ACRONIS Backup Advanced 11.7 User guide

Acronis Backup Advanced

Version 11.7

USER GUIDE

APPLIES TO THE FOLLOWING PRODUCTS

Advanced for Windows Server

Advanced for Linux Server

Advanced for PC

Advanced for VMware / Hyper-V / RHEV / Citrix XenServer / Oracle VM

Advanced for Exchange

Advanced for SQL

Advanced for SharePoint

Advanced for Active Directory

For Windows Server Essentials

Copyright Statement

“Acronis” and “Acronis Secure Zone” are registered trademarks of Acronis International GmbH.

"Acronis Compute with Confidence", “Acronis Startup Recovery Manager”, “Acronis Active Restore”,

“Acronis Instant Restore” and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis International GmbH.

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.

Distribution of this work or derivative work in any standard (paper) book form for commercial

purposes is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder.

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

Acronis patented technologies

Technologies, used in this product, are covered and protected by one or more U.S. Patent Numbers:

7,047,380; 7,275,139; 7,281,104; 7,318,135; 7,353,355; 7,366,859; 7,475,282; 7,603,533; 7,636,824;

7,650,473; 7,721,138; 7,779,221; 7,831,789; 7,886,120; 7,895,403; 7,934,064; 7,937,612; 7,949,635;

7,953,948; 7,979,690; 8,005,797; 8,051,044; 8,069,320; 8,073,815; 8,074,035; 8,145,607; 8,180,984;

8,225,133; 8,261,035; 8,296,264; 8,312,259; 8,347,137; 8,484,427; 8,645,748; 8,732,121 and patent

pending applications.

Table of contents

1 Introducing Acronis Backup ............................................................................................ 10

1.1 What's new in Acronis Backup 11.7 .........................................................................................10

1.2 Acronis Backup components ...................................................................................................11

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

1.2.2 Agent for Linux .............................................................................................................................................. 12

1.2.3 Agent for VMware ......................................................................................................................................... 13

1.2.4 Agent for Hyper-V ......................................................................................................................................... 13

1.2.5 Agent for SQL ................................................................................................................................................. 13

1.2.6 Agent for Active Directory ............................................................................................................................ 13

1.2.7 Components for centralized management ................................................................................................. 13

1.2.8 Management Console ................................................................................................................................... 15

1.2.9 Bootable Media Builder ................................................................................................................................ 15

1.2.10 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy ........................................................................................................................ 15

1.3 About using the product in the trial mode ..............................................................................15

1.4 Supported file systems ............................................................................................................16

1.5 Technical Support ....................................................................................................................16

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 ............................................................................................................................................. 26

3 Understanding Acronis Backup ....................................................................................... 29

3.1 Owners .....................................................................................................................................29

3.2 Credentials used in backup plans and tasks ............................................................................29

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

3.4 List of Acronis services .............................................................................................................31

3.5 Full, incremental and differential backups ..............................................................................34

3.6 What does a disk or volume backup store? .............................................................................35

3.7 About dynamic and logical volumes ........................................................................................36

3.7.1 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows) .............................................................................. 36

3.7.2 Backup and recovery of logical volumes and MD devices (Linux) ............................................................. 38

3.8 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks .............................................................44

3.9 Support for UEFI-based machines ...........................................................................................45

3.10 Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 ................................................................45

3.11 Compatibility with encryption software ..................................................................................47

3.12 Support for SNMP ....................................................................................................................48

4 Backup .......................................................................................................................... 50

4.1 Back up now .............................................................................................................................50

4.2 Creating a backup plan ............................................................................................................50

4.2.1 Selecting data to back up .............................................................................................................................. 52

4.2.2 Access credentials for source ....................................................................................................................... 54

4.2.3 Source files exclusion .................................................................................................................................... 55

4.2.4 Backup location selection ............................................................................................................................. 56

4.2.5 Access credentials for archive location ........................................................................................................ 59

4.2.6 Backup schemes ............................................................................................................................................ 60

4.2.7 Archive validation .......................................................................................................................................... 69

4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials ............................................................................................................................. 70

4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup) .................................................................................... 70

4.2.10 Sequence of operations in a backup plan ................................................................................................... 72

4.2.11 Why is the program asking for the password? ........................................................................................... 72

4.3 Simplified naming of backup files ............................................................................................72

4.3.1 The [DATE] variable ....................................................................................................................................... 73

4.3.2 Backup splitting and simplified file naming ................................................................................................. 74

4.3.3 Usage examples ............................................................................................................................................. 74

4.4 Scheduling ................................................................................................................................77

4.4.1 Daily schedule ................................................................................................................................................ 79

4.4.2 Weekly schedule ........................................................................................................................................... 81

4.4.3 Monthly schedule .......................................................................................................................................... 83

4.4.4 On Windows Event Log event ...................................................................................................................... 85

4.4.5 Advanced scheduling settings ...................................................................................................................... 87

4.4.6 Conditions ...................................................................................................................................................... 88

4.5 Replication and retention of backups ......................................................................................91

4.5.1 Supported locations ...................................................................................................................................... 93

4.5.2 Setting up replication of backups ................................................................................................................. 94

4.5.3 Setting up retention of backups ................................................................................................................... 94

4.5.4 Retention rules for the Custom scheme ...................................................................................................... 95

4.5.5 Usage examples ............................................................................................................................................. 97

4.6 How to disable backup cataloging .........................................................................................100

4.7 Default backup options ..........................................................................................................100

4.7.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 102

4.7.2 Archive protection ....................................................................................................................................... 104

4.7.3 Backup cataloging ....................................................................................................................................... 104

4.7.4 Backup performance ................................................................................................................................... 105

4.7.5 Backup splitting ........................................................................................................................................... 106

4.7.6 Compression level ....................................................................................................................................... 107

4.7.7 Disaster recovery plan (DRP) ...................................................................................................................... 108

4.7.8 E-mail notifications ...................................................................................................................................... 109

4.7.9 Error handling .............................................................................................................................................. 110

4.7.10 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 111

4.7.11 Fast incremental/differential backup ........................................................................................................ 112

4.7.12 File-level backup snapshot ......................................................................................................................... 112

4.7.13 File-level security ......................................................................................................................................... 113

4.7.14 LVM snapshotting ....................................................................................................................................... 114

4.7.15 Media components ..................................................................................................................................... 115

4.7.16 Mount points ............................................................................................................................................... 115

4.7.17 Multi-volume snapshot ............................................................................................................................... 116

4.7.18 Pre/Post commands .................................................................................................................................... 116

4.7.19 Pre/Post data capture commands ............................................................................................................. 118

4.7.20 Replication/cleanup inactivity time ........................................................................................................... 120

4.7.21 Sector-by-sector backup ............................................................................................................................. 120

4.7.22 Tape management ...................................................................................................................................... 121

4.7.23 Task failure handling ................................................................................................................................... 122

4.7.24 Task start conditions ................................................................................................................................... 123

4.7.25 Volume Shadow Copy Service .................................................................................................................... 124

5 Recovery ..................................................................................................................... 127

5.1 Creating a recovery task ........................................................................................................127

5.1.1 What to recover .......................................................................................................................................... 129

5.1.2 Access credentials for location ................................................................................................................... 133

5.1.3 Access credentials for destination ............................................................................................................. 134

5.1.4 Where to recover ........................................................................................................................................ 134

5.1.5 When to recover ......................................................................................................................................... 142

5.1.6 Task credentials ........................................................................................................................................... 142

5.2 Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa .............................................143

5.2.1 Recovering volumes .................................................................................................................................... 144

5.2.2 Recovering disks .......................................................................................................................................... 145

5.3 Acronis Active Restore ...........................................................................................................147

5.4 Bootability troubleshooting ...................................................................................................148

5.4.1 How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration ............................................................................ 150

5.4.2 About Windows loaders ............................................................................................................................. 151

5.5 Reverting a Windows system to its factory settings ..............................................................151

5.6 Default recovery options .......................................................................................................152

5.6.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 153

5.6.2 E-mail notifications ...................................................................................................................................... 154

5.6.3 Error handling .............................................................................................................................................. 156

5.6.4 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 156

5.6.5 File-level security ......................................................................................................................................... 157

5.6.6 Mount points ............................................................................................................................................... 158

5.6.7 Pre/Post commands .................................................................................................................................... 158

5.6.8 Recovery priority ......................................................................................................................................... 159

5.6.9 Tape management ...................................................................................................................................... 160

6 Conversion to a virtual machine ................................................................................... 161

6.1 Conversion methods ..............................................................................................................161

6.2 Conversion to an automatically created virtual machine ......................................................161

6.2.1 Considerations before conversion ............................................................................................................. 162

6.2.2 Setting up regular conversion to a virtual machine .................................................................................. 163

6.2.3 Recovery to the ''New virtual machine'' destination ................................................................................ 166

6.3 Recovery to a manually created virtual machine ..................................................................169

6.3.1 Considerations before conversion ............................................................................................................. 169

6.3.2 Steps to perform ......................................................................................................................................... 170

7 Storing the backed up data........................................................................................... 171

7.1 Vaults .....................................................................................................................................171

7.1.1 Working with vaults .................................................................................................................................... 172

7.1.2 Centralized vaults ........................................................................................................................................ 173

7.1.3 Personal vaults ............................................................................................................................................ 182

7.1.4 Changing the default cache folder for catalog files .................................................................................. 184

7.2 Acronis Secure Zone ..............................................................................................................185

7.2.1 Creating Acronis Secure Zone .................................................................................................................... 186

7.2.2 Managing Acronis Secure Zone .................................................................................................................. 188

7.3 Removable devices ................................................................................................................189

7.4 Tape devices ..........................................................................................................................190

7.4.1 What is a tape device? ................................................................................................................................ 190

7.4.2 Overview of tape support ........................................................................................................................... 190

7.4.3 Getting started with a tape device ............................................................................................................. 196

7.4.4 Tape management ...................................................................................................................................... 200

7.4.5 Vaults on tapes ............................................................................................................................................ 208

7.4.6 Usage examples ........................................................................................................................................... 208

7.5 Storage nodes ........................................................................................................................212

7.5.1 What is a storage node? ............................................................................................................................. 212

7.5.2 Supported types of storage ........................................................................................................................ 212

7.5.3 Operations performed by storage nodes .................................................................................................. 212

7.5.4 Getting started with a storage node .......................................................................................................... 213

7.5.5 User privileges on a storage node .............................................................................................................. 214

7.5.6 Operations with storage nodes .................................................................................................................. 215

7.5.7 Deduplication .............................................................................................................................................. 225

8 Operations with archives and backups.......................................................................... 232

8.1 Validating archives and backups ............................................................................................232

8.1.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 233

8.1.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 233

8.1.3 Vault selection ............................................................................................................................................. 233

8.1.4 Access credentials for source ..................................................................................................................... 234

8.1.5 When to validate ......................................................................................................................................... 235

8.1.6 Task credentials ........................................................................................................................................... 235

8.2 Exporting archives and backups ............................................................................................236

8.2.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 238

8.2.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 238

8.2.3 Access credentials for source ..................................................................................................................... 239

8.2.4 Destination selection .................................................................................................................................. 239

8.2.5 Access credentials for destination ............................................................................................................. 240

8.3 Mounting an image ................................................................................................................241

8.3.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 242

8.3.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 242

8.3.3 Access credentials ....................................................................................................................................... 242

8.3.4 Volume selection ......................................................................................................................................... 243

8.3.5 Managing mounted images........................................................................................................................ 243

8.4 Operations available in vaults ................................................................................................244

8.4.1 Operations with archives ............................................................................................................................ 244

8.4.2 Operations with backups ............................................................................................................................ 245

8.4.3 Converting a backup to full ......................................................................................................................... 246

8.4.4 Deleting archives and backups ................................................................................................................... 246

9 Bootable media ........................................................................................................... 248

9.1 How to create bootable media ..............................................................................................249

9.1.1 Linux-based bootable media ...................................................................................................................... 249

9.1.2 WinPE-based bootable media .................................................................................................................... 253

9.2 Connecting to a machine booted from media .......................................................................255

9.3 Working under bootable media.............................................................................................256

9.3.1 Setting up a display mode .......................................................................................................................... 257

9.3.2 Configuring iSCSI and NDAS devices .......................................................................................................... 257

9.4 List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media .............................258

9.5 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager .......................................................................................259

9.6 Acronis PXE Server .................................................................................................................260

9.6.1 Acronis PXE Server Installation ................................................................................................................... 260

9.6.2 Setting up a machine to boot from PXE .................................................................................................... 261

9.6.3 Work across subnets ................................................................................................................................... 261

10 Disk management .................................................................................................. 262

10.1 Supported file systems ..........................................................................................................262

10.2 Basic precautions ...................................................................................................................262

10.3 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite ........................................................................................263

10.4 Choosing the operating system for disk management ..........................................................263

10.5 "Disk management" view ......................................................................................................264

10.6 Disk operations ......................................................................................................................264

10.6.1 Disk initialization .......................................................................................................................................... 265

10.6.2 Basic disk cloning ......................................................................................................................................... 265

10.6.3 Disk conversion: MBR to GPT ..................................................................................................................... 267

10.6.4 Disk conversion: GPT to MBR ..................................................................................................................... 268

10.6.5 Disk conversion: basic to dynamic ............................................................................................................. 268

10.6.6 Disk conversion: dynamic to basic ............................................................................................................. 269

10.6.7 Changing disk status .................................................................................................................................... 270

10.7 Volume operations ................................................................................................................270

10.7.1 Creating a volume ....................................................................................................................................... 270

10.7.2 Delete volume ............................................................................................................................................. 274

10.7.3 Set active volume ........................................................................................................................................ 275

10.7.4 Change volume letter ................................................................................................................................. 275

10.7.5 Change volume label ................................................................................................................................... 275

10.7.6 Format volume ............................................................................................................................................ 276

10.8 Pending operations ................................................................................................................277

11 Protecting applications with disk-level backup ........................................................ 278

11.1 Backing up an application server ...........................................................................................278

11.1.1 Locating database files ................................................................................................................................ 280

11.1.2 Truncating transaction logs ........................................................................................................................ 283

11.1.3 Best practices when backing up application servers ................................................................................ 286

11.2 Recovering SQL Server data ...................................................................................................287

11.2.1 Recovering SQL Server databases from a disk backup ............................................................................. 288

11.2.2 Accessing SQL Server databases from a disk backup ............................................................................... 288

11.2.3 Attaching SQL Server databases ................................................................................................................ 289

11.3 Recovering Exchange Server data ..........................................................................................289

11.3.1 Recovering Exchange Server database files from a disk backup ............................................................. 290

11.3.2 Mounting Exchange Server databases ...................................................................................................... 290

11.3.3 Granular recovery of mailboxes ................................................................................................................. 291

11.4 Recovering Active Directory data ..........................................................................................291

11.4.1 Recovering a domain controller (other DCs are available) ...................................................................... 291

11.4.2 Recovering a domain controller (no other DCs are available) ................................................................. 292

11.4.3 Restoring the Active Directory database ................................................................................................... 293

11.4.4 Restoring accidentally deleted information .............................................................................................. 294

11.4.5 Avoiding a USN rollback .............................................................................................................................. 294

11.5 Recovering SharePoint data ..................................................................................................296

11.5.1 Recovering a content database .................................................................................................................. 296

11.5.2 Recovering configuration and service databases ..................................................................................... 298

11.5.3 Recovering individual items........................................................................................................................ 299

12 Protecting Microsoft SQL Server with single-pass backup ........................................ 301

12.1 General information ..............................................................................................................301

12.1.1 Agent for SQL ............................................................................................................................................... 301

12.1.2 Supported operating systems .................................................................................................................... 302

12.1.3 Supported Microsoft SQL Server versions ................................................................................................. 302

12.1.4 Permissions for SQL Server backup and recovery .................................................................................... 302

12.1.5 What else you need to know about single-pass backup .......................................................................... 303

12.2 Installation of Agent for SQL ..................................................................................................304

12.3 Backing up Microsoft SQL server ...........................................................................................304

12.3.1 Single-pass backup settings ........................................................................................................................ 305

12.4 Recovering Microsoft SQL Server data ..................................................................................306

12.4.1 Recovering SQL databases to instances .................................................................................................... 306

12.4.2 Extracting the database files to folders ..................................................................................................... 308

12.5 Mounting SQL Server databases from a single-pass backup .................................................309

12.5.1 Unmounting mounted SQL Server databases ........................................................................................... 309

12.6 Protecting clustered SQL Server instances and AAG .............................................................310

13 Protecting Microsoft Active Directory with single-pass backup ................................ 312

13.1 Agent for Active Directory .....................................................................................................312

13.2 Supported operating systems ................................................................................................312

13.3 Installation of Agent for Active Directory ..............................................................................312

13.4 Backing up Microsoft Active Directory ..................................................................................313

13.5 Recovering Microsoft Active Directory ..................................................................................313

13.5.1 Re-promoting the domain controller ........................................................................................................ 314

13.5.2 Recovering the Active Directory data from a single-pass backup ........................................................... 314

14 Administering a managed machine ......................................................................... 316

14.1 Backup plans and tasks ..........................................................................................................316

14.1.1 Actions on backup plans and tasks ............................................................................................................ 316

14.1.2 States and statuses of backup plans and tasks ......................................................................................... 318

14.1.3 Export and import of backup plans ............................................................................................................ 320

14.1.4 Deploying backup plans as files .................................................................................................................. 324

14.1.5 Backup plan details ..................................................................................................................................... 325

14.1.6 Task/activity details ..................................................................................................................................... 326

14.2 Log ..........................................................................................................................................326

14.2.1 Actions on log entries.................................................................................................................................. 327

14.2.2 Log entry details .......................................................................................................................................... 327

14.3 Alerts ......................................................................................................................................328

14.4 Changing a license .................................................................................................................329

14.5 Collecting system information ...............................................................................................330

14.6 Adjusting machine options ....................................................................................................330

14.6.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 330

14.6.2 Acronis Customer Experience Program ..................................................................................................... 331

14.6.3 Alerts ............................................................................................................................................................ 331

14.6.4 E-mail settings ............................................................................................................................................. 332

14.6.5 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 333

14.6.6 Log cleanup rules ......................................................................................................................................... 335

14.6.7 Machine management................................................................................................................................ 336

14.6.8 Cloud backup proxy ..................................................................................................................................... 336

15 Centralized management ....................................................................................... 338

15.1 Understanding centralized management ..............................................................................338

15.1.1 Basic concepts ............................................................................................................................................. 338

15.1.2 Privileges for centralized management ..................................................................................................... 339

15.1.3 Communication between Acronis Backup components .......................................................................... 343

15.2 Back up now ...........................................................................................................................347

15.3 Creating a centralized backup plan ........................................................................................348

15.3.1 Selecting data to back up ............................................................................................................................ 348

15.3.2 Selection rules for files and folders ............................................................................................................ 350

15.3.3 Selection rules for volumes ........................................................................................................................ 352

15.3.4 Backup location selection ........................................................................................................................... 355

15.3.5 Centralized backup plan's credentials ....................................................................................................... 356

15.3.6 What if a machine does not have data meeting the selection rules ....................................................... 357

15.4 Administering Acronis Backup Management Server .............................................................357

15.4.1 Dashboard .................................................................................................................................................... 357

15.4.2 Machines with agents ................................................................................................................................. 359

15.4.3 Virtual machines .......................................................................................................................................... 371

15.4.4 Backup plans and tasks ............................................................................................................................... 372

15.4.5 Storage nodes .............................................................................................................................................. 375

15.4.6 Licenses ........................................................................................................................................................ 375

15.4.7 Alerts ............................................................................................................................................................ 377

15.4.8 Reporting ..................................................................................................................................................... 378

15.4.9 Log ................................................................................................................................................................ 383

15.4.10 Management server options ...................................................................................................................... 385

15.5 Configuring Acronis Backup components ..............................................................................391

15.5.1 Parameters set by using Acronis Administrative Template ..................................................................... 391

15.5.2 Parameters set by using Windows registry ............................................................................................... 406

16 Cloud backup ......................................................................................................... 407

16.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup ...................................................................................407

16.1.1 What is Acronis Cloud Backup? .................................................................................................................. 407

16.1.2 What data can I back up and recover? ...................................................................................................... 407

16.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage? ........................................................................ 407

16.1.4 How do I secure my data? .......................................................................................................................... 408

16.1.5 How do I back up virtual machines to the cloud storage? ....................................................................... 408

16.1.6 Supported operating systems and virtualization products ...................................................................... 409

16.1.7 Backup and recovery FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 410

16.1.8 Initial Seeding FAQ ...................................................................................................................................... 411

16.1.9 Large Scale Recovery FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 417

16.1.10 Subscription lifecycle FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 418

16.2 Where do I start? ...................................................................................................................421

16.3 Choosing a subscription .........................................................................................................421

16.4 Configuring proxy settings .....................................................................................................422

16.5 Checking the firewall settings ................................................................................................422

16.6 Activating cloud backup subscriptions ..................................................................................423

16.6.1 Activating subscriptions in Acronis Backup Advanced ............................................................................. 423

16.6.2 Reassigning an activated subscription ....................................................................................................... 423

16.7 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser ..........................................425

16.8 Limitations of the cloud storage ............................................................................................426

16.9 Terminology reference ..........................................................................................................426

17 Glossary ................................................................................................................. 429

1 Introducing Acronis Backup

1.1 What's new in Acronis Backup 11.7

Installation

 Microsoft SQL Server 2014 can be used to store the databases of Acronis Backup Management

Server.

Licensing

 Support for the subscription licensing model. For more information, please refer to the Acronis

Backup Licensing FAQ.

Deduplication

 128 MB of RAM per 1 TB of unique data are required, instead of 3 GB.

 No need to allocate the deduplication database on expensive SSD disks. Regular HDD disks can be

used without performance degradation.

 Recovery from a deduplicated backup is now 40 percent faster.

 The backup speed does not reduce as the deduplication database size increases.

 The Storage Node startup time on large data sets is reduced to 1-3 minutes.

 Validating deduplicated backups and compacting the data store are now 2.5 times faster.

These improvements are effective when v11.7 agents back up to deduplicating vaults created on

v11.7 storage nodes. When a new agent backs up to an old vault or an old agent backs up to a new

vault, the old deduplication algorithm is used. To apply the new deduplication algorithm to old

backups, you need to import the backups into a newly created vault.

Tape support

 Configurable block size (p. 192) for reading and writing to tapes. The default value is taken from

the tape device driver.

 Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and Hardware Compatibility Tool are introduced. Hardware

Compatibility List contains tape devices with confirmed support by Acronis Backup. To learn if

your specific device is supported, use the Hardware Compatibility Tool.

 Full support for the LTO-7 technology. See the HCL for the exact names of the tested devices.

Centralized management

 It is possible to specify a custom backup location (p. 355) for each machine that is included in a

centralized backup plan.

 In addition to exporting licenses from the management server to an .xml file, you can export

them to a .txt file (p. 376).

Microsoft Exchange Server support

 Agent for Exchange can back up and recover Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 databases. Backup

and recovery of Exchange 2016 mailboxes (including mailbox recovery from database backups)

are not supported.

Supported operating systems

 Support for Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4.

 Support for Linux kernel version 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4.

 Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2, Oracle Linux 7.2, ClearOS, Debian 8.2, Ubuntu 15.10,

and Fedora 23.

 Support for Windows 2000 in Acronis Backup Advanced is limited. Components of v11.7 cannot

be installed in this operating system. To back up machines that run Windows 2000, use the

agents of v11.5. The v11.5 agents are compatible with the management components of v11.7.

Acronis Backup for Windows Server and Acronis Backup for PC cannot be installed in Windows

2000. To back up machines that run this operating system, use v11.5.

Acronis Backup v11.5 supports Windows 2000 SP4.

Other

 It is possible to use compression in combination with third-party hardware or software

deduplication (for disk-level backups only). This effectively reduces the storage space occupied

by the backups.

 More functionality is available via the command-line interface:

 Generating management server reports

 Deploying Agent for VMware (Virtual Appliance)

 Agent for VMware does not back up independent disks and Raw Device Mapping (RDM) disks in

physical compatibility mode, regardless of the state of a virtual machine. This limitation is

introduced for better predictability of the product behavior.

 32-bit Linux-based bootable media was optimized in size by removing the rarely used acrocmd

utility.

 When a disk backup is mounted in the read/write mode, the respective incremental backup is

not created immediately, but after the disk backup is unmounted, instead. While the backup is

mounted, the changes are saved in the %Temp% folder.

1.2 Acronis Backup components

Acronis Backup 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. Agents require a license to perform operations on each managed

machine.

Components for centralized management

These components, included in Acronis Backup Advanced, provide centralized management

capability. Usage of these components is not licensed.

Console

The console provides Graphical User Interface to other Acronis Backup 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. To use 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.

Conversion to a virtual machine

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, 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.

1.2.2 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.

Conversion to a virtual machine

Agent for Linux performs the conversion by recovering a disk backup to a new virtual machine of any

of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, 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 directory you select. You can start the machine using the

respective virtualization software or prepare the machine files for further usage.

1.2.3 Agent for VMware

Acronis Backup Agent for VMware 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 can be imported or deployed to a VMware ESX(i) host as a

virtual appliance.

1.2.4 Agent for Hyper-V

Acronis Backup 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.

1.2.5 Agent for SQL

Acronis Backup Agent for SQL enables you to create single-pass disk and application backups and to

recover Microsoft SQL databases from them. The databases can be recovered directly to a running

SQL Server instance or extracted to a folder on a file system.

The agent uses Microsoft VSS to ensure the consistency of the backed-up databases. After a

successful backup, the agent can truncate the SQL Server transaction log.

The agent is included in the setup program of Acronis Backup Advanced.

The agent is installed with Agent for Windows (p. 12) or on a machine where Agent for Windows is

already installed.

1.2.6 Agent for Active Directory

Acronis Backup Agent for Active Directory enables you to create single-pass disk and application

backups and to extract Microsoft Active Directory data from them to a folder on a file system.

The agent uses Microsoft VSS to ensure the consistency of the backed-up data.

The agent is included in the setup program of Acronis Backup Advanced.

The agent is installed with Agent for Windows (p. 12) or on a machine where Agent for Windows is

already installed.

1.2.7 Components for centralized management

This section lists the components that are included in Acronis Backup Advanced and provide the

centralized management capability. Besides these components, Acronis Backup Agents have to be

installed on all machines that need data protection.

1.2.7.1 Management Server

Acronis Backup 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 infrastructure

 an easy way to protect data on numerous machines (p. 438) 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. 432) for storing enterprise backup archives (p. 430)

 the ability to manage storage nodes (p. 440)

 the centralized catalog (p. 433) 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.

1.2.7.2 Storage Node

Acronis Backup 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. 225) 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 Management Server

(p. 14). Direct console connection to a storage node is not possible.

1.2.7.3 Components for Remote Installation

These are Acronis component installation packages used by the management console (p. 15) for

installation on remote machines.

Components for Remote Installation need to be installed on the machine with the console or with

the management server (p. 14). During installation, the setup program saves the components 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".

1.2.7.4 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. 431) 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.

1.2.7.5 License Server

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

require licenses.

You can install a license server as a separate component or use the one integrated into the

management server. The functionality of the license server (p. 375) is similar for both types of

installation.

1.2.8 Management Console

Acronis Backup Management Console is an administrative tool for access to Acronis Backup agents

and, in Acronis Backup Advanced, to Acronis Backup Management Server.

The console has two distributions: for installation on Windows and installation on Linux. While both

distributions enable connection to any Acronis Backup agent and Acronis Backup 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 components is not available.

 The Active Directory-related features, such as browsing the AD, are not available.

1.2.9 Bootable Media Builder

Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. 431). 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.

1.2.10 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy

Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy enables Acronis Backup 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 About using the product in the trial mode

Before buying an Acronis Backup license, you may want to try the software. This can be done without

a license key.

To install the product in the trial mode, run the setup program locally or use the remote installation

functionality. Unattended installation and other ways of installation are not supported.

Limitations of the trial mode

When working under bootable media:

 The disk management functionality is not available. You can try the user interface, but there is no

option to commit the changes.

 The recovery functionality is available, but the backup functionality is not. To try the backup

functionality, install the software in the operating system.

Upgrading to the full mode

After the trial period expires, the product GUI displays a notification requesting you to specify or

obtain a license key.

To specify a license key, click Help > Change License (p. 329). Specifying the key by running the setup

program is not possible.

If you have activated a trial or purchased a subscription for the cloud backup service (p. 407), cloud

backup will be available until the subscription period expires, regardless of whether you specify a

license key.

1.4 Supported file systems

Acronis Backup can back up and recover the following file systems with the following limitations:

 FAT16/32

 NTFS

 ReFS - volume recovery without the volume resize capability. Supported in Windows Server

2012/2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016 (p. 45) only.

 Ext2/Ext3/Ext4

 ReiserFS3 - particular files cannot be recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup

Storage Node

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

recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup Storage Node

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

from disk backups located on Acronis Backup Storage Node

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

Node

 Linux SWAP

Acronis Backup can back up and recover corrupted or non-supported file systems using the

sector-by-sector approach.

1.5 Technical Support

Maintenance and Support Program

If you need assistance with your Acronis product, please go to

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/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 (http://www.acronis.com/en-us/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 product of your choice.

 You have the setup program. You can download it from the Acronis website.

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.

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. 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.

b. After accepting the terms of the license agreement, select the Back up this machine's data

check box.

c. Select I purchased a license or a subscription.

d. Select the Use the following license server check box, and then enter the name or IP address

of the previously installed management server.

e. When prompted, register the machine on the management server.

f. 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.

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.

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 Management Console.

 In Windows

Start the console by selecting Acronis Backup from the Start menu.

 In Linux

Log in as root or log in as an ordinary user and then switch user as

required. Start the console with the command

/usr/sbin/acronis_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.

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. 249).

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:

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.

Step 5. Backup

Back up now (p. 50)

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. 50)

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 Acronis Backup Advanced: 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. 348).

Step 6. Recovery

Recover (p. 127)

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 Acronis Backup Advanced: You cannot control operations under bootable

media by 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. 441). Navigate to the

Vaults (p. 171) 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. 359).

 Use the Virtual machines (p. 371) view to manage supported virtualization environments.

ACRONIS Backup Advanced 11.7 User guide

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