ACRONIS Backup Advanced 11.5 User guide

Acronis Backup Advanced

Version 11.5 Update 3

User Guide

Applies to the following products:



Advanced for Windows Server



Advanced for SQL



Advanced for Linux Server



Advanced for SharePoint



Advanced for PC



Advanced for Active Directory



Advanced for VMware / Hyper-V /

RHEV / Citrix XenServer / Oracle VM



For Windows Server Essentials



Advanced for Exchange

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; and patent pending applications.

Table of contents

1 Introducing Acronis Backup .................................................................................................. 11

1.1 What's new in Update 3 ..........................................................................................................11

1.2 What's new in Update 2 ..........................................................................................................11

1.3 What's new in Update 1 ..........................................................................................................11

1.4 What's new in Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 .....................................................................13

1.5 Acronis Backup components ...................................................................................................15

1.5.1 Agent for Windows ....................................................................................................................................... 15

1.5.2 Agent for Linux .............................................................................................................................................. 16

1.5.3 Agent for VMware ......................................................................................................................................... 17

1.5.4 Agent for Hyper-V ......................................................................................................................................... 17

1.5.5 Agent for SQL ................................................................................................................................................. 17

1.5.6 Agent for Active Directory ............................................................................................................................ 18

1.5.7 Components for centralized management ................................................................................................. 18

1.5.8 Management Console ................................................................................................................................... 19

1.5.9 Bootable Media Builder ................................................................................................................................ 19

1.5.10 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy ........................................................................................................................ 20

1.6 About using the product in the trial mode ..............................................................................20

1.7 Supported file systems ............................................................................................................20

1.8 Technical Support ....................................................................................................................21

2 Getting started .................................................................................................................... 22

2.1 Using the management console ..............................................................................................25

2.1.1 "Navigation" pane ......................................................................................................................................... 26

2.1.2 Main area, views and action pages .............................................................................................................. 28

2.1.3 Console options ............................................................................................................................................. 30

3 Understanding Acronis Backup ............................................................................................. 33

3.1 Owners .....................................................................................................................................33

3.2 Credentials used in backup plans and tasks ............................................................................33

3.3 User privileges on a managed machine ...................................................................................35

3.4 List of Acronis services .............................................................................................................35

3.5 Full, incremental and differential backups ..............................................................................38

3.6 What does a disk or volume backup store?.............................................................................39

3.7 About dynamic and logical volumes ........................................................................................40

3.7.1 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows) .............................................................................. 40

3.7.2 Backup and recovery of logical volumes and MD devices (Linux) ............................................................. 42

3.8 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks .............................................................48

3.9 Support for UEFI-based machines ...........................................................................................49

3.10 Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 ................................................................49

3.11 Compatibility with encryption software ..................................................................................51

3.12 Support for SNMP ....................................................................................................................52

4 Backup ................................................................................................................................ 54

4.1 Back up now .............................................................................................................................54

4.2 Creating a backup plan ............................................................................................................54

4.2.1 Selecting data to back up .............................................................................................................................. 56

4.2.2 Access credentials for source ....................................................................................................................... 58

4.2.3 Source files exclusion .................................................................................................................................... 59

4.2.4 Backup location selection ............................................................................................................................. 60

4.2.5 Access credentials for archive location ........................................................................................................ 63

4.2.6 Backup schemes ............................................................................................................................................ 64

4.2.7 Archive validation .......................................................................................................................................... 73

4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials ............................................................................................................................. 74

4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup) .................................................................................... 74

4.2.10 Sequence of operations in a backup plan ................................................................................................... 76

4.2.11 Why is the program asking for the password? ........................................................................................... 76

4.3 Simplified naming of backup files ............................................................................................77

4.3.1 The [DATE] variable ....................................................................................................................................... 78

4.3.2 Backup splitting and simplified file naming ................................................................................................. 78

4.3.3 Usage examples ............................................................................................................................................. 78

4.4 Scheduling ................................................................................................................................81

4.4.1 Daily schedule ................................................................................................................................................ 83

4.4.2 Weekly schedule ........................................................................................................................................... 85

4.4.3 Monthly schedule .......................................................................................................................................... 87

4.4.4 On Windows Event Log event ...................................................................................................................... 89

4.4.5 Advanced scheduling settings ...................................................................................................................... 91

4.4.6 Conditions ...................................................................................................................................................... 92

4.5 Replication and retention of backups ......................................................................................95

4.5.1 Supported locations ...................................................................................................................................... 97

4.5.2 Setting up replication of backups ................................................................................................................. 98

4.5.3 Setting up retention of backups ................................................................................................................... 98

4.5.4 Retention rules for the Custom scheme ...................................................................................................... 99

4.5.5 Replication/cleanup inactivity time ........................................................................................................... 101

4.5.6 Usage examples ........................................................................................................................................... 101

4.6 How to disable backup cataloging .........................................................................................104

4.7 Default backup options ..........................................................................................................104

4.7.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 107

4.7.2 Archive protection ....................................................................................................................................... 108

4.7.3 Backup cataloging ....................................................................................................................................... 109

4.7.4 Backup performance ................................................................................................................................... 109

4.7.5 Backup splitting ........................................................................................................................................... 111

4.7.6 Compression level ....................................................................................................................................... 112

4.7.7 Disaster recovery plan (DRP) ...................................................................................................................... 112

4.7.8 E-mail notifications ...................................................................................................................................... 113

4.7.9 Error handling .............................................................................................................................................. 114

4.7.10 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 115

4.7.11 Fast incremental/differential backup ........................................................................................................ 116

4.7.12 File-level backup snapshot ......................................................................................................................... 117

4.7.13 File-level security ......................................................................................................................................... 117

4.7.14 LVM snapshotting ....................................................................................................................................... 118

4.7.15 Media components ..................................................................................................................................... 119

4.7.16 Mount points ............................................................................................................................................... 120

4.7.17 Multi-volume snapshot ............................................................................................................................... 120

4.7.18 Pre/Post commands .................................................................................................................................... 121

4.7.19 Pre/Post data capture commands ............................................................................................................. 122

4.7.20 Replication/cleanup inactivity time ........................................................................................................... 124

4.7.21 Sector-by-sector backup ............................................................................................................................. 125

4.7.22 Tape management ...................................................................................................................................... 125

4.7.23 Task failure handling ................................................................................................................................... 127

4.7.24 Task start conditions ................................................................................................................................... 127

4.7.25 Volume Shadow Copy Service .................................................................................................................... 128

5 Recovery ........................................................................................................................... 131

5.1 Creating a recovery task ........................................................................................................131

5.1.1 What to recover .......................................................................................................................................... 133

5.1.2 Access credentials for location ................................................................................................................... 137

5.1.3 Access credentials for destination ............................................................................................................. 138

5.1.4 Where to recover ........................................................................................................................................ 138

5.1.5 When to recover ......................................................................................................................................... 146

5.1.6 Task credentials ........................................................................................................................................... 146

5.2 Acronis Universal Restore ......................................................................................................147

5.2.1 Getting Universal Restore ........................................................................................................................... 147

5.2.2 Using Universal Restore .............................................................................................................................. 147

5.3 Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa .............................................150

5.3.1 Recovering volumes .................................................................................................................................... 151

5.3.2 Recovering disks .......................................................................................................................................... 152

5.4 Acronis Active Restore ...........................................................................................................154

5.5 Bootability troubleshooting ...................................................................................................156

5.5.1 How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration ............................................................................ 157

5.5.2 About Windows loaders ............................................................................................................................. 158

5.6 Reverting a Windows system to its factory settings..............................................................159

5.7 Default recovery options .......................................................................................................159

5.7.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 161

5.7.2 E-mail notifications ...................................................................................................................................... 162

5.7.3 Error handling .............................................................................................................................................. 163

5.7.4 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 164

5.7.5 File-level security ......................................................................................................................................... 165

5.7.6 Mount points ............................................................................................................................................... 165

5.7.7 Pre/Post commands .................................................................................................................................... 165

5.7.8 Recovery priority ......................................................................................................................................... 167

6 Conversion to a virtual machine ......................................................................................... 168

6.1 Conversion methods ..............................................................................................................168

6.2 Conversion to an automatically created virtual machine ......................................................168

6.2.1 Considerations before conversion ............................................................................................................. 169

6.2.2 Setting up regular conversion to a virtual machine .................................................................................. 170

6.2.3 Recovery to the ''New virtual machine'' destination ................................................................................ 173

6.3 Recovery to a manually created virtual machine ..................................................................176

6.3.1 Considerations before conversion ............................................................................................................. 176

6.3.2 Steps to perform ......................................................................................................................................... 177

7 Storing the backed up data ................................................................................................ 178

7.1 Vaults .....................................................................................................................................178

7.1.1 Working with vaults .................................................................................................................................... 179

7.1.2 Centralized vaults ........................................................................................................................................ 180

7.1.3 Personal vaults ............................................................................................................................................ 189

7.1.4 Changing the default cache folder for catalog files .................................................................................. 191

7.2 Acronis Secure Zone ..............................................................................................................192

7.2.1 Creating Acronis Secure Zone .................................................................................................................... 193

7.2.2 Managing Acronis Secure Zone .................................................................................................................. 195

7.3 Removable devices ................................................................................................................196

7.4 Tape devices ..........................................................................................................................197

7.4.1 What is a tape device? ................................................................................................................................ 197

7.4.2 Overview of tape support ........................................................................................................................... 197

7.4.3 Getting started with a tape device ............................................................................................................. 201

7.4.4 Tape management ...................................................................................................................................... 206

7.4.5 Vaults on tapes ............................................................................................................................................ 213

7.4.6 Usage examples ........................................................................................................................................... 214

7.5 Storage nodes ........................................................................................................................218

7.5.1 What is a storage node? ............................................................................................................................. 218

7.5.2 Supported types of storage ........................................................................................................................ 218

7.5.3 Operations performed by storage nodes .................................................................................................. 218

7.5.4 Getting started with a storage node .......................................................................................................... 219

7.5.5 User privileges on a storage node .............................................................................................................. 220

7.5.6 Operations with storage nodes .................................................................................................................. 221

7.5.7 Deduplication .............................................................................................................................................. 229

8 Operations with archives and backups ............................................................................... 236

8.1 Validating archives and backups ............................................................................................236

8.1.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 237

8.1.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 237

8.1.3 Vault selection ............................................................................................................................................. 237

8.1.4 Access credentials for source ..................................................................................................................... 238

8.1.5 When to validate ......................................................................................................................................... 238

8.1.6 Task credentials ........................................................................................................................................... 239

8.2 Exporting archives and backups ............................................................................................239

8.2.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 242

8.2.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 242

8.2.3 Access credentials for source ..................................................................................................................... 242

8.2.4 Destination selection .................................................................................................................................. 243

8.2.5 Access credentials for destination ............................................................................................................. 244

8.3 Mounting an image ................................................................................................................245

8.3.1 Archive selection ......................................................................................................................................... 245

8.3.2 Backup selection .......................................................................................................................................... 246

8.3.3 Access credentials ....................................................................................................................................... 246

8.3.4 Volume selection ......................................................................................................................................... 247

8.3.5 Managing mounted images........................................................................................................................ 247

8.4 Operations available in vaults................................................................................................247

8.4.1 Operations with archives ............................................................................................................................ 248

8.4.2 Operations with backups ............................................................................................................................ 248

8.4.3 Converting a backup to full ......................................................................................................................... 250

8.4.4 Deleting archives and backups ................................................................................................................... 250

9 Bootable media ................................................................................................................. 252

9.1 How to create bootable media ..............................................................................................253

9.1.1 Linux-based bootable media ...................................................................................................................... 253

9.1.2 WinPE-based bootable media .................................................................................................................... 257

9.2 Connecting to a machine booted from media .......................................................................260

9.3 Working under bootable media ............................................................................................261

9.3.1 Setting up a display mode .......................................................................................................................... 262

9.3.2 Configuring iSCSI and NDAS devices .......................................................................................................... 262

9.4 List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media .............................263

9.5 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager .......................................................................................264

9.6 Acronis PXE Server .................................................................................................................264

9.6.1 Acronis PXE Server Installation ................................................................................................................... 265

9.6.2 Setting up a machine to boot from PXE .................................................................................................... 265

9.6.3 Work across subnets ................................................................................................................................... 266

10 Disk management .............................................................................................................. 267

10.1 Supported file systems ..........................................................................................................267

10.2 Basic precautions ...................................................................................................................267

10.3 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite ........................................................................................268

10.4 Choosing the operating system for disk management ..........................................................268

10.5 "Disk management" view ......................................................................................................269

10.6 Disk operations ......................................................................................................................269

10.6.1 Disk initialization .......................................................................................................................................... 270

10.6.2 Basic disk cloning ......................................................................................................................................... 270

10.6.3 Disk conversion: MBR to GPT ..................................................................................................................... 272

10.6.4 Disk conversion: GPT to MBR ..................................................................................................................... 273

10.6.5 Disk conversion: basic to dynamic ............................................................................................................. 273

10.6.6 Disk conversion: dynamic to basic ............................................................................................................. 274

10.6.7 Changing disk status .................................................................................................................................... 275

10.7 Volume operations ................................................................................................................275

10.7.1 Creating a volume ....................................................................................................................................... 275

10.7.2 Delete volume ............................................................................................................................................. 279

10.7.3 Set active volume ........................................................................................................................................ 280

10.7.4 Change volume letter ................................................................................................................................. 280

10.7.5 Change volume label ................................................................................................................................... 280

10.7.6 Format volume ............................................................................................................................................ 281

10.8 Pending operations ................................................................................................................282

11 Protecting applications with disk-level backup .................................................................... 283

11.1 Backing up an application server ...........................................................................................283

11.1.1 Locating database files ................................................................................................................................ 285

11.1.2 Truncating transaction logs ........................................................................................................................ 288

11.1.3 Best practices when backing up application servers ................................................................................ 291

11.2 Recovering SQL Server data ...................................................................................................293

11.2.1 Recovering SQL Server databases from a disk backup ............................................................................. 293

11.2.2 Accessing SQL Server databases from a disk backup ............................................................................... 294

11.2.3 Attaching SQL Server databases ................................................................................................................ 295

11.3 Recovering Exchange Server data ..........................................................................................295

11.3.1 Recovering Exchange Server database files from a disk backup ............................................................. 295

11.3.2 Mounting Exchange Server databases ...................................................................................................... 296

11.3.3 Granular recovery of mailboxes ................................................................................................................. 296

11.4 Recovering Active Directory data ..........................................................................................297

11.4.1 Recovering a domain controller (other DCs are available) ...................................................................... 297

11.4.2 Recovering a domain controller (no other DCs are available) ................................................................. 298

11.4.3 Restoring the Active Directory database ................................................................................................... 299

11.4.4 Restoring accidentally deleted information .............................................................................................. 300

11.4.5 Avoiding a USN rollback .............................................................................................................................. 300

11.5 Recovering SharePoint data ..................................................................................................302

11.5.1 Recovering a content database .................................................................................................................. 302

11.5.2 Recovering configuration and service databases ..................................................................................... 303

11.5.3 Recovering individual items........................................................................................................................ 304

12 Protecting Microsoft SQL Server with single-pass backup .................................................... 306

12.1 General information ..............................................................................................................306

12.1.1 Agent for SQL ............................................................................................................................................... 306

12.1.2 Supported operating systems .................................................................................................................... 307

12.1.3 Supported Microsoft SQL Server versions ................................................................................................. 307

12.1.4 Permissions for SQL Server backup and recovery .................................................................................... 307

12.1.5 What else you need to know about single-pass backup .......................................................................... 308

12.2 Installation of Agent for SQL ..................................................................................................309

12.3 Backing up Microsoft SQL server ...........................................................................................309

12.3.1 Single-pass backup settings ........................................................................................................................ 310

12.4 Recovering Microsoft SQL Server data ..................................................................................311

12.4.1 Recovering SQL databases to instances .................................................................................................... 311

12.4.2 Extracting the database files to folders ..................................................................................................... 313

12.5 Mounting SQL Server databases from a single-pass backup .................................................314

12.5.1 Unmounting mounted SQL Server databases ........................................................................................... 314

12.6 Protecting clustered SQL Server instances and AAG .............................................................315

13 Protecting Microsoft Active Directory with single-pass backup ............................................ 317

13.1 Agent for Active Directory .....................................................................................................317

13.2 Supported operating systems ................................................................................................317

13.3 Installation of Agent for Active Directory ..............................................................................317

13.4 Backing up Microsoft Active Directory ..................................................................................318

13.5 Recovering Microsoft Active Directory ..................................................................................318

13.5.1 Re-promoting the domain controller ........................................................................................................ 319

13.5.2 Recovering the Active Directory data from a single-pass backup ........................................................... 319

14 Administering a managed machine ..................................................................................... 321

14.1 Backup plans and tasks ..........................................................................................................321

14.1.1 Actions on backup plans and tasks ............................................................................................................ 321

14.1.2 States and statuses of backup plans and tasks ......................................................................................... 323

14.1.3 Export and import of backup plans ............................................................................................................ 325

14.1.4 Deploying backup plans as files .................................................................................................................. 329

14.1.5 Backup plan details ..................................................................................................................................... 330

14.1.6 Task/activity details ..................................................................................................................................... 331

14.2 Log ..........................................................................................................................................331

14.2.1 Actions on log entries.................................................................................................................................. 332

14.2.2 Log entry details .......................................................................................................................................... 332

14.3 Alerts ......................................................................................................................................333

14.4 Changing a license .................................................................................................................334

14.5 Collecting system information ...............................................................................................335

14.6 Adjusting machine options ....................................................................................................335

14.6.1 Additional settings....................................................................................................................................... 335

14.6.2 Acronis Customer Experience Program ..................................................................................................... 336

14.6.3 Alerts ............................................................................................................................................................ 336

14.6.4 E-mail settings ............................................................................................................................................. 337

14.6.5 Event tracing ................................................................................................................................................ 338

14.6.6 Log cleanup rules ......................................................................................................................................... 340

14.6.7 Machine management................................................................................................................................ 341

14.6.8 Cloud backup proxy ..................................................................................................................................... 341

15 Centralized management ................................................................................................... 343

15.1 Understanding centralized management ..............................................................................343

15.1.1 Basic concepts ............................................................................................................................................. 343

15.1.2 Privileges for centralized management ..................................................................................................... 344

15.1.3 Communication between Acronis Backup components .......................................................................... 348

15.2 Back up now ...........................................................................................................................352

15.3 Creating a centralized backup plan........................................................................................353

15.3.1 Selecting data to back up ............................................................................................................................ 353

15.3.2 Selection rules for files and folders ............................................................................................................ 355

15.3.3 Selection rules for volumes ........................................................................................................................ 356

15.3.4 Backup location selection ........................................................................................................................... 359

15.3.5 Centralized backup plan's credentials ....................................................................................................... 360

15.3.6 What if a machine does not have data meeting the selection rules ....................................................... 361

15.4 Administering Acronis Backup Management Server .............................................................362

15.4.1 Dashboard .................................................................................................................................................... 362

15.4.2 Machines with agents ................................................................................................................................. 363

15.4.3 Virtual machines .......................................................................................................................................... 376

15.4.4 Backup plans and tasks ............................................................................................................................... 377

15.4.5 Storage nodes .............................................................................................................................................. 379

15.4.6 Licenses ........................................................................................................................................................ 379

15.4.7 Alerts ............................................................................................................................................................ 381

15.4.8 Reporting ..................................................................................................................................................... 383

15.4.9 Log ................................................................................................................................................................ 388

15.4.10 Management server options ...................................................................................................................... 389

15.5 Configuring Acronis Backup components ..............................................................................395

15.5.1 Parameters set through administrative template .................................................................................... 395

16 Cloud backup ..................................................................................................................... 410

16.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup ...................................................................................410

16.1.1 What is Acronis Cloud Backup? .................................................................................................................. 410

16.1.2 What data can I back up and recover? ...................................................................................................... 410

16.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage? ........................................................................ 410

16.1.4 How do I secure my data? .......................................................................................................................... 411

16.1.5 How do I back up virtual machines to the cloud storage? ....................................................................... 411

16.1.6 Supported operating systems and virtualization products ...................................................................... 412

16.1.7 Backup and recovery FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 413

16.1.8 Initial Seeding FAQ ...................................................................................................................................... 414

16.1.9 Large Scale Recovery FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 419

16.1.10 Subscription lifecycle FAQ .......................................................................................................................... 421

16.2 Where do I start? ...................................................................................................................423

16.3 Choosing a subscription .........................................................................................................423

16.4 Activating cloud backup subscriptions ..................................................................................424

16.4.1 Activating subscriptions in Acronis Backup Advanced ............................................................................. 424

16.4.2 Reassigning an activated subscription ....................................................................................................... 425

16.5 Configuring proxy settings .....................................................................................................426

16.6 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser ..........................................427

16.7 Limitations of the cloud storage ............................................................................................428

16.8 Terminology reference ..........................................................................................................429

17 Glossary ............................................................................................................................ 431

1 Introducing Acronis Backup

1.1 What's new in Update 3

Rebranding

 Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 is renamed to Acronis Backup. The advanced product editions

are now called the Acronis Backup Advanced suite.

Licensing

 The Universal Restore feature is included in all Acronis Backup and Acronis Backup Advanced

licenses. The Deduplication feature is included in all Acronis Backup Advanced licenses. The

Universal Restore and Deduplication add-on licenses are deprecated.

 Agent for Exchange, Agent for SQL, and Agent for Active Directory can be installed by using any

Acronis Backup Advanced license for virtual environments. No additional licenses are required.

Cloud backup

 The Acronis Backup & Recovery Online service is renamed to Acronis Cloud Backup.

 Cloud backup is now available for machines running Linux.

 Cloud backup subscriptions for Servers and for Virtual Machines are deprecated. Users can

renew these subscriptions to volume subscriptions (p. 423).

OS support

 Support for Windows MultiPoint Server 2012 and Windows Storage Server 2012 R2.

 Support for Linux kernel up to version 3.12.

 Support for Fedora 19, Fedora 20, and Debian 7.

1.2 What's new in Update 2

 Single-pass backup of Microsoft Active Directory data (p. 317)

 Back up a domain controller to any backup destination including Acronis Online Backup

Storage.

 Recover the entire domain controller without a risk of a USN rollback.

 Extract Microsoft Active Directory data from a backup and replace the corrupted data in a

few simple steps.

 Recovery of Exchange 2013 mailboxes and their contents from database backups to .pst files.

 Support for volume subscriptions to Acronis Backup & Recovery Online (p. 423).

 Support for WinPE 5.0.

 Support for Ubuntu 13.10.

1.3 What's new in Update 1

Improvements added in build 37975

 Basic support for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

 Installation of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 in the trial mode without a license key.

 Upgrade from a stand-alone product to the advanced platform without reinstalling the software.

 Backup and recovery with Agent for ESX(i): VMware vSphere 5.5.

 Backup and recovery from inside a guest system: Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.2, Oracle

VM VirtualBox 4.x.

 Support for Linux kernel up to version 3.9.

 Support for Ubuntu 12.10, 13.04, and Fedora 18.

Added support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 (starting with build 37687)

 Back up and recover Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 databases by using Agent for Exchange.

Backup and recovery of Exchange 2013 mailboxes (including mailbox recovery from database

backups) are not yet supported, but will be added in future updates.

 Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 1 (CU1) and later are supported.

Single-pass backup of Microsoft SQL Server data (p. 306)

 Use a single solution and a single backup plan for both disaster recovery and data protection

purposes.

 Back up a machine and recover disks, volumes, files, or Microsoft SQL databases.

 Recover Microsoft SQL databases directly to a running SQL Server instance, or extract them as

files onto a file system.

 Truncate SQL Server logs after a backup.

 Use any backup destination including Acronis Online Backup Storage.

 Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is supported, as well as the previous Microsoft SQL Server versions.

Basic support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 (p. 49)

 Install Agent for Windows, Agent for SQL (single-pass), and management components in

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

 Boot a machine from bootable media that is based on WinPE 4.

 Use bootable media on a machine where UEFI Secure Boot is enabled.

 Back up and recover (without resize) volumes that have the ReFS file system or any data on these

volumes.

 Back up storage spaces and recover them to the original location, to different storage spaces or

as ordinary disks.

 Back up and recover (at a disk level) volumes where the Data Deduplication feature is enabled.

Virtualization

Support for new virtualization platforms:

 Back up and recover with Agent for ESX(i): VMware vSphere 5.1.

 Back up and recover with Agent for Hyper-V: Hyper-V 3.0.

Agent for Hyper-V cannot be installed in Windows 8, even though this operating system includes

the Hyper-V feature.

 Back up and recover from inside a guest system: Oracle VM Server 3.0, Red Hat Enterprise

Virtualization 3.1.

Linux

 Support for Oracle Linux 5.x, 6.x – both Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel and Red Hat Compatible

Kernel

Other

 Completely disable backup cataloging (p. 104) on a managed machine, storage node, or the

management server.

 Save a Disaster Recovery Plan (p. 112) to a local or network folder, in addition to sending it via

e-mail.

 Enable VSS Full backup (p. 128) to truncate logs of VSS-aware applications after a disk-level

backup.

 Boot a UEFI machine from bootable media that is based on 64-bit WinPE (p. 257).

 Add the %description% variable (the description shown in system properties of a Windows

machine) to the e-mail notification subject (p. 113).

1.4 What's new in Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5

Expanding the backup and recovery capabilities in physical, virtual, and cloud environments, Acronis

has now added backup and recovery of the Microsoft Exchange Server data.

The following is a summary of the product's new features and enhancements.

Backup and recovery of Microsoft Exchange Server data

Key features

 Support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

Acronis Backup supports Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 as well as Microsoft Exchange Server

2003/2007.

 Express full backup method

This method is based on monitoring changes of the Exchange database files. Once the initial full

backup is taken, all subsequent backups will only back up changes to this database without

needing to read the entire database file. Combining this method with the data deduplication

functionality makes it possible to back up large databases of 1TB or more during business hours

and even over WANs.

 Exchange clustering support

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 supports SCC, CCR and DAG cluster configurations. You can

choose to back up database replicas rather than active databases for minimal production impact.

If the Mailbox role is moved to another server due to a switchover or a failover, the software will

track all relocations of the data and safely back it up.

 Continuous Data Protection

By using Continuous Data Protection, you can revert Exchange data to almost any point in time. If

the most recent transaction log file survived, you can revert Exchange data to the point of failure.

 Backup destinations

The backups can be saved to any type of storage supported by Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5,

except for Acronis Online Backup Storage, Acronis Secure Zone, and removable media.

 Enhanced granular recovery

Browse Exchange Server database or mailbox backups and recover single or multiple mailboxes

or just specific e-mails. You can also recover calendar items, notes, tasks and journal entries.

 New recovery destinations

Besides being able to recover data to a live Exchange server, you can recover

 Exchange databases to regular disk folders.

 E-mails and mailboxes to .pst files.

Virtualization

 Support for UEFI-based virtual machines (p. 49) (applies to VMware ESXi 5 only)

Back up and recover virtual machines that use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).

Convert a UEFI-based physical machine (p. 168) to a virtual machine that uses the same boot

firmware.

 File-level recovery

Recover individual files and folders to the agent's local file system (in Windows only), a network

share, FTP or SFTP server.

 Support for Changed Block Tracking (CBT) (applies to VMware ESX(i) 4.0 and later)

Perform faster incremental and differential backups of ESX(i) virtual machines by using the

Changed Block Tracking (CBT) feature of ESX(i).

 Support for VM templates

Back up and recover virtual machine templates the same way as normal ESX(i) virtual machines.

 Bare-metal recovery of Microsoft Hyper-V hosts

Back up an entire Hyper-V host along with its virtual machines without interrupting its normal

operation. You can then recover the host to the same or a different hardware.

 Enhanced support for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environments

Back up and recover virtual machines running in a RHEV environment. Migrate physical machines

to the RHEV environment (P2V); and migrate a virtual machine from a different virtualization

platform to the RHEV platform (V2V).

Installation

 Remote installation of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 Agent for Linux.

Support for various types of storage

Acronis Online Backup Storage (only for machines running Windows and virtual machines)

 Replicating or moving backups to Acronis Online Backup Storage (p. 102).

 The Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi backup schemes are now available when

backing up to Acronis Online Backup Storage.

Tapes (only for advanced editions, now called Acronis Backup Advanced)

 File-level recovery is possible from disk backups stored on tapes.

This feature can be enabled or disabled by setting the corresponding tape management option (p.

125).

Centralized management

 Vault selection in Data catalog (p. 135)

You can select the vault to recover the data from, if the backed-up data has multiple replicas

stored in more than one managed vault.

Linux

 Support for Linux kernel up to 3.6

 Support for the following Linux distributions:

 Ubuntu 11.04, 11.10, 12.04

 Fedora 15, 16, 17

 Debian 6

 CentOS 6.x

 Support for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) (p. 49)

Back up a UEFI-based machine running Linux and recover it to the same or a different UEFI-based

machine.

Bootable media

 New Linux kernel version (3.4.5) in Linux-based bootable media. The new kernel makes for better

hardware support.

Usability

 Support for 800x600 screen resolution

1.5 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.

1.5.1 Agent for Windows

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

Disk backup

Disk-level data protection is based on backing up either a disk or a volume file system as a whole,

along with all the information necessary for the operating system to boot; or all the disk sectors using

the sector-by-sector approach (raw mode). A backup that contains a copy of a disk or a volume in a

packaged form is called a disk (volume) backup or a disk (volume) image. It is possible to recover

disks or volumes as a whole from such backup, as well as individual folders or files.

File backup

File-level data protection is based on backing up files and folders residing on the machine where the

agent is installed or on a network share. Files can be recovered to their original location or to another

place. It is possible to recover all files and folders that were backed up or select which of them to

recover.

Other operations

Conversion to a virtual machine

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.

Recovery to dissimilar hardware

You can use the restore to dissimilar hardware functionality on the machine where the agent is

installed and create bootable media with this functionality. Acronis Universal Restore handles

differences in devices that are critical for the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers,

motherboard or chipset.

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.

1.5.2 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.

Recovery to dissimilar hardware

You can use the restore to dissimilar hardware functionality on the machine where the agent is

installed and create bootable media with this functionality. Acronis Universal Restore handles

differences in devices that are critical for the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers,

motherboard or chipset.

1.5.3 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 is delivered in two versions:

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

 For off-loaded backup, Agent for VMware (Windows) can be installed on a machine running

Windows.

1.5.4 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.

Agent for Hyper-V can be installed in the following operating systems:

Windows Server 2008 (x64) with Hyper-V

Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008/2008 R2

Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 with Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012/2012 R2

Agent for Hyper-V cannot be installed in Windows 8/8.1, even though this operating system includes

the Hyper-V feature.

1.5.5 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. 15) or on a machine where Agent for Windows is

already installed.

1.5.6 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. 15) or on a machine where Agent for Windows is

already installed.

1.5.7 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.

1.5.7.1 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. 440) 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. 435) for storing enterprise backup archives (p. 432)

 the ability to manage storage nodes (p. 442)

 the centralized catalog (p. 436) 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.

1.5.7.2 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. 229) 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. 18). Direct console connection to a storage node is not possible.

1.5.7.3 Components for Remote Installation

These are Acronis component installation packages used by the management console (p. 19) 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. 18). 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".

1.5.7.4 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. 433) 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.

1.5.7.5 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. 379) is similar for both types of

installation.

1.5.8 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.

1.5.9 Bootable Media Builder

Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. 433). 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.

1.5.10 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.

1.6 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 installed in the trial mode, Acronis Backup has the following limitation:

 The Universal Restore functionality is disabled.

Additional limitations for 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. 334). 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. 410), cloud

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

license key.

1.7 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 (p. 49) 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

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ACRONIS Backup Advanced 11.5 User guide

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