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.
Copyright Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010

Other operations

Conversion to a virtual machine Rather than converting a disk backup to a virtual disk file, which requires additional operations to bring the virtual disk into use, Agent for Windows performs the conversion by recovering a disk backup to a new virtual machine of any of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, Parallels Workstation or Citrix XenServer virtual appliance. Files of the fully configured and operational machine will be placed in the folder you select. You can start the machine using the respective virtualization software or prepare the machine files for further usage. Disk management Agent for Windows includes Acronis Disk Director Lite - a handy disk management utility. Disk management operations, such as cloning disks; converting disks; creating, formatting and deleting volumes; changing a disk partitioning style between MBR and GPT or changing a disk label, can be performed either in the operating system or using bootable media.

1.1.1.1

Universal Restore
The Universal Restore add-on enables you to use the restore to dissimilar hardware functionality on the machine where the agent is installed, and create bootable media with this functionality. Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for Windows start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.

1.1.1.2

Deduplication
This add-on enables the agent to back up data to deduplicating vaults managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node.
This section lists the components included in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 editions that provide the centralized management capability. Besides these components, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agents have to be installed on all machines that need data protection.

1.1.2.1

Management Server
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server is the central server that drives data protection within the enterprise network. The management server provides the administrator with:
a single entry point to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 infrastructure an easy way to protect data on numerous machines using backup policies and grouping enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality the ability to create centralized vaults for storing enterprise backup archives the ability to manage 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.
The management server's databases
The management server uses three Microsoft SQL databases:
The configuration database that stores the list of registered machines and other configuration information, including backup policies created by the administrator. The synchronization database used for synchronization of the management server with registered machines and storage nodes. This is a database with rapidly changing operational data. The reporting database that stores the centralized log. This database may grow large. Its size depends on the logging level you set.
The configuration and synchronization databases should reside on the same Microsoft SQL Server (called an operational server) preferably installed on the same machine as the management server. The reporting database can be configured on the same or different SQL server. When installing a management server, you can select for both operational and reporting servers what server to use. The following options are available: 1. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express that comes with the installation package and installs on the same machine. In this case, an SQL server instance with three databases will be created on the machine. 2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (any edition) previously installed on any machine. 3. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (any edition) previously installed on any machine.
VMware vCenter integration
This feature provides the capability to view virtual machines managed by a VMware vCenter Server in the management server GUI, view the backup status of these machines in the vCenter, and automatically register virtual machines created by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 in the vCenter. Integration is available in all Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 advanced editions; a license for Virtual Edition is not required. No software installation is required on the vCenter Server. This feature also enables automatic deployment and configuration of Agent for ESX/ESXi to any ESX/ESXi server, that is not necessarily managed by the vCenter.

1.1.2.2

Storage Node
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node is a server aimed to optimize usage of various resources (such as the corporate storage capacity, the network bandwidth, or the managed machines' CPU load) required for the enterprise data protection. This goal is achieved through organizing and managing the locations that serve as dedicated storages of the enterprise backup archives (managed vaults). The storage nodes enable creating highly scalable and flexible, in terms of the hardware support, storage infrastructure. Up to 20 storage nodes can be set up, each being able to manage up to 20 vaults. The administrator controls the storage nodes centrally from the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server. Direct console connection to a storage node is not possible.
Setting up the storage infrastructure
Install the storage nodes, add them to the management server (the procedure is similar to the managed machine registration) and create centralized vaults. When creating a centralized vault, specify the path to the vault, the storage node that will manage the vault, and the management operations to be performed on the vault. A managed vault can be organized:
on the hard drives local to the storage node
on a network share on a Storage Area Network (SAN) on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) on a tape library locally attached to the storage node.
The management operations are as follows.
Storage node-side cleanup and validation
Archives, stored in unmanaged vaults, are maintained by the agents that create the archives. This means that each agent not only backs up data to the archive, but also executes service tasks that apply to the archive, the retention rules and validation rules specified by the backup plan. To relieve the managed machines of unnecessary CPU load, execution of the service tasks can be delegated to the storage node. Since the tasks' schedule exists on the machine the agent resides on, and therefore uses that machines time and events, the agent has to initiate the storage node-side cleanup and the storage node-side validation according to the schedule. To do so, the agent must be online. Further processing is performed by the storage node. This functionality cannot be disabled in a managed vault. The next two operations are optional.
A managed vault can be configured as a deduplicating vault. This means that identical data will be backed up to this vault only once to minimize the network usage during backup and storage space taken by the archives. For more information, please see the "Deduplication" section in the User Guide.

Encryption

A managed vault can be configured so that anything written to it is encrypted and anything read from it is decrypted transparently by the storage node, using a vault-specific encryption key stored on the node server. In case the storage medium is stolen or accessed by an unauthorized person, the malefactor will not be able to decrypt the vault contents without access to this specific storage node. If the archive is already encrypted by the agent, the storage node-side encryption is applied over the encryption performed by the agent.

700 MB 700 MB 950 MB
260 MB 300 MB 450 MB CD-RW or DVDRW drive Screen resolution 1024*768 pixels or higher
250 MB 400 MB for SQL Express Server
250 MB 400 MB for SQL Express Server 5 MB 150 MB When using a tape library, space required for tapes database: approx. 1 MB per 10 archives Recommended hardware: 4 GB RAM High speed storage such as hardware RAID
Wake-on-LAN Proxy Storage Node

Negligible 100 MB

30 MB 150 MB
License Server PXE Server

Negligible 5 MB

25 MB 80 MB

25 MB 15 MB

Network interface card or virtual network adapter is a common requirement for all the components.

Bootable media

Media type Based on Windows PE Linux-based Memory 512 MB 256 MB ISO image size 300 MB 130 MB Additional

License policy

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 licensing is based on the number of machines managed and protected by the product. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agents require a license to perform operations on each managed machine. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server SBS Edition (ABR10 AS SBS) Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Workstation (ABR10 AW) These editions include Acronis License Server that has to be installed prior to agent installation. License keys can be imported to the Acronis License Server from.txt or.eml files during the server installation or later on. One license key enables installation of the agent on a physical host and four virtual machines. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent connects to Acronis License Server every time the agent service is started and then every 15 days, as specified by the agent configuration parameters. If the agent is unable to connect to the license server or does not find the appropriate license key for 1-60 days (as specified by the configuration parameters), it stops working until there has been a successful license check. By default, the agent tries to connect to the license server every day and keeps working without a license server or license for 30 days.

Revoking makes used licenses available again. You may need it when:
A managed machine is taken out of service permanently. Revoke the license from the machine either before or after taking out the machine. A network card is replaced on a managed machine. Replacing a network card on a machine normally results in changing the MAC address and thus the agent on this machine becomes inoperable. Revoke the license from the machine either before or after replacing a network card. Once the machine is turned on, the agent accesses the license server and acquires any of the available licenses automatically. Thus the agent becomes fully operable. In the Available licenses view, select the product Click View usage info on the sidebar Select the host from which you wish to revoke the license (see the Host name column) Click Revoke license on the sidebar.
To revoke a license: 1. 2. 3. 4.
When an agent is uninstalled, its license is revoked from the license server if the license server is accessible at the time of uninstallation. This is the case for all agents except for Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for ESX/ESXi.
10 Copyright Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Using the Acronis License Server Management Tool
The LicenseServerCmdLine.exe file is located in the license server installation folder, by default it is \Program Files\Acronis\LicenseServer. LicenseServerCmdLine.exe uses the following syntax:
LicenseServerCmdLine [command] [option1] [option2]
LicenseServerCmdLine.exe supports the following commands and command options:
--status [servername or server IP-address]
Displays the status of the specified license server, i.e. the number of total/free licenses for each Acronis product.
--import [servername] [license key]
Adds a new license key to the specified license server. You can specify multiple license keys (space separated).
--import-file [servername] [filename]
Imports license keys from a.txt or.eml file.

--help

Shows usage.
2 Installation of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10
This section helps answer questions that might arise during the product installation.
Local installation (Windows)
You have a choice between downloading a full installation package and a small executable package that will download only those components that you select to install, from the Acronis Web site.

Preparation

Install Acronis License Server and import the licenses. You can skip this step when using a trial license key or when installing only components that do not require license keys.

To install the license server:
1. 2. 3. 4. Start the setup program. Click Install Acronis License Server. Accept the terms of the license agreement. Click Import keys from file. and specify the file containing the list of license keys. You can specify multiple files one by one or enter the license keys manually. Details. You will be able to import additional license keys later at any moment, by specifying a file containing the keys or by typing them in manually. 5. Use the default values for Install to: and Install for: 6. Proceed with installation. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 uses TCP port 9876 for local installation and for communication between components. The setup program automatically opens this port through Windows Firewall. If you use a different firewall, make sure that the port is open for both incoming and outgoing requests through that firewall.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Installation procedure
Do the following to install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10: Run the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 setup file. Click Install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Specify the name or IP address of the Acronis License Server, or type your trial license key. Select the components and specify the component features that you want to install. If prompted, specify one or more of the following parameters depending on your component selection:
Credentials for the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 component services. By default, the setup program will create a dedicated user account for each service. See "Specifying credentials for Acronis services (p. 13)". The names of Microsoft SQL servers to be used by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server. See "Specifying Microsoft SQL servers (p. 13)". Whether to register Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows and/or Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node on the management server. See "Registering components on the management server (p. 14)".
The names of users who will be allowed to connect to the machine remotely. See "Specifying users allowed to connect remotely (p. 14)".
The summary window displays the list of components that will be installed on the machine.
Note: In Windows, when canceling the installation process, only the last package is removed. Other components, if any, remain installed.
Specifying credentials for Acronis services
The Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server, and Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node components run as services. When installing any of these components, you need to specify the account under which the component's service will run. For each service, you can either create a dedicated user account (recommended in most cases) or specify an existing account of a local or domain userfor example:.\LocalUser or DomainName\DomainUser. If you choose to create dedicated user accounts for the services, the setup program will create the following user accounts:

Registering components on the management server
When installing Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows or Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node (or both), you need to specify whether to register these components on Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server. After the agent is registered on the management server, the machine can be centrally managed by management server administrators. Such machine is called a registered machine. After the storage node is registered on the management server, registered machines can back up data to and recover data from the storage node's centralized vaults.
To register the agent and/or the storage node during installation (recommended):
1. Click Register on the management server installed on the specified machine. 2. Specify the name or IP address of the machine with the management server. That machine must be online. It can be the local machinefor example, when the management server is among the components you are installing. 3. Specify the user name and password of a user who is a member of the Acronis Centralized Admins group on the management server's machine. If you are installing the management server on the local machine, specify the user name and password of a member of the Administrators group.
To skip registration: Click I will register the component(s) later.
After the installation, you can register the components on the management server or remove them from it, through the management server's interface.
Specifying users allowed to connect remotely
When installing Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows or Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server (or both), you need to specify the list of users whom you want to allow to manage the machine remotely by using Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console. By default, the list contains all members of the Administrators group on the machine; note that this includes the domain administrators (if the machine is in an Active Directory domain).
14 Copyright Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
The setup program creates the Acronis Remote Users group and adds the listed users to it. By adding or removing group members, you will add or remove users who are allowed to connect to the machine remotely.

Files\Acronis\BackupAndRecoveryConsole. If the management console is installed on a different machine, you can copy the script from that machine.
To install, reinstall, or update a component in the unattended mode
1. 2. 3. 4. Run the setup program. Click Extract installation files. Extract the component's installation package. Create a transform (an.mst file) for the installation package, by running the configuration script. For example, the following command creates a transform to install the agent for Windows with the trial license key ABCDE-54321:
mst_gen.vbs /msi_path C:\AcronisAgentWindows.msi /serial ABCDE-54321
See also the example later in this section. The complete syntax of the configuration script is described in "Configuration script parameters (p. 17)". 5. Do either of the following, depending on whether you are installing, reinstalling, or updating the component:
If you are installing the component, run Windows Installer (the msiexec program), specifying the names of both the installation package and the transform as follows: If you are reinstalling or updating the component, run Windows Installer as follows:
msiexec /i c:\AcronisAgentWindows.msi TRANSFORMS=AcronisAgentWindows.mst /qb
msiexec /i c:\AcronisAgentWindows.msi TRANSFORMS=AcronisAgentWindows.mst REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomus /qb
In an Active Directory domain, another way of performing unattended installation (but not reinstallation or update) is through Group Policysee Installing components using Group Policy (p. 19).

Example

Consider the following command, which creates a transform for the installation package of the agent for Windows:
mst_gen.vbs /msi_path C:\AcronisAgentWindows.msi /license_server licensesrv /product AS /account mydomain\agentuser MyPassWd /ams_address managementsrv /ams_user adminname AdminPassWd
After unattended installation with that transform:
The agent will use a license for the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server edition, by taking it from the license server installed on the licensesrv machine. The agent's service will run under the agentuser domain user account (of the mydomain domain) whose password is MyPassWd. The agent will be registered on Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server installed on the managementsrv machine; adminname and AdminPassWd are respectively the user name and password of a management server administrator.
Configuration script parameters
The configuration script mst_gen.vbs creates an.mst fileknown as a transform, a modification, or a modification filefor the installation package of an Acronis component, such as Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows.

By using the transform together with the installation package, you can install the component in the unattended mode, either by running the installation package manually or by deploying it through Group Policy. The following is the complete syntax of the configuration script: mst_gen.vbs /msi_path Full_Path [/current_user] [/target_dir Installation_Folder] {/serial License_Key [/old_serial Echo_License_Key] | /license_server License_Server /product Edition_Code} [/account User_Name Password] [/remote_users User1 User2. UserN] [/ams_address Management_Server /ams_user Admin_Name Password] [/cep_enabled] The script parameters are the following.

General parameters

/msi_path Full_Path Specifies a full path to the component's installation package. Enter a local path, such as D:\folder\AcronisAgentWindows.msi; or a universal naming convention (UNC) path, such as \\server\folder\AcronisAgentWindows.msi. /current_user Specifies that the component will be installed for the current user only, rather than for all users on a machine. This parameter is not effective when installing the component using Group Policy. /target_dir Installation_Folder Specifies the folder where to install the agent. Without this parameter, the agent will be installed to the default folder: %ProgramFiles%\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery
Agent-specific parameters
The following parameters are effective only when installing Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows. /serial License_Key Specifies the license key to use when installing the package. A license key is a sequence of letters and numerals separated by dashes. Enter the license key exactly, including the dashes. /old_serial Echo_License_Key When upgrading from Acronis True Image Echo, specifies the license key for that edition. Use this parameter with the /serial parameter. /license_server License_Server Specifies the name or IP address of the machine where Acronis License Server is installed. /product Edition_Code Specifies the code of your edition of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10. Use this parameter with the /license_server parameter. The codes are the following:

18 Copyright Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server: AS Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server SBS Edition: SBS Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Workstation: AW Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server Virtual Edition: VE
Note: Specify either the /serial parameter or the /license_server parameter, but not both.
/account User_Name Password Specifies the user name and password of the user account under which Acronis Managed Machine Service will run on the machines. The user account must have appropriate privileges, as described in Specifying credentials for Acronis services (p. 13). Separate the name of the domain and the account by a backslash, as in: mydomain\user Without this parameter, the agent will run under the default account: Acronis Agent User /remote_users User1 User2. UserN Specifies the user names that will be added to the Acronis Remote Users group. With this parameter, only the specified users will be added to the group. Separate the user names by spaces. Without this parameter, all members of the Administrators group on the particular machine will be added to the group. Members of the Acronis Remote Users group are allowed to connect to the agent remotely. /ams_address Management_Server Specifies the name or IP address of the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server. With this parameter, the machine will be registered on the management server after the installation is complete. /ams_user Admin_Name Password Specifies the name and password of a user who is a member of the Acronis Centralized Admins group on the management server. Use this parameter with the /ams_address parameter. /cep_enabled Specifies whether the machine will participate in the Customer Experience Program. With this parameter, information about the hardware configuration, the most and least used features and about any problems will be automatically collected from the machine and sent to Acronis on a regular basis. The terms of participation can be found on the Acronis Web site. Without this parameter, the information will not be sent.
Installing components using Group Policy
You can centrally install, or deploy, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows onto machines that are members of an Active Directory domain, by using Group Policy, a mechanism available in Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and later Windows server operating systems.

Preparing the agent's deployment
In this and the following sections, you will find out how to set up a Group Policy object to deploy Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows onto machines in an entire domain or in its organizational unit.
Every time a machine logs on to the domain, the resulting Group Policy object will ensure that the agent is installed and operational on the machine.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with agent deployment, make sure that:
You have an Active Directory domain with a domain controller running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later. You are a member of the Domain Admins group in the domain. You know the license key or the name or IP address of a machine where Acronis License Server is installed. You have a machine running Windows, with Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console installed on it.
Step 1: Extracting the installation package
First, you need to create a shared folder that will contain the agent's installation package (provided as an.msi file), and extract the package there. 1. On the domain controller (or any other machine in the domain), create a folderfor example: D:\Acronis 2. Run the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 setup file. 3. Click Extract installation files. 4. Select the Agent (AcronisAgentWindows.msi) check box. You can clear the remaining check boxes. 5. In Extract to, type the name of the folder that you just created, or click Browse and select the folder. 6. Click Extract.
Step 2: Sharing the folder
You now need to share the folder that you created in Step 1. 1. Right-click the folder's name, and then click Sharing and Security. 2. In the folder properties dialog box, click Share this folder. In Share name, you can type an alternative name for the shared folder instead of the default one if necessary. 3. Click Permissions. 4. In the share permissions dialog box, click Add. 5. In the Select Users or Groups dialog box, type Authenticated Users and then click OK. 6. Under Group or user names, select Authenticated Users. Under Permissions for Administrators, make sure that only Read is checked in the Allow column. 7. As a security best practice, select Everyone under Group or user names, and then click Remove. 8. Click OK to close the share permissions dialog box, and then click OK to close the folder properties dialog box.
Step 3: Configuring the agent's installation package
Important: Skip this step when reinstalling or updating the agent.
Finally, you need to configure the agent's installation package by running the configuration script, which is installed along with the management console. By default, the script is located in the folder %ProgramFiles%\Acronis\BackupAndRecoveryConsole. If the management console is installed on a different machine, you can simply copy the configuration script from that machine.

3. Select the Convert group tasks to backup policies check box if you want to convert group tasks during installation. Otherwise, you can convert the tasks later at any time. For details, see "Converting group tasks with the upgrade tool" later in this section. 4. Follow the on-screen instructions.
Converting group tasks with the upgrade tool
To convert the group server's group tasks
1. On the machine where the management server is installed, log on as a member of the Administrators group. 2. Change the current folder to the folder where the upgrade tool is installedby default: C:\Program Files\Acronis\UpgradeTool If Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 is installed in a folder other than the default folder, change the path accordingly. 3. If the group server and the management server are installed on the same machine, run the following command (note capitalization):
cscript UpgradeTool.vbs GS [-r]
(the optional parameter -r is described below). Otherwise, run the following command:
cscript UpgradeTool.vbs GS MachineName -u UserName [-p Password] [-r]
Description of parameters: MachineName Specifies the name or IP address of the machine where the group server is installed. -u UserName Specifies the user name of a member of the Administrators group on the MachineName machine. -p Password Specifies the password for the UserName user. If you skip this parameter, the upgrade tool will prompt you for a password. -r Effective only if you are planning to upgrade the machines' taskssee "Upgrading Acronis True Image Echo agents and local versions (p. 29)". This parameter prohibits the conversion of local backup plans, resulting from the upgrade of group tasks on a machine, to centralized backup plans. When this parameter is specified, local backup plans resulting from upgrade of group tasks on a machine, will remain local after the machine is registered on the management server. Otherwise, the management server will convert them to centralized backup plans and establish correspondence between these centralized plans and the policy resulting from the group task upgrade. Result:
The imported group tasks become the management server's backup policies and appear in the Backup policies view. (After you upgraded tasks on a machine and if you did not specify the -r parameter.) When a machine to which a group task was originally applied registers on the management server, the corresponding backup policy will become applied to that machine.
Upgrading Acronis Backup Server to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node
You can install Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node on the same machine as the Acronis Backup Server, or on a different machine. If you want to import the backup server's locations as the storage node's centralized vaults, you must install the storage node on the same machine as the backup server. Importing the backup server's locations as centralized vaults facilitates access to the Acronis True Image Echo archives stored in them. No Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 archives can be created in these vaults.

File-level data protection is based on backing up files and folders residing on the machine where the agent is installed or on a network share. Files can be recovered to their original location or to another place. It is possible to recover all files and folders that were backed up or select which of them to recover.

Other operations

Conversion to a virtual machine Rather than converting a disk backup to a virtual disk file, which requires additional operations to bring the virtual disk into use, Agent for Windows performs the conversion by recovering a disk backup to a new virtual machine of any of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, Parallels Workstation or Citrix XenServer virtual appliance. Files of the fully configured and operational machine will be placed in the folder you select. You can start the machine using the respective virtualization software or prepare the machine files for further usage. Disk management Agent for Windows includes Acronis Disk Director Lite - a handy disk management utility. Disk management operations, such as cloning disks; converting disks; creating, formatting and deleting volumes; changing a disk partitioning style between MBR and GPT or changing a disk label, can be performed either in the operating system or using bootable media.

1.3.1.1

Universal Restore
The Universal Restore add-on enables you to use the restore to dissimilar hardware functionality on the machine where the agent is installed, and create bootable media with this functionality. Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for Windows start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.

1.3.1.2

Deduplication
This add-on enables the agent to back up data to deduplicating vaults managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node.
This section lists the components included in the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 editions that provide the centralized management capability. Besides these components, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agents have to be installed on all machines that need data protection.

1.3.2.1

Management Server
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server is the central server that drives data protection within the enterprise network. The management server provides the administrator with:
a single entry point to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 infrastructure an easy way to protect data on numerous machines (p. 356) using backup policies (p. 349) and grouping enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality the ability to create centralized vaults (p. 351) for storing enterprise backup archives (p. 348)
the ability to manage storage nodes (p. 358).

list archives located in the zone and backups contained in each archive examine a backup's content
mount a disk backup to copy files from the backup to a physical disk safely delete archives and backups from the archives.
For more information about operations available in Acronis Secure Zone, see the Personal vaults (p. 145) section.
Upgrade from Acronis True Image Echo
When upgrading from Acronis True Image Echo to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, Acronis Secure Zone will keep the archives created with Echo. The zone will appear in the list of personal vaults and the old archives will be available for recovery.
2.10.2 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager
A modification of the bootable agent (p. 350) can be placed on a system disk and configured to start at boot time when F11 is pressed. This eliminates the need for rescue media or network connection to start the bootable rescue utility. This feature has the trade name "Acronis Startup Recovery Manager". Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is especially useful for mobile users. If a failure occurs, the user reboots the machine, hits F11 on prompt "Press F11 for Acronis Startup Recovery Manager" and performs data recovery in the same way as with ordinary bootable media. The user can also back up using Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, while on the move. On machines with the GRUB boot loader installed, the user selects the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager from the boot menu instead of pressing F11.
Activation and deactivation of the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager
The operation that enables using Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is called "activation". To activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, select Actions > Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager from the program menu. You can activate or deactivate the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager at any time from the Tools menu. The deactivation will disable the boot time prompt "Press F11 for Acronis Startup Recovery Manager" (or removes the corresponding entry from GRUB's boot menu). This means you will need bootable media in case the system fails to boot.
Acronis Startup Recovery Manager requires re-activation of third-party loaders after activation.
After upgrade from Acronis True Image Echo to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, Acronis Startup Recovery Manager appears as deactivated regardless of its status before the upgrade. You can activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager again at any time.

2.10.3 Universal Restore (Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore)
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore is the Acronis proprietary technology that helps recover and boot up Windows on dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. The Universal Restore handles differences in devices that are critical for the operating system start-up, such as storage controllers, motherboard or chipset.
Copyright Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010 45
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore purpose
A system can be easily recovered from a disk backup (image) onto the same system or to identical hardware. However, if you change a motherboard or use another processor versiona likely possibility in case of hardware failurethe recovered system could be unbootable. An attempt to transfer the system to a new, much more powerful computer will usually produce the same unbootable result because the new hardware is incompatible with the most critical drivers included in the image. Using Microsoft System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) does not solve this problem, because Sysprep permits installing drivers only for Plug and Play devices (sound cards, network adapters, video cards etc.). As for system Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and mass storage device drivers, they must be identical on the source and the target computers (see Microsoft Knowledge Base, articles 302577 and 216915). The Universal Restore technology provides an efficient solution for hardware-independent system recovery by replacing the crucial Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and mass storage device drivers. Universal Restore is applicable for: 1. Instant recovery of a failed system on different hardware. 2. Hardware-independent cloning and deployment of operating systems. 3. Physical-to-physical, physical-to-virtual and virtual-to-physical machine migration.
The Universal Restore principles
1. Automatic HAL and mass storage driver selection. Universal Restore searches for drivers in the network folders you specify, on removable media and in the default driver storage folders of the system being recovered. Universal Restore analyzes the compatibility level of all found drivers and installs HAL and mass storage drivers that better fit the target hardware. Drivers for network adapters are also searched and passed to the operating system which installs them automatically when first started.
The Windows default driver storage folder is determined in the registry value DevicePath, which can be found in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion. This storage folder is usually WINDOWS/inf.

one or more tape drives multiple (up to several thousand) slots to hold tape cartridges one or more loaders (robotic mechanisms) intended for relocating the tape cartridges between the slots and the tape drives barcode readers (optional).

4.1.3.1

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 provides full support of a tape library through Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node. The storage node should be installed on the machine a tape library is attached to. Storage node can simultaneously use more than one tape library for keeping archives. To manage a tape library media, the storage node uses the Windows Removable Storage Manager (RSM). See the RSM Media Pools (p. 124) section for more information. A dedicated database of the storage node keeps information of the backup content written onto the tapes. So some operations (for example, Cleanup (p. 351)) can be performed quite fast without accessing the media. It is possible to view the content of a backup archive located on a tape through the console, even if a tape library is turned off, due to content information stored in the database. To create an incremental or differential backup of data, the program uses the database instead of loading, mounting, rewinding and reading a tape with the full data backup. However, a tape should be read, for example, to validate (p. 360) a backup or to recover data from a backup. A tape library can be locally attached to a machine the agent is installed on, but only in the case the library is considered as a single tape drive. The agent can use such device to write and read data backups, but the backups format differs from the format of the backups on the tapes written through the storage node. To get information about the readability of the archives on tapes, written by different components of other versions of the product by means of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, see the Tape compatibility table (p. 42) section. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 enables you to set up distribution of backups by media. For example, a separate tape set can be used to back up some specific data, and the backups of all other data will be written onto any currently mounted tape, which does not belong to the tape set. See the Tape support (p. 103) section for more information. The backup schemes (Grandfather-Father-Son (p. 31), Tower of Hanoi (p. 35)) considerably assist you with creating effective schedule and retention rules for backups on a tape library. In combination with the tape options, the backup schemes enable you to reuse, in automatic mode, the tapes that are considered as free after backup deletion. See the Tape rotation (p. 131) section for more information.

Tape planning: Example 2

full backup size is F_GB average size of incremental backups is I_GB average size of differential backups is D_GB
compression level provides CL average reduction coefficient selected tape rotation scheme is Custom with the following settings:
full backup - every 10 days differential backup - every 2 days incremental backup - every 1 day, every 6 hours retention rules: delete backups older than 5 days the Use a separate tape set option is selected the Always use a free tape: For each full backup option is selected the Always use a free tape: For each incremental backup option is cleared the Always use a free tape: For each differential backup option is cleared
tape options are the following:
The case defines the line of backups that consists of two sections. The figure below shows the sections at the moment before the first backup will be deleted. In the figure the full, differential and incremental backups are designated as orange, blue and green rectangles respectively.
At the moment some backups are deleted by the Cleanup task. Deletion of the outdated backups painted in dark colors is postponed, as these backups are basic for the actual backups.
As an exact correlation between the tape size and backup's size is unknown, it is impossible to determine number of the tapes that will be free after the deletion. So the calculation ignores this probability. Tape set 01 should contain (round up (( F_GB + 4*D_GB + 5*7*I_GB) * CL / T_GB)) tapes to store the backups. Tape set 02 needs (round up (( F_GB + 1*D_GB + 7*I_GB) * CL / T_GB)) tapes. The sum of the calculated values gives the total number of tapes required for the case.

4.1.3.9

What if
What if I have to move tapes with backups from one tape library to another? 1. If both tape libraries are attached to the same machine with Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node installed (i.e. the libraries are managed by the same storage node), the storage node database has all the required information about the content of the moved tapes. So all you need to do is to perform the inventory (p. 128) procedure for the managed vault on the library where the tapes were placed to. 2. If you move tapes to a tape library managed by another storage node, you should rescan (p. 129) each relocated tape to provide the storage node with information about backups contained on the tape. What if I need to use a tape from the tape library in the local tape device and vice versa? Acronis agents create backups on tapes in a format that differs from the format used by the storage node. It is the reason why it is impossible to interchange tapes between tape devices attached to a storage node and attached to a managed machine: a tape written by a storage

Task states

A task can be in one of the following states: Idle; Waiting; Running; Stopping; Need interaction. The initial task state is Idle. Once the task is started manually or the event specified by the schedule occurs, the task enters either the Running state or the Waiting state. Running A task changes to the Running state when the event specified by the schedule occurs AND all the conditions set in the backup plan are met AND no other task that locks the necessary resources is running. In this case, nothing prevents the task from running. Waiting A task changes to the Waiting state when the task is about to start, but another task using the same resources is already running. In particular, more than one backup or recovery task cannot run simultaneously on a machine. A backup task and a recovery task also cannot run simultaneously. Once the other task unlocks the resource, the waiting task enters the Running state. A task may also change to the Waiting state when the event specified by the schedule occurs but the condition set in the backup plan is not met. See Task start conditions (p. 102) for details. Need interaction Any running task can put itself into the Need interaction state when it needs human interaction such as changing media or ignoring a read error. The next state may be Stopping (if the user chooses to stop the task) or Running (on selecting Ignore/Retry or another action, such as Reboot, that can put the task to the Running state.) Stopping
The user can stop a running task or a task that needs interaction. The task changes to the Stopping state and then to the Idle state. A waiting task can also be stopped. In this case, since the task is not running, "stop" means removing it from the queue.

Task state diagram

Task statuses
A task can have one of the following statuses: Error; Warning; OK. A task status is derived from the result of the last run of the task.
Status 1 Error How it is determined Last result is "Failed" How to handle Identify the failed task -> Check the task log to find out the reason of the failure, then do one or more of the following:
Remove the reason of the failure -> [optionally] Start the

failed task manually

Edit the failed task to prevent its future failure Edit the local plan to prevent its future failure in case a

6.11.4 "Disk management" view
Acronis Disk Director Lite is controlled through the Disk management view of the console. The top part of the view contains a disks and volumes table enabling data sorting and columns customization and toolbar. The table presents the numbers of the disks, as well as assigned letter, label, type, capacity, free space size, used space size, file system, and status for each volume. The toolbar comprises of icons to launch the Undo, Redo and Commit actions intended for pending operations (p. 267). The graphic panel at the bottom of the view also graphically depicts all the disks and their volumes as rectangles with basic data on them (label, letter, size, status, type and file system). Both parts of the view also depict all unallocated disk space that can be used in volume creation.

Starting the operations

Any operation can be launched:
From the volume or disk context menu (both in the table and the graphic panel) From the Disk management menu of the console From the Operations bar on the Actions and Tools pane
Note that the list of available operations in the context menu, the Disk management menu, and the Operations bar depends on the selected volume or disk type. The same is true for unallocated space as well.
Displaying operation results
The results of any disk or volume operation, you have just planned, are immediately displayed in the Disk management view of the console. For example, if you create a volume, it will be immediately shown in the table, as well as in graphical form at the bottom of the view. Any volume changes, including changing the volume letter or label, are also immediately displayed in the view.

6.11.5 Disk operations

Acronis Disk Director Lite includes the following operations that can be performed on disks:
Disk Initialization (p. 255) - initializes the new hardware added to the system Basic disk cloning (p. 255) - transfers complete data from the source basic MBR disk to the target Disk conversion: MBR to GPT (p. 257) - converts an MBR partition table to GPT Disk conversion: GPT to MBR (p. 258) - converts a GPT partition table to MBR Disk conversion: Basic to Dynamic (p. 258) - converts a basic disk to dynamic Disk conversion: Dynamic to Basic (p. 259) - converts a dynamic disk to basic

Note for Virtual Edition users: When adding a VMware ESX/ESXi host, specify the user name and password for your vCenter or ESX/ESXi host.
Click Options>> and specify:
User name. When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username.)
Password. The password for the account. Select the Save password check box to store the password for future connections. 5. Click OK.
Initiating registration on the machine side
The registration procedure can be initiated on the machine side. 1. Connect the console to the machine where Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent is installed. If prompted for credentials, specify credentials of a member of the Administrators group on the machine. 2. Select from the menu Options > Machine options > Machine management. 3. Select Centralized management and specify the management server where to register the machine. Refer to "Machine management (p. 82)" for details.
Importing machines from Active Directory
To import machines from Active Directory
1. In the Navigation tree, select 2. Click Physical machines, or All physical machines. Import machines from Active Directory on the toolbar.
Search. 3. In the Search for field, type the machine's (or the organizational unit) name, then click You can use the asterisk (*) to substitute for zero or more characters in a machine (or an organizational unit) name. The left part of the window displays the machine (or organizational unit) names that fully or just partly coincide with the entered value. Click the item you want to add for import, then click Add>>. The item will be moved to the right part of the window. To add all the found items, click Add all>>.
If more than 1000 matches are found, only the first 1000 items will be displayed. In this case, it is recommended that you refine your search and try again.
The right part of the window displays the items you selected for import. If required, remove the Remove and Remove all buttons. erroneously selected items by using the respective 4. Click OK to start import.
Synchronizing machines with a text file

During synchronization, the management server adjusts the All physical machines group in accordance with the list of machines provided in a.txt or.csv file. The management server:
Adds machines that are present in the list but are not registered Deletes registered machines not present in the list
Deletes and then tries again to add registered machines that are present in the list, but their current availability (p. 282) is Withdrawn.
As a result, only those physical machines that are listed in the file will be present in the All physical machines group.

Text file requirements

The file should contain machine names or IP addresses, one machine per line. Example: Machine_name_1 Machine_name_2 192.168.1.14 192.168.1.15 Specifying an empty file leads to deletion of all physical machines from the management server.
A registered machine has to be specified by its registration address, that is, you need to provide exactly the same host name, fully qualified domain name (FQDN), or IP address as was specified when the machine was initially added to the management server. Otherwise, the machine will be deleted and added again as if it were another machine. This means all policies, both inherited and directly applied, will be revoked from the machine and its static group membership will be lost.
The registration address of each machine can be found in the Registration address column in any management server view that contains the machine (the column is hidden by default). To avoid a discrepancy, you can initially import the machines from a text file. Modify this file later as required, by adding and removing machines, but do not change the names/addresses of the machines that have to remain registered.
To synchronize machines with a text file
1. In the Navigation tree, select Physical machines or All physical machines. Synchronize machines with text file on the toolbar. 2. Click 3. In the Path field, enter the path to a.txt or.csv file containing the list of machines, or click Browse and select the file in the Browse window. 4. Under Logon settings, specify the user name and password of a user who is a member of the Administrators group on all machines listed in the file. 5. Click OK to start synchronizing the machines.

Synchronization command line tool
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server has a command line tool that enables you to create a batch file and schedule the synchronization task using Windows scheduler.
To synchronize machines with a text file using command line
1. Log on as a member of the Acronis Centralized Admins security group. 2. In the command prompt, change the directory to the folder where Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server has been installedby default: C:\Program Files\Acronis\AMS. 3. Run the following command:
syncmachines [path_to_the_file] {username password}

where:

[path_to_the_file] is the path to a.txt or.csv file containing the list of machines. The tool does not accept spaces in the path name.
{username password} belong to a user who is a member of the Administrators group on all machines listed in the file. If not specified, the single sign-on mechanism is used to operate on all the machines.
Importing machines from a text file
To import machines from a file
1. In the Navigation tree, select Physical machines, or All physical machines. Import machines from file on the toolbar. 2. Click 3. In the Path field, enter a path to the.txt or.csv file, or click Browse and select the file in the Browse window. A.txt or.csv file should contain machine names or their IP addresses, beginning from a new line for each of the machines. Example: Machine_name_1 Machine_name_2 192.168.1.14 192.168.1.15 4. Under Logon settings, specify the user name and password of a user who is a member of the Administrators group on all machines that are listed in the file. 5. Click OK to start import.
Adding a machine to another group
To add the selected machine to another group
1. Select the group the machine will be added to. 2. Click OK. The machine being added becomes a member of more than one group. As a result, the backup policies applied to the first group will remain on the machine, and the backup policies applied to the second, third, etc. group will be deployed to the machine.

Configuring tasks table

By default, the table has eight columns that are displayed, others are hidden. If required, you can hide the shown columns and show the hidden ones.
The Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 log stores the history of actions the software does on a machine or a user does on a machine using the software. For example, when a user edits a task, an entry is added to the log. When the software executes a task, it adds multiple entries saying what it is currently doing.
Local and centralized logging in Acronis Backup & Recovery 10
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 has local and centralized logs of events.

Local event log

A local event log holds information about Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 operations on a managed machine. For example, creating a backup plan, executing a backup plan, managing archives in personal vaults, executing a recovery task, will generate events logged in the local event log. Physically, a local event log is a collection of XML files stored on the machine. The managed machine local event log is accessible when the console is connected to the machine. Local event logging cannot be disabled. Operations performed using bootable media are logged as well, but the logs lifetime is limited to a current session. Rebooting eliminates the log, but you can save the log to a file while the machine is booted with the media.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node has its own local event log. This log's events are accessible through the centralized log only.

Centralized event log

The maximum number of entries stored in the centralized log is 50000. The maximum number of entries that can be displayed is 10000. In case the number of log entries is greater than 10000, use filtering and sorting capabilities to display the desired log entries in the table. You can also hide the unneeded columns and show the hidden ones. See the Filtering and sorting log entries (p. 304) section for details. Select the log entry (or log entries) to take action on it (them). See the Actions on log entries (p. 303) section for details. Use the Information panel to review the detailed information on the selected log entry. The chevron. The content of the panel panel is collapsed by default. To expand the panel, click the is also duplicated in the Log entry details (p. 305) window.
Ways to open the "Log" view with the pre-filtered log entries
Having selected items in other administration views (Dashboard, Machines, Backup policies, Tasks), you can open the Log view with already filtered log entries for the item in question. Thus, you do not have to configure filters in the log table by yourself.
View Dashboard Machines Backup policies Tasks Action In the calendar, right-click on any highlighted date, and then select View log. The Log view will appear with the list of the log entries already filtered by the date in question. Select a machine or a group of machines, then click View log. The Log view will display a list of the log entries related to the selected machine or group. Select a backup policy, then click View log. The Log view will display a list of the log entries related to the selected policy. Select a task, and then click View log. The Log view appears with the log entries belonging to the selected task.

With the default filter settings, the report includes all archives that are stored in the centralized managed vaults.

7.1.8.6

Report about the vaults' statistics
In this view, you can generate a report about the use of the centralized managed vaults that are currently added to the management server. This report consists of one or more tables and diagrams.

Report coverage

Under Report coverage, choose the time interval for which you want to generate the report. The report will show the state of the selected vaults at the specified time on each day in the report period.
Under Filters, select which centralized managed vaults to include in the report, and whether to include information about the combined total of all the selected vaults. A combined total is the total free and occupied space, total amount of backed up data, total number of archives and backups, and average ratios across the selected vaults. With the default filter settings, the report includes information about all centralized managed vaults plus the combined total.
Copyright Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010 309
Specify which table columns to show, and in which order. Select which diagrams to include in the report. The diagrams show space usage in the vaults.

7.1.8.7

Report about the task activities
In this view, you can generate a report about the tasks that existed on registered machines within a chosen period. This report consists of one or more diagrams, one diagram per machine. The diagrams show how many times each task finished on a particular day with each of these results: Succeeded, Succeeded with warnings, and Failed.
Under Report coverage, choose the time interval for which you want to generate the report.
Origin: The types of origin of the tasksCentralized, Local, and/or Local without backup plan. A centralized task belongs to a centralized backup plan. A local task might not belong to a backup plan (for example, a recovery task). Backup policies (centralized tasks only): The backup policies on which the tasks are based. The default setting means all backup policies that ever existed during the report period. Machines: The list of machines on which the tasks exist. Type: The task typesfor example, disk backup tasks. Owner: The list of users who created the tasks.
With the default filter settings, the report includes all tasks that existed on the registered machines any time during the report period.

Custom backup scheme 37, 156, 158, 195, 342 Customer Experience Program 85
Daily schedule 153, 193, 298, 341 Dashboard 166, 168, 268 Data type 200, 203 Decreasing Acronis Secure Zone 234 Deduplicating vault 352 Deduplication 17, 19, 20, 49, 61, 117, 124, 352, 357, 358 Deduplication best practices 63 Deduplication ratio 64 Deduplication restrictions 62, 64 Default backup and recovery options 82, 83, 85 Default backup options 85, 182, 328 Default recovery options 107, 202 Delete volume 260, 264 Deleting Acronis Secure Zone 235 Deleting archives and backups 148, 149, 150 Deploying and updating Agent for ESX/ESXi 81, 293, 294 Destination selection 205 Differential backup 348, 352 Direct management 49, 166, 347, 352, 356, 357 Disk backup (Image) 198, 347, 353, 356 Disk conversion basic to dynamic 255, 258 dynamic to basic 255, 258, 259 GPT to MBR 255, 258 MBR to GPT 255, 257 Disk destination 206 Disk group 40, 353, 355 Disk initialization 255 Disk management 42, 200, 252 Disk operations 255
Disks 201, 205 Disks/volumes selection 203 Domain access credentials 80, 289 Drivers for Universal Restore 239, 241 Dual destination 44, 86, 101 Dynamic disk 40, 347, 353, 354, 355 Dynamic group 351, 354 Dynamic volume 40, 350, 355
Fonts 77 Format volume 260, 266 Full backup 348, 350, 352, 355 Full, incremental and differential backups 24, 28, 189, 337
Getting started 8 Getting started with a tape library 125 GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) 350, 356, 359 GFS backup scheme 31, 123, 131, 356 GFS Example GFS Example 2 133, 136 GFS Example 3 133, 138 Grandfather-Father-Son scheme 190, 337 Group details 274, 276, 288, 291 Grouping the registered machines 9, 51, 53, 276
Editing custom groups 288, 290 E-mail 87, 95, 108, 110 Encrypted archive 355 Encrypted vault 297, 355, 358 Error handling 86, 100, 107, 113 Event tracing 79, 82, 97, 111 Exclusions 182, 186, 327, 334 Export 355 Exporting archives and backups 148, 149, 225
Hardware 123 HDD writing speed 86, 94 How deduplication works 62 How to convert a disk backup to a virtual machine 213 How to create bootable media 237, 243 How to load Acronis Administrative Template 71, 311 How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration 216
Fast incremental/differential backup 86, 98 File destination 201, 210 File-level backup snapshot 86, 92 File-level security 86, 99, 100, 107, 110 Files selection 204 Files to back up selection rules 329, 332 Filtering and sorting archives 118, 146, 150 Filtering and sorting backup plans and tasks 168, 175, 286 Filtering and sorting backup policies 270, 273, 283, 291 Filtering and sorting log entries 179, 180, 303, 304 Filtering and sorting machines 276, 287 Filtering and sorting tasks 300, 302 Fits time interval 164
Image 356 Importing machines from a text file 276, 281 Importing machines from Active Directory 276, 279 Increasing Acronis Secure Zone 234 Incremental backup 348, 350, 352, 356 Inheritance of policies 56