Acronis vmProtect - 7.0 User Guide

User Guide

Table of contents

1 Introducing Acronis vmProtect 7 ............................................................................................6

2 Acronis vmProtect 7 Overview ...............................................................................................7

2.1 Acronis vmProtect 7 Features.................................................................................................... 7

3 How Acronis vmProtect 7 Works ............................................................................................8

3.1 Virtual machines backup and restore ........................................................................................ 8

3.2 Backup archive structure ........................................................................................................... 8

3.2.1 Multiple files backup scheme (Legacy mode) ............................................................................................... 8

3.2.2 Single file backup scheme (Always Incremental mode) ............................................................................... 9

4 Installation of Acronis vmProtect 7 ....................................................................................... 10

4.1 Requirements ..........................................................................................................................10

4.1.1 Supported operating systems ...................................................................................................................... 10

4.1.2 System requirements .................................................................................................................................... 10

4.1.3 How to install VMware Tools ....................................................................................................................... 11

4.1.4 Privileges for VM backup and recovery ....................................................................................................... 12

4.2 Installation options ..................................................................................................................14

4.2.1 Installing Acronis vmProtect 7 as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) host ...................................................... 15

4.2.2 Installing Acronis vmProtect 7 as Windows Agent ..................................................................................... 17

4.2.3 Extracting installation files ............................................................................................................................ 18

4.2.4 Configuring ESX(i) host connection settings ................................................................................................ 19

4.2.5 Using a locally attached storage ................................................................................................................... 19

4.3 Uninstalling Acronis vmProtect 7 ............................................................................................19

5 Getting started .................................................................................................................... 20

5.1 Dashboard Management .........................................................................................................21

5.2 Using Web Console ..................................................................................................................22

5.2.1 Ribbon tabs .................................................................................................................................................... 22

5.2.2 Logout link...................................................................................................................................................... 25

6 vCenter Integration .............................................................................................................. 26

7 Creating a Backup of Virtual Machines ................................................................................. 29

7.1 Select VM(s) to back up ...........................................................................................................29

7.2 Where to back up ....................................................................................................................30

7.3 When to back up ......................................................................................................................32

7.4 How to back up ........................................................................................................................33

7.4.1 Backup type ................................................................................................................................................... 33

7.4.2 Retention rules .............................................................................................................................................. 33

7.4.3 Other settings ................................................................................................................................................ 36

7.4.4 Backup validation .......................................................................................................................................... 36

7.4.5 Completing the Create backup task wizard................................................................................................. 36

7.5 Options ....................................................................................................................................36

7.5.1 Archive Protection ......................................................................................................................................... 36

7.5.2 Source Files Exclusion ................................................................................................................................... 37

7.5.3 Compression Level ........................................................................................................................................ 37

7.5.4 Error Handling................................................................................................................................................ 38

7.5.5 Disaster Recovery Plan .................................................................................................................................. 38

7.5.6 Notifications ................................................................................................................................................... 39

7.5.7 Additional Settings ........................................................................................................................................ 40

7.5.8 Exchange-Aware Backup Settings ................................................................................................................ 40

7.6 Managing created backup task ................................................................................................41

8 Restoring a Backup of Virtual Machines ................................................................................ 42

8.1 Select VM(s) to restore ............................................................................................................42

8.2 Where to restore .....................................................................................................................43

8.3 How to restore .........................................................................................................................45

8.4 Options ....................................................................................................................................46

8.4.1 Notifications ................................................................................................................................................... 46

8.4.2 Error Handling................................................................................................................................................ 47

8.4.3 VM power management .............................................................................................................................. 48

8.4.4 Additional Settings ........................................................................................................................................ 48

8.4.5 Exchange Server Restore Settings ................................................................................................................ 48

8.5 Managing created restore task ................................................................................................48

9 File Recovery ....................................................................................................................... 49

9.1 Select VM(s) to extract files from ............................................................................................49

9.2 Explore Recovery Point ............................................................................................................50

10 Exchange Server Backup Extraction ...................................................................................... 51

10.1 Extracting Databases ...............................................................................................................51

10.2 Extracting Mailboxes ...............................................................................................................53

10.3 Extracting Mailboxes content ..................................................................................................54

11 Running VM from Backup .................................................................................................... 57

11.1 Select VM(s) to run from backup .............................................................................................57

11.2 Where the VM(s) will be run ...................................................................................................58

11.3 Additional Settings ...................................................................................................................59

11.4 Managing created “Run VM from Backup” activity .................................................................60

12 P2V Migration ...................................................................................................................... 61

12.1 How to Perform a P2V Migration ............................................................................................61

13 Bare Metal Recovery of ESXi Hosts ....................................................................................... 62

13.1 ESXi host configuration backup ...............................................................................................62

13.2 ESXi host configuration recovery .............................................................................................64

14 Replication .......................................................................................................................... 67

14.1 New Replication Task ...............................................................................................................67

14.1.1 What to Replicate .......................................................................................................................................... 67

14.1.2 Where to Replicate ....................................................................................................................................... 68

14.1.3 When to Replicate ......................................................................................................................................... 68

14.1.4 Replication Options ....................................................................................................................................... 69

14.2 Managing replicated VMs ........................................................................................................70

14.2.1 Replicated VM Manager ............................................................................................................................... 70

14.2.2 Failover ........................................................................................................................................................... 71

14.2.3 Failback VM from Replica ............................................................................................................................. 72

14.2.4 Deleting Replica VM ...................................................................................................................................... 74

15 Managing Tasks ................................................................................................................... 75

15.1 Running a task ..........................................................................................................................75

15.2 Cancelling a task ......................................................................................................................76

15.3 Editing a task ............................................................................................................................76

15.4 Deleting a task .........................................................................................................................76

15.5 Viewing task logs .....................................................................................................................76

15.6 Viewing task details .................................................................................................................76

15.6.1 Summary tab ................................................................................................................................................. 77

15.6.2 Source tab ...................................................................................................................................................... 77

15.6.3 Target tab ....................................................................................................................................................... 78

15.6.4 Options tab .................................................................................................................................................... 78

16 Managing Recovery Points ................................................................................................... 80

16.1 Adding a backup location ........................................................................................................81

16.2 Virtual Machines catalog .........................................................................................................82

16.3 Recovery Points list ..................................................................................................................83

16.4 Summary tab ............................................................................................................................83

16.5 Operations on selected items ..................................................................................................83

16.5.1 Restore ........................................................................................................................................................... 84

16.5.2 Run VM from backup .................................................................................................................................... 84

16.5.3 File recovery................................................................................................................................................... 84

16.5.4 Validate .......................................................................................................................................................... 84

16.5.5 Delete ............................................................................................................................................................. 84

17 Other Operations ................................................................................................................. 85

17.1 Validating backups (Actions -> Validate) .................................................................................85

17.1.1 What to validate ............................................................................................................................................ 85

17.2 Managing mounted VMs (View -> Mounted VMs) ..................................................................87

17.2.1 Mounted VMs list .......................................................................................................................................... 87

17.2.2 Mounted VMs details ................................................................................................................................... 87

17.2.3 Unmounting VMs .......................................................................................................................................... 88

17.3 Managing logs (View -> Show Logs) ........................................................................................88

17.3.1 Logs list ........................................................................................................................................................... 88

17.3.2 Log cleanup rules ........................................................................................................................................... 89

17.3.3 Clear logs ........................................................................................................................................................ 90

17.3.4 Save logs to file .............................................................................................................................................. 91

17.4 Managing licenses (Configure -> Licenses) ..............................................................................91

17.4.1 Adding license ................................................................................................................................................ 92

17.4.2 Adding license failure .................................................................................................................................... 93

17.4.3 Removing license/ESX(i) host ....................................................................................................................... 93

17.5 Managing ESX(i) hosts (Configure -> ESX(i) hosts) ...................................................................94

17.5.1 ESX(i) hosts list ............................................................................................................................................... 94

17.5.2 Adding ESX(i) host ......................................................................................................................................... 95

17.5.3 Adding an ESX(i) host which is a part of vCenter ........................................................................................ 95

17.5.4 Login credentials ........................................................................................................................................... 96

17.5.5 Removing ESX(i) host .................................................................................................................................... 96

17.6 Managing settings ....................................................................................................................97

17.6.1 Managing Online Backup Proxy ................................................................................................................... 97

17.6.2 Managing Agent Password ........................................................................................................................... 99

18 Best Practices .................................................................................................................... 100

18.1 Backing up virtual machines to a network share ...................................................................100

18.2 Restoring a backup of a virtual machine to a new location ..................................................100

18.3 File/folders recovery ..............................................................................................................101

19 Support ............................................................................................................................. 102

19.1 Technical Support ..................................................................................................................102

19.2 Troubleshooting .....................................................................................................................102

20 Glossary ............................................................................................................................ 103

1 Introducing Acronis vmProtect 7

Acronis believes that virtualization and transition to the cloud are not only a better way of doing computing, but also allow for achieving less downtimes and faster recoveries while reducing costs. Unfortunately, most of backup and recovery solutions are designed for physical systems and are either not good enough for virtual environments or do not allow for all of the benefits and savings that virtualization could potentially give.

Acronis is firmly committed to helping its customers and channel partners get most of virtualization, and intend to set a new standard of backup and recovery in virtualized environments through:

 Reducing IT operating and maintenance costs to help business performance by providing

technology that is easy to use and easy to implement.

 Minimizing overhead and getting most benefits from VMware vSphere environments by

providing a backup and recovery solution specially designed for virtualized environments.

 Minimize risk of data loss by storing backups offsite in Acronis Online Storage.

2 Acronis vmProtect 7 Overview

Acronis vmProtect 7 is a comprehensive backup and recovery solution designed for VMware vSphere™ environments. It enables organizations to perform an agent-less backup of entire ESX(i) virtual machines with the ability to recover entire machines or individual files and folders.

2.1 Acronis vmProtect 7 Features

Using Acronis award-winning imaging technology, Acronis vmProtect 7 creates an exact image (backup) of the virtual machine, including guest operating system, configuration files and applications, resource pool/vApp properties and datastore settings. It then provides you with the ability to recover this backup to either the original ESX(i) host or to a new one. The ability to start a virtual machine directly from a backup without performing an actual restore, making the VM operational in a few seconds after a failure, is one of the key new features.

Other new features include:

 An option to choose between virtual appliance or Windows-based installation.  Web-based easy-to-use user interface.  LAN-free backup with direct access to shared storage.  Instantly run a VM from a backup on an existing ESX(i) host for quick recovery.  New enhanced always incremental storage format for backups.  Simultaneously back up several virtual machines.  Support for vApp/resource pool settings backup/restore.  Change Block Tracking (CBT) support.  Disaster Recovery Plan.

Main advantages of using Acronis vmProtect 7 are:

1. Ease-of-use. Acronis vmProtect 7 can be deployed either as virtual appliance or installed on a

Windows machine and is managed via brand new web-based interface. Given Acronis experience in designing intuitive GUIs and focused target on VMware – the interface allows starting right away without a need to investigate or read documentation, and avoids dangerous mistakes or misconfiguration.

2. More functionality. In addition to standard backup and restore features, vmProtect 7 includes

unique functionality, such as: running virtual machine directly for backup; unlimited number of P2V conversions; backup to cloud-based Acronis Online Storage; industry-standard 256-bit encryption to protect backups.

3. Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). vmProtect 7 is priced per CPU, and a list prices is quite

cheap. Virtual Appliance does not require a dedicated machine or Windows license to operate, plus a reliable and intuitive solution saves administrator’s time and management cost.

4. Safe investments by working with established vendor.

3 How Acronis vmProtect 7 Works

3.1 Virtual machines backup and restore

As with a physical machine, your virtual machine (or several VMs as a whole virtual infrastructure) should also be protected. Once you have installed Acronis vmProtect 7 agent, you can:

 Back up a virtual machine or multiple virtual machines residing on the server without having to

install additional software on each virtual machine.

 Recover a virtual machine to the same or another virtual machine residing on the same server or

on another virtualization server. The virtual machine configuration stored in a virtual machine backup and the virtual disks data will be restored to a new virtual machine.

A virtual machine can be online (running), offline (stopped), suspended, or switched between the three states during backup.

A virtual machine has to be offline (stopped) during the recovery to this machine. The machine will be automatically stopped before recovery. You can opt for manual stopping of machines.

The detailed information can be found in the "Creating a backup of virtual machines" (p. 29) and "Restoring a backup of virtual machines" sections (p. 42).

3.2 Backup archive structure

Acronis vmProtect 7 allows you to create the backup of virtual machines by using one of the two backup archive schemes: Multiple files backup scheme (Legacy mode) or Single file backup scheme (Always Incremental mode).

In Acronis vmProtect 7, the Single file backup scheme is set as the default.

3.2.1 Multiple files backup scheme (Legacy mode)

With this scheme, the data for each backup is stored in a separate archive file (.tib extension). A full backup is created at the first launch. The following backups are performed according to the incremental method.

Set up the backup retention rules and specify the appropriate settings. The outdated backups, i.e. backups older than the designated number of days (defined by the retention rules) are deleted dynamically in compliance with the following procedure:

Note that it is not possible to delete a backup which has dependencies. For example, if you have a full backup plus a set of incremental backups, you cannot simply delete the full backup. If you do, the incremental backups will not be recoverable. The backups which become subject to deletion (according to the retention rules) will not be deleted until all the dependent backups also become deletable. This limitation can be overcome by utilizing the Always Incremental backup mode.

3.2.2 Single file backup scheme (Always Incremental mode)

Usually, backups are kept only for a certain time period (retention time) or there is a policy to keep only the last X backups in the backup chain. Backup archives are managed on a daily, weekly, etc. basis. The main limitation of the Legacy mode backup archive is that you cannot delete a random backup from the backup chain since it may have dependencies on it from subsequent backups. This is where Always Incremental backup archive can help.

Always Incremental mode uses a new generation archive format which may contain several backups from a number of virtual machines. After the first full backup, all other backups are saved to this archive in incremental mode. Physically all data is located inside one file as opposed to the Legacy archive format where each backup is stored in a separate .tib file. Therefore, unlike the Legacy mode archive, it is possible to delete a random backup from Always Incremental archive even if it has dependencies.

When a certain backup expires due to the pre-defined retention rules (for example to “delete the backups if they are older than 2 days”), the backup algorithm just marks these outdated backup blocks as “free” ones.

The blocks of expired backups with dependencies (which are needed to restore the newer backups) are not marked as “free” to ensure the archive consistency. Everyday, the archive should contain data that is not older than two days in order to restore the backup (retention time). This is the basic rule of the Always Incremental archive. All excessive data in the archive is marked for deletion, i.e. as

“free” space. The initial archive still occupies the same space on the storage as before, however all newer backups will be written to the “free” blocks first, and only if all the “free” blocks are filled, the

total size of the archive will be increased.

This approach allows keeping the archive size as small as possible and prevents it from excessive growing. Also, the implementation of this backup scheme significantly saves time and resources for managing the backups inside the archive because the “free” blocks marking is almost an instant operation. Thus, the limitations of the Legacy archive mode are no longer true for Always Incremental archive.

The Always Incremental archive total size includes the size of the “used” blocks and the size of the “free” blocks. Usually, the size of the Always Incremental archive does not grow indefinitely and stays

within the total size of the backups you want to keep.

4 Installation of Acronis vmProtect 7

Edition name

Memory (above the OS and running applications)

Disk space required during installation or update

Disk space occupied by the component(s)

vmProtect 7

80 MB

1 GB

500 MB

4.1 Requirements

4.1.1 Supported operating systems

Acronis vmProtect 7 supports the following operating systems:

 Windows XP Professional SP2 (x64), SP3 (x86).  Windows Server 2003/2003 R2 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server editions (x86,

x64).

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

(x86, x64).

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

Foundation editions.

4.1.2 System requirements

The components installed in Windows:

To perform each task (Backup, Restore, RunVM, Validate, etc.) the Agent needs about 100Mb of memory. Acronis vmProtect 7 could perform parallel tasks (such as parallel backup tasks, etc) of up to 5 tasks at a time. If more than 5 tasks are run simultaneously, the Agent will process only the first 5 tasks, while the other tasks will remain in the queue with the "waiting" status.

Also, note that Acronis vmProtect 7 reserves and always uses the following system TCP ports: 111 (sunrpc), 9000 (WCS), 764 (nfs_server), 9876 (Remote Agent Service).

Here is a list of supported environments for Acronis vmProtect 7:

 VMware vSphere (Virtual Infrastructure).  Server types: ESX and ESXi.  Versions: 4.1, 5.0.  Editions/Licenses.

 VMware vSphere Standard (Hot-add is NOT supported).  VMware vSphere Advanced.  VMware vSphere Enterprise.  VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus.  VMware vSphere Essentials (Hot-add is NOT supported).  VMware vSphere Essentials Plus (Hot-add is NOT supported).

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (Free ESXi) is NOT supported.

ESX(i) version 4.0 environment is supported with exceptions, for example, Exchange Server Backup Extraction (p. 51) and ESXi configuration backup (p. 62) features are not supported.

Acronis vmProtect 7 Exchange Server Backup Extraction (p. 51) feature supports Microsoft Exchange 2003 SP2 and higher.

Acronis vmProtect 7 supports the following file systems for the backed up virtual machines: NTFS/FAT16/FAT32/ext2/ext3/ext4. For other VM file systems sector level backup mode is used, which means that granular recovery from such archives is not possible (only entire VMs can be restored). An example of unsupported file systems are Linux LVM volumes (or Windows Dynamic Disks). They are backed up in sector-by-sector mode.

Please, note, that the following environments for the backup/restore operations are NOT supported:

 RDM disks (Raw Device Mapping).  Fault tolerance VMs.

Also, independent virtual drives CANNOT be backed up when the virtual machine is turned on. Please, power off such VMs before their back up.

For the smooth operation of the Acronis vmProtect 7 Web Console, you should have one of the following versions of your web browser:

 Mozilla Firefox 3.6 or higher.  Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher.  Opera 10.0 or higher.  Safari 5.0 or higher.  Google Chrome 10.0 or higher.

For proper Web Console operation with IE 8, please, check your internet settings. Tools -> Internet Options -> Security tab -> Internet -> Security level shoud not be set to "High". Level of privacy at the Privacy tab should be set to "Medium High" or lower.

4.1.3 How to install VMware Tools

Acronis vmProtect 7 requires the installation of VMware Tools inside the virtual machines that you plan to back up. This is necessary to support proper quiescence of the file system (utilize VSS support) and to enable files/folders exclusions capability. To install the VMware Tools:

 Run the VMware Infrastructure/vSphere Client.  Connect to the ESX(i) server.  Select the virtual machine and run the guest operating system.  Right click the virtual machine and select Guest -> Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.  Follow the onscreen instructions.

Note that the Run VM from backup feature requires VMkernel networking to be configured on the ESX(i) server. This can be done in vSphere client by going to Configuration->Networking and adding VMkernel connection type to the vSwitch properties.

4.1.4 Privileges for VM backup and recovery

Operation

Object

Privilege

Back up a VM

Back up a VM's disk

Recover to a new VM

Recover to an existing VM

VA deployment

Datastore

Allocate space

+ + +

Browse datastore

Low level file operations

Global

Licenses

(required on

ESX host

only)

(required on

ESX host

only)

+ +

Network

Assign network

+ + +

Resource

Assign VM to resource pool

+ + +

Virtual machine -> Configuration

Add existing disk

+ + +

Add new disk

+ + +

Add or remove device

Change CPU count

Memory

Remove disk

+ + + +

Rename

Once Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent is installed on a Windows machine or deployed to an ESX(i) host, the first thing you do is the configuration of ESX(i) hosts/vCenter which will be managed by this Agent. The scope of available operations depends on the privileges a user (that you have specified while adding a ESX(i) host/vCenter in vmProtect 7 Agent web console: Configure->ESX(i) Hosts) has on the vCenter Server. Only those actions are available that the user has permission to perform. The below tables contain the privileges required for backup and recovery of ESX(i) virtual machines and, additionally, for virtual appliance deployment.

Privileges on vCenter Server or ESX(i) host

Outlined in the below table are the privileges a vCenter Server user must have to perform operations on all the vCenter hosts and clusters.

To enable a user to operate on a specific ESX host only, assign the user the same privileges on the host. In addition, the Global->Licenses privilege is required to be able to back up virtual machines of a specific ESX host.

Settings

Virtual machine -> Interaction

Configure CD media

Console interaction

Power off

Power on

+ + +

Virtual machine -> Inventory

Create from existing

+ +

Create new

+ + +

Remove

+ + +

Virtual machine -> Provisioning

Allow disk access

+ +

Virtual machine -> State

Create snapshot

+ +

Remove snapshot

+ +

The roles privileges can be configured via the vSphere Client connected to a ESX(i) host/vCenter from Administration->Roles. After that you can assign the specific user for connection to vCenter with particular role from Permissions tab, as shown in the pictures below.

4.2 Installation options

The very first thing you have to do is to install Acronis vmProtect 7 software, configure your ESX(i) host connection settings and set up your access credentials to Acronis vmProtect 7 web console.

When you run your Acronis vmProtect 7 installation package, the installation menu appears. Acronis vmProtect 7 has three main installation options:

 Install Acronis vmProtect 7 as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) host.  Install Acronis vmProtect 7 as Windows Agent.  Extract installation files.

The first option allows you to install the software on a remote ESX(i) host (see Installing Acronis vmProtect 7 as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) Host (p. 15)).

The second option allows you to install Acronis vmProtect 7 software on your local PC (see Installing Acronis vmProtect 7 as Windows Agent (p. 17)).

The third option allows you to extract the installation files (see Extracting installation files (p. 18)) and perform either Acronis vmProtect 7 remote deployment or local installation manually with the help of standard installation tools. You can always choose this option, if you would need to manage or troubleshoot your Virtual Appliance / Windows Agent installation without the default installer, or if you would need to install only a certain component without carrying out the full installation procedure.

There are several reasons why Acronis vmProtect 7 Virtual Appliance deployment to an ESX(i) host is preferable over Acronis vmProtect 7 Windows Agent installation. These reasons are:

1. Your backups will be LAN-free without additional setup effort (you don’t have to connect the

FC/iSCSI storage to the Windows machine where you run the Agent).

2. The hotadd method used by Virtual Appliance (attaching virtual drives to Virtual Appliance during

backup) is usually fastest possible to get access to the VM data for reading.

3. Virtual Appliance is free from possible software compatibility issues (such as 3rd party NFS

servers or other services which may block the ports).

4. It is easier to maintain Virtual Appliance and you don’t have to have a dedicated Windows

machine for it. Surely it is a better choice if your infrastructure is fully virtualized.

5. Virtual Appliance is easier and faster to install.

The disadvantage of Virtual Appliance is that the backup will consume CPU and memory resources from the ESX(i) host, which may be a problem for highly loaded environments. In this case, if you have a physical computer available to be used as a console for managing all vmProtect 7 functionality, you can choose to install the vmProtect 7 Windows Agent locally.

4.2.1 Installing Acronis vmProtect 7 as Virtual Appliance on an

ESX(i) host

Acronis vmProtect 7 software could be installed directly on an ESX(i) host. The process of remote installation of Acronis vmProtect 7 Virtual Appliance to an ESX(i) host is called deployment. The software for running all necessary Acronis services will be installed on a separate small virtual machine under a specially customized OS (small Linux distribution).

1. First, read the Acronis vmProtect 7 license agreement, select the acceptance check box and then

click Next.

2. Specify the desired ESX(i) server or vCenter access credentials: IP address or hostname, your user

name and access password. When you click Next, the installer will automatically check the connection and go through the authorization procedure.

3. Then the installer will check for previous versions of Acronis vmProtect 7 or any other Acronis

software on the specified ESX(i) server. If you already have the Acronis Virtual Appliance set up there and it is outdated, then the installer would prompt you to update it to the latest version or create the new Virtual Appliance.

4. Set your Appliance (VM) name, choose the ESX(i) host and datastore as a target for deploying the

Acronis vmProtect 7 software. You can change the Appliance name or keep the default one. The Appliance name should be unique within the ESX(i) host. If you set the vCenter and its credentials on the previous installation step, you have to choose one of the ESX(i) hosts contained in that vCenter from the respective drop-down list. Otherwise, there will be no choice and you will see your direct ESX(i) host.

Then, select the datastore on that specific ESX(i). If the space on that datastore is not enough for installation, you will get the warning suggesting that you free up some space on the selected datastore or choose another one. There can be only one unique Virtual Appliance with the specified name on the specified datastore. If the Appliance name already exists there, you will have to change either your Appliance name or the datastore.

5. Provide the information on the network settings for your Virtual Appliance. This step contains

standard network settings like IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS server settings, etc. You can also let the appliance acquire the network settings automatically, which is the default option.

6. The next step prompts you to accept or ignore your participation in the Acronis Customer

Experience Program.

7. After going through all the required steps of the installation wizard, you will finally see the

summary information of the deployment operations to be performed – components to be installed, required space, account information and chosen destination (host and datastore).

Then the Acronis vmProtect 7 installer deploys the Virtual Appliance software. You will see the progress bar with the current installation step indicated. After the deployment is finished successfully, the appliance is started automatically. Please, wait until the whole process is completed and everything is checked. This may take several minutes.

If the installation process finished successfully and all Acronis vmProtect 7 components were successfully deployed, you will get the "Deployment has been completed" page. Here, select the check box if you wish to run the Acronis vmProtect 7 Web Console (it will be opened in the default Internet browser) to connect to your newly deployed Acronis vmProtect 7 Virtual Appliance. Then click Close. The default login:password for the Acronis vmProtect 7 Web Console is admin:root. NOTE: it is highly recommended to change the password after first login at Configure->Agent Password page (for more information refer to Managing Agent Password section (p. 99)). With default credentials the login is performed automatically. If you've changed the Agent Password configuration, then you'll get the default login screen upon connection to the Web Console.

If there is any problem, the Virtual Appliance (parts of it which have already been deployed during the installation) will be removed from ESX(i) automatically. You will get the "Failed to install vmProtect 7 components" page. Here, you can see the summary information on the installed and failed to install components. Show log link opens up a pop-up with the detailed information, and Troubleshoot link opens the online page with the particular error description on the Acronis Knowledge Base website at http://kb.acronis.com. If you still cannot find the answer on how to solve this problem, please, contact the Acronis support team (p. 102).

4.2.2 Installing Acronis vmProtect 7 as Windows Agent

If your production ESX(i) hosts are so heavily loaded that running the virtual appliances is not desirable, consider installing Acronis vmProtect 7 Windows Agent on a physical machine outside the ESX(i) infrastructure.

If your ESX(i) uses a SAN attached storage, install the agent on a machine connected to the same SAN. The agent will back up the virtual machines directly from the storage rather than via the ESX(i) host and LAN. This capability is called a LAN-free backup.

The diagram below illustrates a LAN-based and a LAN-free backup. LAN-free access to virtual machines is available if you have a fibre channel (FC) or iSCSI Storage Area Network. To completely eliminate transferring the backed up data via LAN, store the backups on a local disk of the agent's machine or on a SAN attached storage.

Acronis vmProtect 7 Windows Agent can be installed on any machine that runs Windows and meets the system requirements. Here is a brief description of the steps you need to go through in order to complete your Windows Agent installation.

1. First, read the Acronis vmProtect 7 license agreement, select the acceptance check box and then

click Next.

2. Specify credentials for the Acronis services. The Acronis Managed Machine Service component

(responsible for the core functionality of Acronis vmProtect 7) runs as a service. Specify the account under which the component's service will run after the installation (this account will be

automatically granted with “Log on as service” permissions on the machine). Here you should provide the credentials of any Windows user which has “Log on locally” permissions on the machine with the Agent installed. Typically, this can be any user account from “Administrators”, “Power Users” or “Users” group. Set the HTTPs port, e.g. the default 9877 port. For access to

Acronis web console page after Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent is installed, open your web browser and enter “https://myserver:port” in the browser address bar.

Note that in order to successfully connect to your installed Agent through the browser (web console), the name of your local PC where Acronis vmProtect 7 is installed should not contain

an underscore (_) symbol. You should provide the credentials of any user with Administrator privileges on the machine.

3. Select the way you want your components to be installed, i.e. specify the location where to

install the software. The default destination for installing Acronis vmProtect 7 is the C:\Program Files\Acronis or C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis folder. You can change the destination by typing in a new folder name or selecting it by browsing. If the folder does not exist, it will be automatically created in the process of installation. The Disk usage button shows the available disk space for the different volumes on your PC and helps you to choose the target disk for installation. If there is not enough free space on the selected volume, you’ll be prompted to free up the required space or select another volume. Upon specifying the desired destination, click Next.

4. Please, read the information about the Acronis Customer Experience Program, choose if you

want to participate in it or not, and then click Next. The main purpose of ACEP is to help us collect user statistics in order to improve our software functionality, customer service and customer experience.

5. After going through all the required installation wizard steps, you will finally see the summary

information of the install operations to be performed, components to be installed, required space, account information and chosen destination.

6. Click Install to start the process. You will see the Acronis vmProtect 7 installation progress bar.

During installation, Windows Firewall may prompt you to unblock TCP/IP ports. This is required for the appliance to operate properly. To unblock, in the opened Windows Firewall dialog box click the Unblock button. Please, wait until the installation is finished. It may take several minutes.

If the installation process finished successfully and all Acronis vmProtect 7 components were successfully installed, you will get the "Installation has completed" page. Here select the check box if you wish to run Acronis vmProtect 7 Web Console and click Close.

If the installation process fails and all or some of the Acronis vmProtect 7 components for any reason could not be successfully installed, you will get the "Failed to install vmProtect 7 components" page. Here you can see the summary information on the installed and failed to install components. Show log link opens up a pop-up window with the detailed information, and Troubleshoot link opens the online page with the particular error description on the Acronis Knowledge Base website at http://kb.acronis.com. If you still cannot find the answer how to solve this problem, please contact the Acronis support team (p. 102).

4.2.3 Extracting installation files

Acronis vmProtect 7 installation package provides you with the option to extract the installation files on your PC to be executed manually and to be installed by the standard tools.

Click the Extract installation files of the Acronis vmProtect 7 installation main menu. Select the desired components to be saved as separate installation files on your PC:

 AcronisESXAppliance.ovf and two .vmdk files – installation files for Acronis Virtual Appliance.  vmProtectAgent.msi – the main installation file for Acronis vmProtect 7 Windows Agent.  vmProtectExchangeBackupAgent.msi – installation file for Acronis vmProtect 7 Exchange Backup

Agent. This Agent might be installed inside the guest OS where User Account Control (UAC) is enabled. It is meant to overcome the UAC limitations to allow the vmProtect 7 Exchange Backup

options. Upon installation the Acronis vmProtect 7 Exchange Backup Agent service provides the communication channel with Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent.

Specify the location you want to extract your files to, and then click Extract. The Disk usage button shows the available space for the different volumes on your PC and helps you to choose the destination disk for the files extraction.

Close the dialog when the extraction process is completed.

4.2.4 Configuring ESX(i) host connection settings

For detailed information on setting and configuring your ESX(i) host connection credentials, please refer to Managing ESX(i) hosts (p. 94) section.

4.2.5 Using a locally attached storage

You can attach an additional disk to an Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance) so the agent can back up to this locally attached storage. Such backup is normally faster than backup via LAN and it does not consume the network bandwidth. We recommend using this method when a single virtual appliance manages the entire virtual environment residing in a SAN attached storage.

You can add the storage to an already working agent or when importing the agent from an OVF template.

To attach a storage to an already working agent

1. In VMware vSphere inventory, right click the Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance).

2. Add the disk by editing the settings of the virtual machine. The disk size must be at least 10 GB.

Be careful when adding an already existing disk. Once the storage is created, all data previously contained on this disk will be lost.

3. Go to the virtual appliance console. The Create storage link is available at the bottom of the

screen. If it is not, click Refresh.

4. Click the Create storage link, select the disk and specify a label for it.

Details. The label length is limited to 16 characters due to file system restrictions.

To select a locally attached storage as a backup destination

When creating a backup task expand the Local Folders item and choose the locally attached storage drive, for example D:\.

The same procedure applies to File recovery and other operations with the backups.

4.3 Uninstalling Acronis vmProtect 7

To uninstall Acronis vmProtect 7 Windows Agent, use the default Add or Remove Programs tool of Windows.

To uninstall Acronis vmProtect 7 Virtual Appliance, you have to manually remove the VM with the virtual appliance from the ESX(i) host with your VMware vSphere client.

5 Getting started

Once you installed the Acronis vmProtect 7 or deployed your Acronis vmProtect 7 Virtual Appliance, you can run the Acronis vmProtect 7 Web Console. The Web Console will be opened in the default Internet browser.

Note that the Acronis vmProtect 7 web server (installed on the Agent side) which provides the user interface uses self-signed certificates. As a result, you may receive the “There is a problem with this

website’s security certificate” error message when connecting to Acronis Agent via your Internet

Browser. To avoid this message, you should add this self-signed certificate to the list of trusted certificates. The exact instructions depend on the type of Internet browser you are using. You can refer to your browser’s help for further information.

Certificate error message

Once the Web Console opens in the Internet browser, you will get a login screen where you need to provide user credentials for Acronis vmProtect 7. In case of Virtual Appliance-based installation, the default login:password is admin:root. In case of Windows Agent-based installation, you should provide the credentials of any Windows user who has “Administrator” privileges on the machine

with the Agent installed. The user should also be granted with “Log on locally”, “Access this computer from the network” and “Log on as a batch job” privileges. These privileges can be checked from Start->Run->secpol.msc->Security Settings->Local Policies->User Rights Assignment.

After logging in the Acronis vmProtect 7 you will see a welcome screen with the Dashbord's Quick Start. The three buttons of this section will give you a hint of what to start with:

 First of all, to be able to perform the first backup task of a Virtual Machines, you have to go to

the ESX(i) Host section (p. 94) and specify the IP address / hostname and credentials for the vCenter or individual ESX(i) host where these machines are running.

 Setting up an ESX(i) host will not bind the licenses to it automatically. Therefore, you have to

follow to the Licenses page (p. 91) to set up your licenses.

 After setting up your ESX(i) hosts and licenses, you can run the New backup task wizard (p. 29),

which will guide you through all the steps of the backup process.

5.1 Dashboard Management

After installing and running Acronis vmProtect 7 (i.e. connecting to Acronis vmProtect 7 component via web-based console), the default dashboard screen appears. Initially the dashboard contains 2 sections: the Quick Start section and the Virtual Machines section, which presents general information about your vCenter, ESX(i) hosts, the number of machines managed on the ESX(i) hosts and the number of mounted virtual machines. The Dashboard view will be changed from the initial (Quick Start) view after there is a backup task created. As a result of this change, the Quick Start section will disappear and the additional sections (described below) will be added.

The main workspace area of the Acronis vmProtect 7 dashboard shows an overview of all currently running tasks or the last finished task details if there are no running tasks. The dashboard is designed to be the most user-friendly environment for presenting summary information about the current status of your backup, restore and other tasks. It does so by using color-coding for successful and failed tasks. As the dashboard outlines all actions you can perform with Acronis vmProtect 7, it presents a very useful tool for a quick operational decision making.

You can switch to the dashboard by clicking the main Acronis vmProtect 7 logo in the top left corner, or by clicking the Home button in the main menu. Any group on the dashboard, except Alerts, can be hidden into a tray with the respective minimize icon.

Tasks

The Tasks section presents summary information about the current tasks that are running or about the last completed task when there are no tasks running. The progress bar shows the completed percentage of the backup/restore tasks, task name, starting time, remaining time and current speed. From the dashboard Tasks block, you can directly open the task log, stop the task or switch to the View Tasks page.

Virtual Machines

The Virtual Machines section shows the hosts and clusters (vCenter) names and gives the total number of VMs running on the managed ESX(i) host(s) as well as the number of mounted virtual machines (see the Mounted VMs (p. 87) section).

Statistics

The Statistics section shows summary information about the backup/restore tasks executions. The information on a diagram is presented visually for quick and easy perception and analysis. The successful tasks are marked green. The failed tasks are marked red. The tasks finished with warnings are marked yellow. You can see the tasks percentages and get the detailed statistics for a certain

date by pointing at the respective diagram. Also you can change the statistics view by clicking Hourly, Daily or Weekly.

Locations

The Locations section shows the total statistics for your backup locations status. It shows the Total backups number, information about the Occupied space, space Occupied by others, and Free space (both in megabytes/gigabytes and percentages). Occupied space is the space occupied by Acronis backups. Occupied by others is the space occupied by the data which is not a backup archive. The Free space statistics is available only for locations which support the retrieval of its value (for example there will be no such field for FTP locations). Also, from the Locations section you can switch directly to the Recovery Points view by clicking the link below.

5.2 Using Web Console

5.2.1 Ribbon tabs

The ribbon menu on the top of the screen allows for managing of the software and performing all of the operational functions. The basic Acronis vmProtect 7 functions available through the top menu are described in the following sections below.

There are 3 main tabs in the Acronis vmProtect 7 ribbon menu: Actions tab, View tab and Configure tab. The fourth additional Acronis tab appears dynamically depending on the current user-selected

View or Configure operation.

Dashboard view

The Home button which always appears on the ribbon bar leads to the Dashboard view. The Dashboard configuration is described in the "Dashboard management" section (p. 21).

1) Actions tab

The first Actions tab contains the basic functions of Acronis vmProtect 7 and allows for starting of the following basic tasks.

a. Backup task

This is the Backup button which runs the New Backup Task wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "Creating a backup of virtual machines" section (p. 29).

b. Replication task

This is the Replication button which runs the New Replication Task wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "New Replication Task" section (p. 67).

c. Restore task

This is the Restore button which runs the New Restore Task wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "Restoring a backup of virtual machines" section (p. 42).

d. Extract Exchange task

This is the Exchange Recovery button which runs the Extract Exchange Server Items wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "Exchange Server Backup Extration" section (p. 51).

e. Run VM from backup task

This is the Run VM from Backup task button which activates the run VM from backup wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "Running VM from backup" section (p. 57).

f. File recovery task

This is the File Recovery button which runs the files recovery wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "File recovery" section (p. 49).

g. Validation task

This is the Validate button which starts the new validation task. The task is described in the "Validating backup" section (p. 85).

h. ESX(i) Configuration Backup task

This is the ESX(i) Configuration Backup button which runs the New ESX(i) Backup Task wizard. The wizard settings are described in the "Bare Metal Recovery of ESX(i) Hosts" section (p. 62).

2) View tab

The second View tab contains the basic data views of Acronis vmProtect 7 and allows quick navigation and switching between these basic views.

a. Tasks view

This is the link to the Tasks view. The Tasks management is described in the "Managing tasks" section (p. 75).

b. Recovery Points view

This is the link to the Recovery Points view. The Recovery Points management is described in the "Managing recovery points" section (p. 80).

c. Replicas view

This is the link to the Replicas view. The Replicated VM management is described in the "Managing replicated VMs" section (p. 70).

d. Mounted VMs view

This is the link to Mounted VMs view. The Mounted virtual machines management is described in the "Managing mounted VMs" section (p. 87).

e. Show Logs view

This is the link to the Show Logs view. The Logs management is described in the "Managing logs" section" (p. 88).

3) Configure tab

The third Configure tab contains the basic tools for Acronis vmProtect 7 configuration and allows you to specify the default settings for the basic backup/restore operations as well as other settings.

a. ESX(i) Hosts

This is the link to the ESX(i) hosts management page. Managing ESX(i) hosts is described in the "Managing ESX(i) hosts" section (p. 94).

b. Licenses

This is the link to the Licenses management page. Managing licenses is described in the "Managing licenses" section (p. 91).

c. Settings

Activate online backup subscription settings and Online backup proxy settings are available on the

ribbon. For example, if your internet connection uses a proxy server, you can make all the necessary settings here.

Also there are two links to the default Backup settings and Restore settings on the Configure tab. These backup/restore settings, as well as other settings, are described in detail in the "Managing settings" section (p. 97).

Click the Backup settings or Restore settings button to open the backup/restore settings page where you can set up the defaults for all the backup/restore tasks.

4) vmProtect 7 dynamic tab

This is the dynamic tab which appears in the ribbon and changes depending on the currently selected action of the View or Configure tabs. This dynamic tab shows the buttons which are specific to the current View or Configure tab actions.

a. View -> Tasks

When the Tasks view is selected, the Tasks tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Tasks management page is described in the "Managing tasks" section (p. 75).

b. View -> Recovery Points

When the Recovery Points view is selected, the Recovery Points tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Recovery Points management page is described in the "Managing recovery points" section (p.

80).

c. View -> Replicas

When the Replicas view is selected, the Replicas tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Replicas management page is described in the "Managing replicas" section (p. 67).

d. View -> Mounted VMs

When the Mounted VMs view is selected, the Mounted VMs tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Mounted VMs page is described in the "Managing mounted VMs" section (p. 87).

e. View -> Show Logs

When the Show Logs view is selected, the Logs tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Logs management page is described in the "Managing logs" section (p. 88).

f. Configure -> ESX(i) hosts

When Configure->ESX(i) Hosts is selected, the Hosts tab appears in the ribbon menu. The ESX(i) Hosts management page is described in the "Managing ESX(i) hosts" section (p. 94).

g. Configure -> Licenses

When Configure->Licenses is selected, the Licenses tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Licenses management page is described in the "Managing licenses" section (p. 91).

5.2.2 Logout link

In the top right corner of Acronis vmProtect 7 you can see your current user name and the Logout button to exit the program or reenter it with another user name.

6 vCenter Integration

The main tool for managing the vSphere virtual infrastructure is the VMWare vSphere client. Although the VMWare vSphere client does not provide native backup/restore functionality, it's not always convenient to run another tool to manage these important operations. Acronis vmProtect 7 introduces vCenter integration which allows for basic backup and restore functionality directly from the VMWare vSphere client without having to run Acronis vmProtect 7 Web interface.

Integration with vCenter is only possible if there is at least one vCenter registered in Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent. If there are no registered vCenters, such integration is not possible. Also, integration is automatically disabled when a vCenter is removed from the vmProtect 7 Agent configuration.

Acronis vmProtect 7 integration with vCenter can be manually enabled and disabled from both vmProtect 7 Web interface and vCenter plug-in manager. In order to enable vCenter integration, go to the Configure->ESX(i) Hosts and select the Enable vCenter Integration check box when adding a new vCenter, or click Enable vCenter Integration button in the ribbon bar. To disable the function, click Disable vCenter Integration in the ribbon bar.

The Acronis vmProtect 7 login screen shows the IP address of the Agent where integration was enabled.

How vCenter integration works

vCenter integration allows you to create backup and restore tasks and view their progress directly within the VMWare vSphere interface.

Select any Virtual Machine, vApp/Resource Pool or ESX(i) host/Cluster in the VMWare vSphere tree list. Right-click on the selected item to open the context menu. The context menu contains the Acronis backup and Acronis restore options. Choosing one of these options results in opening the Acronis pop-up and activating the backup/restore wizard which will help you create the backup/restore task and implement it right away.

The appearance of the backup/restore wizards (including backup/restore settings) in VMWare vSphere interface is exactly the same as in the Acronis vmProtect 7.

The standard New Backup Task wizard consists of 4 steps which are explained in detail in the Creating a backup of Virtual Machines (p. 29) section. The first step of the wizard in VMWare vSphere Acronis backup pop-up will be pre-filled with the VM you right-clicked on; however, you can change the default selection.

vCenter Integration, New Backup Task, step 1

The standard New Restore Task wizard consists of 3 steps which are explained in detail in the Restoring a Backup of Virtual Machines (p. 42) section. The first step of the wizard in VMWare vSphere Acronis restore pop-up will be pre-filled with the VM you right-clicked on. The latest available recovery point in the first discovered Recent Location will be selected.

vCenter Integration, New Restore Task, step 1

Note that with vCenter integration enabled there is Acronis vmProtect 7 tab for vCenter with the basic dashboard information available.

vCenter Integration, Acronis vmProtect 7 tab

Note that it's not possible to operate with folders in the VMs and Templates view of vSphere client. In this case you will get Acronis context menu items only for Virtual Machines.

Note that vCenter integration is managed by a particular vmProtect 7 Agent. Therefore if the Agent is inaccessible from vCenter side, the functionality available from context menus will not work properly.

VMWare vSphere and Acronis vmProtect 7 synchronization

With VCenter integration enabled, all operations performed in the VMWare vSphere client are mirrored in the main Acronis vmProtect 7 interface. These synchronized operations are: new tasks and the tasks' progress. The Recent Tasks section shows the progress of backup/restore tasks executed through the context menu in the VMWare vSphere client. Also, when backing up to or restoring from a new location via the context menu option in the VMWare vSphere client, the recent locations in vmProtect 7 are also updated.

Similarly, all backup/restore tasks performed by Acronis vmProtect 7 are registered as Tasks in VMWare vSphere client.

7 Creating a Backup of Virtual Machines

Click Create Backup Task in the dashboard’s Quick start or Backup in the Actions tab of the main menu to create a new backup task. The New Backup Task wizard opens in the main workspace area and asks you to provide the required information and make all necessary settings for the new create backup task. The wizard consists of the four consecutive steps which appear in the same area:

 What to backup.  Where to backup.  When to backup.  How to backup.

These four steps of the wizard and their possible options are described below.

7.1 Select VM(s) to back up

In the first step, you should select the virtual machines (or vApps) which you want to back up. The left side shows all your ESX(i) host(s)/vCenter managed by Acronis vmProtect 7 Agent with the list of

their virtual machines. If you don’t see the exact virtual machine to back up that you are looking for

in this list, make sure that you have added the corresponding ESX(i) host from the Configure->ESX(i) Hosts page.

Select the virtual machines (or vApps) by moving the machines from the left side of the butterfly control to the right one, via the > and < buttons. The list on the right shows all the virtual machines selected for backup. The > button is used to add the VM to the backup list, and the < button is used to remove the VM from this list.

New Backup Task wizard, Step 1 “Select VM(s) to back up”

You can back up dynamic groups of the machines by selecting the upper level unit (e.g. ESX(i) host or VMs folder) in the tree and moving it to the right list with the same > button. As a result, all the machines running within this group will be automatically included in the backup list. Moreover, any new machines created in this group will be backed up automatically by the current backup task.

After you make the selection of VM(s) to back up, click Next to finish the first step and continue further on.

7.2 Where to back up

In the second step, you should define the location for your backup archive. Select a location by clicking on the Browse button. You will see a pop-up window with the browsing options where you can define or change the path and set the archive name. From the list of recent locations, you can either select one of the locations that was previously used or set up a new one.

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