User's Guide Acronis® True Image Echo Server for Windows Compute with confidence www.acronis.
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2007. All rights reserved. “Acronis” and “Acronis Secure Zone” are registered trademarks of Acronis, Inc. "Acronis Compute with Confidence", “Acronis Startup Recovery Manager”, “Acronis Snap Restore” and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Windows and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners.
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT BY ACCEPTING, YOU (ORIGINAL PURCHASER) INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO ACCEPT THE PRODUCT UNDER THESE TERMS, YOU CAN CHOOSE NOT TO ACCEPT BY SELECTING "I decline..." AND NOT INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE. Acronis® True Image Echo Server (the Software) is Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2007. All rights are reserved. The ORIGINAL PURCHASER is granted a LICENSE to use the software only, subject to the following restrictions and limitations. 1.
Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction ......................................................................................8 1.1 Acronis® True Image Echo Server – a complete solution for corporate users ...........................8 1.2 New in Acronis True Image Echo Server ..............................................................................9 1.3 Supported file systems and storage media .........................................................................10 1.3.1 Supported file systems ..
.3.7 Fast incremental/differential backup ...........................................................................38 5.3.8 Archive splitting ........................................................................................................39 5.3.9 File-level security settings ..........................................................................................39 5.3.10 Media components ..................................................................................................40 5.3.
Chapter 10. Operations with archives...............................................................74 10.1 Validating backup archives .............................................................................................74 10.2 Exploring archives and mounting images .........................................................................74 10.2.1 Exploring an archive ................................................................................................75 10.2.2 Mounting an image..........
15.2.1 Script execution parameters ................................................................................... 115 15.2.2 Script structure ..................................................................................................... 115 15.2.3 Script usage examples ........................................................................................... 116 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 Acronis® True Image Echo Server – a complete solution for corporate users Acronis True Image Echo Server is a comprehensive backup and recovery solution for a Windows-based server. Acronis True Image Echo Server creates a transportable image, independent of the hardware platform that can be restored directly to and from any virtual or physical environment. Minimizes downtime Acronis True Image Echo Server enables you to restore systems in minutes, not hours or days.
A feature that allows you to suspend database activity for several seconds is provided so that you can create a valid image of mission-critical applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. This database suspension process supports Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). If your database or operating system does not support VSS, Acronis True Image Echo Server will execute your custom commands to execute database suspension.
Archive bit reset (file-level backup only) Generating time-based names for backup files Recovery Recovery of dynamic volumes Recovery of system dynamic volumes on dissimilar hardware using Acronis Universal Restore or Acronis Snap Restore Scheduling Schedule archive validation Start every N hours within daily schedule Start on free disk space change by the specified amount Cloning a task Notification via e-mail Multiple e-mail addresses From and Subject fields Logon to incoming mail server Operations with a
• Linux SWAP • XFS • JFS • DFS If a file system is not supported or is corrupted, Acronis True Image Echo Server can copy data using a sector-by-sector approach. For XFS and JFS file systems the partition resizing feature is not supported. 1.3.
Chapter 2. Acronis True Image Echo Server installation and startup 2.1 System requirements 2.1.1 Minimum hardware requirements Acronis True Image Echo Server requires the following hardware: • Pentium processor or higher • 256MB RAM • FDD or CD-RW drive for bootable media creation • Mouse (recommended). 2.1.
Acronis True Image Echo Server Install Window 2.2.1 Installation of Acronis True Image Echo Server Typical, Custom and Complete installation is available. Having pressed Custom, you can choose to install, besides the Acronis True Image Echo Server, Rescue Media Builder and Bart PE plug-in. With Rescue Media Builder you can create bootable rescue disks or RIS packages (see details in Chapter 9. Creating bootable media).
Acronis Universal Restore can be installed on a networked computer either locally, by running the setup program, or remotely, using one of remote installation services such as Systems Management Server (a component of Microsoft Windows NT BackOffice program package). After installation, Acronis Universal Restore automatically plugs in one or more of above program components. Acronis True Image Echo Server name, displayed in its main window, changes to Acronis True Image Echo Server with Universal Restore.
Chapter 3. General information and proprietary Acronis technologies 3.1 The difference between file archives and disk/partition images A backup archive is a file or a group of files (also called in this guide “backups”), that contains a copy of selected files/folders data or a copy of all information stored on selected disks/partitions. When you back up files and folders, only the data, along with the folder tree, is compressed and stored.
A standalone, full backup could be an optimal solution if you often roll back the system to the initial state (for example, systems in a gaming club or Internet café where you need to undo changes made by the guests). In this case, you need not re-create the initial full image, so the backup time is not crucial and the restore time will be minimal.
backups, it is a good practice to check the zone free space periodically. To do so, start the Manage Acronis Secure Zone wizard and see the zone free space that is displayed on the wizard’s second page. For information on how to create, resize or delete Acronis Secure Zone using this wizard, see Chapter 8. Managing the Acronis Secure Zone.
Be careful! Disk letters in standalone Acronis True Image Echo Server might sometimes differ from the way Windows identifies drives. For example, the D: drive identified in the standalone Acronis True Image might correspond to the E: drive in Windows. 3.5 Acronis Snap Restore With this feature you can boot the OS on a crashed computer before the system is completely restored from an image and start work seconds after the restoration is launched. The restoration will be continued in the background. 3.5.
4. Back up (image) the server’s system disk to Acronis Secure Zone (see 5.2 Backing up disks and partitions (image backup)). You can back up other disks/partitions as well, but the system image is mandatory. When performing Snap Restore, the current Acronis True Image Echo Server version always restores the entire system disk. Therefore, if your system disk consists of several partitions, all of them must be included in the image. Any partitions which are missing from the image will be lost.
The Windows default driver storage folder is determined in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current version\DevicePath. This storage folder is usually WINDOWS/inf. 2. Manual selection of mass storage device driver If the target hardware has a specific mass storage controller (such as a SCSI, RAID, or Fibre Channel adapter) for the hard disk, you can install the appropriate driver manually, bypassing the automatic driver search-and-install procedure. 3.
3.6.5 Getting Acronis Universal Restore Acronis Universal Restore is an add-on to Acronis True Image Echo Server. It is purchased separately, has its own license, and is installed from a separate setup file. Let’s assume for a moment that you own Acronis True Image Echo Server but have not purchased Acronis Universal Restore.
To the right are three icons: Arrange Icons by, Choose Details and i (Display the properties of the selected item), the last duplicated in the context menu invoked by right-clicking objects. To sort messages by a particular column, click the header (another click will switch the messages to the opposite order) or Arrange Icons by button and select the column. To select columns to view, right-click the headers line or left-click the Choose Details button. Then flag the columns you want to display.
Chapter 4. Using Acronis True Image Echo Server Acronis True Image Echo Server supports the GUI mode, the command-line mode, and can be used to execute XML scripts. Here we describe the operations available in the GUI mode, which provides the widest functionality. For console commands and scripting please see Chapter 15. Command-line mode and scripting. 4.1 Main program window The main program window contains the menu, the toolbar, the sidebar and the main area.
• Explore and Validate Backup Archives – explore file-level archives, mount disk/partition images as virtual drives, run the archive integrity checking procedure • Manage Hard Disks – clone disk (i.e.
Most of the operations are represented two or even three times in different window areas, providing several ways to select them for more convenience. For example, you can start the necessary operation or tool by clicking its icon in the main area or by selecting the same item from the Operations or Tools menu. Status bar There is a status bar divided into two parts at the bottom of the main window.
Run, stop, edit, clone, rename, delete Click Tasks in the Manage Tasks group backup and archive validation tasks or select the Task Scheduling category on the sidebar to navigate to the Scheduled Tasks window. See details in 7.2 Managing scheduled tasks. Archives Management Explore any archive’s contents and restore Select Tools -> Explore Backup Archive individual files from any archive and follow the wizard’s instructions. See details in 10.2.
Transfer the system to a new hard disk See Chapter 13. Transferring the system to a new disk. Format partitions on a new hard disk See Chapter 14. Adding a new hard disk. Other Tools Create bootable rescue media, its ISO or See Chapter 9. Creating bootable media. RIS package Turn on/off Windows System Restore tool See 11.5 Managing System Restore. Some of the above operations can be executed in command-line mode. For more information on Acronis True Image Echo Server command-line mode see 15.
Chapter 5. Creating backup archives To be able to restore the lost data or roll back your system to a predetermined state, you should first create a data or entire system backup file. If you are not concerned about restoration of your operating system along with all settings and applications, but plan to keep safe only certain data (the current project, for example), choose file/folder backup. This will reduce the archive size, thus saving disk space and possibly reducing removable media costs.
You can also apply custom filters, using the common Windows masking rules. For example, to exclude all files with extension .exe, add *.exe. My???.exe will exclude all .exe files with names consisting of five symbols and starting with “my”. All of these settings will take effect for the current task. For information on how to set the default filters that will be called each time you create a file backup task, see 5.3.2 Source files exclusion. 5. Select the name and location of the archive.
The “farther” you store the archive from the original folders, the safer it will be in case of data damage. For example, saving the archive to another hard disk will protect your data if the primary disk is damaged, but won’t be useful if the computer is destroyed in a fire or flood. Data saved to a network disk, ftp server or removable media will survive even if all your local hard disks are down. You can also use Acronis Secure Zone (see details in 3.3 Acronis Secure Zone) for storing backups.
7. Select the backup options (that is, backup file splitting, compression level, password protection, pre/post backup commands etc.). You may select Use default options or Set the options manually. If the latter is the case, the settings will be applied only to the current backup task. Alternatively, you can edit the default options from the current screen. Then your settings will be saved as the defaults. See 5.3 Setting backup options for more information. 8. Provide a comment for the archive.
You can adjust the backup process priority. To do so, click on the process icon in the System Tray and select Low, Normal, or High priority from the menu that appears. For information on how to set the default priority, see 5.3.6 Backup performance. 11. You may want to see the log when the task is completed. To view the log, click the Show Operation Logs button on the toolbar.
4. Select the name and location of the archive. If you are going to create a full backup, type the file name in the File Name line, or use the file name generator (a button to the right of the line). If you select an existing full backup, it will be overwritten. Including [date] in the backup file name will add to the name the time and date of the backup creation formatted as . Example: C:\MyBackup[date].tib. If you are going to create an incremental backup (see 3.
See notes and recommendations for using the FTP server in 1.3.2 Supported storage media. 5. Select whether you want to create a full or incremental backup. If you have not backed up the selected disks/partitions yet, or the full archive seems too old to append incremental changes to it, choose full backup. Otherwise it is recommended that you create an incremental or differential backup (see 3.2 Full, incremental and differential backup). 6.
5.3.1 Archive protection Password The preset is no password. An archive can be protected with a password. To protect the archive data from being accessed by anybody except you, enter a password and its confirmation into the text fields. A password should consist of at least eight symbols and contain both letters (in the upper and lower cases preferably) and numbers to make it more difficult to guess.
This option is effective for file/folders backup only. When creating a disk/partition image, you cannot filter out any files. 5.3.3 Pre/post commands You can specify commands or batch files to be automatically executed before and after the backup procedure. For example, you may want to remove some tmp files from the disk before starting backup or configure a third-party antivirus product to be started each time before the backup starts.
net start “Microsoft Exchange POP3” net start “Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine” Create batch files in any text editor (for example, name it pause_services.bat and resume_services.bat). Use Edit buttons to the right of Before data capture command and After data capture command fields, to open the Edit Command window where you can browse folders to find the respective batch files or scripts. A single command can be specified in the same window along with its arguments and working directory.
The preset is Low. The priority of any process running in a system determines the amount of CPU usage and system resources allocated to that process. Decreasing the backup priority will free more resources for other CPU tasks. Increasing the backup priority may speed up the backup process due to taking resources from the other currently running processes. The effect will depend on total CPU usage and other factors. 2. HDD writing speed The preset is Maximum.
5.3.8 Archive splitting Sizeable backups can be split into several files that together make the original backup. A backup file can be split for burning to removable media or saving on an FTP server (data recovery directly from an FTP server requires the archive to be split into files no more than 2GB in size). The preset is Automatic.
Properties -> General -> Advanced Attributes -> Encrypt contents to secure data). Check the option if there are encrypted files in the backup and you want them to be accessed by any user after restore. Otherwise, only the user who encrypted the files/folders will be able to read them. Decryption may also be useful if you are going to restore encrypted files on another computer. These options relate only to file/folders backup. 5.3.10 Media components The preset is disabled.
Corporate administrators need an option to continue a back up despite any errors that might occur without the system popping up an error box. Details of the operation, including errors, if any, could be found in the operation log. With the silent mode enabled, the program will not display interactive windows. Instead, it will automatically handle situations requiring user intervention such as running out disk space (except for handling bad sectors, which is defined as a separate option.
Image Echo Server will warn that you are about to lose data on the tape. To disable this warning, check the middle box. 3. Ask for first media while creating backup archives on removable media The preset is enabled. You can choose whether to display the Insert First Media prompt when backing up to removable media. With the default setting, backing up to removable media may be not possible if the user is away, because the program will wait for someone to press OK in the prompt box.
Chapter 6. Restoring the backup data 6.1 Considerations before recovery 6.1.1 Restore under Windows or boot from CD? As mentioned above (see 2.4 Running Acronis True Image Echo Server), Acronis True Image Echo Server can be run in several ways. We recommend that you first try to restore data running Acronis True Image Echo Server under Windows because this method provides more functionality. Boot from the bootable media or use the Startup Recovery Manager (see 3.
6.1.3 Recovering dynamic volumes Dynamic volumes are volumes located on dynamic disks, i.e. disks managed by Windows Logical Disk Manager (LDM). For more information on dynamic disks, please refer to your Windows documentation. Acronis True Image Echo Server can back up and recover dynamic volumes. A dynamic volume can be recovered over the same volume or unallocated space of a dynamic group.
If the archive is located on removable media, e.g. CD, first insert the last CD and then insert disks in reverse order when Restore Data Wizard prompts. Data recovery directly from an FTP server requires the archive to consist of files no more than 2GB in size. If you suspect that some of the files may be larger, first copy the entire archive (along with the initial full backup) to a local hard disk or network share disk. See notes and recommendations for supporting FTP server in 1.3.
4. Select a folder on your computer where you want to restore selected folders/files (a target folder). You can restore data to their original location or choose another folder, if necessary. 5. Select files and folders to restore. You can choose to restore all data or browse the archive contents and select the desired folders or files. 6. Select the options for the restoration process (that is, pre/post restoration commands, restoration process priority, file-level security settings etc.).
7. Set filters for the specific types of files that are not to be restored. For example, you may want hidden and system files and folders, as well as files with .~, .tmp and .bak extensions, not to be restored from the archive. You can also apply custom filters, using the common Windows masking rules. For example, to exclude all files with extension .exe, add *.exe. My???.exe will reject all .exe files with names consisting of five symbols and starting with “my”.
6.3.1 Starting the Restore Data Wizard Start the Restore Data Wizard by clicking on the restore operation icon in the main program window. 6.3.2 Archive selection 1. Select the archive. If the archive is located in Acronis Secure Zone, select it to choose the archive at the next step. If the archive is located on removable media, e.g. CD, first insert the last CD and then insert disks in reverse order when Restore Data Wizard prompts.
Restore specified files or folders With this selection, you will be further offered to select where to restore selected folders/files (original or new location), choose files/folders to be restored and so on. These steps look like those in file archive restore. However, watch your selection; if you want to restore files instead of disk/partition, uncheck the unnecessary folders. Otherwise you will restore a lot of extra files. Then you will be taken directly to Restoration Summary screen (6.3.
6.3.4 Selecting a disk/partition to restore The selected backup can contain images of several partitions or even disks. Select which disk/partition to restore. Disks and partitions images contain a copy of track 0 along with the MBR (Master Boot Record). It appears in this window in a separate line. You can choose whether to restore MBR and track 0 by checking the respective box. Restore the MBR if it is critical to your system boot. 6.3.5 Selecting a target disk/partition 1.
If there are partitions on the target disk, you will be prompted by the Nonempty Destination Hard Disk Drive window stating that the destination disk contains partitions, perhaps with data. You will have to select between: • Yes, I want to delete all the partitions on the destination hard disk before restoring – all existing partitions will be deleted and all their data will be lost. • No, I do not want to delete partitions – no existing partition will be deleted, discontinuing the recovery operation.
Selecting Active for a partition without an installed operating system could prevent your server from booting. 6.3.7 Changing the restored partition file system You can change the partition file system during its restoration, although it is seldom required. Acronis True Image Echo Server can make the following file system conversions: FAT 16 -> FAT 32 and Ext2 -> Ext3. For partitions with other native file systems, this option is not available.
6.3.9 Assigning a letter to the restored partition Acronis True Image Echo Server will assign an unused letter to a restored partition. You can select the desired letter from a drop-down list. If you set the switch to No, no letters will be assigned to the restored partition, hiding it from OS. You should not assign letters to partitions inaccessible to Windows, such as to those other than FAT and NTFS. 6.3.
- the driver repository - a folder or folders on a network drive or CD specified in restore options. If you have not specified the driver repository in advance, you can do it at next step. - the mass storage device driver specified by the user at the current step - the Windows default driver storage folders (in the image being restored). The program will find the most suitable drivers of all available drivers and install them into the restored system.
6.4.1 Files to exclude from restoration The preset is Restore all files. You can set the default filters for the specific types of files that are not to be restored. Use the common Windows masking rules. For example, to exclude all files with extension .exe, add *.exe. My???.exe will exclude all .exe files with names, consisting of five symbols and starting with “my”. This option is effective only when restoring files from file/folders archives.
The backup process will run concurrently with your commands if you uncheck the Do not perform operations until the commands execution is complete box, which is checked by default. 6.4.4 Restoration priority The default setting – Low. The priority of any process running in a system determines the amount of CPU usage and system resources allocated to that process. Decreasing the restoration priority will free more resources for other CPU tasks.
6.4.7 Additional settings 1. You can choose whether to restore files’ date and time from the archive or assign the files the current date and time. 2. Before data is restored from the archive, Acronis True Image Echo Server can check its integrity. If you suspect that the archive might have been corrupted, select Validate backup archive before restoration. To check archive data integrity you must have all incremental and differential backups belonging to the archive and the initial full backup.
2. If there are partitions on the basic disk(s), define whether you want to keep them. If yes, the partitions will be converted to simple dynamic volumes. Therefore, only the existing unallocated space will be available as a target for dynamic volume recovery. If you want to recover over the entire disk, delete partitioning using the Add New Disk operation (see Chapter 14. Adding a new hard disk) or third-party tools. 3.
4. Select the type of dynamic volume that will be created: simple/spanned, striped, mirrored or RAID 5. 5. Specify amount of space that the dynamic volume will occupy on each of the selected disks. The value you set is adjusted to the selected volume type. For a spanned volume, amount of space on each disk is selected independently. If only one disk is selected, a simple volume is created. Striped, mirrored and RAID 5 volumes imply even distribution of data between disks.
Chapter 7. Scheduling tasks Acronis True Image Echo Server allows you to schedule periodic backup and archive validation tasks. Doing so will give you peace of mind, knowing that your data are safe. You can create more than one independently scheduled task. For example, you can back up your current project daily and back up the application disk once a week. All the scheduled tasks appear in the Scheduled Tasks window, where you can start, stop, edit, delete and rename them.
• Manually later – the task will be saved, but not launched automatically.
In the upper field, enter a user name. Enter a password twice in two fields below. 7. At the final step, the task configuration is displayed. Up to this point, you can click Back to make changes in the created task. If you click Cancel, all settings will be lost. Click Finish to save the task. 8. The task schedule and default name appear in the Scheduled Tasks window. You can rename the task, if need be. 7.1.
If the computer is off when the scheduled time comes, the task won’t be performed, but you can force the missed task to launch at the next system startup by checking a box under the Start time fields. 7.1.2 Setting up weekly execution If you select weekly execution, set the Start time, specify the task execution periodicity in the Every x weeks box (every week, every two weeks, etc.) and check the days on which to execute the task.
7.1.3 Setting up monthly execution If you select monthly execution, set the Start time and days on which to execute the task: • Day – on the specified date • The – on the specified day (e.g. on second Tuesday or fourth Friday); select this from the drop-down lists. If the computer is off when the scheduled time comes, the task won’t be performed, but you can force the missed task to launch at the next system startup by checking a box under the Start time fields. 7.1.
If the computer is off when the scheduled time comes, the task won’t be performed, but you can force the missed task to launch at the next system startup by checking a box under the Start time fields. 7.1.5 Setting up event-driven execution Execution on increasing or decreasing free space on a disk. The task will be started when the free space on the either disk selected for the backup changes by the specified value. The preset is 20MB. 7.
There are two ways of changing the task parameters. Editing allows you to change any task parameters. This is performed in the same way as creation, however, the earlier selected options will be set, so you have to enter only the changes. To edit a task, select it and click Edit on the toolbar. If you want to change only the task start trigger (time or event), click Schedule on the toolbar. Then you will have to perform only scheduling steps, leaving other settings the same.
Chapter 8. Managing the Acronis Secure Zone The Acronis Secure Zone is a hidden partition for storing archives on the computer system itself. It is necessary for using Acronis Startup Recovery Manager. For more information about these functions, see 3.3 Acronis Secure Zone and 3.4 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager. When you click Manage Acronis Secure Zone in the menu, the program searches for the zone on all local drives.
4. In the next window, enter the Acronis Secure Zone size or drag the slider to select any size between the minimum and maximum ones. The minimum size is approximately 35MB, depending on the geometry of the hard disk. The maximum size is equal to the disk’s unallocated space plus the total free space on all partitions selected at the previous step. When creating the zone, the program will first use the unallocated space. If there is not enough unallocated space, the selected partitions will be decreased.
5. You can set a password to restrict access to the zone. The program will ask for the password at any operation relating to it, such as data backup and recovery, mounting images or validating archives on the zone, using the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager with the F11 key, resizing and deleting the zone. Acronis True Image Echo Server repair or update will not affect the password.
2. Select Change password. 3. Enter the new password and confirm it or select Do not use password protection. You can also select a secret question that will be asked in case you forget the password. 4. To perform the password change operation, click Proceed in the final wizard window. 8.4 Deleting Acronis Secure Zone Acronis Secure Zone deletion will automatically disable Acronis Startup Recovery Manager if it is activated and destroy all backups stored in the zone.
Chapter 9. Creating bootable media 9.1 Creating Acronis rescue media You can run Acronis True Image Echo Server on a bare metal or on a crashed computer that cannot boot. You can also back up disks on a non-Windows computer, copying all its data sector-by-sector into the backup archive. To do so, you will need bootable media with the standalone Acronis True Image Echo Server version.
3. Select the type of bootable media (CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW or 3.5” diskettes) to create. If your BIOS has this feature, you can create other bootable media such as removable USB flash drives. You can also choose to create a bootable disk ISO image or save bootable data on the RIS server. When using 3.5” diskettes, you will be able to write on a diskette (or a set of the diskettes) only one component at a time — for example, Acronis True Image Echo Server.
9.2 Creating a Win PE ISO with Acronis True Image Echo Server Windows Preinstallation Environment (Win PE) is a minimal Windows system based on the Windows XP Professional and the Windows Server 2003 kernels. Win PE is commonly used by OEMs and corporations for deployment, test, diagnostic and system repair purposes.
Chapter 10. Operations with archives 10.1 Validating backup archives You can check the integrity of an archive to be certain that the archive is not damaged. Here’s how to run a one-time validation task. For how to schedule regular archive validation, see 7.1 Creating scheduled tasks. 1. To start the Backup Archive Validation Wizard, select Validate Backup Archive in the main window or in the Tools group or click Validate Backup Archive on the toolbar. 2. Select the archive to validate.
• a new disk with its own letter will appear in the drives list • using Windows Explorer and other file managers, you can view the image contents as if they were located on a physical disk or partition • you will be able to use the virtual disk in the same way as the real one: open, save, copy, move, create, delete files or folders. If necessary, the image can be mounted in read-only mode Please keep in mind that although both file archives and disk/partition images have a default “.
If you added a comment to the archive, it will be displayed to the right of the drives tree. If the archive was protected with a password, Acronis True Image Echo Server will ask for it. Further steps will not be enabled until you enter the correct password. 3. The program opens a Windows Explorer window displaying the archive contents.
If you added a comment to the archive, it will be displayed to the right of the drives tree. If the archive was protected with a password, Acronis True Image Echo Server will ask for it. Neither the partitions layout, nor the Next button will be enabled until you enter the correct password. 3. If you selected an archive containing incremental images, Acronis True Image Echo Server will suggest that you select one of the successive incremental images by its creation date/time.
10.2.3 Unmounting an image We recommend that you unmount the virtual disk after all necessary operations are finished, as keeping up virtual disks takes considerable system resources. If you do not, the virtual disk will disappear after your server is turned off. To disconnect the virtual disk, click Unmount Image and select the disk to unmount. You can also unmount the disk in Windows Explorer by right-clicking on its icon and selecting Unmount. 10.
The clone archive will consist of MyBackup3 and MyBackup5, however, their numbers will be zero (no number) and 2. MyBackup3 will change into a full backup 4. Choose location and name for the archive copy. By default, the program suggests the same location and the source archive name with (1) added. New archive will be created in the same folder and named MyBackup(1) 5. The program displays the summary window. Click Proceed to start consolidation.
6:54:40 PM. You can make sure of this by starting the consolidation wizard again, selecting the archive MyBackup(1) and proceeding to the next window. The resulting archive contents 80 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Chapter 11. Notifications and event tracing Sometimes a backup or restore procedure can last for 30 minutes or more. Acronis True Image Echo Server can notify you when it is finished through the WinPopup service or email. The program can also duplicate messages issued during the operation or send you the full operation log after operation completion. By default all notifications are disabled. 11.
1. Enable the Messenger service on both the computer executing the task and the computer that will receive messages. The Messenger service is disabled by default in Windows Server 2003 family. Change the service Startup mode to Automatic and start the service. 2. Select Tools -> Options -> Notifications -> Windows Messenger (WinPopup): Provide the name of the computer to which notifications will be sent.
The left panel can contain up to 50 logs. If there are more, you can browse the list using the More and Less buttons with the left and right arrows. To delete a log, select it and click Delete. If any step was terminated by an error, the corresponding log will be marked with a red circle with a white “X” inside. The right window features the list of steps contained in the selected log.
An additional choice is available - recording All events, Warnings and Errors, or Errors only. 11.4.2 SNMP notifications Acronis True Image Echo Server can provide the following Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) objects to SNMP management applications: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0 - string identifying a type of occurred event (Information, Warning, Error) 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.
2. Click Next. 3. Now you can turn on/off System Restore on all your hard disk(s) partitions at once or do it individually for each partition. Note that you cannot turn off System Restore on the system disk (partition), yet keep it on other disks (partitions). 4. Click Next. 5. The program lists the configured changes. You can click Back to choose different settings. If you click Cancel, all new settings will be lost. Click Proceed to apply the changes.
Chapter 12. Working with a virtual environment Virtual machine technologies provide a powerful tool to help accelerate the development, testing, deployment and support of PC applications. As with physical machines, virtual machine (VM) data needs to be backed up periodically to prevent its loss due to hardware failure or human errors.
The procedure is the same as with physical machines. See details in Chapter 6. Restoring the backup data. The alternative way of recovering a VM is by converting the image (.tib) file to a virtual disk file of appropriate format and adding this disk to the VM. This is the easiest way to recover data on a virtual machine. 12.3 Using the disk conversion feature A virtual hard disk is a file that provides storage for a virtual machine.
• the fastest replacement of the physical machine with the previously created virtual copy • moving multiple workloads from legacy physical servers to virtual machines to reduce hardware maintenance and power consumption costs. The alternative method of physical to virtual migration is by restoring a physical disk from an image to a virtual machine. The procedure is the same as with restoring physical machines. To ensure booting up the system on the virtual machine, use Acronis Universal Restore.
3. If there are several disks in the image, select one to convert. 4. Choose a type of the disk to be created. 5. Specify the path to the file to be created. The file can be directed to any storage supported by Acronis True Image Echo Server, except for the Acronis Secure Zone. Since the disk space is not preallocated, the physical disk on which the virtual disk will run is expected to have sufficient space for the virtual disk to grow. 6. Click Proceed in the summary window. Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Chapter 13. Transferring the system to a new disk 13.1 General information Sooner or later computer users find that their hard disk is just too small. If you don’t have space for more data, you can add another disk specifically for data storage. For example, you might find that your hard disk does not have enough space for the operating system and installed applications, preventing you from updating your software. In this case, you have to transfer the system to a higher-capacity hard disk.
No data will be lost because the original disk is only being read (no partitions are changed or resized) until data transfer is completed. We recommend that you do not delete data from the old disk until you are sure it is correctly transferred to the new disk, the server boots up from it and all applications work. 13.3 Executing transfers 13.3.1 Selecting Clone mode You will see the Clone mode window just after the welcome window. We recommend using automatic mode in most cases.
You can determine the source and destination using the information provided in this window (disk number, capacity, label, partition and file system information). 13.3.3 Selecting destination disk After you select the source disk, select the destination where the disk information will be copied. The previously selected source becomes grayed-out and disabled for selection. If either disk is unpartitioned, the program will automatically recognize it as the destination and bypass this step.
13.3.4 Partitioned destination disk At this point, the program checks to see if the destination disk is free. If not, you will be prompted by the Nonempty Destination Hard Disk window stating that the destination disk contains partitions, perhaps with data. You will have to select between: • Delete partitions on the destination hard disk – all existing partitions will be deleted during cloning and all their data will be lost.
• Keep data – leave the old disk partitions and data intact • Destroy data – destroy all data on the old disk. If you are going to sell or give away your old disk, we recommend that you make sure you destroyed the data on it. If you are going to keep it for data storage, you can create a new partition layout on it. In this case, the disk will be ready right after cloning is complete.
The second method takes more time, but makes it impossible to recover data afterwards, even with special equipment. The first method is less secure, but is still suitable for most cases. 13.3.
If you elect to transfer information "as is," a new partition will be created for every old one with the same size and type, file system and label. The unused space will become unallocated. Further, you will be able to use the unallocated space to create new partitions or to enlarge the existing partitions with special tools, such as Acronis Disk Director Suite. As a rule, "as is" transfers are not recommended, as they leave much unallocated space on the new disk.
Along with the hard disk number, you will also see disk capacity, label, partition and file system information. Different partition types, including primary, logical and unallocated space are marked with different colors. If you selected manual partition creation earlier, the partition layout will look different. This partitioning method is described below. 13.3.11 Cloning summary In the next window, you will see a list of briefly described operations to be performed on the disks.
To resize either partition, check the Proceed relayout box. If you are satisfied with the partition layout shown, uncheck this box (if checked). Clicking Next, you will proceed to the cloning summary window. Be careful! Clicking Back in this window will reset all size and location changes that you've selected, so you will have to specify them again. First, select a partition to resize. It will be underlined in red. Resize and relocate it on the next step.
Chapter 14. Adding a new hard disk If you don't have enough space for your data, you can either replace the old disk with a new, higher-capacity one (data transfers to new disks are described in the previous chapter), or add a new disk to store data, leaving the system on the old disk. If the server has space for another disk, it would be easier to add a data disk drive than to clone a system one. To add a new disk, you must first install it in your server. 14.
there is unallocated space near it). Having provided the new partition location and size, you can input a label for the new partition. If you make a mistake at partitioning, click Back to redo the process. Finally, you will be taken back to the partition layout screen. Check the resulting partitions layout and start creating another partition or move on by unchecking Create new partition in unallocated space and clicking Next. 14.
Chapter 15. Command-line mode and scripting Acronis True Image Echo Server supports the command-line mode and enables backup automation by executing XML scripts. The command-line mode functionality is somewhat limited as compared to the GUI mode. You will not be able to perform operations that require the reboot of the system, such as restore a system partition or clone a system drive. These operations only can be done through the GUI. Scripting is intended only for backup. 15.
deploy Restores disks and partitions, except for the MBR, from an image /filename:[file name] /password:[password] /asz /index:N /net_user:[username] /net_password:[password] /ftp_user /ftp_password /oss_numbers /reboot /log:[file name] /log_net_user:[remote user] /log_net_password:[password] /harddisk:[disk number] /partition:[partition number] /target_harddisk:[disk number] /target_partition:[partition number] /file_partition:[partition letter] /start:[start sector] /fat16_32 /size:[partition size in se
convert Converts an image to virtual disk format for using with a virtual machine list Lists available drives and partitions.
asz_delete_fi les Deletes the most recent backup in the archive located in the Acronis Secure Zone /filename:[file name] /password:[password] /log:[file name] /log_net_user:[remote user] /log_net_password:[password] /partition:[partition number] Deletes the Acronis Secure Zone /password:[password] /oss_numbers /reboot /log:[file name] /log_net_user:[remote user] /log_net_password:[password] clone /reboot /harddisk:[disk number] /target_harddisk:[disk number] asz_delete Clones a hard disk help Show
/ftp_password:[password] Specify a password for access to an FTP server FTP server Set the backup type to incremental. If not specified or there is no basic full backup, a full backup will be created Any Set the backup type to differential. If not specified or there is no basic full backup, a full backup will be created Any Specify the data compression level.
By specifying /harddisk:DYN you will back up all dynamic volumes present in the system. /partition:[partition number] Specifies the partitions to include into the image file. The list of available partitions is provided by /list. Partition numbers are specified as -, e.g.: /partition:1-1,1-2,3-1 Dynamic volumes are specified with prefix DYN, e.g.
/file_partition:DYN1 /filename:”\1.tib” /harddisk:[disk number] /partition:[partition number] Specifies the basic hard disks to restore. Specifies the partitions to restore. Dynamic volumes are specified with prefix DYN, e.g.: /partition:DYN1 /target_harddisk:[disk number] Specifies the hard disk number where the image will be restored. By specifying /target_harddisk:DYN you will select unallocated space on all dynamic disks that present in the system.
/preserve_mbr When restoring a partition over an existing one, the target partition is deleted from the disk along with its entry in the target disk MBR. Then, with the /preserve_mbr option, the restored partition’s entry will occupy the upper empty position in the target disk MBR. Thus, the target disk MBR is preserved. If not specified, the restored partition’s entry will occupy the same position as in the source disk MBR saved in the image.
convert /target_filename:[file name] Specifies the path to and name of the virtual disk file to be created. The file extension corresponds to the type of the virtual machine to which the virtual disk will be added: VMware virtual machine - .vmdk MS virtual machine - .vhd Parallels virtual machine - .hdd. /harddisk:[disk number] Specifies the hard disks to convert by numbers. For each disk, a separate virtual disk will be created.
/letter Assigns letters to the mounted drives. This option is used with /partition option only. unplug /letter:X Specifies the virtual drive to be disconnected by letter. /letter:all Disconnects all virtual drives. asz_create /harddisk:X Specifies the hard disk number where the Acronis Secure Zone will be created. /partition:[partition number] Specifies partitions from which free space will be taken for Acronis Secure Zone.
trueimagecmd /create /asz /partition:2-1,1-3 • This will create an image of the partitions 2-1 and 1-3 in the Acronis Secure Zone. trueimagecmd /create /filename:"\Test\1.tib" /partition:21,1-3 /file_partition:3-1 • This will create an image named 1.tib of the partitions 2-1 and 1-3. The image will be saved in the folder \Test on partition 3-1. trueimagecmd /create /filename:"C:\Test\1.
trueimagecmd /deploy_mbr /harddisk:1 /asz:2 /index:3 /password:pswd • This will restore MBR from the image of hard disk 1 to the same hard disk 1. The image is contained in the backup 3rd created in the archive number 2, located in Acronis Secure Zone that is protected with the ‘pswd’ password. trueimagecmd /deploy_mbr /harddisk:1 /target_harddisk:2 /filename:ftp://server/folder/arc.tib /ftp_user:fuser /ftp_password:fpswd • This will restore MBR from the image of hard disk 1 to the hard disk 2.
trueimagecmd /convert /filename:C:\MyBackup.tib /target_filename:C:\MyHDD.vmdk /vm_type:vmware /harddisk:1,3 • This will convert images of disks 1 and 3, contained in the file C:\MyBackup.tib, to the virtual disks C:\MyHDD.vmdk and C:\MyHDD2.vmdk for using with VMware type virtual machines. 7. List trueimagecmd /list • This will list available partitions. trueimagecmd /list /asz • This will list contents of the latest image located in Acronis Secure Zone. 8.
In our example, the Acronis Secure Zone contains three archives. The archive AAA2 (2 stands for number of backups in the archive) consists of: - full (base) image backup created on 2/16/2007 at 3:43 - incremental backup created on 4/25/2007 at 11:44. The archive FAAA (F means that this is a file-level archive) contains one base file-level backup.
• This will connect all images, stored in file mybackup.tib on the network drive, as virtual drives. 15.1.5 Command-line mode usage under DOS For use in the MS-DOS-compatible environments Acronis True Image Echo Server includes the TrueImageCmdDos.exe utility. It is located in a folder where Acronis True Image Echo Server has been installed, by default it is C:\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImageEchoServer. 15.2 Scripting 15.2.1 Script execution parameters Scripts are executed by the TrueImageTerminal.
Target. Specifies the name and the location of an image file, e.g.: username and password parameters are optional. They are used to access networked resources. As a target for the image files you can indicate CD-R/RW or tape drive. Options. This tag can be used with a number of additional parameters: Compression: specifies the backup compression level. Can be None, Low, Normal, High.
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