User Manual: acronis Backup Advanced - User Guide Free User Guide for Acronis Backup Software, Manual
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Acronis Backup Advanced Version 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 USER GUIDE Copyright Statement Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, All rights reserved. “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 manicapital.com 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 manicapital.com Acronis patented technologies Technologies, used in this product, are covered and protected by one or more U.S. Patent Numbers: 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 7,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,,; 8,, and patent pending applications. 2 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Table of contents 1 Introducing Acronis Backup 10 What's new in Acronis Backup Acronis Backup components Agent for Windows 12 Agent for Linux 12 Agent for VMware 13 Agent for Hyper-V 13 Agent for SQL 13 Agent for Active Directory 13 Components for centralized management 13 Management Console 15 Bootable Media Builder 15 Acronis Wake-on-LAN Proxy 15 About using the product in the trial mode Supported file systems Technical Support 2 Getting started 18 Using the management console "Navigation" pane 22 Main area, views and action pages 24 Console options 26 3 Understanding Acronis Backup 29 Owners Credentials used in backup plans and tasks User privileges on a managed machine List of Acronis services Full, incremental and differential backups What does a disk or volume backup store? About dynamic and logical volumes Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows) 36 Backup and recovery of logical volumes and MD devices (Linux) 38 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks Support for UEFI-based machines Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server Compatibility with encryption software Support for SNMP 4 Backup 50 Back up now Creating a backup plan 3 Selecting data to back up 52 Access credentials for source 54 Source files exclusion 55 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Simplified naming of backup files Daily schedule 79 Weekly schedule 81 Monthly schedule 83 On Windows Event Log event 85 Advanced scheduling settings 87 Conditions 88 Replication and retention of backups Supported locations 93 Setting up replication of backups 94 Setting up retention of backups 94 Retention rules for the Custom scheme 95 Usage examples 97 How to disable backup cataloging Default backup options 4 The 18.09.2019 variable 73 Backup splitting and simplified file naming 74 Usage examples 74 Scheduling Backup location selection 56 Access credentials for archive location 59 Backup schemes 60 Archive validation 69 Backup plan's credentials 70 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup) 70 Sequence of operations in a backup plan 72 Why is the program asking for the password? 72 Additional settings Archive protection Backup cataloging Backup performance Backup splitting Compression level Disaster recovery plan (DRP) E-mail notifications Error handling Event tracing Fast incremental/differential backup File-level backup snapshot File-level security LVM snapshotting Media components Mount points Multi-volume snapshot Pre/Post commands Pre/Post data capture commands Replication/cleanup inactivity time Sector-by-sector backup Tape management Task failure handling Task start conditions Volume Shadow Copy Service Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 5 Recovery Creating a recovery task Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa Recovering volumes Recovering disks Acronis Active Restore Bootability troubleshooting How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration About Windows loaders Reverting a Windows system to its factory settings Default recovery options Additional settings E-mail notifications Error handling Event tracing File-level security Mount points Pre/Post commands Recovery priority Tape management 6 Conversion to a virtual machine Conversion methods Conversion to an automatically created virtual machine Considerations before conversion Setting up regular conversion to a virtual machine Recovery to the ''New virtual machine'' destination Recovery to a manually created virtual machine Considerations before conversion Steps to perform 7 Storing the backed up data Vaults Working with vaults Centralized vaults Personal vaults Changing the default cache folder for catalog files Acronis Secure Zone Creating Acronis Secure Zone Managing Acronis Secure Zone Removable devices Tape devices 5 What to recover Access credentials for location Access credentials for destination Where to recover When to recover Task credentials What is a tape device? Overview of tape support Getting started with a tape device Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Storage nodes What is a storage node? Supported types of storage Operations performed by storage nodes Getting started with a storage node User privileges on a storage node Operations with storage nodes Deduplication 8 Operations with archives and backups Validating archives and backups Archive selection Backup selection Access credentials for source Destination selection Access credentials for destination Mounting an image Archive selection Backup selection Vault selection Access credentials for source When to validate Task credentials Exporting archives and backups Archive selection Backup selection Access credentials Volume selection Managing mounted images Operations available in vaults Operations with archives Operations with backups Converting a backup to full Deleting archives and backups 9 Bootable media How to create bootable media Linux-based bootable media WinPE-based bootable media Connecting to a machine booted from media Working under bootable media Setting up a display mode Configuring iSCSI and NDAS devices List of commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media Acronis Startup Recovery Manager Acronis PXE Server 6 Tape management Vaults on tapes Usage examples Acronis PXE Server Installation Setting up a machine to boot from PXE Work across subnets Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 10 Disk management Supported file systems Basic precautions Running Acronis Disk Director Lite Choosing the operating system for disk management "Disk management" view Disk operations Disk initialization Basic disk cloning Disk conversion: MBR to GPT Disk conversion: GPT to MBR Disk conversion: basic to dynamic Disk conversion: dynamic to basic Changing disk status Volume operations Creating a volume Delete volume Set active volume Change volume letter Change volume label Format volume Pending operations 11 Protecting applications with disk-level backup Backing up an application server Locating database files Truncating transaction logs Best practices when backing up application servers Recovering SQL Server data Recovering SQL Server databases from a disk backup Accessing SQL Server databases from a disk backup Attaching SQL Server databases Recovering Exchange Server data Recovering Exchange Server database files from a disk backup Mounting Exchange Server databases Granular recovery of mailboxes Recovering Active Directory data Recovering a domain controller (other DCs are available) Recovering a domain controller (no other DCs are available) Restoring the Active Directory database Restoring accidentally deleted information Avoiding a USN rollback Recovering SharePoint data Recovering a content database Recovering configuration and service databases Recovering individual items 12 Protecting Microsoft SQL Server with single-pass backup General information 7 Agent for SQL Supported operating systems Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Supported Microsoft SQL Server versions Permissions for SQL Server backup and recovery What else you need to know about single-pass backup Installation of Agent for SQL Backing up Microsoft SQL server Single-pass backup settings Recovering Microsoft SQL Server data Recovering SQL databases to instances Extracting the database files to folders Mounting SQL Server databases from a single-pass backup Unmounting mounted SQL Server databases Protecting clustered SQL Server instances and AAG 13 Protecting Microsoft Active Directory with single-pass backup Agent for Active Directory Supported operating systems Installation of Agent for Active Directory Backing up Microsoft Active Directory Recovering Microsoft Active Directory Re-promoting the domain controller Recovering the Active Directory data from a single-pass backup 14 Administering a managed machine Backup plans and tasks Actions on backup plans and tasks States and statuses of backup plans and tasks Export and import of backup plans Deploying backup plans as files Backup plan details Task/activity details Log Actions on log entries Log entry details Alerts Changing a license Collecting system information Adjusting machine options Additional settings Acronis Customer Experience Program Alerts E-mail settings Event tracing Log cleanup rules Machine management Cloud backup proxy 15 Centralized management Understanding centralized management 8 Basic concepts Privileges for centralized management Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Communication between Acronis Backup components Back up now Creating a centralized backup plan Selecting data to back up Selection rules for files and folders Selection rules for volumes Backup location selection Centralized backup plan's credentials What if a machine does not have data meeting the selection rules Administering Acronis Backup Management Server Dashboard Machines with agents Virtual machines Backup plans and tasks Storage nodes Licenses Alerts Reporting Log Management server options Configuring Acronis Backup components Parameters set by using Acronis Administrative Template Parameters set by using Windows registry 16 Cloud backup Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup What is Acronis Cloud Backup? What data can I back up and recover? How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage? How do I secure my data? How do I back up virtual machines to the cloud storage? Supported operating systems and virtualization products Backup and recovery FAQ Initial Seeding FAQ Large Scale Recovery FAQ Subscription lifecycle FAQ Where do I start? Choosing a subscription Configuring proxy settings Checking the firewall settings Activating cloud backup subscriptions Activating subscriptions in Acronis Backup Advanced Reassigning an activated subscription Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser Limitations of the cloud storage Terminology reference 17 9 Glossary Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 1 Introducing Acronis Backup What's new in Acronis Backup Installation Microsoft SQL Server 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 MB of RAM per 1 TB of unique data are required, instead of 3 GB. Recovery from a deduplicated backup is now 40 percent faster. No need to allocate the deduplication database on expensive SSD disks. Regular HDD disks can be used without performance degradation. The backup speed does not reduce as the deduplication database size increases. The Storage Node startup time on large data sets is reduced to minutes. Validating deduplicated backups and compacting the data store are now times faster. These improvements are effective when v agents back up to deduplicating vaults created on v 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. ) 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. ) 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. ). Microsoft Exchange Server support Agent for Exchange can back up and recover Microsoft Exchange Server databases. Backup and recovery of Exchange mailboxes (including mailbox recovery from database backups) are not supported. Supported operating systems 10 Support for Windows Server Technical Preview 4. Support for Linux kernel version , , and Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux , Oracle Linux , ClearOS, Debian , Ubuntu , and Fedora Support for Windows in Acronis Backup Advanced is limited. Components of v cannot be installed in this operating system. To back up machines that run Windows , use the agents of v The v agents are compatible with the management components of v Acronis Backup for Windows Server and Acronis Backup for PC cannot be installed in Windows To back up machines that run this operating system, use v Acronis Backup v supports Windows 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. 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. 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. 11 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 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. 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. 12 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 13 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 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 integration with VMware vCenter to discover virtual machines for protection an easy way to protect data on numerous machines (p. ) using centralized backup plans and grouping enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality built-in license management the ability to create centralized vaults (p. ) for storing enterprise backup archives (p. ) the ability to manage storage nodes (p. ) the centralized catalog (p. ) 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. 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. ) 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. 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". PXE Server Acronis PXE Server allows for booting machines into Acronis bootable components through the network. The network booting: 14 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Eliminates the need to have a technician onsite to install the bootable media (p. ) 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. 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. ) is similar for both types of installation. 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. Bootable Media Builder Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media (p. ). 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. 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. 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: 15 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 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. ). 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. ), cloud backup will be available until the subscription period expires, regardless of whether you specify a license key. Supported file systems Acronis Backup can back up and recover the following file systems with the following limitations: FAT16/32 Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 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 NTFS ReFS - volume recovery without the volume resize capability. Supported in Windows Server / R2 and Windows Server (p. 45) only. ReiserFS3 - particular files cannot be recovered from disk backups located on Acronis Backup Storage Node Acronis Backup can back up and recover corrupted or non-supported file systems using the sector-by-sector approach. Technical Support Maintenance and Support Program If you need assistance with your Acronis product, please go to manicapital.com 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 (manicapital.com) and registering the product. See Registering Acronis Products at the Website 16 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, (manicapital.com) and Acronis Website User Guide (manicapital.com). 17 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 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. 18 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, c. Follow the on-screen instructions. Step 2. Running Run Acronis Backup Management Console. In Windows Start the console by selecting 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 Acronis Backup from the Start menu. /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. ). 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. 19 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 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. ). Step 6. Recovery Recover (p. ) 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. ). Navigate to the Vaults (p. ) 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. ). Use the 20 Virtual machines (p. ) view to manage supported virtualization environments. Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, If you opt for storing all backup archives in a single or a few networked locations, create centralized vaults in these locations. After a vault is created, you can view and administer its content by selecting Vaults > Centralized > 'Vault name' in the Navigation pane. The shortcut to the vault will be deployed to all the registered machines. The vault can be specified as a backup destination in any backup plan created by you or by the registered machines' users. Create centralized managed vaults on the storage node (p. ) to be able to: Search the Data catalog (p. ) for the required version of backed up data in all of the managed vaults. Back up multiple machines to tape devices (p. ) attached to the storage node. Use deduplication (p. ) to minimize storage space taken by the data and reduce network load during backup. Using the management console As soon as the console connects to a managed machine (p. ) or to a management server (p. ), the respective items appear across the console's workspace (in the menu, in the main area with the Welcome screen, or in the Navigation pane) enabling you to perform agent-specific or server-specific operations. Acronis Backup Management Console - Welcome screen Key elements of the console workspace 21 Name Description Navigation pane Contains the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar. Lets you navigate to the different views. For details, see Navigation pane (p. 22). Main area Here you configure and monitor backup, recovery and other operations. The main area displays views and action pages (p. 24) depending on the items selected in the menu or Navigation tree. Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Menu bar Appears across the top of the program window. Lets you perform most of operations available in Acronis Backup. The menu items change dynamically depending on the item selected in the Navigation tree and the main area. "Navigation" pane The navigation pane includes the Navigation tree and the Shortcuts bar. Navigation tree The Navigation tree enables you to navigate across the program views. Views depend on whether the console is connected to a managed machine or to the management server. In both cases, you can choose between the Full list or the Short list of views. The Short list contains the most frequently used views from the Full list. Views for a managed machine When the console is connected to a managed machine, the following views are available in the navigation tree. The Short list displays [Machine name]. This is the root of the tree also called a Welcome screen. It displays the name of the machine the console is currently connected to. Use this view for quick access to the main operations, available on the managed machine. Backup plans and tasks. Use this view to manage backup plans and tasks on the managed machine: run, edit, stop and delete plans and tasks, view their progress. Vaults. Use this view to manage personal vaults and archives stored in there, add new vaults, rename and delete the existing ones, validate vaults, explore backup content, perform operations on archives and backups, etc. If the machine is registered on the management server, you can browse the centralized vaults and perform operations on the archives for which you have the appropriate permissions. Alerts. Use this view to examine warning messages for the managed machine. The Full list additionally displays Tape management. Use this view to perform operations with tapes. Disk management. Use this view to perform operations on the machine's hard disk drives. Log. Use this view to examine information on operations performed by the program on the managed machine. Mounted images. This node is displayed if at least one volume is mounted. Use this view to manage mounted images. Views for a management server When the console is connected to a management server, the following views are available in the navigation tree. The Short list displays 22 [Management server name]. This is the root of the tree also called a Welcome screen. Displays the name of the management server the console is currently connected to. Use this view for quick access to the main operations, available on the management server. Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Dashboard. Use this view to estimate at a glance whether the data is successfully protected on the machines registered on the management server. Machines with agents. Use this view to manage machines registered on the management server. Backup plans and tasks. Use this view to manage centralized backup plans and tasks on the management server. Vaults. Use this view to manage centralized vaults and archives stored in there: create new centralized vaults, rename and delete the existing ones, assign vault users and administrators, perform operations on archives and backups. Alerts. Use this view to examine warning messages for the management server and all the registered machines. The Full list additionally displays Data catalog. Use this view for quick search of the required version of backed up data in the centralized managed vaults. Virtual machines. Use this view to manage supported virtualization environments. Storage nodes. Use this view to manage storage nodes. Add a storage node to be able to create centralized vaults that will be managed by the node. Tape management. Use this view to perform operations with tapes. Licenses. Use this view manage licenses. Reports. Use this view to generate reports. Log. Use this view to examine the history of centralized management operations, as well as the history of operations logged in the local logs of the registered machines and the storage nodes. Shortcuts bar The Shortcuts bar appears under the navigation tree. It offers you an easy and convenient way of connection to the machines in demand by adding them as shortcuts. To add a shortcut to a machine 1. Connect the console to a managed machine. 2. In the navigation tree, right-click the machine's name (a root element of the navigation tree), and then select Create shortcut. If the console and agent are installed on the same machine, the shortcut to this machine will be added to the shortcuts bar automatically as Local machine [Machine name]. Operations with pane How to expand/minimize panes By default, the Navigation pane appears expanded. You might need to minimize the pane in order to free some additional workspace. To do this, click the chevron ( ). The pane will be minimized and the chevron changes its direction ( ). Click the chevron once again to expand the pane. How to change the panes' borders 1. Point to the pane's border. 2. When the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the pointer to move the border. 23 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Main area, views and action pages The main area is a basic place where you work with the console. Here you create, edit and manage backup plans, recovery tasks and perform other operations. The main area displays different views and action pages according the items you select in the menu, or Navigation tree. Views A view appears on the main area when clicking any item in the Navigation tree in the Navigation pane (p. 22). "Log" view Common way of working with views Generally, every view contains a table of items, a table toolbar with buttons, and the Information panel. Use filtering and sorting (p. 24) capabilities to search the table for the item in question. Perform actions on the selected item. There are several ways of performing the same action on selected items: In the table, select the desired item. In the information panel (collapsed by default), view the item's details. To expand the panel, click the arrow mark ( ). By clicking the buttons on the table toolbar. By selecting the items in the Actions menu. By right-clicking the item and selecting the operation in the context menu. Sorting, filtering and configuring table items The following is a guideline to sort, filter and configure table items in any view. 24 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, To Do the following Sort items by any column Click a column's header to sort items in ascending order. Click it once again to sort items in descending order. Filter items by predefined column value In a field below the corresponding column's header, select the required value from the drop-down list. Filter items by entered value In a field below the corresponding column's header, type a value. As a result you will see the list of values, fully or just partly coincide with the entered value. Filter items by predefined parameters Click the appropriate buttons above the table. Show or hide table columns By default, any table has a fixed number of columns that are shown, others are hidden. If required, you can hide the shown columns and show the hidden ones. For example, in the Log view, you can filter the log entries by event type (Error, Warning, Information) or by the period when the event occurred (For last 24 hours, For last week, For last three months, or For custom period). To show or hide columns 1. Right-click any column header to open the context menu. 2. Click the items you want to be displayed/hidden. Action pages An action page appears in the main area when clicking any action item in the Actions menu. It contains steps you need to perform in order to create and launch any task or a backup plan. Action page - Create backup plan 25 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, Using controls and specifying settings Use active controls to specify a backup plan or recovery task settings and parameters. By default, such fields as credentials, options, comments, and some others are hidden. Most settings are configured by clicking the respective Show… links. Others are selected from the drop-down list, or typed manually in the page's fields. Action page - Controls Acronis Backup remembers the changes you made on the action pages. For example, if you started to create a backup plan, and then for any reason switched to another view without accomplishing the plan creation, you can click the Back navigation button on the menu. Or, if you have passed several steps forward, click the Down arrow and select the page where you started the plan creation from the list. Thus, you can perform the remaining steps and accomplish the backup plan creation. Navigation buttons Console options The console options define the way information is represented in the Graphical User Interface of Acronis Backup. To access the console options, select Options >
