be the case when you have selected virtual machines to back up. The [Machine Name] stands for the virtual machine name. You can add suffixes to the name but never delete the variables, since each virtual machine has to back up to a separate archive with the unique name.

Backing up to an existing archive

You can configure the backup plan to back up to an existing archive. To do so, select the archive in the archives table or type the archive name in the Name field. If the archive is protected with a password, the program will ask for it in the pop-up window.

By selecting the existing archive, you are meddling in the area of another backup plan that uses the archive. This is not an issue if the other plan is discontinued. However, you should generally follow the rule: "one backup plan - one archive". Doing the opposite will not prevent the program from functioning but is not practical or efficient, except for some specific cases.

Why two or more plans should not back up to the same archive

1. Backing up different sources to the same archive makes it difficult to use archive. When it comes

to recovery, every second counts, and you might be "lost" in the archive content. Backup plans that operate with the same archive should back up the same data items (say, both

plans back up volume C.)

2. Applying multiple retention rules to an archive makes the archive content unpredictable. Since

each of the rules will be applied to the entire archive, the backups belonging to one backup plan can be easily deleted along with the backups belonging to the other. You should not expect the classic behavior of the GFS and Tower of Hanoi backup schemes.

Normally, each complex backup plan should back up to its own archive.

4.2.6.1 Selecting backup destinations

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 lets you back up data to various physical storages.

Destination

Details

Online backup

storage

To back up data to Acronis Online Backup Storage, click Log in and specify the credentials to log in to the online storage. Then, expand the Online backup storage group and select the account.

Prior to backing up to the online storage, you need to buy a subscription (p. 359) to the online backup service and activate (p. 360) the subscription on the machine(s) you want to back up.

Online backup is not available in Linux and under bootable media.

Note: Acronis Backup & Recovery Online might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here: http://www.acronis.com/my/backup-recovery-online/

Personal

To back up data to a personal vault, expand the Vaults group and click the vault. Acronis Secure Zone is considered as a personal vault available to all users that can log on the system.

Centralized

To back up data to centralized vault, expand the Vaults group and click the vault.

Machine

Local machine

Local folders

To back up data to the local folders of the machine, expand the <Machine name> group and select the required folder.

CD, DVD, etc.

To back up data to optical media such as CD or DVD, expand the <Machine name> group, then select the required drive.

Tape device

To back up data to a locally attached tape device, expand the <Machine name> group, then click the required device.

In stand-alone editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11, tape devices are available only if you have upgraded from Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. For information about using tapes, see the "Tape devices" (p. 173) section.

Network folders

To back up data to the network folder, expand the Network folders group, select the required networked machine and, then click the shared folder.

If the network share requires access credentials, the program will ask for them.

Note for Linux users: To specify a Common Internet File System (CIFS) network share which is mounted on a mount point such as /mnt/share, select this mount point instead of the network share itself.

FTP, SFTP

To back up data to FTP or SFTP, type the server name or address in the Path field as follows:

ftp://ftp_server:port _number or sftp://sftp_server:port number

If the port number is not specified, port 21 is used for FTP and port 22 is used for SFTP.

After entering access credentials, the folders on the server become available. Click the appropriate folder on the server.

You can access the server as an anonymous user if the server enables such access. To do so, click Use anonymous access instead of entering credentials.

Note: According to the original FTP specification, credentials required for access to FTP servers are transferred through a network as plaintext. This means that the user name and password can be intercepted by an eavesdropper using a packet sniffer.

Destination

Details

Storage nodes

When you need to back up data to a storage node that is not registered on the management server, or when operating on a machine booted with bootable media:

 To access a managed vault, type the following string in the Path field:

bsp://node_address/vault_name/

 To access an unmanaged centralized vault, type the full path to the vault's folder.

NFS drives

To back up data to an NFS share, expand the NFS drives group and click the folder.

Available only in Linux and under Linux-based bootable media.

4.2.7 Archive validation

Set up the validation task to check if the backed up data is recoverable. If the backup could not pass the validation successfully, the validation task fails and the backup plan gets the Error status.

To set up validation, specify the following parameters

1. When to validate  select when to perform the validation. As the validation is a

resource-intensive operation, it makes sense to schedule the validation to the managed machine's off-peak period. On the other hand, if the validation is a major part of your data protection strategy and you prefer to be immediately informed whether the backed up data is not corrupted and can be successfully recovered, think of starting the validation right after backup creation.

2. What to validate  select either to validate the entire archive or the latest backup in the archive.

Validation of a file backup imitates recovery of all files from the backup to a dummy destination. Validation of a volume backup calculates a checksum for every data block saved in the backup.



of system resources.

3. Validation schedule (appears only if you have selected the on schedule in step 1) - set the

schedule of validation. For more information see the Scheduling (p. 69) section.

4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials

Provide the credentials for the account under which the plan's tasks will run.

To specify credentials

1. Select one of the following:

 Run under the current user

The tasks will run under the credentials with which the user who starts the tasks is logged on.

If any of the tasks has to run on schedule, you will be asked for the current user's password

on completing the plan creation.

 Use the following credentials

The tasks will always run under the credentials you specify, whether started manually or

executed on schedule.

Specify:

 User name. When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also

specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain)

 Password. The password for the account.

2. Click OK.

Parameter

Value

Description

acronisTag.label

A user-defined label.

The label can be set by a user when creating a backup plan.

acronisTag.hostname

Host name (FQDN)

acronisTag.os.type

Operating system

acronisTag.os.servicepack

0, 1, 2...

The version of the Service Pack installed in the system.

For Windows OS only.

acronisTag.os.sid

Machine's SID.

For example: S-1-5-21-874133492-782267321-3928949834.

For Windows OS only.

Windows NT 4

winNTGuest

Windows 2000 Professional

win2000ProGuest

Windows 2000 Server

win2000ServGuest

Windows 2000 Advanced Server

win2000ServGuest

To learn more about operations available depending on the user privileges, see the Users' privileges on a managed machine (p. 31) section.

4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup)

Any time data on a machine is backed up, information about the machine name, operating system, Windows service pack and security identifier (SID) is added to the backup, along with the user-defined text label. The label may include the department or machine owner's name or similar information that can be used as a tag or a key.

If you recover (p. 119) the machine to a VMware ESX(i) using Agent for ESX(i), or convert (p. 91) the backup to a ESX(i) virtual machine, these properties will be transferred to the virtual machine's configuration. You can view them in the virtual machine settings: Edit settings > Options > Advanced > General > Configuration parameters. You can select, sort and group the virtual machines with the help of these custom parameters. This can be useful in various scenarios.

Example:

Let's assume you migrate your office or datacenter to a virtual environment. By using third-party software that can access configuration parameters through VMware API, you can automatically apply security policies to each machine even before powering it on.

To add a text label to a backup:

1. On the Create backup plan (p. 45) page, click Show plan's credentials, comments, label.

2. In Label, enter the text label or select it from the drop-down menu.

Parameters specification

Values of the "acronisTag.os.type" parameter

Windows XP All Editions

winXPProGuest

Windows XP All Editions (64 bit)

winXPPro64Guest

Windows Server 2003, All Editions

winNetStandardGuest

Windows Server 2003, All Editions (64 bit)

winNetStandard64Guest

Windows 2008

winLonghornGuest

Windows 2008 (64 bit)

winLonghorn64Guest

Windows Vista

winVistaGuest

Windows Vista (64 bit)

winVista64Guest

Windows 7

windows7Guest

Windows 7 (64 bit)

windows7_64Guest

Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit)

windows7Server64Guest

Linux

otherLinuxGuest

Linux (64 bit)

otherLinux64Guest

Other Operating System

otherGuest

Other Operating System (64 bit)

otherGuest64

Example









acronisTag.os.-1-5-21-874133492-782267321-

4.2.10 Why is the program asking for the password?

A scheduled or postponed task has to run regardless of users being logged on. In case you have not explicitly specified the credentials, under which the task(s) will run, the program proposes using your account. Enter your password, specify another account or change the scheduled start to manual.

4.3 Simplified naming of backup files

When creating a backup plan (p. 45), you can choose between standard and simplified naming of backup files.

If you select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box:

 The file name of the first (full) backup in the archive will consist of the archive name; for

example: MyData.tib. The file names of subsequent (incremental or differential) backups will have an index. For example: MyData2.tib, MyData3.tib, and so on.

This simple naming scheme enables you to create a portable image of a machine on a detachable media or move the backups to a different location by using a script.

 Before creating a new full backup, the software will delete the entire archive and start a new

one.

This behavior is useful when you rotate USB hard drives and want each drive to keep a single full backup (p. 67) or all backups created during a week (p. 67). But you might end up with no backups if a full backup to your only drive fails.

This behavior can be suppressed by adding the [Date] variable (p. 69) to the archive name.

If you do not select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box:

 Each backup will have a unique file name with the exact time stamp and the backup type. For

example: MyData_2010_03_26_17_01_38_960D.tib. This standard file naming allows for a wider range of backup destinations and backup schemes.

Restrictions

When using simplified file naming, the following functionality is not available:

 Setting up full, incremental and differential backups within a single backup plan. You need to

create separate backup plans for each type of backup

 Backup to a managed vault, tape, Acronis Secure Zone or Acronis Online Backup Storage  Setting up retention rules  Setting up regular conversion of backups to a virtual machine

Tip. The FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS file systems do not allow the following characters in the file name: backslash (\), slash (/), colon (:), asterisk (*), question mark (?), quotation mark ("), less than sign (<), greater than sign (>), and pipe (|).

4.3.1 Usage examples

This section provides examples of how you can use simplified file naming.

4.3.1.1 Example 1. Daily backup replacing the old one

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a daily full backup of your machine.  You want to store the backup locally in the file MyMachine.tib.  You want each new backup to replace the old one.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan, specify MyMachine as the archive name, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, and select Full as the backup type.

Result. The archive consists of a single file: MyMachine.tib. This file is deleted before creating a new backup.

4.3.1.2 Example 2. Daily full backups with a date stamp

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a daily full backup of your machine.  You want to move older backups to a remote location by using a script.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan, specify MyMachine-[DATE] as the archive name, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, and select Full as the backup type.

Result:

 The backups of January 1, 2011, January 2, 2011, and so on, are stored respectively as

MyMachine-1.1.2011.tib, MyMachine-1.2.2011.tib, and so on.

 Your script can move older backups based on the date stamp.

See also  (p. 69).

4.3.1.3 Example 3. Hourly backups within a day

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform hourly backups of your server's critical files every day.  You want the first backup of each day to be full and to run at midnight; and the subsequent

backups of the day to be differential and to run at 01:00, 02:00, and so on.

 You want to keep older backups in the archive.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan, specify ServerFiles([Date]) as the archive name, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, specify Differential as the backup type, and schedule the backups to run every hour from midnight.

Result:

 The 24 backups of January 1, 2011, will be stored as ServerFiles(1.1.2011).tib,

ServerFiles(1.1.2011)2.tib, and so on up to ServerFiles(1.1.2011)24.tib.

 The following day, the backups will start with the full backup ServerFiles(1.2.2011).tib.

See also "The [Date] variable" (p. 69).

4.3.1.4 Example 4. Daily full backups with daily drive swaps

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform daily full backups of your machine to the file MyMachine.tib on an external

hard disk drive.

 You have two such drives. Either of them has the drive letter D when attached to the machine.  

the other drive yester

 You want each new backup to replace the backup on the currently attached drive.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with a daily schedule. When creating the backup plan, specify

MyMachine as the archive name and D:\ as the archive location, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, and select Full as the backup type.

Result. Each hard disk drive will contain one full backup. While one drive is attached to the machine,

you can keep the other drive off-site for extra data protection.

4.3.1.5 Example 5. Daily backups with weekly drive swaps

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform daily backups of your machine: a full backup each Monday and incremental

backups on Tuesday through Sunday.

 You want to back up to the archive MyMachine on an external hard disk drive.  You have two such drives. Either of them has drive letter D in the operating system when

attached to the machine.

 You want to swap the drives each Monday, so that one drive contains backups of the current

week (Monday through Sunday), and the other drive those of the previous week.

In this scenario, you need to create two backup plans as follows: a) When creating the first backup plan, specify MyMachine as the archive name and D:\ as the

archive location, select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box, select Full as the backup type, and schedule the backups to run every week on Monday.

b) When creating the second backup plan, specify the same settings as in the first backup plan, but

select Incremental as the backup type and schedule the backups to run every week on Tuesday through Sunday.

Result:

 Before creating a Monday backup (by the first backup plan), all backups will be deleted from the

currently attached drive.

 While one drive is attached to the machine, you can keep the other drive off-site for extra data

protection.

4.3.1.6 Example 6. Backups within working hours

Consider the following scenario:

   You want the first backup of each day to be full and to run at 01:00 AM.  You want the backups during working hours to be differential and to run every hour from

8:00 AM through 5:00 PM.

 You want to include a creation date in the name of each backup file.

In this scenario, you need to create two backup plans as follows:

a) When creating the first backup plan, specify ServerFiles([DATE]) as the archive name, select the

Name backup files using the archive name... check box, select Full as the backup type, and

schedule the backups to run every day at 01:00:00 AM.

b) When creating the second backup plan, specify the same settings as in the first backup plan, but

select Differential as the backup type and schedule the backups as follows:

 Run the task: Daily  Every: 1 Hour(s)  From: 08:00:00 AM  Until: 05:01:00 PM

Result:

 The full backup of January 31, 2011, will be stored as ServerFiles(1.31.2011).tib.  The 10 differential backups of January 31, 2011, will be stored as ServerFiles(1.31.2011)2.tib,

ServerFiles(1.31.2011)3.tib, and so on up to ServerFiles(1.31.2011)11.tib.

 The following day, February 1, the backups will start with the full backup

ServerFiles(2.1.2011).tib. The differential backups will start with ServerFiles(2.1.2011)2.tib.

See also  (p. 69).

4.3.2 The [DATE] variable

If you specify the [DATE] variable in the archive name, the file name of each backup will include that 

When using this variable, the first backup of a new day will be a full backup. Before creating the next full backup, the software deletes all backups taken earlier that day. Backups taken before that day are kept. This means you can store multiple full backups with or without incremental ones, but no more than one full backup per day. You can sort the backups by date, copy, move, delete the backups manually or by using a script.

The date format is m.d.yyyy. For example, it is 1.31.2011 for January 31, 2011. (Note absence of leading zeros.)

You can place this variable anywhere in the archive name. You can use both lowercase and uppercase letters in this variable.

Examples

Example 1. Suppose that you perform incremental backups twice a day (at midnight and noon) for

two days, starting on January 31, 2011. If the archive name is MyArchive-[DATE]-, here is the list of backup files after day two:

MyArchive-1.31.2011-.tib (full, created on January 31 at midnight) MyArchive-1.31.2011-2.tib (incremental, created on January 31 at noon) MyArchive-2.1.2011-.tib (full, created on February 1 at midnight) MyArchive-2.1.2011-2.tib (incremental, created on February 1 at noon)

Example 2. Suppose that you perform full backups, with the same schedule and archive name as in

the previous example. Then, the list of backup files after day two is the following:

MyArchive-1.31.2011-.tib (full, created on January 31 at noon) MyArchive-2.1.2011-.tib (full, created on February 1 at noon)

This is because the full backups created at midnight were replaced by new full backups of the same day.

4.3.3 Backup splitting and simplified file naming

When a backup is split according to backup splitting (p. 101) settings, the same indexing is used to also name parts of the backup. The file name for the next backup will have the next available index.

For example, suppose that the first backup of the archive MyData has been split in two parts. Then, the file names for this backup are MyData1.tib and MyData2.tib. The second backup (supposing that it is not split) will be named MyData3.tib.

4.4 Scheduling

s daily routine and 

safely protected.

The scheduling is available when creating a backup plan (p. 45) with any of the following backup schemes: Simple, Custom or Tower of Hanoi. The schedule also can be set for validation tasks (p.

211).

The scheduler uses local time of the machine the backup plan exists on. Before creating a schedule,

Event

Windows

Linux

Time: Daily, Weekly, Monthly

Time passed since the last successful backup has completed

(specify the length of time)

User logon



User logoff*



*Shutting down is not the same as logging off. The task will not run at a system shutdown.

System startup

Free space change

(specify the amount of free space change on any volume selected for backup or containing data selected for backup)

An event in Windows event log

(specify the parameters of the event)

Upon an Acronis Drive Monitor alert

Condition: run the task only if

Windows

Linux

User is idle (a screen saver is running or the machine is locked)

Location's host is available

The task run time is within the specified time interval

All users are logged off

The specified period of time has passed since the last successful backup completed

be sure th

Schedule

To define when a task has to be executed, you need to specify an event or multiple events. The task will be launched as soon as any of the events occurs. The table below lists the events available under Windows and Linux operating systems.

Condition

For backup operations only, you can specify a condition or multiple conditions in addition to the events. Once any of the events occurs, the scheduler checks the condition and runs the task if the condition is met. With multiple conditions, all of them must be met simultaneously to enable task execution. The table below lists the conditions available under Windows and Linux operating systems.

The scheduler behavior, in case the event occurs but the condition (or any of multiple conditions) is not met is defined by the Task start conditions (p. 116) backup option.

What-ifs

Every: <...> day(s)

Set up the certain number of days you want the task to be run. For example, if you set Every 2 day(s), the task will be started on every other day.

Once at: <...>

Set up the time at which the task will be run once.

Every: <...>

From: <...> Until: <...>

Set up how many times the task will be restarted during the specified time interval. For example, setting the task frequency to Every 1 hour From 10:00:00 AM until 10:00:00 PM allows the task to run 12 times: from 10 AM to 10 PM during one day.

From: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be enabled (an effective date). If this check box is cleared, the task will be started on the nearest day and time you have specified above.

To: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be disabled. If this check box is cleared, the task will be run for an indefinite number of days.

 What if an event occurs (and a condition, if any, is met) while the previous task run has not

completed? The event will be ignored.

 What if an event occurs while the scheduler is waiting for the condition required by the

previous event? The event will be ignored.

 What if the condition is not met for a very long time?

If delaying a backup is getting risky, you can force the condition (tell the users to log off) or run the task manually. To automatically handle this situation, you can set the time interval after which the task will run regardless of the condition.

4.4.1 Daily schedule

Daily schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems.

To specify a daily schedule

In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows:

In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following:

In the Effective... area, set the following settings:

Advanced scheduling settings (p. 79) are available only for machines registered on Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Management Server. To specify these settings, click Change in the Advanced settings area.

All the settings you made are displayed in the Result field at the bottom of the window.

Examples

"Simple" daily schedule

Run the task every day at 6PM.

The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows.

1. Every: 1 day(s).

2. Once at: 06:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: not set. The task will be started on the current day, if it has been created before 6PM. If you have created the task after 6 PM, the task will be started for the first time on the next day at 6 PM.

To: not set. The task will be performed for an indefinite number of days.

"Three-hour time interval lasting for three months" schedule

Run the task every three hours. The task starts on a certain date (say, September 15, 2009), and ends after three months.

The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows.

1. Every: 1 day(s).

2. Every: 3 hours

From: 12:00:00 AM (midnight) Until: 09:00:00 PM - thus, the task will be performed 8 times a day with a 3 hour time interval. After the last daily recurrence at 9 PM, the next day comes and the task starts over again from midnight.

3. Effective:

From: 09/15/2009. If September 15, 2009 is the current date of the task's creation and, say, 01:15 PM is the task's creation time, the task will be started when the nearest time interval comes: at 03:00 PM in our example.

To: 12/15/2009. On this date the task will be performed for the last time, but the task itself is still available in the Tasks view.

Several daily schedules for one task

There are some cases when you might need the task to be run several times a day, or even several times a day with different time intervals. For such cases, consider adding several schedules to a single task.

For example, suppose that the task has to be run every 3rd day, starting from 09/20/2009, five times a day:

 first at 8 AM  second at 12 PM (noon)  third at 3 PM  fourth at 5 PM  fifth at 7 PM

The obvious way is to add five simple schedules. If you spend one minute for examination, you can think out a more optimal way. As you can see, the time interval between the first and the second task's recurrences is 4 hours, and between the third, fourth and fifth is 2 hours. In this case, the optimal way is to add two schedules to the task.

First daily schedule

1. Every: 3 day(s).

2. Every: 4 hours.

From: 08:00:00 AM Until: 12:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: 09/20/2009.

To: not set.

Every: <...> week(s) on: <...>

Specify a certain number of weeks and the days of the week you want the task to be run. For example, with the Every 2 week(s) on Mon setting, the task will be performed on Monday of every other week.

Once at: <...>

Set up the time at which the task will be run once.

Every: <...>

From: <...> Until: <...>

Set up how many times the task will be run during the specified time interval. For example, setting the task frequency to Every 1 hour From 10:00:00 AM until 10:00:00 PM allows the task to be run 12 times from 10 AM to 10 PM during one day.

From: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be enabled (an effective date). If this check box is cleared, the task will be started on the nearest day and time you have specified above.

To: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be disabled. If this check box is cleared, the task will be run for an indefinite number of weeks.

Second daily schedule

1. Every: 3 day(s).

2. Every: 2 hour(s).

From: 03:00:00 PM Until: 07:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: 09/20/2009. To: not set.

4.4.2 Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems.

To specify a weekly schedule

In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows:

In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following:

In the Effective... area, set the following settings:

All the settings you made are displayed in the Result field at the bottom of the window.

Examples

"One day in the week" schedule

Run the task every Friday at 10PM, starting from a certain date (say 05/14/2009) and ending after six months.

The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows.

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Fri.

2. Once at: 10:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: 05/13/2009. The task will be started on the nearest Friday at 10 PM. To: 11/13/2009. The task will be performed for the last time on this date, but the task itself will

still be available in the Tasks view after this date. (If this date were not a Friday, the task would be last performed on the last Friday preceding this date.)

This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme. The "One day in the week"-like schedule is added to the full backups, while the incremental backups are scheduled to be performed on workdays. For more details, see the Full and incremental backups plus cleanup example in the Custom backup scheme (p. 55) section.

"Workdays" schedule

Run the task every week on workdays: from Monday through Friday. During a workday, the task starts only once at 9 PM.

The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows.

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: <Workdays> - selecting the <Workdays> check box automatically selects the

corresponding check boxes (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, and Fri), and leaves the remaining ones unchanged.

2. Once at: 09:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: empty. If you have created the task, say on Monday at 11:30 AM, the task will be started on the same day at 9 PM. If the task was created, say on Friday after 9 PM, then it will be started for the first time on the nearest workday (Monday in our example) at 9 PM.

End date: empty. The task will be restarted for an indefinite number of weeks.

This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme. The "Workdays"-like schedule is added to the incremental backups, while the full backup is scheduled to be performed one day in the week. For more details, see the Full and incremental backups plus cleanup example in the Custom backup scheme (p. 55) section.

Several weekly schedules for one task

In the case when the task needs to be run on different days of the weeks with different time intervals, consider adding a dedicated schedule to every desired day of the week, or to several days.

For example, you need the task to be run with the following schedule:

 Monday: twice at 12 PM (noon) and 9 PM  Tuesday: every 3 hours from 9 AM till 9 PM  Wednesday: every 3 hours from 9 AM till 9 PM  Thursday: every 3 hours from 9 AM till 9 PM  Friday: twice at 12 PM and 9 PM (i.e. same as on Monday)  Saturday: once at 9 PM  Sunday: once at 9 PM

Combining the identical times, the following three schedules can be added to the task:

First schedule

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Mon, Fri.

2. Every: 9 hours

Months: <...>

Select a certain month(s) you want to run the task in.

Days: <...>

Select specific days of the month to run the task on. You can also select the last day of the month, irrespective of its actual date.

On: <...> <...>

Select specific days of the weeks to run the task on. Once at: <...>

Set up the time at which the task will be run once.

Every: <...>

From: <...> Until: <...>

From: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be enabled (an effective date). If this check box is cleared, the task will be started on the nearest day and time you have specified above.

To: <...>

Set up a date when this schedule will be disabled. If this check box is cleared, the task will be run for an indefinite number of months.

From: 12:00:00 PM Until: 09:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: not set. To: not set.

Second schedule

1. Every 1 week(s) on: Tue, Wed, Thu.

2. Every 3 hours

From 09:00:00 AM until 09:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: not set. To: not set.

Third schedule

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Sat, Sun.

2. Once at: 09:00:00 PM.

3. Effective:

From: not set. To: not set.

4.4.3 Monthly schedule

Monthly schedule is effective in Windows and Linux operating systems.

To specify a monthly schedule

In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows:

In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following:

In the Effective... area, set the following settings:

All the settings you made are displayed in the Result field at the bottom of the window.

Examples

"Last day of every month" schedule

Run the task once at 10 PM on the last day of every month.

The schedule's parameters are set up as follows.

1. Months: <All months>.

2. Days: Last. The task will run on the last day of every month despite its actual date.

3. Once at: 10:00:00 PM.

4. Effective:

From: empty. To: empty.

This schedule is widely used when creating a custom backup scheme. The "Last day of every month" schedule is added to the full backups, while the differential backups are scheduled to be performed once a week and incremental on workdays. For more details, see the Monthly full, weekly differential, and daily incremental backups plus cleanup example in the Custom backup scheme (p.

55) section.

"Season" schedule

Run the task on all workdays during the northern autumn seasons of 2009 and 2010. During a workday, the task is performed every 6 hours from 12 AM (midnight) till 6 PM.

The schedule's parameters are set up as follows.

1. Months: September, October, November.

2. On: <all> <workdays>.

3. Every: 6 hours.

From: 12:00:00 AM Until: 06:00:00 PM.

4. Effective:

From: 08/30/2009. Actually the task will be started on the first workday of September. By setting up this date we just define that the task must be started in 2009.

To: 12/01/2010. Actually the task will end on the last workday of November. By setting up this date we just define that the task must be discontinued in 2010, after autumn ends in the northern hemisphere.

Several monthly schedules for one task

In the case when the task needs to be run on different days or weeks with different time intervals depending on the month, consider adding a dedicated schedule to every desired month or several months.

Suppose that the task goes into effect on 11/01/2009.

 During northern winter, the task runs once at 10PM on every workday.

 During northern spring and autumn, the task runs every 12 hours on all workdays.  During northern summer, the task runs every first and fifteenth of every month at 10 PM.

Thus, the following three schedules are added to the task.

First schedule

1. Months: December, January, February.

2. On: <All> <All workdays>

3. Once at: 10:00:00 PM.

4. Effective:

From: 11/01/2009. To: not set.

Second schedule

1. Months: March, April, May, September, October, November.

2. On: <All> <All workdays>.

3. Every: 12 hours

From: 12:00:00 AM Until: 12:00:00 PM.

4. Effective:

From: 11/01/2009. To: not set.

Third schedule

1. Months: June, July, August.

2. Days: 1, 15.

3. Once at: 10:00:00 PM.

4. Effective:

From: 11/01/2009. To: not set.

4.4.4 At Windows Event Log event

This type of schedule is effective only in Windows operating systems.

You can schedule a backup task to start when a certain Windows event has been recorded in one of the event logs such as the Application, Security, or System log.

For example, you may want to set up a backup plan that will automatically perform an emergency full backup of your data as soon as Windows discovers that your hard disk drive is about to fail.

Parameters

Log name

Specifies the name of the log. Select the name of a standard log (Application, Security, or System) from the list, or type a log namefor example: Microsoft Office Sessions

Event source

Specifies the event source, which typically indicates the program or the system component that caused the eventfor example: disk

Event type

Specifies the event type: Error, Warning, Information, Audit success, or Audit failure.

Event ID

Specifies the event number, which typically identifies the particular kind of events among events from the same source.

For example, an Error event with Event source disk and Event ID 7 occurs when Windows discovers a bad block on a disk, whereas an Error event with Event source disk and Event ID 15 occurs when a disk is not ready for access yet.

Examples

"Bad block" emergency backup

One or more bad blocks that have suddenly appeared on a hard disk usually indicate that the hard disk drive will soon fail. Suppose that you want to create a backup plan that will back up hard disk data as soon as such a situation occurs.

When Windows detects a bad block on a hard disk, it records an event with the event source disk and the event number 7 into the System log; the type of this event is Error.

When creating the plan, type or select the following in the Schedule area:

 Log name: System  Event source: disk  Event type: Error  Event ID: 7

Important: To ensure that such a task will complete despite the presence of bad blocks, you must make the task ignore bad blocks. To do this, in Backup options, go to Error handling, and then select the Ignore bad sectors check box.

Pre-update backup in Vista

Suppose that you want to create a backup plan that will automatically perform a backup of the systemfor example, by backing up the volume where Windows is installedevery time that Windows is about to install updates.

Having downloaded one or more updates and scheduled their installation, the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system records an event with the event source Microsoft-Windows-WindowsUpdateClient and event number 18 into the System log; the type of this event is Information.

When creating the plan, type or select the following in the Schedule area:

 Log name: System  Event source: Microsoft-Windows-WindowsUpdateClient  Event type: Information  Event ID: 18

Tip: To set up a similar backup plan for machines running Microsoft Windows XP, replace the text in Event source with Windows Update Agent and leave the remaining fields the same.

How to view events in Event viewer

To open a log in Event Viewer

1. On the Desktop or in the Start menu, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.

2. In the Computer Management console, expand System Tools, and then expand Event Viewer.

3. In Event Viewer, click the name of a log that you want to viewfor example, Application.

Note: To be able to open the security log (Security), you must be a member of the Administrators group.

To view properties of an event, including the event source and event number

1. In Event Viewer, click the name of a log that you want to viewfor example, Application.

Note: To be able to open the security log (Security), you must be a member of the Administrators group.

2. In the list of events in the right pane, double-click the name of an event whose properties you

want to view.

3. In the Event Properties dialog box, view the event's properties such as the event source, shown

in the Source field; and the event number, shown in the Event ID field.

When you are finished, click OK to close the Event Properties dialog box.

4.4.5 Upon an Acronis Drive Monitor alert





(S.M.A.R.T.). Based on alerts from Acronis Drive Monitor, you can set up emergency backups of your data in addition to regular backups. The emergency backup will start when a hard disk with your data is about to fail.

The backup starts as soon as disk health reaches a warning level or a critical level. You can see the disk health indicator (as a percentage) for each disk by opening Acronis Drive Monitor.

Alerts about disk temperature do not start the backup.

Tip: If your backup plan uses the custom backup scheme (p. 55), you can set up this emergency backup simply by adding an extra schedule to the same backup plan. When using a different backup scheme, you will need to create a separate backup plan.

4.4.6 Advanced scheduling settings

The following advanced settings are available when setting up a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule in a centralized backup plan.

Use Wake-on-LAN

When this setting is enabled, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Management Server will use the Wake-on-LAN functionality to wake up turned-off registered machines when a backup, cleanup or validation is scheduled to start. If the backup task on each machine starts with a delay (see the next setting), the management server will wake up the machines according to those delays.

Before using this setting, make sure that you have enabled Wake-on-LAN on the registered machines. The machine's basic input/output system (BIOS) configuration, network adapter configuration, and the operating system configuration must allow waking up the machine from the powered-off statealso known as the S5 or G2 power state.

Distribute start time within the time window

When this setting is enabled, the backup task on each registered machine will start with a specific delay from the start time set in the backup plan. This distributes the tasks' actual start times within a time interval.

You may want to use this setting when creating a centralized backup plan for backing up multiple machines to a network location, to avoid excessive network load.

Delay values range from zero to the specified maximum delay value, and are determined according to the chosen distribution method.

The delay value for each machine is determined when the backup plan is deployed to the machine, and remains the same until you edit the backup plan and change the maximum delay value.

The conditions, if any, will be checked at the task's actual start time on each machine.

The following examples illustrate this setting.

Example 1

Suppose that you are deploying a centralized backup plan with the following schedule to three machines:

Run the task: Daily Once at: 09:00:00 AM

Distribute start time within the time window Maximum delay: 1 Hour(s) Distribution method: Random

Then the task's start time on each machine may be any time between 09:00:00 AM and 09:59:59 AMfor instance:

First machine: Every day at 09:30:03 AM

Second machine: Every day at 09:00:00 AM

Third machine: Every day at 09:59:59 AM

Example 2

Suppose that you are deploying a centralized backup plan with the following schedule to three machines:

Run the task: Daily Every: 2 Hour(s) From: 09:00:00 AM Until: 11:00:00 AM

Distribute start time within the time window Maximum delay: 1 Hour(s) Distribution method: Random

Then the time of the task's first run on each machine may be any time between 09:00:00 AM and 09:59:59 AM; the interval between the first and the second run is exactly two hoursfor instance:

First machine: Every day at 09:30:03 AM and 11:30:03 AM

Second machine: Every day at 09:00:00 AM and 11:00:00 AM

Third machine: Every day at 09:59:59 AM and 11:59:59 AM

To specify advanced settings

1. Connect to the management server or to a machine registered on it, and then start creating a

backup plan.

2. In How to back up, select the Simple, Tower of Hanoi, or Custom scheme, and then click

Schedule to specify a schedule for the scheme.

3. Under Run the task, select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.

4. In the Advanced settings area, click Change.

5. To enable the use of the Wake-on-LAN functionality, select the Use Wake-on-LAN check box.

6. To distribute the centralized backup tasks' start times, select the Distribute start time within the

time window check box and then specify the maximum delay value and the distribution method.

4.4.7 Conditions

Conditions add more flexibility to the scheduler, enabling to execute backup tasks with respect to certain conditions. Once a specified event occurs (see the "Scheduling (p. 69)" section for the list of available events), the scheduler checks the specified condition and executes the task if the condition is met.

The scheduler behavior in case the event occurs but the condition (or any of multiple conditions) is not met, is defined by the Task start conditions (p. 116) backup option. There, you can specify how important the conditions are for the backup strategy:

 conditions are obligatory - put the backup task run on hold until all the conditions are met.  conditions are preferable, but a backup task run has higher priority - put the task on hold for the

specified time interval. If the time interval lapses and the conditions are still not met, run the task anyway. With this setting, the program will automatically handle the situation when the conditions are not met for too long and further delaying the backup is undesirable.

 backup task start time matters - skip the backup task if the conditions are not met at the time

when the task should be started. Skipping the task run makes sense when you need to back up data strictly at the specified time, especially if the events are relatively often.

Conditions are available only when the custom backup scheme (p. 55) is used. You can set conditions for full, incremental and differential backup separately.

Adding multiple conditions

Multiple conditions must be met simultaneously to enable task execution.

Example:

It is required to run the backup task after free space on the managed machine is changed by at least 1 GB, but only if all users are logged off and more than 12 hours have passed since the last backup.

Set the schedule, conditions and the Task start conditions backup option as follows:

 Schedule: When free space changed; Value: Run task if free space has changed by at least: 1 GB.  Condition: User logged off; Value: Run the task on schedule only if all users are logged off.  Condition: Time since last backup; Value: Time since the last backup: 12 hour(s).  Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met.

If the free space changes by more than 1 GB, the scheduler will wait until both conditions are met at the same time and then run the backup task.

4.4.7.1 User is idle

Applies to: Windows

"User is idle" means that a screen saver is running on the managed machine or the machine is locked.

Example:

Run the backup task on the managed machine every day at 9PM, preferably when the user is idle. If the user is still active by 11PM, run the task anyway.

 Event: Daily, every 1 day(s); Once at: 09:00:00 PM.  Condition: User is idle.  Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met, Run the task anyway after 2 hour(s).

As a result,

(1) If the user becomes idle before 9PM, the backup task will start at 9PM.

(2) If the user becomes idle between 9PM and 11PM, the backup task will start immediately after the user becomes idle.

(3) If the user is still active at 11PM, the backup task starts anyway.

4.4.7.2 Location's host is available

Applies to: Windows, Linux

"Location's host is available" means that the machine hosting the destination for storing archives on a networked drive is available.

Example:

Backing up data to the networked location is performed on workdays at 9:00 PM. If the location's host is not available at that moment (for instance, due to maintenance work), skip the backup and wait for the next workday to start the task. It is assumed that the backup task should not be started at all rather than failed.

 Event: Weekly, Every 1 week(s) on <workdays>; Once at 09:00:00 PM.  Condition: Location's host is available  Task start conditions: Skip the task execution.

As a result,

(1) If 9:00 PM comes and the location's host is available, the backup task starts right on time.

(2) If 9:00 PM comes but the host is unavailable at the moment, the backup task will start on the next workday if the location's host is available.

(3) If the location's host will never be available on workdays at 9:00 PM, the task never starts.

4.4.7.3 Fits time interval

Applies to: Windows, Linux

Restricts a backup task's start time to a specified interval.

Example

A company uses different locations on the same network-attached storage for backing up users data and servers. The workday starts at 8AM and ends at 5 PM. Users' data should be backed up as soon as the users log off, but not earlier than 4:30 PM and not later than 10 PM. Every day at 11 PM the company's servers are backed up. So, all the users' data should be preferably backed up before this time, in order to free network bandwidth. By specifying the upper limit as 10 PM, it is supposed that the backing up of users' data does not take more than one hour. If a user is still logged on within the specified time interval, or logs off at any other time  do not back up the users' data, i.e. skip task execution.

 Event: When logging off, The following user: Any user.  Condition: Fits the time interval, from 04:30:00 PM until 10:00:00 PM.  Task start conditions: Skip the task execution.

As a result,

(1) if the user logs off between 04:30:00 PM and 10:00:00 PM, the backup task will start immediately following the logging off.

(2) if the user logs off at any other time, the task will be skipped.

What if...

What if a task is scheduled to be executed at a certain time and this time is outside the specified time interval?

For example:

 Event: Daily, Every 1 day(s); Once at 03:00:00 PM.  Condition: Fits time interval, from 06:00:00 PM until 11:59:59 PM.

In this case, whether and when the task will run depends on the task start conditions:

 If the task start conditions are Skip the task execution, the task will never run.  If the task start conditions are Wait until the conditions are met and the Run the task anyway

after check box is cleared, the task (scheduled to run at 3:00 PM) will start at 6:00 PMthe time when the condition is met.

 If the task start conditions are Wait until the conditions are met and the Run the task anyway

after check box is selected with, say, the 1 Hour waiting time, the task (scheduled to run at

3:00 PM) will start at 4:00 PMthe time when the waiting period ends.

4.4.7.4 User logged off

Applies to: Windows

Enables to put a backup task run on hold until all users log off from Windows on the managed machine.

Example

Run the backup task at 8 PM on the first and third Friday of every month, preferably when all users are logged off. If one of the users is still logged on at 11 PM, run the task anyway.

 Event: Monthly, Months: <All>; On: <First>, <Third> <Friday>; Once at 08:00:00 PM.  Condition: User logged off.

 Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met, Run the task anyway after 3 hour(s).

As a result,

(1) If all users are logged off at 8PM, the backup task will start at 8PM.

(2) If the last user logs off between 8PM and 11PM, the backup task will start immediately after the user has logged off.

(3) If any of the users is still logged on at 11PM, the backup task starts anyway.

4.4.7.5 Time since last backup

Applies to: Windows, Linux

Enables to put a backup task run on hold until the specified time interval since the last successful backup completion passes.

Example:

Run the backup task at system startup, but only if more than 12 hours have passed since the last successful backup.

 Event: At startup, Start the task on machine startup.  Condition: Time since last backup, Time since the last backup: 12 hour(s).  Task start conditions: Wait until the conditions are met.

As a result,

(1) if the machine is restarted before 12 hours pass since the completion of the latest successful backup, the scheduler will wait until 12 hours pass, and then will start the task.

(2) if the machine is restarted after 12 hours have passed since the completion of the latest successful backup, the backup task will start immediately.

(3) if the machine is never restarted, the task will never start. You can start the backup manually, if need be, in the Backup plans and tasks view.

4.5 Replication and retention of backups

When creating a backup plan (p. 45), you specify the primary location for the backups. In addition, you can do the following:

 Replicate (copy) each backup to a second location immediately after creation.  Retain the backups according to the retention rules you specify, and then either move them to a

second location or delete them.

Similarly, you can copy or move backups from a second location to a third location and so on. Up to five consecutive locations are supported (including the primary one).

Note: The replication feature replaces and enhances the Dual destination option, which was available in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10.

Example. You back up your machine to a local folder. The backup is immediately copied to a network folder. In the original local folder, the backup is stored for just one month.

The following picture illustrates this example.

Backup scheme

Can copy backups

Can move backups

Can delete backups

Run now (p. 52)

Yes

Manual start (p. 60)

Yes

Simple (p. 51)

Yes

Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) (p. 52)

Yes

Tower of Hanoi (p. 58)

Yes

Custom (p. 55)

Yes

Initial seeding (p. 60)

Usage scenarios

 Reliable disaster recovery (p. 90)

Store your backups both on-site (for immediate recovery) and off-site (to secure the backups from local storage failure or a natural disaster).

 Keeping only the latest recovery points (p. 90)

Delete older backups from a fast storage according to retention rules, in order to not overuse expensive storage space.

 Reduced costs of storing the backed up data (p. 90)

Store your backups on a fast storage for as long as a need to access them is likely. Then, move them to a lower-cost storage to keep them there for a longer term. This enables you to meet legal requirements on data retention.

 Backup to a slow device within a narrow backup window (p. 91)

Back up overnight to a managed vault on a fast storage, and then let Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node move the backups to tapes during the day.

Replication and retention in backup schemes

The following table shows availability of replication and retention rules in various backup schemes.

Notes:

 Setting up both copying and moving backups from the same location is not possible.  With simplified naming of backup files (p. 65), neither replication nor use of retention rules is

available.

4.5.1 Supported locations

You can copy or move a backup from any of these locations:

 A local folder on a fixed or removable drive  A network folder  An FTP or SFTP server  Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node  Acronis Secure Zone

You can copy or move a backup to any of these locations:

 A local folder on a fixed or removable drive  A network folder  An FTP or SFTP server  Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node  A tape device

Backups that were copied or moved to the next location do not depend on the backups remaining in the original location and vice versa. You can recover data from any backup without access to other locations.

Restrictions

 Copying or moving backups to and from optical discs (CD, DVD, Blu-ray discs) is not supported.  Copying or moving backups from Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node to a local folder is

not supported.

 A tape device can only be the final location. Further copying or moving backups from it is not

possible.

 You cannot specify the same location more than once. For example, you cannot move a backup

from one folder to another and then back to the original folder.

Which machine performs the operation?

Copying, moving or deleting a backup from any location is initiated by the agent that created the backup, and is performed:

 By that agent, if the location is not a managed vault.  By the corresponding storage node, if the location is a managed vault.

As follows from the above description, the operation will be performed only if the machine with the agent is powered on. If the operation is scheduled, the schedule will use that machine's date and time.

4.5.2 Setting up replication of backups

Setting up replication of backups is available when creating a backup plan (p. 45).

 To set up replication from the primary location, select the Replicate just created backup to

another location check box.

 To set up replication from the second or a further location, select the Replicate backups to

another location as soon as they appear in this location check box.

Next, select the location where to replicate the backups. A backup is replicated to the next location as soon as it appears in the previous location.

If allowed by the backup scheme, you can also specify when to automatically delete the backups from each of the locations.

4.5.3 Setting up retention of backups

You can set retention rules for backups when creating a backup plan (p. 45). The available retention rules depend on the chosen backup scheme.

Applying retention rules can be restricted by the Replication/cleanup inactivity time (p. 89) option.

Simple scheme

Each backup is retained until its age exceeds a limit you specify. Then, it is either deleted or moved.

To set up deleting the backups:

 In Retention rules, select Delete backups older than…, and then specify the retention period.

To set up moving the backups:

 In Retention rules, select Move backups older than…, specify the retention period. Under Where

to replicate/move backups, specify the location.

The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. For the second and next locations, creating a backup means copying or moving a backup there from the previous location.

Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme

Backups of each type (daily, weekly, and monthly) are retained for the periods you specify in Keep backups, and then deleted.

The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. They are applied sequentially in the primary, the second and all next locations.

Tower of Hanoi scheme

Each backup is retained based on its level (p. 58), and then deleted. You specify the number of levels in Number of levels.

The retention rules are applied after creating a backup. They are applied sequentially in the primary, the second and all next locations.

Custom scheme

Each backup is retained until the rules you specify are met. Then, it is either deleted or moved.

To set up deleting the backups:

 In Clean up archive, select Using retention rules. In the Retention Rules window (p. 88), specify

the rules and select If the specified conditions are met: Delete the oldest backups.

 In Apply retention rules, specify when to apply the rules.

To set up moving the backups:

 In Clean up archive, select Using retention rules. In the Retention Rules window (p. 88), specify

the rules and select If the specified conditions are met: Move the oldest backups to another location. Click OK and then specify the location under Where to replicate/move backups.

 In Apply retention rules, specify when to apply the rules.

You can choose to apply the retention rules before creating a backup, after creating a backup, on a schedule, or combine these options. For the second and next locations, creating a backup means copying or moving a backup there from the previous location.

4.5.4 Retention rules for the Custom scheme

In the Retention Rules window, you can select how long to store backups in the location and whether to move or delete them afterward.

The rules will be applied to all the backups taken on the specific machine and put in this specific

location by this specific backup plan. In Acronis Backup & Recovery 11, such set of backups is called an archive.

To set up retention rules for backups:

1. Specify one of the following (options (a) and (b) are mutually exclusive):

a. Backups older than... and/or Archive size greater than....

A backup will be stored until the specified condition (or both of the conditions) are met.

Example: Backups older than 5 days Archive size greater than 100 GB

With these settings, a backup will be stored until it is older than five days and the size of the archive containing it exceeds 100 GB.

b. Number of backups in the archive exceeds...

If the number of backups exceeds the specified value, one or more of the oldest backups will be moved or deleted. The minimal setting is 1.

2. Select whether to delete the backups or to move them to another location if the specified

conditions are met. You will be able to specify the location where to move the backups and set up retention rules for

that location after you click OK.

Deleting the last backup in the archive

The retention rules are effective if the archive contains more than one backup. This means that the last backup in the archive will be kept, even if a retention rule violation is detected. Please do not try to delete the only backup you have by applying the retention rules before backup. This will not work. Use the alternative setting Clean up archive > When there is insufficient space while backing up (p.

55) if you accept the risk of losing the last backup.

Deleting or moving backups with dependencies

To access this setting, click Show advanced settings in the Retention Rules window.

Retention rules presume deleting or moving some backups while retaining the others. What if the archive contains incremental and differential backups that depend on each other and on the full backups they are based on? You cannot, say, delete an outdated full backup and keep its incremental 

When deletion or movement of a backup affects other backups, one of the following rules is applied:

 Retain the backup until all dependent backups become subject to deletion (movement)

The outdated backup will be kept until all backups that depend on it also become outdated. Then, all the chain will be deleted at once during the regular cleanup. If you chose moving outdated backups to the next location, the backup will be copied there without delay. Only its deletion from the current location is postponed.

This mode helps to avoid the potentially time-consuming consolidation but requires extra space for storing backups whose deletion is postponed. The archive size and/or the backup age or number can exceed the values you specify.

 Consolidate these backups

The software will consolidate the backup that is subject to deletion or movement, with the next dependent backup. For example, the retention rules require to delete a full backup but to retain the next incremental one. The backups will be combined into a single full backup which will be dated with the incremental backup date. When an incremental or differential backup from the middle of the chain is deleted, the resulting backup type will be incremental.

This mode ensures that after each cleanup the archive size and the age or number of backups are within the bounds you specify. The consolidation, however, may take a lot of time and system resources. You still need some extra space in the vault for temporary files created during consolidation.

What you need to know about consolidation Please be aware that consolidation is just a method of deletion but not an alternative to deletion.

The resulting backup will not contain data that was present in the deleted backup and was absent from the retained incremental or differential backup.

4.5.5 Replication/cleanup inactivity time

This option is effective only if you set up replication or retention rules (p. 84) for the backups.

This option defines a time period when starting replication or applying retention rules is not allowed. The operations will be performed when the inactivity time ends, if the machine is powered on at that moment. The operations that had started before the inactivity time began continue without interruption.

The inactivity time affects all locations, including the primary one.

The preset is: Disabled.

To specify the inactivity time, select the Do not start replication/cleanup within the following time check box, and then select the days and the time period during the day.

Usage example

You may want to use this option to separate the backup process from replication or cleanup. For example, suppose that you back up machines locally during the day and replicate the backups to a network folder. Make the inactivity time contain the working hours. Replication will be performed after the working hours, when network load is lower.

4.5.6 Usage examples

This section provides examples of how you can replicate backups and set up retention rules for them.

4.5.6.1 Example 1. Replicating backups to a network folder

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a full backup of your machine manually.  You want to store the backups in Acronis Secure Zone (p. 170) on the machine.  You want to store a copy of the backups in a network folder.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Manual start scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify Acronis Secure Zone in the Path field, select Full in the Backup type field, select the Replicate

just created backup to another location check box, and then specify the network folder in the 2nd location field.

Result:

 

stored in a dedicated area of the hard disk.

 

4.5.6.2 Example 2. Limiting the age and total size of stored backups

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a weekly full backup of your machine.  You want to keep all backups that are younger than a month.  You want to keep even older backups, as long as the total size of all backups stays below 200 GB.

In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Custom scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify a weekly schedule for the full backup. In Clean up archive, select Using retention rules.

Click Retention rules, select the Backups older than and the Archive size greater than check boxes, and specify respectively 1 month and 200 GB. In If the specified conditions are met, select Delete the oldest backups.

Click OK. In Apply retention rules, select the After backup check box.

Result:

 Backups that are younger than one month are kept, regardless of their total size.  Backups that are older than one month are kept only if the total size of all backups (older plus

younger) does not exceed 200 GB. Otherwise, the software deletes some or all of the older backups, starting from the oldest one.

4.5.6.3 Example 3. Moving older backups to tapes

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to perform a daily backup of your machine.  You want to store the backups locally for one week.  You want to move the backups that are older than one week to a tape device.

Such scenario is sometimes called disk staging, or D2D2T (disk-to-disk-to-tape).

In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Simple scheme and a daily schedule. (All backups will be full by default.) When creating the backup plan, specify a local folder or Acronis Secure Zone in

the Path field. Under Retention rules, select Move backups older than 1 week. Then, specify the tape device in the 2nd location field.

Make sure that the tape device is ready to work. The preparation steps are described in the "Backing up a machine to a directly attached tape device" (p. 177) section.

Result:

 After a backup is completed, the agent checks for backups that need to be moved.  The agent moves the backups that are older than one week, by copying them to the tape device

and then deleting them from the original location.

 You can eject tapes with backups and securely store them off-site. Once you select data for

recovery, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 will prompt you which tapes to insert.

4.5.6.4 Example 4. Backing up to tapes within a narrow backup window

This example assumes that you are using an advanced edition of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.

Consider the following scenario:

 You want to back up servers every workday after working hours.  You want to do a monthly full backup on one of the workdays, and partial (incremental or

differential) backups on the other workdays.

 You want to store the backups on a tape library.  The backup window for the servers is narrow, so they cannot be backed up to the tapes directly.

In this scenario, install Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node and create two managed vaults: one on a hard disk local to the storage node, and another on the tape library locally attached to it.

Create a centralized backup plan for all of the machines with the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify the vault on the hard disk in the Path field. Under Backup type, select Full/Incremental/Differential.

For the primary location, in Keep backups, choose to keep monthly backups for one month (you need to clear the Keep indefinitely check box). This way, the vault will serve as an intermediate, short-term storage for the backups.

Select the Replicate just created backup to another location check box, and then specify the vault on the tape library in the 2nd location field. For the second location, select to keep monthly backups indefinitely.

Result:

 Agents back up their machines to the vault on the hard disk.  The storage node copies the backups to the tape device. No CPU resource from the machines is

taken.

 The lifetime of backups on the hard disk does not exceed one month. On the tape library, the

monthly backups are kept indefinitely.

4.6 Setting up regular conversion to a virtual machine

When creating a backup plan (p. 45), you can set up regular conversion of a disk or volume backup to a virtual machine. By setting up regular conversion, you obtain a copy of your server or workstation on a virtual machine which can be readily powered on in case the original machine fails.

Restrictions

 Conversion is not available on machines running Linux.  Conversion of a backup from the following locations is not available: CD, DVD, tape devices and

Acronis Online Backup Storage.

 If you have set up copying or moving backups to other locations (p. 84), you cannot set up

conversion from any of these locations. Conversion is always performed from the first location of a backup.

The following section provides information that helps you make the appropriate settings.

Convert to virtual machine

When to convert

Depending on the selected backup scheme, specify whether to convert every full, every incremental or every differential backup or convert the last created backup on schedule. Specify the conversion schedule (p. 92) if required.

Browse (p. 93)

Specify the machine that will perform the conversion. The machine has to have Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for ESX(i), Agent for Hyper-V or Agent for Windows installed.

The conversion can be performed by the agent that performs the backup or by an agent installed on another machine. If the latter is the case, the archive must be stored in a shared location such as a network folder or a managed vault, so that the other machine can access the archive.

VM type (p. 145)

Here you select the resulting virtual machine type and location. Available options depend on the host you selected in the previous step.

Storage

Choose the storage on the virtualization server or the folder to place the virtual machine files in.

Resultant VMs

Specify the name of the virtual machine. The default name is Backup_of_[Machine Name]. You can add more variables to the name. The following templates are supported:

[Plan Name] [Machine Name] [Virtual Host Name] [Virtual Machine Name] [Virtualization Server Type]

Folder on VMware vCenter

If the management server is integrated with vCenter Server, the resultant virtual machines will appear in the Acronis Backups folder on the vCenter. You can specify a subfolder for the machines resulting from execution of the plan.

4.6.1 Setting up a conversion schedule

A disk backup (p. 372) created while executing a backup plan can be converted to a virtual machine immediately, on schedule, or combining both methods.

The conversion task will be created on the machine being backed up, and will use this machine's date and time. If the agent that backs up the machine is installed outside it (such is the case when a ESX(i)

or Hyper-V virtual machine is backed up at a hypervisor level), the task will be created on the machine where the agent is.

The target virtual machine must be powered off by the time of conversion, otherwise the conversion task will fail. If this happens, you can restart the conversion task manually after powering off the machine. Any changes made to the machine while it was powered on, will be overwritten.

4.6.2 Selecting a machine that will perform conversion

Take into account the following considerations.

Which agent is installed on the machine?

The resulting virtual machine type and location depend on the agent that resides on the selected machine.

 Agent for ESX(i) is installed on the machine

If the agent manages more than one ESX(i) host, you can choose the host where the virtual machine will be created. This selection is done in the VM type (p. 145) step.

In the Storage step, you can select the storage where the virtual machine will be created. Virtual machines created as a result of backup cannot be added to a backup plan. On the

management server they appear as unmanageable or do not appear at all (if integration with vCenter Server is not enabled).

 Agent for Hyper-V is installed on the machine

You can choose between creating a virtual machine on the Hyper-V server and creating a VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC or Parallels Workstation machine. This selection is done in the VM type (p. 145) step.

In the Storage step, you can select the virtual machine path. Virtual machines created on the server as a result of backup do not appear on the management

server, because such machines are not supposed to be backed up.

 Agent for Windows is installed on the machine

You can choose the virtual machine type: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, or Parallels Workstation. This selection is done in the VM type (p. 145) step.

In the Storage step, you can select the virtual machine path.

What is the machine's processing power?

Conversion will take the selected machine's CPU resource. Multiple conversion tasks will be queued on that machine and it may take considerable time to complete them all. Consider this when creating a centralized backup plan with conversion for multiple machines or multiple local backup plans using the same machine for conversion.

What storage will be used for the virtual machines?

Network usage

As opposed to ordinary backups (TIB files), virtual machine files are transferred uncompressed through the network. Therefore, using a SAN or a storage local to the machine that performs conversion is the best choice from the network usage standpoint. A local disk is not an option though, if the conversion is performed by the same machine that is backed up. Using a NAS also makes good sense.

Storage space

Disks of the resulting virtual machine will use as much storage space as the original data occupies. Assuming that the original disk size is 100 GB and the disk stores 10 GB of data, the corresponding virtual disk will occupy about 10 GB. VMware calls this format "thin provisioning", Microsoft uses the "dynamically expanding disk" term.

Since the space is not pre-allocated, the physical storage is expected to have sufficient free space for the virtual disks to increase in size.

4.6.3 How regular conversion to VM works

The way the repeated conversions work depends on where you choose to create the virtual machine.

 If you choose to save the virtual machine as a set of files: each conversion re-creates the virtual

machine from scratch.

 If you choose to create the virtual machine on a virtualization server: when converting an

incremental or differential backup, the software updates the existing virtual machine instead of re-creating it. Such conversion is normally faster. It saves network traffic and CPU resource of the host that performs the conversion. If updating the virtual machine is not possible, the software re-creates it from scratch.

The following is a detailed description of both cases.

If you choose to save the virtual machine as a set of files

As a result of the first conversion, a new virtual machine will be created. Every subsequent conversion will re-create this machine from scratch. First, a new (temporary) virtual machine is created. If this operation succeeds, the old machine is replaced. If an error occurs during creation of the temporary machine, the temporary machine is deleted. This way, the conversion always ends up with a single machine. However, extra storage space is required during conversion to store the temporary machine.

If you choose to create the virtual machine on a virtualization server

The first conversion creates a new virtual machine. Any subsequent conversion works as follows:

 If there has been a full backup since the last conversion, the virtual machine is re-created from

scratch. This involves creating a temporary virtual machine, as described earlier in this section.

 Otherwise, the existing virtual machine is updated to reflect changes since the last conversion. If

updating is not possible (for example, if you deleted the intermediate snapshots, see below), the virtual machine is re-created from scratch.

Intermediate snapshots

To be able to update the virtual machine, the software stores a few intermediate snapshots of it. They are named Backup… and Replica… and should be kept. Unneeded snapshots are deleted automatically.

The latest Replica… snapshot corresponds to the result of the latest conversion. You can go to this snapshot if you want to return the machine to that state; for example, if you worked with the machine and now want to discard the changes made to it.

Other snapshots are for internal use by the software.

4.7 Default backup options

Agent for Windows

Agent for Linux

Bootable media

(Linux-based or PE-based)

Disk backup

File backup

Disk backup

File backup

Disk backup

File backup

Additional settings (p. 97):

Ask for the first media while backing up to removable media

Dest:

removable

media

Dest:

removable

media

Dest:

removable

media

Dest:

removable

media

Dest:

removable

media

Dest:

removable

media

Use FTP in Active mode

Dest: FTP

server

Dest: FTP

server

Dest: FTP

server

Dest: FTP

server

Dest: FTP

server

Dest: FTP

server

Deduplicate backup only after transferring it to the vault

Dest: dedup.

vault

Dest: dedup.

vault

Dest: dedup.

vault

Dest: dedup.

vault

Dest: dedup.

vault

Dest: dedup.

vault

Reset archive bit

- + - - -

Restart the machine automatically after backup is finished

- - - - +

Archive protection (p. 98)

(password + encryption)

+ + + + +

Backup cataloging (p. 99)

+ + + + -

Backup performance:

Backup priority (p. 100)

+ + + + -

Each Acronis agent has its own default backup options. Once an agent is installed, the default options have pre-defined values, which are referred to as presets in the documentation. When creating a backup plan, you can either use a default option, or override the default option with the custom value that will be specific for this plan only.

You can also customize a default option itself by changing its value against the pre-defined one. The new value will be used by default in all backup plans you will create later on this machine.

To view and change the default backup options, connect the console to the managed machine and then select Options > Default backup and recovery options > Default backup options from the top menu.

Availability of the backup options

The set of available backup options depends on:

 The environment the agent operates in (Windows, Linux, bootable media).  The type of the data being backed up (disk, file).  The backup destination (networked location or local disk).  The backup scheme (manual start or using the scheduler).

The following table summarizes the availability of the backup options.

Agent for Windows

Agent for Linux

Bootable media

(Linux-based or PE-based)

Disk backup

File backup

Disk backup

File backup

Disk backup

File backup

HDD writing speed (p. 100)

Dest: HDD

Network connection speed (p. 101)

Dest:

network

Dest:

network

Dest:

network

Dest:

network

Dest:

network

Dest:

network

Backup splitting (p. 101)

+ + + + +

Compression level (p. 102)

+ + + + +

Disaster recovery plan (p.

102)

+ + + + -

Error handling (p. 103):

Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode)

+ + + + +

Re-attempt if an error occurs

+ + + + +

Ignore bad sectors

+ + + + +

Event tracing:

Windows events log (p. 104)

+ + - - -

SNMP (p. 104)

+ + + + -

Fast incremental/differential backup (p. 105)

+ - + - +

File-level backup snapshot (p. 105)

- + - + -

File-level security (p. 106):



settings in archives

- + - - -

In archives, store encrypted files in decrypted state

- + - - -

LVM snapshotting (p. 106)

- - + - -

Media components (p. 107)

Dest:

removable

media

Dest:

removable

media

Dest:

removable

media

Dest:

removable

media

Mount points (p. 108)

- + - - -

Multi-volume snapshot (p.

108)

+ + - - -

Notifications:

E-mail (p. 109)

+ + + + -

Win Pop-up (p. 110)

+ + + + -

Agent for Windows

Agent for Linux

Bootable media

(Linux-based or PE-based)

Disk backup

File backup

Disk backup

File backup

Disk backup

File backup

Pre/Post backup commands (p. 110)

+ + + + PE only

PE only

Pre/Post data capture commands (p. 112)

+ + + + -

Replication/cleanup inactivity time (p. 89)

+ + + + -

Sector-by-sector backup (p.

114)

+ - + - +

Tape management (p. 114)

Dest: tape

Task failure handling (p. 115)

+ + + + -

Task start conditions (p. 116)

+ + + + -

Volume Shadow Copy Service (p. 117)

+ + - - -

4.7.1 Additional settings

Specify the additional settings for the backup operation by selecting or clearing the following check boxes.

Ask for the first media while backing up to removable media

This option is effective only when backing up to removable media.

The option defines whether to display the Insert First Media prompt when backing up to removable media.

The preset is: Enabled.

When the option is enabled, backing up to removable media may be not possible if the user is away, because the program will wait for someone to press OK in the prompt box. Hence, you should disable the prompt when scheduling a backup to removable media. Then, if the removable media is available (for example, a DVD is inserted), the task can run unattended.

Reset archive bit

The option is effective only for file-level backup in Windows operating systems and in bootable media.

The preset is: Disabled.

In Windows operating systems, each file has the File is ready for archiving attribute, available by selecting File -> Properties -> General -> Advanced -> Archive and Index attributes. This attribute, also known as the archive bit, is set by the operating system each time the file is changed and can be reset by backup applications each time they include the file in a backup. The archive bit value is used by various applications such as databases.

When the Reset archive bit check box is selected, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 will reset the archive bits of all files being backed up. Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 itself does not use the archive bit value. When performing incremental or differential backup, it determines whether a file has changed by the file size and the date/time when the file was last saved.

Restart the machine automatically after backup is finished

This option is available only when operating under bootable media.

The preset is: Disabled.

When the option is enabled, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 will restart the machine after the backup process is completed.

For example, if the machine boots from a hard disk drive by default and you select this check box, the machine will be restarted and the operating system will start as soon as the bootable agent has finished creating the backup.

Deduplicate backup only after transferring it to the vault (do not deduplicate at source)

This option is available only in advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.

This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media, when the backup destination is a deduplicating vault.

The preset is: Disabled.

Enabling this option turns off deduplicating backups at source, meaning that deduplication will be performed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node after the backup is saved to the vault (this is called deduplication at target).

Turning off deduplication at source may lead to faster backup processes but greater network traffic and heavier load of the storage node. The eventual size of the backup in the vault is independent of whether deduplication at source is turned on.

Deduplication at source and deduplication at target are described in Deduplication overview (p. 204).

Use FTP in Active mode

The preset is: Disabled.

Enable this option if the FTP server supports active mode and you want this mode to be used for file transfers.

4.7.2 Archive protection

This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media.

This option is effective for both disk-level and file-level backup.

This op content will be encrypted.

This option is not available when the archive already contains backups. For example, this option may not be available:

 When you specify an already existing archive as the destination of the backup plan.  When you edit a backup plan that has already resulted in a backup.

The preset is: Disabled.

To protect the archive from unauthorized access

1. Select the Set password for the archive check box.

2. In the Enter the password field, type a password.

3. In the Confirm the password field, re-type the password.

4. Select one of the following:

 Do not encrypt  the archive will be protected with the password only  AES 128  the archive will be encrypted using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)

algorithm with a 128-bit key

 AES 192  the archive will be encrypted using the AES algorithm with a 192-bit key  AES 256  the archive will be encrypted using the AES algorithm with a 256-bit key.

5. Click OK.

The AES cryptographic algorithm operates in the Cipher-block chaining (CBC) mode and uses a randomly generated key with a user-defined size of 128, 192 or 256 bits. The larger the key size, the longer it will take for the program to encrypt the archive and the more secure your data will be.

The encryption key is then encrypted with AES-256 using a SHA-256 hash of the password as a key. The password itself is not stored anywhere on the disk or in the backup file; the password hash is used for verification purposes. With this two-level security, the backup data is protected from any unauthorized access, but recovering a lost password is not possible.

4.7.3 Backup cataloging

Cataloging a backup adds the contents of the backup to the data catalog. Using the data catalog, you can easily find the required version of data and select it for recovery.

The Backup cataloging option defines whether the backups will be cataloged automatically as soon as they are created.

The preset is: Enabled.

After the cataloging has been completed, the catalog will show all data contained in the just created backup, namely:

 For a disk-level backup - disks, volumes, files and folders.  For a file-level backup - files and folders.

You may want to disable the automatic cataloging if it tends to affect the performance of the managed machine, or your backup window is too narrow. If the Backup cataloging option is disabled, the following data will be displayed in the catalog:

 For a disk-level backup - only disks and volumes.  For a file-level backup - nothing.

To add the full content of already existing backups to the catalog, you can start the cataloging manually when appropriate.

For more information about using data catalog, see the Data catalog (p. 123) section.

4.7.4 Backup performance

Use this group of options to specify the amount of network and system resources to allocate to the backup process.

Backup performance options might have a more or less noticeable effect on the speed of the backup process. This depends on the overall system configuration and the physical characteristics of devices the backup is being performed from or to.

4.7.4.1 Backup priority

This option is effective for both Windows and Linux operating systems.

The priority of a process running in a system determines the amount of CPU and system resources allocated to that process. Decreasing the backup priority will free more resources for other applications. Increasing the backup priority might speed up the backup process by requesting the operating system to allocate more resources like the CPU to the backup application. However, the resulting effect will depend on the overall CPU usage and other factors like disk in/out speed or network traffic.

The preset is: Low.

To specify the backup process priority

Select one of the following:

 Low  to minimize resources taken by the backup process, leaving more resources to other

processes running on the machine

 Normal  to run the backup process with normal speed, allocating resources on a par with other

processes

 High  to maximize the backup process speed by taking resources from other processes.

4.7.4.2 HDD writing speed

This option is effective for Windows and Linux operating systems and bootable media.

This option is available when an internal (fixed) hard disk of the machine being backed up is selected as the backup destination

Backing up to a fixed hard disk (for example, to Acronis Secure Zone) may slow performance of the operating system and applications because of the large amounts of data that needs to be written to the disk. You can limit the hard disk usage by the backup process to the desired level.

The preset is: Maximum.

To set the desired HDD writing speed for backup

Do any of the following:

 Click Writing speed stated as a percentage of the maximum speed of the destination hard disk,

and then drag the slider or select a percentage in the box

 Click Writing speed stated in kilobytes per second, and then enter the writing speed in kilobytes

per second.

Acronis Backup Recovery Advanced Server - 11.0 User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual