Acronis VmProtect 8 Vm Protect 8.0 User Guide AVMP8 En US

User Manual: acronis vmProtect - 8.0 - User Guide Free User Guide for Acronis vmProtect Software, Manual

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User Guide

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FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE

EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID.

Third party code may be provided with the Software and/or Service. The license terms for such

third-parties are detailed in the license.txt file located in the root installation directory. You can

always find the latest up-to-date list of the third party code and the associated license terms used

with the Software and/or Service at http://kb.acronis.com/content/7696

Acronis patented technologies

Technologies used in this product are covered by the following patents: U.S. Patent # 7,047,380; U.S.

Patent # 7,246,211; U.S. Patent # 7,318,135; U.S. Patent # 7,366,859; U.S. Patent # 7,636,824; U.S.

Patent # 7,831,789; U.S. Patent # 7,886,120; U.S. Patent # 7,934,064; U.S. Patent # 7,949,635; U.S.

Patent # 7,979,690; U.S. Patent # 8,069,320; U.S. Patent # 8,073,815; U.S. Patent # 8,074,035.

Table of contents

1 Introducing Acronis vmProtect 8 ............................................................................................7

2 Acronis vmProtect 8 Overview ...............................................................................................8

2.1 Acronis vmProtect 8 Features ................................................................................................... 8

3 How Acronis vmProtect 8 Works ............................................................................................9

3.1 Virtual machines backup and restore ........................................................................................ 9

3.2 Backup archive structure ........................................................................................................... 9

3.2.1 Multiple files backup scheme (Legacy mode) ............................................................................................... 9

3.2.2 Single file backup scheme (Always Incremental mode) ............................................................................. 10

4 Installation of Acronis vmProtect 8 ....................................................................................... 11

4.1 Requirements ..........................................................................................................................11

4.1.1 Supported operating systems ...................................................................................................................... 11

4.1.2 System requirements .................................................................................................................................... 11

4.1.3 How to install VMware Tools ....................................................................................................................... 12

4.1.4 Privileges for VM backup and recovery ....................................................................................................... 13

4.2 Installation options ..................................................................................................................16

4.2.1 Installing Acronis vmProtect 8 as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) host ...................................................... 17

4.2.2 Installing Acronis vmProtect 8 as Windows Agent ..................................................................................... 18

4.2.3 Extracting installation files ............................................................................................................................ 20

4.2.4 Configuring ESX(i) host connection settings ................................................................................................ 21

4.2.5 Using a locally attached storage................................................................................................................... 21

4.3 Uninstalling Acronis vmProtect 8 ............................................................................................21

5 Getting started .................................................................................................................... 22

5.1 Dashboard Management .........................................................................................................23

5.2 Using Web Console ..................................................................................................................24

5.2.1 Ribbon tabs .................................................................................................................................................... 24

5.2.2 Logout link...................................................................................................................................................... 27

6 vCenter Integration .............................................................................................................. 28

7 Creating a Backup of Virtual Machines ................................................................................. 31

7.1 Select VM(s) to back up ...........................................................................................................31

7.2 When to back up ......................................................................................................................32

7.3 Where to back up ....................................................................................................................33

7.4 How to back up ........................................................................................................................38

7.4.1 Exchange-Aware Backup Settings ................................................................................................................ 38

7.4.2 Backup validation .......................................................................................................................................... 39

7.4.3 Other settings ................................................................................................................................................ 39

7.4.4 Completing the Create backup task wizard................................................................................................. 39

7.5 Options ....................................................................................................................................40

7.5.1 Archive Protection ......................................................................................................................................... 40

7.5.2 Source Files Exclusion ................................................................................................................................... 40

7.5.3 Compression Level ........................................................................................................................................ 41

7.5.4 Error Handling................................................................................................................................................ 41

7.5.5 Disaster Recovery Plan .................................................................................................................................. 41

7.5.6 Notifications ................................................................................................................................................... 42

7.5.7 Additional Settings ........................................................................................................................................ 44

7.6 Managing created backup task ................................................................................................45

8 Replication .......................................................................................................................... 46

8.1 New Replication Task ...............................................................................................................46

8.1.1 Select VM(s) for Replication ......................................................................................................................... 46

8.1.2 When to Replicate ......................................................................................................................................... 47

8.1.3 Select location and datastore for replica ..................................................................................................... 48

8.1.4 Replication task options ................................................................................................................................ 48

8.2 Managing replicated VMs ........................................................................................................49

8.2.1 Replicated VM Manager ............................................................................................................................... 49

8.2.2 Failover ........................................................................................................................................................... 50

8.2.3 Failback VM from Replica ............................................................................................................................. 51

8.2.4 Deleting Replica VM ...................................................................................................................................... 54

9 Restoring a Backup of Virtual Machines ................................................................................ 55

9.1 Select VM(s) to restore ............................................................................................................55

9.2 Where to restore .....................................................................................................................56

9.3 How to restore .........................................................................................................................59

9.4 Options ....................................................................................................................................60

9.4.1 Notifications ................................................................................................................................................... 60

9.4.2 Error Handling................................................................................................................................................ 61

9.4.3 VM power management .............................................................................................................................. 61

9.4.4 Additional Settings ........................................................................................................................................ 62

9.4.5 Exchange Server Restore Settings ................................................................................................................ 62

9.5 Managing created restore task ................................................................................................62

10 Exchange Server Backup Extraction ...................................................................................... 63

10.1 Extracting Databases ...............................................................................................................63

10.2 Extracting Mailboxes ...............................................................................................................65

10.3 Extracting Mailboxes content ..................................................................................................67

11 Running VM from Backup .................................................................................................... 69

11.1 Select VM(s) to run from backup .............................................................................................69

11.2 Where the VM(s) will be run ...................................................................................................70

11.3 Additional Settings ...................................................................................................................72

11.4 Managing created “Run VM from Backup” activity .................................................................73

12 File Recovery ....................................................................................................................... 74

12.1 Select VM(s) to extract files from ............................................................................................74

12.2 Explore Recovery Point ............................................................................................................75

13 P2V Migration ...................................................................................................................... 77

13.1 How to Perform a P2V Migration ............................................................................................77

14 Bare Metal Recovery of ESXi Hosts ....................................................................................... 78

14.1 ESXi host configuration backup ...............................................................................................78

14.2 ESXi host configuration recovery .............................................................................................82

15 Managing Tasks ................................................................................................................... 85

15.1 Running a task ..........................................................................................................................85

15.2 Cancelling a task ......................................................................................................................86

15.3 Editing a task ............................................................................................................................86

15.4 Deleting a task .........................................................................................................................86

15.5 Viewing task logs .....................................................................................................................86

15.6 Viewing task details .................................................................................................................86

16 Managing Recovery Points ................................................................................................... 90

16.1 Adding a backup location ........................................................................................................91

16.2 Virtual Machines catalog .........................................................................................................92

16.3 Recovery Points list ..................................................................................................................93

16.4 Summary tab ............................................................................................................................94

16.5 Operations on selected items ..................................................................................................94

16.5.1 Restore ........................................................................................................................................................... 94

16.5.2 Exchange Recovery ....................................................................................................................................... 94

16.5.3 Run VM from backup .................................................................................................................................... 95

16.5.4 File recovery................................................................................................................................................... 95

16.5.5 Validate .......................................................................................................................................................... 95

16.5.6 Delete ............................................................................................................................................................. 95

17 Other Operations ................................................................................................................. 96

17.1 Validating backups ...................................................................................................................96

17.1.1 What to validate ............................................................................................................................................ 96

17.2 Managing mounted VMs .........................................................................................................98

17.2.1 Mounted VMs list .......................................................................................................................................... 98

17.2.2 Mounted VMs details ................................................................................................................................... 99

17.2.3 Unmounting VMs ........................................................................................................................................ 100

17.3 Managing logs ........................................................................................................................100

17.3.1 Logs list ......................................................................................................................................................... 100

17.3.2 Clear logs ...................................................................................................................................................... 101

17.3.3 Log cleanup rules ......................................................................................................................................... 102

17.3.4 Save logs to file ............................................................................................................................................ 103

17.4 Managing licenses..................................................................................................................103

17.4.1 Adding license .............................................................................................................................................. 104

17.4.2 Adding license failure .................................................................................................................................. 105

17.4.3 Removing license/ESX(i) host ..................................................................................................................... 105

17.4.4 Available Licenses ........................................................................................................................................ 106

17.5 Managing ESX(i) hosts............................................................................................................106

17.5.1 ESX(i) hosts list ............................................................................................................................................. 107

17.5.2 Adding ESX(i) host ....................................................................................................................................... 108

17.5.3 Adding an ESX(i) host which is a part of vCenter ...................................................................................... 108

17.5.4 Login credentials ......................................................................................................................................... 108

17.5.5 Removing ESX(i) host .................................................................................................................................. 109

17.6 Managing settings ..................................................................................................................110

17.6.1 Managing Online Backup Proxy ................................................................................................................. 110

17.6.2 Managing Agent Password ......................................................................................................................... 112

18 Best Practices .................................................................................................................... 113

18.1 Backing up virtual machines to a network share ...................................................................113

18.2 Restoring a backup of a virtual machine to a new location ..................................................113

18.3 File/folders recovery ..............................................................................................................114

19 Support ............................................................................................................................. 115

19.1 Technical Support ..................................................................................................................115

19.2 Troubleshooting .....................................................................................................................115

20 Glossary ............................................................................................................................ 116

1 Introducing Acronis vmProtect 8

Acronis believes that virtualization and transition to the cloud are not only a better way of doing

computing, but also allow for achieving less downtimes and faster recoveries while reducing costs.

Unfortunately, most of backup and recovery solutions are designed for physical systems and are

either not good enough for virtual environments or do not allow for all of the benefits and savings

that virtualization could potentially give.

Acronis is firmly committed to helping its customers and channel partners get most of virtualization,

and intend to set a new standard of backup and recovery in virtualized environments through:

 Reducing IT operating and maintenance costs to help business performance by providing

technology that is easy to use and easy to implement.

 Minimizing overhead and getting most benefits from VMware vSphere environments by

providing a backup and recovery solution specially designed for virtualized environments.

 Minimize risk of data loss by storing backups offsite in Acronis Online Storage.

2 Acronis vmProtect 8 Overview

Acronis vmProtect 8 is a comprehensive backup and recovery solution designed for VMware

vSphere™ environments. It enables organizations to perform an agent-less backup of entire ESX(i)

virtual machines with the ability to recover entire machines or individual files and folders.

2.1 Acronis vmProtect 8 Features

Using Acronis award-winning imaging technology, Acronis vmProtect 8 creates an exact image

(backup) of the virtual machine, including guest operating system, configuration files and

applications, resource pool/vApp properties and datastore settings. It then provides you with the

ability to recover this backup to either the original ESX(i) host or to a new one. The ability to start a

virtual machine directly from a backup without performing an actual restore, making the VM

operational in a few seconds after a failure, is one of the key new features.

Other new features include:

 An option to choose between virtual appliance or Windows-based installation.

 Web-based easy-to-use user interface.

 LAN-free backup with direct access to shared storage.

 Instantly run a VM from a backup on an existing ESX(i) host for quick recovery.

 New enhanced always incremental storage format for backups.

 Simultaneously back up several virtual machines.

 Support for vApp/resource pool settings backup/restore.

 Change Block Tracking (CBT) support.

 Disaster Recovery Plan.

Main advantages of using Acronis vmProtect 8 are:

1. Ease-of-use. Acronis vmProtect 8 can be deployed either as virtual appliance or installed on a

Windows machine and is managed via brand new web-based interface. Given Acronis experience

in designing intuitive GUIs and focused target on VMware – the interface allows starting right

away without a need to investigate or read documentation, and avoids dangerous mistakes or

misconfiguration.

2. More functionality. In addition to standard backup and restore features, vmProtect 8 includes

unique functionality, such as: running virtual machine directly from backup; unlimited number of

P2V conversions; backup to cloud-based Acronis Online Storage; industry-standard 256-bit

encryption to protect backups.

3. Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). vmProtect 8 is priced per CPU, and a list prices are quite

low. Virtual Appliance does not require a dedicated machine or Windows license to operate, plus

a reliable and intuitive solution saves administrator’s time and management cost.

4. Safe investments by working with established vendor.

3 How Acronis vmProtect 8 Works

3.1 Virtual machines backup and restore

As with a physical machine, your virtual machine (or several VMs as a whole virtual infrastructure)

should also be protected. Once you have installed Acronis vmProtect 8 agent, you can:

 Back up a virtual machine or multiple virtual machines residing on the server without having to

install additional software on each virtual machine.

 Recover a virtual machine to the same or another virtual machine residing on the same server or

on another virtualization server. The virtual machine configuration stored in a virtual machine

backup and the virtual disks data will be restored to a new virtual machine.

A virtual machine can be online (running), offline (stopped), suspended, or switched between the

three states during backup.

A virtual machine has to be offline (stopped) during the recovery to this machine. The machine will

be automatically stopped before recovery. You can opt for manual stopping of machines.

The detailed information can be found in the "Creating a backup of virtual machines" (p. 31) and

"Restoring a backup of virtual machines" sections (p. 55).

3.2 Backup archive structure

Acronis vmProtect 8 allows you to create the backup of virtual machines by using one of the two

backup archive schemes: Multiple files backup scheme (Legacy mode) or Single file backup scheme

(Always Incremental mode).

In Acronis vmProtect 8, the Single file backup scheme is set as the default.

3.2.1 Multiple files backup scheme (Legacy mode)

With this scheme, the data for each backup is stored in a separate archive file (.tib extension). A full

backup is created at the first launch. The following backups are performed according to the

incremental method.

Set up the backup retention rules and specify the appropriate settings. The outdated backups, i.e.

backups older than the designated number of days (defined by the retention rules) are deleted

dynamically in compliance with the following procedure:

Note that it is not possible to delete a backup which has dependencies. For example, if you have a

full backup plus a set of incremental backups, you cannot simply delete the full backup. If you do, the

incremental backups will not be recoverable. The backups which become subject to deletion

(according to the retention rules) will not be deleted until all the dependent backups also become

deletable. This limitation can be overcome by utilizing the Always Incremental backup mode.

3.2.2 Single file backup scheme (Always Incremental mode)

Usually, backups are kept only for a certain time period (retention time) or there is a policy to keep

only the last X backups in the backup chain. Backup archives are managed on a daily, weekly, etc.

basis. The main limitation of the Legacy mode backup archive is that you cannot delete a random

backup from the backup chain since it may have dependencies on it from subsequent backups. This is

where Always Incremental backup archive can help.

Always Incremental mode uses a new generation archive format which may contain several backups

from a number of virtual machines. After the first full backup, all other backups are saved to this

archive in incremental mode. Physically all data is located inside one file as opposed to the Legacy

archive format where each backup is stored in a separate .tib file. Therefore, unlike the Legacy mode

archive, it is possible to delete a random backup from Always Incremental archive even if it has

dependencies.

When a certain backup expires due to the pre-defined retention rules (for example to “delete the

backups if they are older than 2 days”), the backup algorithm just marks these outdated backup

blocks as “free” ones.

The blocks of expired backups with dependencies (which are needed to restore the newer backups)

are not marked as “free” to ensure the archive consistency. Everyday, the archive should contain

data that is not older than two days in order to restore the backup (retention time). This is the basic

rule of the Always Incremental archive. All excessive data in the archive is marked for deletion, i.e. as

“free” space. The initial archive still occupies the same space on the storage as before, however all

newer backups will be written to the “free” blocks first, and only if all the “free” blocks are filled, the

total size of the archive will be increased.

This approach allows keeping the archive size as small as possible and prevents it from excessive

growing. Also, the implementation of this backup scheme significantly saves time and resources for

managing the backups inside the archive because the “free” blocks marking is almost an instant

operation. Thus, the limitations of the Legacy archive mode are no longer true for Always

Incremental archive.

The Always Incremental archive total size includes the size of the “used” blocks and the size of the

“free” blocks. Usually, the size of the Always Incremental archive does not grow indefinitely and stays

within the total size of the backups you want to keep.

4 Installation of Acronis vmProtect 8

4.1 Requirements

4.1.1 Supported operating systems

Acronis vmProtect 8 supports the following operating systems:

 Windows XP Professional SP2 (x64), SP3 (x86).

 Windows Server 2003/2003 R2 - the Standard, Enterprise, Small Business Server editions (x86,

x64).

 Windows Vista - all editions (x86, x64).

 Windows 7 - all editions (x86, x64).

 Windows 8.

 Windows Server 2008 - the Standard, Enterprise, Foundation editions (x86, x64).

 Windows Small Business Server 2008

 Windows Server 2008 R2 - the Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Foundation editions.

 Windows Small Business Server 2011

 Windows Server 2012.

4.1.2 System requirements

The components installed in Windows:

Edition name

Memory (above the OS and

running applications)

Disk space required during

installation or update

Disk space occupied by the

component(s)

vmProtect 8

80 MB

1 GB

500 MB

To perform each task (Backup, Restore, RunVM, Validate, etc.) the Agent needs about 100Mb of

memory. Acronis vmProtect 8 could perform parallel tasks (such as parallel backup tasks, etc) of up

to 5 tasks at a time. If more than 5 tasks are run simultaneously, the Agent will process only the first

5 tasks, while the other tasks will remain in the queue with the "waiting" status.

Also, note that Acronis vmProtect 8 reserves and always uses the following system TCP ports: 111

(sunrpc), 9000 (WCS), 764 (nfs_server), 9876 (Remote Agent Service).

Here is a list of supported environments for Acronis vmProtect 8:

 VMware vSphere (Virtual Infrastructure).

 Server types: ESX and ESXi.

 Versions: 4.1, 5.0, 5.1.

 Editions/Licenses.

 VMware vSphere Standard (Hot-add backup mode is supported on vSphere 5.0+ only).

 VMware vSphere Advanced.

 VMware vSphere Enterprise.

 VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus.

 VMware vSphere Essentials (Hot-add backup mode is supported on vSphere 5.0+ only).

 VMware vSphere Essentials Plus (Hot-add backup mode is supported on vSphere 5.0+ only).

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (Free ESXi) is NOT supported.

ESX(i) version 4.0 environment is supported with exceptions, for example, Exchange Server Backup

Extraction (p. 63) and ESXi configuration backup (p. 78) features are not supported.

Acronis vmProtect 8 Exchange Server Backup Extraction (p. 63) feature supports Microsoft Exchange

2003 SP2 and higher. Acronis vmProtect 8 Exchange Server Backup Extraction feature does NOT

support Exchange databases located on Windows dynamic disks (LDM).

Acronis vmProtect 8 supports the following file systems for the backed up virtual machines:

NTFS/FAT16/FAT32/ext2/ext3/ext4/ReFS. For other VM file systems sector level backup mode is

used, which means that granular recovery from such archives is not possible (only entire VMs can be

restored). An example of unsupported file systems are Linux LVM volumes (or Windows Dynamic

Disks). They are backed up in sector-by-sector mode.

Please, note, that the following environments for the backup/restore operations are NOT supported:

 RDM disks (Raw Device Mapping).

 Fault tolerance VMs.

Also, independent virtual drives CANNOT be backed up when the virtual machine is turned on.

Please, power off such VMs before their back up.

For the smooth operation of the Acronis vmProtect 8 Web Console, you should have one of the

following versions of your web browser:

 Mozilla Firefox 3.6 or higher.

 Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher.

 Opera 10.0 or higher.

 Safari 5.0 or higher.

 Google Chrome 10.0 or higher.

For proper Web Console operation with IE 8, please, check your internet settings. Tools -> Internet

Options -> Security tab -> Internet -> Security level shoud not be set to "High". Level of privacy at

the Privacy tab should be set to "Medium High" or lower.

For proper Web Console operation with IE 9, please, check your internet settings. Tools -> Internet

Options -> Advanced -> “Do not save encrypted pages to disk” option must be cleared. Otherwise

the File Recovery feature will not function properly.

4.1.3 How to install VMware Tools

Acronis vmProtect 8 requires the installation of VMware Tools inside the virtual machines that you

plan to back up. This is necessary to support proper quiescence of the file system (utilize VSS

support) and to enable files/folders exclusions capability. To install the VMware Tools:

 Run the VMware Infrastructure/vSphere Client.

 Connect to the ESX(i) server.

 Select the virtual machine and run the guest operating system.

 Right click the virtual machine and select Guest->Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.

 Follow the onscreen instructions.

Note that the Run VM from backup feature requires VMkernel networking to be configured on the

ESX(i) server. This can be done in vSphere client by going to Configuration->Networking and adding

VMkernel connection type to the vSwitch properties.

4.1.4 Privileges for VM backup and recovery

Once Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent is installed on a Windows machine or deployed to an ESX(i) host, the

first thing you do is the configuration of ESX(i) hosts/vCenter which will be managed by this Agent.

The scope of available operations depends on the privileges a user (that you have specified while

adding a ESX(i) host/vCenter in vmProtect 8 Agent web console: Configure->ESX(i) Hosts) has on the

vCenter Server. Only those actions are available that the user has permission to perform. The below

tables contain the privileges required for backup and recovery of ESX(i) virtual machines and,

additionally, for virtual appliance deployment.

Privileges on vCenter Server or ESX(i) host

Outlined in the below table are the privileges a vCenter Server user must have to perform operations

on all the vCenter hosts and clusters.

To enable a user to operate on a specific ESX host only, assign the user the same privileges on the

host. In addition, the Global->Licenses privilege is required to be able to back up virtual machines of

a specific ESX host.

Operation

Object

Privilege

Back up a

VM's disk

Recover to a

new VM

Recover to

an existing

VA deployment

Datastore

Allocate space

Browse datastore

Low level file

operations

Global

Licenses

(required on

ESX host

only)

(required on

ESX host

only)

Network

Assign network

Resource

Assign VM to

resource pool

Virtual machine ->

Configuration

Add existing disk

Add new disk

Add or remove

device

Change CPU count

Memory

Remove disk

Rename

Settings

Virtual machine ->

Interaction

Configure CD media

Console interaction

Power off

Power on

Virtual machine ->

Inventory

Create from existing

Create new

Remove

Virtual machine ->

Provisioning

Allow disk access

Virtual machine ->

State

Create snapshot

Remove snapshot

The roles privileges can be configured via the vSphere Client connected to a ESX(i) host/vCenter from

Administration->Roles. After that you can assign the specific user for connection to vCenter with

particular role from Permissions tab, as shown in the pictures below.

4.2 Installation options

The very first thing you have to do is to install Acronis vmProtect 8 software, configure your ESX(i)

host connection settings and set up your access credentials to Acronis vmProtect 8 web console.

When you run your Acronis vmProtect 8 installation package, the installation menu appears. Acronis

vmProtect 8 has three main installation options:

 Install Acronis vmProtect 8 as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) host.

 Install Acronis vmProtect 8 as Windows Agent.

 Extract installation files.

The first option allows you to install the software on a remote ESX(i) host (see Installing Acronis

vmProtect 8 as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) Host (p. 17)).

The second option allows you to install Acronis vmProtect 8 software on your local PC (see Installing

Acronis vmProtect 8 as Windows Agent (p. 18)).

The third option allows you to extract the installation files (see Extracting installation files (p. 20))

and perform either Acronis vmProtect 8 remote deployment or local installation manually with the

help of standard installation tools. You can always choose this option, if you would need to manage

or troubleshoot your Virtual Appliance / Windows Agent installation without the default installer, or

if you would need to install only a certain component without carrying out the full installation

procedure.

There are several reasons why Acronis vmProtect 8 Virtual Appliance deployment to an ESX(i) host is

preferable over Acronis vmProtect 8 Windows Agent installation. These reasons are:

1. Your backups will be LAN-free without additional setup effort (you don’t have to connect the

FC/iSCSI storage to the Windows machine where you run the Agent).

2. The hotadd method used by Virtual Appliance (attaching virtual drives to Virtual Appliance during

backup) is usually fastest possible to get access to the VM data for reading.

3. Virtual Appliance is free from possible software compatibility issues (such as 3rd party NFS

servers or other services which may block the ports).

4. It is easier to maintain Virtual Appliance and you don’t have to have a dedicated Windows

machine for it. Surely it is a better choice if your infrastructure is fully virtualized.

5. Virtual Appliance is easier and faster to install.

The disadvantage of Virtual Appliance is that the backup will consume CPU and memory resources

from the ESX(i) host, which may be a problem for highly loaded environments. In this case, if you

have a physical computer available to be used as a console for managing all vmProtect 8

functionality, you can choose to install the vmProtect 8 Windows Agent locally.

4.2.1 Installing Acronis vmProtect 8 as Virtual Appliance on an

ESX(i) host

Acronis vmProtect 8 software could be installed directly on an ESX(i) host. The process of remote

installation of Acronis vmProtect 8 Virtual Appliance to an ESX(i) host is called deployment. The

software for running all necessary Acronis services will be installed on a separate small virtual

machine under a specially customized OS (small Linux distribution).

1. First, read the Acronis vmProtect 8 license agreement, select the acceptance check box and then

click Next.

2. Specify the desired ESX(i) server or vCenter access credentials: IP address or hostname, your user

name and access password. When you click Next, the installer will automatically check the

connection and go through the authorization procedure.

3. Then the installer will check for previous versions of Acronis vmProtect 8 or any other Acronis

software on the specified ESX(i) server. If you already have the Acronis Virtual Appliance set up

there and it is outdated, then the installer would prompt you to update it to the latest version or

create the new Virtual Appliance.

4. Set your Appliance (VM) name, choose the ESX(i) host and datastore as a target for deploying the

Acronis vmProtect 8 software. You can change the Appliance name or keep the default one. The

Appliance name should be unique within the ESX(i) host. If you set the vCenter and its credentials

on the previous installation step, you have to choose one of the ESX(i) hosts contained in that

vCenter from the respective drop-down list. Otherwise, there will be no choice and you will see

your direct ESX(i) host.

Then, select the datastore on that specific ESX(i). If the space on that datastore is not enough for

installation, you will get the warning suggesting that you free up some space on the selected

datastore or choose another one. There can be only one unique Virtual Appliance with the

specified name on the specified datastore. If the Appliance name already exists there, you will

have to change either your Appliance name or the datastore.

If you specify the vCenter on this step, you can select to Enable vCenter integration with the

respective check box.

5. Provide the information on the network settings for your Virtual Appliance. This step contains

standard network settings like IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS server settings,

etc. You can also let the appliance acquire the network settings automatically, which is the

default option.

6. The next step prompts you to accept or ignore your participation in the Acronis Customer

Experience Program.

7. After going through all the required steps of the installation wizard, you will finally see the

summary information of the deployment operations to be performed – components to be

installed, required space, account information and chosen destination (host and datastore).

Then the Acronis vmProtect 8 installer deploys the Virtual Appliance software. You will see the

progress bar with the current installation step indicated. After the deployment is finished

successfully, the appliance is started automatically. Please, wait until the whole process is

completed and everything is checked. This may take several minutes.

If the installation process finished successfully and all Acronis vmProtect 8 components were

successfully deployed, you will get the "Deployment has been completed" page. Here, select the

check box if you wish to run the Acronis vmProtect 8 Web Console (it will be opened in the default

Internet browser) to connect to your newly deployed Acronis vmProtect 8 Virtual Appliance. Then

click Close. The default login:password for the Acronis vmProtect 8 Web Console is admin:root.

NOTE: it is highly recommended to change the password after first login at Configure->Agent

Password page (for more information refer to Managing Agent Password section (p. 112)). With

default credentials the login is performed automatically. If you've changed the Agent Password

configuration, then you'll get the default login screen upon connection to the Web Console.

If there is any problem, the Virtual Appliance (parts of it which have already been deployed during

the installation) will be removed from ESX(i) automatically. You will get the "Failed to install

vmProtect 8 components" page. Here, you can see the summary information on the installed and

failed to install components. Show log link opens up a pop-up with the detailed information, and

Troubleshoot link opens the online page with the particular error description on the Acronis

Knowledge Base website at http://kb.acronis.com. If you still cannot find the answer on how to solve

this problem, please, contact the Acronis support team (p. 115).

4.2.2 Installing Acronis vmProtect 8 as Windows Agent

If your production ESX(i) hosts are so heavily loaded that running the virtual appliances is not

desirable, consider installing Acronis vmProtect 8 Windows Agent on a physical machine outside the

ESX(i) infrastructure.

If your ESX(i) uses a SAN attached storage, install the agent on a machine connected to the same

SAN. The agent will back up the virtual machines directly from the storage rather than via the ESX(i)

host and LAN. This capability is called a LAN-free backup.

The diagram below illustrates a LAN-based and a LAN-free backup. LAN-free access to virtual

machines is available if you have a fibre channel (FC) or iSCSI Storage Area Network. To completely

eliminate transferring the backed up data via LAN, store the backups on a local disk of the agent's

machine or on a SAN attached storage.

Acronis vmProtect 8 Windows Agent can be installed on any machine that runs Windows and meets

the system requirements. Here is a brief description of the steps you need to go through in order to

complete your Windows Agent installation.

1. First, read the Acronis vmProtect 8 license agreement, select the acceptance check box and then

click Next.

2. Specify credentials for the Acronis services. The Acronis Managed Machine Service component

(responsible for the core functionality of Acronis vmProtect 8) runs as a service. Specify the

account under which the component's service will run after the installation (this account will be

automatically granted with “Log on as service” permissions on the machine). Here you should

provide the credentials of any Windows user which has “Log on locally” permissions on the

machine with the Agent installed. Typically, this can be any user account from “Administrators”,

“Power Users” or “Users” group. Set the HTTPs port, e.g. the default 9877 port. For access to

Acronis web console page after Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent is installed, open your web browser

and enter “https://myserver:port” in the browser address bar.

Note that in order to successfully connect to your installed Agent through the browser (web

console), the name of your local PC where Acronis vmProtect 8 is installed should not contain

an underscore (_) symbol. You should provide the credentials of any user with Administrator

privileges on the machine.

3. Select the way you want your components to be installed, i.e. specify the location where to

install the software. The default destination for installing Acronis vmProtect 8 is the C:\Program

Files\Acronis or C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis folder. You can change the destination by typing

in a new folder name or selecting it by browsing. If the folder does not exist, it will be

automatically created in the process of installation. The Disk usage button shows the available

disk space for the different volumes on your PC and helps you to choose the target disk for

installation. If there is not enough free space on the selected volume, you’ll be prompted to free

up the required space or select another volume. Upon specifying the desired destination, click

Next.

4. Please, read the information about the Acronis Customer Experience Program, choose if you

want to participate in it or not, and then click Next. The main purpose of ACEP is to help us

collect user statistics in order to improve our software functionality, customer service and

customer experience.

5. After going through all the required installation wizard steps, you will finally see the summary

information of the install operations to be performed, components to be installed, required

space, account information and chosen destination.

6. Click Install to start the process. You will see the Acronis vmProtect 8 installation progress bar.

During installation, Windows Firewall may prompt you to unblock TCP/IP ports. This is required

for the appliance to operate properly. To unblock, in the opened Windows Firewall dialog box

click the Unblock button. Please, wait until the installation is finished. It may take several

minutes.

If the installation process finished successfully and all Acronis vmProtect 8 components were

successfully installed, you will get the "Installation has completed" page. Here select the check box if

you wish to run Acronis vmProtect 8 Web Console and click Close.

If the installation process fails and all or some of the Acronis vmProtect 8 components for any reason

could not be successfully installed, you will get the "Failed to install vmProtect 8 components" page.

Here you can see the summary information on the installed and failed to install components. Show

log link opens up a pop-up window with the detailed information, and Troubleshoot link opens the

online page with the particular error description on the Acronis Knowledge Base website at

http://kb.acronis.com. If you still cannot find the answer how to solve this problem, please contact

the Acronis support team (p. 115).

4.2.3 Extracting installation files

Acronis vmProtect 8 installation package provides you with the option to extract the installation files

on your PC to be executed manually and to be installed by the standard tools.

Click the Extract installation files of the Acronis vmProtect 8 installation main menu. Select the

desired components to be saved as separate installation files on your PC:

 AcronisESXAppliance.ovf and two .vmdk files – installation files for Acronis Virtual Appliance.

 vmProtectAgent.msi – the main installation file for Acronis vmProtect 8 Windows Agent.

 vmProtectExchangeBackupAgent.msi – installation file for Acronis vmProtect 8 Exchange Backup

Agent. This Agent might be installed inside the guest OS where User Account Control (UAC) is

enabled. It is meant to overcome the UAC limitations to allow the vmProtect 8 Exchange

Backup options. Upon installation the Acronis vmProtect 8 Exchange Backup Agent service

provides the communication channel with Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent.

Specify the location you want to extract your files to, and then click Extract. The Disk usage button

shows the available space for the different volumes on your PC and helps you to choose the

destination disk for the files extraction.

Close the dialog when the extraction process is completed.

4.2.4 Configuring ESX(i) host connection settings

For detailed information on setting and configuring your ESX(i) host connection credentials, please

refer to Managing ESX(i) hosts (p. 106) section.

4.2.5 Using a locally attached storage

You can attach an additional disk to an Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance) so the agent can back up

to this locally attached storage. Such backup is normally faster than backup via LAN and it does not

consume the network bandwidth. We recommend using this method when a single virtual appliance

manages the entire virtual environment residing in a SAN attached storage.

You can add the storage to an already working agent or when importing the agent from an OVF

template.

To attach a storage to an already working agent

1. In VMware vSphere inventory, right click the Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance).

2. Add the disk by editing the settings of the virtual machine. The disk size must be at least 10 GB.

Be careful when adding an already existing disk. Once the storage is created, all data previously

contained on this disk will be lost.

3. Go to the virtual appliance console. The Create storage link is available at the bottom of the

screen. If it is not, click Refresh.

4. Click the Create storage link, select the disk and specify a label for it.

Details. The label length is limited to 16 characters due to file system restrictions.

To select a locally attached storage as a backup destination

When creating a backup task expand the Local Folders item and choose the locally attached storage

drive, for example D:\.

The same procedure applies to File recovery and other operations with the backups.

4.3 Uninstalling Acronis vmProtect 8

To uninstall Acronis vmProtect 8 Windows Agent, use the default Add or Remove Programs tool of

Windows.

To uninstall Acronis vmProtect 8 Virtual Appliance, you have to manually remove the VM with the

virtual appliance from the ESX(i) host with your VMware vSphere client.

5 Getting started

Once you installed the Acronis vmProtect 8 or deployed your Acronis vmProtect 8 Virtual Appliance,

you can run the Acronis vmProtect 8 Web Console. The Web Console will be opened in the default

Internet browser.

Note that the Acronis vmProtect 8 web server (installed on the Agent side) which provides the user

interface uses self-signed certificates. As a result, you may receive the “There is a problem with this

website’s security certificate” error message when connecting to Acronis Agent via your Internet

Browser. To avoid this message, you should add this self-signed certificate to the list of trusted

certificates. The exact instructions depend on the type of Internet browser you are using. You can

refer to your browser’s help for further information.

Certificate error message

Once the Web Console opens in the Internet browser, you will get a login screen where you need to

provide user credentials for Acronis vmProtect 8. In case of Virtual Appliance-based installation, the

default login:password is admin:root. In case of Windows Agent-based installation, you should

provide the credentials of any Windows user who has “Administrator” privileges on the machine

with the Agent installed. The user should also be granted with “Log on locally”, “Access this

computer from the network” and “Log on as a batch job” privileges. These privileges can be checked

from Start->Run->secpol.msc->Security Settings->Local Policies->User Rights Assignment.

After logging in the Acronis vmProtect 8 you will see a welcome screen with the Dashbord's Quick

Start. The three buttons of this section will give you a hint of what to start with:

 First of all, to be able to perform the first backup task of a Virtual Machines, you have to go to

the ESX(i) Host section (p. 106) and specify the IP address / hostname and credentials for the

vCenter or individual ESX(i) host where these machines are running.

 Setting up an ESX(i) host will not bind the licenses to it automatically. Therefore, you have to

follow to the Licenses page (p. 103) to set up your licenses.

 After setting up your ESX(i) hosts and licenses, you can run the New backup task wizard (p. 31),

which will guide you through all the steps of the backup process.

5.1 Dashboard Management

After installing and running Acronis vmProtect 8 (i.e. connecting to Acronis vmProtect 8 component

via web-based console), the default dashboard screen appears. Initially the dashboard contains 2

sections: the Quick Start section and the Virtual Machines section, which presents general

information about your vCenter, ESX(i) hosts, the number of machines managed on the ESX(i) hosts

and the number of mounted virtual machines. The Dashboard view will be changed from the initial

(Quick Start) view after there is a backup task created. As a result of this change, the Quick Start

section will disappear and the additional sections (described below) will be added.

The main workspace area of the Acronis vmProtect 8 dashboard shows an overview of all currently

running tasks or the last finished task details if there are no running tasks. The dashboard is designed

to be the most user-friendly environment for presenting summary information about the current

status of your backup, restore and other tasks. It does so by using color-coding for successful and

failed tasks. As the dashboard outlines all actions you can perform with Acronis vmProtect 8, it

presents a very useful tool for a quick operational decision making.

You can switch to the dashboard by clicking the main Acronis vmProtect 8 logo in the top left corner,

or by clicking the Home button in the main menu. Any group on the dashboard, except Alerts, can be

hidden into a tray with the respective minimize icon.

Tasks

The Tasks section presents summary information about the current tasks that are running or about

the last completed task when there are no tasks running. The progress bar shows the completed

percentage of the backup/restore tasks, task name, starting time, remaining time and current speed.

From the dashboard Tasks block, you can directly open the task log, stop the task or switch to the

Tasks (View->Tasks) page.

Task Statistics

The Task Statistics section shows summary information about the backup/restore tasks executions.

The information on a diagram is presented visually for quick and easy perception and analysis. The

successful tasks are marked green. The failed tasks are marked red. The tasks finished with warnings

are marked yellow. You can see the tasks percentages and get the detailed statistics for a certain

date by pointing at the respective diagram. Also you can change the statistics view by clicking Hourly,

Daily or Weekly.

Virtual Machines

The Virtual Machines section shows the hosts and clusters (vCenter) names and gives the total

number of VMs running on the managed ESX(i) host(s) as well as the number of mounted virtual

machines (see the Mounted VMs (p. 98) section).

Locations

The Locations section shows the total statistics for your backup locations status. It shows the Total

backups number, information about the Occupied space, space Occupied by others, and Free space

(both in megabytes/gigabytes and percentages). Occupied space is the space occupied by Acronis

backups. Occupied by others is the space occupied by the data which is not a backup archive. The

Free space statistics is available only for locations which support the retrieval of its value (for

example there will be no such field for FTP locations). Also, from the Locations section you can

switch directly to the Recovery Points view by clicking the link below.

5.2 Using Web Console

5.2.1 Ribbon tabs

The ribbon menu on the top of the screen allows for managing of the software and performing all of

the operational functions. The basic Acronis vmProtect 8 functions available through the top menu

are described in the following sections below.

There are 3 main tabs in the Acronis vmProtect 8 ribbon menu: Actions tab, View tab and Configure

tab. The fourth additional Acronis tab appears dynamically depending on the current user-selected

View or Configure operation.

Dashboard view

The Home button which always appears on the ribbon bar leads to the Dashboard view. The

Dashboard configuration is described in the "Dashboard management" section (p. 23).

1) Actions tab

The first Actions tab contains the basic functions of Acronis vmProtect 8 and allows for starting of the

following basic tasks.

a. Backup task

This is the Backup button which runs the New Backup Task wizard. The wizard settings are described

in the "Creating a backup of virtual machines" section (p. 31).

b. Replication task

This is the Replication button which runs the New Replication Task wizard. The wizard settings are

described in the "New Replication Task" section (p. 46).

c. Restore task

This is the Restore button which runs the New Restore Task wizard. The wizard settings are

described in the "Restoring a backup of virtual machines" section (p. 55).

d. Extract Exchange task

This is the Exchange Recovery button which runs the Extract Exchange Server Items wizard. The

wizard settings are described in the "Exchange Server Backup Extration" section (p. 63).

e. Run VM from backup task

This is the Run VM from backup button which activates the run VM from backup task wizard. The

wizard settings are described in the "Running VM from backup" section (p. 69).

f. File recovery task

This is the File Recovery button which runs the files recovery wizard. The wizard settings are

described in the "File recovery" section (p. 74).

g. Validation task

This is the Validate button which starts the new validation task. The task is described in the

"Validating backup" section (p. 96).

h. ESXi Configuration Backup task

This is the ESXi Configuration Backup button which runs the New ESXi Backup Task wizard. The

wizard settings are described in the "Bare Metal Recovery of ESXi Hosts" section (p. 78).

2) View tab

The second View tab contains the basic data views of Acronis vmProtect 8 and allows quick

navigation and switching between these basic views.

a. Tasks view

This is the link to the Tasks view. The Tasks management is described in the "Managing tasks" section

(p. 85).

b. Recovery Points view

This is the link to the Recovery Points view. The Recovery Points management is described in the

"Managing recovery points" section (p. 90).

c. Replicas view

This is the link to the Replicas view. The Replicated VM management is described in the "Managing

replicated VMs" section (p. 49).

d. Mounted VM(s) view

This is the link to Mounted VM(s) view. The Mounted virtual machines management is described in

the "Managing mounted VM(s)" section (p. 98).

e. Show Logs view

This is the link to the Show Logs view. The Logs management is described in the "Managing logs"

section" (p. 100).

3) Configure tab

The third Configure tab contains the basic tools for Acronis vmProtect 8 configuration and allows you

to specify the default settings for the basic backup/restore operations as well as other settings.

a. ESX(i) Hosts

This is the link to the ESX(i) hosts management page. Managing ESX(i) hosts is described in the

"Managing ESX(i) hosts" section (p. 106).

b. Licenses

This is the link to the Licenses management page. Managing licenses is described in the "Managing

licenses" section (p. 103).

c. Settings

Online backup subscription settings and Online backup proxy settings are available on the ribbon.

For example, if your internet connection uses a proxy server, you can make all the necessary settings

here.

Also there are two links to the default Backup settings and Restore settings on the Configure tab.

These backup/restore settings, as well as other settings, are described in detail in the "Managing

settings" section (p. 110).

Click the Backup settings or Restore settings button to open the backup/restore settings page where

you can set up the defaults for all the backup/restore tasks.

4) vmProtect 8 dynamic tab

This is the dynamic tab which appears in the ribbon and changes depending on the currenty selected

action of the View tab. This dynamic tab shows the buttons which are specific to the current View

tab actions.

a. View -> Recovery Points

When the Recovery Points view is selected, the Recovery Points tab appears in the ribbon menu.

The Recovery Points management page is described in the "Managing recovery points" section (p.

90).

b. View -> Replicas

When the Replicas view is selected, the Replicas tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Replicas

management page is described in the "Managing replicas" section (p. 46).

c. View -> Mounted VM(s)

When the Mounted VM(s) view is selected, the Mounted VM(s) tab appears in the ribbon menu. The

Mounted VM(s) page is described in the "Managing mounted VM(s)" section (p. 98).

d. View -> Show Logs

When the Show Logs view is selected, the Logs tab appears in the ribbon menu. The Logs

management page is described in the "Managing logs" section (p. 100).

5.2.2 Logout link

In the top right corner of Acronis vmProtect 8 you can see your current user name and the Logout

button to exit the program or reenter it with another user name.

6 vCenter Integration

The main tool for managing the vSphere virtual infrastructure is the VMware vSphere client.

Although the VMware vSphere client does not provide native backup/restore functionality, it's not

always convenient to run another tool to manage these important operations. Acronis vmProtect 8

introduces vCenter integration which allows for basic backup and restore functionality directly from

the VMware vSphere client without having to run Acronis vmProtect 8 Web interface.

Integration with vCenter is only possible if there is a vCenter registered in Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent.

Without a registered vCenter, such integration is not possible. Also, integration is automatically

disabled when a vCenter is removed from the vmProtect 8 Agent configuration.

Acronis vmProtect 8 integration with vCenter can be manually enabled and disabled from both

vmProtect 8 Web interface and vCenter plug-in manager. In order to enable vCenter integration, go

to the Configure->ESX(i) Hosts and select the Enable vCenter Integration check box when adding a

new vCenter, or click the Enable vCenter Integration button. To disable the function, click Disable

vCenter Integration. The Acronis vmProtect 8 login screen shows the IP address of the Agent where

integration was enabled.

The integration is available under Inventory->Solutions and Applications->Acronis vmProtect 8.0 for

vSphere clients connected to vCenter.

How vCenter integration works

vCenter integration allows you to create backup, restore, replication, etc. tasks and view their

progress directly within the VMware vSphere interface.

Select any Virtual Machine, vApp/Resource Pool or ESX(i) host/Cluster in the VMware vSphere tree

list. Right-click on the selected item to open the context menu. The context menu contains the

Acronis vmProtect 8 Backup and Acronis vmProtect 8 Restore options. Choosing one of these

options results in opening the Acronis pop-up and activating the backup/restore wizard which will

help you create the backup/restore task and implement it right away.

The appearance of the backup/restore wizards (including backup/restore settings) in VMware

vSphere interface is exactly the same as in the Acronis vmProtect 8.

The standard New Backup Task wizard consists of 4 steps which are explained in detail in the

Creating a backup of Virtual Machines (p. 31) section. The first step of the wizard in VMware vSphere

Acronis backup pop-up will be pre-filled with the VM you right-clicked on; however, you can change

the default selection.

vCenter Integration, New Backup Task, step 1

The standard New Restore Task wizard consists of 3 steps which are explained in detail in the

Restoring a Backup of Virtual Machines (p. 55) section. The first step of the wizard in VMware

vSphere Acronis restore pop-up will be pre-filled with the VM you right-clicked on. The latest

available recovery point in the first discovered Recent Location will be selected.

vCenter Integration, New Restore Task, step 1

Note that it's not possible to operate with folders in the VMs and Templates view of vSphere client.

In this case you will get Acronis context menu items only for Virtual Machines.

Note that vCenter integration is managed by a particular vmProtect 8 Agent. Therefore if the Agent is

inaccessible from vCenter side, the functionality available from context menus will not work

properly.

VMware vSphere and Acronis vmProtect 8 synchronization

With VCenter integration enabled, all operations performed in the VMware vSphere client are

mirrored in the main Acronis vmProtect 8 interface. These synchronized operations are: new tasks

and the tasks' progress. The Recent Tasks section shows the progress of backup/restore/etc. tasks

executed through the context menu in the VMware vSphere client. Also, when backing up to or

restoring from a new location via the context menu option in the VMware vSphere client, the recent

locations in vmProtect 8 are also updated.

Similarly, all backup/restore/etc. tasks performed by Acronis vmProtect 8 are registered as Tasks in

VMware vSphere client.

7 Creating a Backup of Virtual Machines

Click Create Backup Task in the dashboard’s Quick start or Backup in the Actions tab of the main

menu to create a new backup task. The New Backup Task wizard opens in the main workspace area

and asks you to provide the required information and make all necessary settings for the new create

backup task. The wizard consists of the four consecutive steps which appear in the same area:

 Select VM(s) to backup.

 When to backup.

 Where to backup.

 How to backup.

These four steps of the wizard and their possible options are described below.

7.1 Select VM(s) to back up

In the first step, you should select the virtual machines (or vApps) which you want to back up. The

left side shows all your ESX(i) host(s)/vCenter managed by Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent with the list of

their virtual machines. If you don’t see the exact virtual machine to back up that you are looking for

in this list, make sure that you have added the corresponding ESX(i) host from the Configure->ESX(i)

Hosts page.

Select the virtual machines (or vApps) by moving the machines from the left side of the butterfly

control to the right one, via the > and < buttons. The list on the right shows all the virtual machines

selected for backup. The > button is used to add the VM to the backup list, and the < button is used

to remove the VM from this list.

New Backup Task wizard, Step 1 “Select VM(s) to back up”

You can back up dynamic groups of the machines by selecting the upper level unit (e.g. ESX(i) host or

VMs folder) in the tree and moving it to the right list with the same > button. As a result, all the

machines running within this group will be automatically included in the backup list. Moreover, any

new machines created in this group will be backed up automatically by the current backup task.

You can also back up replica VMs (see the Replication section (p. 46)). For that click the show replicas

button above the VMs list and select the replica VM for backup. Note that it's not recommended to

perform replication to and backup from replica VM at the same time. Be careful while setting up the

schedules.

After you make the selection of VM(s) to back up, click Next to finish the first step and continue

further on.

7.2 When to back up

In the second step of Create backup task wizard, you should define the schedule of backing up your

virtual machines data. There are two options available – scheduling your backup, and creating a

single time backup task (“Do not schedule, run on demand”). The default value is "Create backup

every 1 week(s) on Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat at 12:00:00." Here you can change the default

value or select “Do not schedule, run on demand” which means that the backup task will not be

executed on schedule. It will be started either right after the backup task creation or can be run

manually from the Tasks view.

Set your scheduling of how often to back up the data. Acronis vmProtect 8 allows for weekly

scheduling and functions in Windows and Linux operating systems.

In the Schedule area, select the appropriate parameter as follows: Every: <...> week(s) on: <...>.

Specify a certain number of weeks and the days of the week you want the task to be run. For

example, with the Every 2 week(s) on Mon setting, the task will be performed on Monday of every

other week.

In the During the day execute the task... area, select one of the following: Once at: <...> or Every:

<...> From: <...> Until: <...>.

For the Once at: <...> choice, set up the time at which the task will be run once.

For the Every: <...> From: <...> Until: <...> choice, set up how many times the task will be run during

the specified time interval. For example, setting the task schedule to Every 1 hour From 10:00:00 AM

until 10:00:00 PM allows the task to be run 12 times from 10 AM to 10 PM during one day.

Let’s see some of the scheduling examples.

"One day in the week" schedule

This is a widely used backup schedule. If we need to run the Backup task every Friday at 10 PM, the

parameters are set up as follows:

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: Fri.

2. Once at: 10:00:00 PM.

"Workdays" schedule

Run the task every week on workdays: from Monday to Friday. During a workday, the task starts only

once at 9 PM. The schedule's parameters are thus set up as follows:

1. Every: 1 week(s) on: <Workdays>. Selecting the Workdays check box automatically selects the

corresponding check boxes (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, and Fri), and leaves the remaining two unchanged.

2. Once at: 09:00:00 PM.

After setting up your backup schedule of “When to back up”, click Next to go to the last step of the

wizard.

7.3 Where to back up

In the third step, you should define the location for your backup archive. Select a location by clicking

on the Browse button. You will see a pop-up window with the browsing options where you can

define or change the path and set the archive name. From the list of recent locations, you can either

select one of the locations that was previously used or set up a new one.

New Backup Task wizard, Step 3 “Where to back up”

The Archive name field shows the name of the archive selected in the Browse pop-up.

The left side of the Browse pop-up shows the list of:

 Online backup storages.

 Recent Locations.

 Local folders.

 Network folders.

 FTP servers.

 SFTP servers.

If your vmProtect 8 Agent has no licenses added, the only possible choice for a backup destination is

Acronis Online Backup Storage.

Choose one of the backup location types from the browse tree on the left side. If the chosen location

requires authentication (Online backup storage, Network folders or FTP/SFTP servers), you will

initially see a dialogue for submitting your credentials in the right pane. After successfully logging in,

this pane shows the contents of the selected location, i.e. the archives inside this location.

Note that Acronis vmProtect 8 Online backup storage might be unavailable in your region. For more

information, visit http://www.acronis.com/my/backup-recovery-online/ .

Note that to successfully backup to an FTP/SFTP server, you need to have the deletion rights assigned

to the respective file and folder on that server.

Instead of browsing for the location in the tree, you can manually enter the path in the

corresponding Location field below and click on the Go button to explore this location. In this case,

you will see the same authentication dialogue in the right pane where you are asked to enter your

Enter your archive name value in the corresponding Archive name field below. Note that it is not

recommended to have more than one backup task writing data to the same archive. The retention

rules applied to the archive by different backup tasks may cause an unpredictable outcome.

Select the archive type for the new backup. Acronis vmProtect 8 can save your backup data by using

one of the two basic types of archives – Standard archive (Legacy mode) or Always Incremental

archive.

Select the Save each backup in separate files option for the Legacy archive (please, refer to "Multiple

files backup scheme (Legacy mode)" section (p. 9)). Or select the Save all backups in one file

(recommended) option. This means that the archive will have the new enhanced “Always

Incremental” format (please, refer to "Single file backup scheme (Always Incremental)" section (p.

10)).

In case of editing your existing backup task or selecting an existing archive for the backup location,

this setting is not shown.

Select the Automatically delete old backups check box to define the retention rules for backup

management inside the archive. The availability of the options depends on the schedule setup in the

previous step (section “When to Backup”) and on the selected archive format. For example, the

Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) cleanup scheme will not be available for the unscheduled backup task.

Create full backups every: <...> choice will not be available for the “Save all backups in one file”

option (as full backups don’t make sense for the Always Incremental archive format). What follows is

a description of each retention rule.

1. Not specified

If the retention rules are not specified, then no programmed backups management will be

performed, i.e. all the backups will be stored inside the archive indefinitely.

2. Simple cleanup scheme

The selection of the simple cleanup scheme allows you to keep a certain number of backups inside

the archive or keep the backups for a certain time period.

Create Backup wizard, Step 3 “Where to back up”, Simple cleanup scheme, delete the outdated backups

The second option allows you to clean up the archive if the number of backups exceeds <…>. Again, if

you set this number at 1, then for the Always Incremental archive mode there will be a synthetic full

backup created, i.e. an incremental backup which will remove the unnecessary old recovery point

contents after the backup is finished. If the retention number of archives is greater than 1, then the

cleanup is performed according to the Always Incremental archive mode (refer to section "Single file

backup scheme (Always Incremental)" (p. 10) of this User Manual for further information).

3. GFS cleanup scheme

This is a common “Grandfather-Father-Son” cleanup scheme which allows you to keep a certain

number of daily, weekly and monthly backups. Indicate how many daily, weekly and monthly

backups you need to keep. All backups made within one day are considered to be “daily” ones and

will be all deleted when that date is expired. The same rule applies to “weekly” backups.

Create Backup wizard, Step 3 “Where to back up”, GFS cleanup scheme

Note that retention rules are applied only before the backup task execution. The reason for this is

that with the Always Incremental archive there is no need to remove recovery points after the

backup because it does not free disk space. If after performing the backup there are new excessive

recovery points which have to be deleted according to the set up retention rules, they will be

removed only before next backup. For example, if you set up the retention rules to Delete the

backups and the archives if your Backups are older than 3 days or Number of backups in the archive

exceeds 3, there will actually be up to 4 backups stored in the archive, and not 3.

Note that at least one backup will always remain intact inside the archive even if this backup

becomes subject to deletion according to the specified retention rules. This design ensures that you

always have at least one backup available for recovery in the archive. This will be true until you clear

the Never delete the last remaining backup check box (selected by default) which defines the

behavior of the program when there is only one valid recovery point left and it becomes subject to

deletion. This may be the case, for example, when you have applied a backup task to a group of

virtual machines and one of the machines has been deleted from the ESX(i) host, making it no longer

possible to be backed up. At some point (according to the specified retention rules), all the backups

of this deleted VM will become subject to deletion. Accordingly, the Never delete the last remaining

backup check box will prevent or force the deletion of the last remaining backup.

You can protect your VM environment by storing your backups in several different locations. By

default, the backup task saves all backup archives to a single storage. But you can configure the task

to copy the created backups to another archive storage on the second location.

Select Copy the backup to a second location check box.

The following settings allow you to configure the backup copying options. Select the second location

where you would also like to store your backups and the archive name. Click Browse and select from

the available list of locations.

From the When to copy drop down list select if you would like to copy the backup to the second

location immediately after each backup is created. Or you can indicate the specific days for

performing your backup copy, other than the backup schedule days. In this case you can also choose

to copy all missed recovery points or copy last created recovery points only.

The Copy last created recovery points option might be useful when the first location selected is

sometimes unreachable. In case the Copy all missed recovery points option is selected and the

retention rules for the first storage are executed on the main location, then the software deletes the

recovery points that should be removed by these rules, even if these recovery points were not

copied to the second location. So when the retention rules are executed it is not checked if the

recovery points were already copied to the second storage or not.

By default, the backup type and the clean up rules for the copied backups are the same as the

respective primary backup settings. Meanwhile, you can choose to specify different settings, for

example, employ a different backup type, or change the retention rules options.

After you’ve selected “Where to back up”, click on Next to finish this step and proceed to the next

one.

7.4 How to back up

On the fourth step you should define the preferences of your new backup task.

7.4.1 Exchange-Aware Backup Settings

Prior to running Exchange Server Backup Extraction you have to configure your backups to become

“Exchange-aware”. From the VMs list on the left select the specific VM(s) running MS Exchange

Server, provide its Domain Administrator Credentials. You can add several VMs running Exchange.

Optionally you can choose to Automatically truncate the Exchange Server transaction logs after

backup. Selecting this feature allows to actually back up the Exchange Server Database including all

the database updates that occurred during the backup time. The feature is disabled by default.

Note that for enabling the Exchange-aware backup, you have to provide guest OS login credentials

for the selected VM(s) running MS Exchange server. This means that you have to specify a user with

domain administrator privileges. User Account Control (UAC) technology introduced in Windows

Server 2008 operating system is not natively supported by Acronis vmProtect 8 since the product

accesses the VMs data in agent-less mode. So, if UAC is enabled for the user you specify, we would

suggest the following possible solutions (either one is acceptable):

1. Disable UAC for the specified user. The UAC can be enabled/disabled via a domain group policy,

for example.

2. Specify a different user for which UAC is disabled. For example you can use a built-in domain

administrator account which has UAC disabled by default.

3. Install a small (10Mb) "Exchange Backup Agent" inside the VM. For that: run Acronis vmProtect 8

installation package, choose Extract Components option from the menu, extract Exchange

Backup Agent .msi component and install the Agent onto the Exchange server where UAC is

enabled. Then, you can employ any domain user with domain administrator privileges

independently from UAC state.

Note that while vmProtect 8 is not a cluster-aware software, it is still possible to perform

Exchange-aware backups of Exchange cluster nodes (Exchange 2003 SP2+ versions are supported).

During the backup Acronis vmProtect 8 can back up the Exchange databases available for the specific

VM (node of Exchange cluster) at the given moment of time. While there are many different types of

Exchange cluster (SCC, CCR, DAG) which all have their own specifics, the main thing you should

ensure is that the Exchange databases data is actually accessible from the VM you are backing up

with "Exchange-aware" option. The same approach applies to transaction logs truncation option –

they will be truncated for the accessible databases only.

For example, it does not matter which node of Exchange 2010 DAG cluster you are backing up, since

in this case each node can host active databases and passive databases (i.e. replicas of databases

from other nodes), and all these databases will be properly backed up as they are accessible from

any node. Note that the logs will be truncated for both active and passive databases in this case.

The exception from this rule is SCC cluster where database is located on shared storage and

therefore is inaccessible for vStorage API used to get access to the VM data. SCC clusters are NOT

supported.

If you are planning to extract the Exchange database from the backup and perform recovery to the

point of failure, which implies replacing the database with the backup copy and rolling up the

transactions logs on top of it, then you should make sure to extract the very latest version of the

database, so that the existing transaction logs can be applied to this copy. If any of the transactions

logs are missing in the chain then their roll up will not be possible.

7.4.2 Backup validation

If you would like to check the newly created backup for consistency (perform the backup validation),

select the Validate after backup check box (for further information on Backup validation, please refer

to section "Validating backups" (p. 96)).

If you have configured your backup task to copy the backups to a second location, here you can

choose to validate your backups in the second location or not.

7.4.3 Other settings

Click More options to open the pop-up with the additional settings. These options are described in

the "Options" section (p. 40).

7.4.4 Completing the Create backup task wizard

To complete the New backup task wizard, you should define the task name. Note that [ ] { } ; , .

symbols are not allowed for the task name.

When you click on the Save button, all the parameters of your set up backup task will be saved and

you will see the created task in the Tasks view. Clicking on the Save & Run button will result in saving

the task and running it right away.

7.5 Options

Clicking on the More options in the last step of the New Backup Task wizard opens up a pop-up with

the settings. If no changes were made to the settings, they will retain their respective default values

for your current backup task. Note that if later on you change certain settings and save them as

default, it will not affect the tasks created with the default settings (they will retain the settings

which were default at the moment of the task creation).

This section below describes all the settings one by one.

7.5.1 Archive Protection

The default value for the Archive protection parameter is “Disabled”. This option is not available

when editing the existing task or when creating a new task specifying the existing archive.

In order to protect your archive from unauthorized access, select the Set password for the archive

check box, then type your password in the Enter the password field; and, finally re-type it in the

Confirm the password field. Note that the password is case-sensitive.

The created archive can be protected either with just a password or enhanced with the Advanced

Encryption Standard (AES) 128/192/256-bit key encryption algorithm. Iа you select Do not encrypt,

your archive will be protected with the password only. If you would like to use the encryption, select

one of the following: AES 128, AES 192 or AES 256.

The AES cryptographic algorithm operates in the Cipher-block chaining (CBC) mode and uses a

randomly generated key with a user-defined size of 128, 192 or 256 bits. The larger the key size, the

longer it will take for the program to encrypt the archive and the more secure your data will be.

7.5.2 Source Files Exclusion

With the source files exclusion rules you can define which data will be skipped from the source data

during the backup process and thus be excluded from the list of backed up items. These can be files

or folders defined by a path set up for exclusion.

This option is effective for the backup of virtual machines which contain volumes of NTFS and FAT file

systems only. Specifically, it works with all switched off VMs (with FAT and NTFS file systems) and for

switched on VMs with OS version windows server 2003 and higher. Besides, the option requires

VMware tools running on the target VM.

Use the following parameters to specify which files and folders to exclude.

Exclude files matching the following criteria

Select this check box to skip files and folders with names matching any of the listed criteria (called

file masks). Use the Add, Edit, Remove and Remove All buttons to create and manage the list of file

masks.

You can use one or more wildcard characters “*” and “?” in a file mask.

To exclude a folder specified by a path containing the drive letter, add a backslash (“\”) to the folder

name in the criterion, for example: C:\Finance\.

For example, you can set the Source files exclusion to Exclude files matching the following criteria:

*.tmp, *.~, *.bak

7.5.3 Compression Level

The Compression level option defines the level of compression applied to the data being backed up.

The default setting for this option is Normal.

The optimal data compression level depends on the type of data being backed up. For example, even

maximum compression will not significantly reduce the archive size if it already contains fairly

compressed files, such as .jpg, .pdf or .mp3. However, such formats as .doc or .xls could be

significantly further compressed.

Select one of the following compression levels:

 None. The data will be copied “as is”, without any compression. The resulting backup size will be

maximal.

 Normal. This compression level is recommended in most cases.

 High. The resulting backup size will typically be less than for the Normal level.

 Maximum. This is the highest degree of the data compression. But the time for performing

backup task will be maximal. You may want to select maximum compression when backing up to

removable media to reduce the number of required volumes.

7.5.4 Error Handling

These options enable you to specify how to handle errors that might occur during backup.

When a recoverable error occurs, the program re-attempts to perform the failed operation. You can

set the time interval and the number of attempts. The task finishes as soon as the operation

succeeds OR the specified number of attempts is reached.

If you select the Re-attempt if an error occurs check box, set up the Number of attempts and the

Interval between attempts. This option is enabled by default with the following settings: Number of

attempts – 5, and Interval between attempts – 30 seconds.

For example, with the default settings if the backup destination on the network becomes unavailable

or not accessible, the program will attempt to reach the destination every 30 seconds, but no more

than 5 times. The attempts will be stopped as soon as the connection is resumed or if the specified

number of attempts is reached.

7.5.5 Disaster Recovery Plan

The disaster recovery scenario implies that sometimes there are different technical persons

managing backup and recovery procedures. Thus the person who performs the recovery may not

know the details of where the images are located, which machines they belong to, etc. Acronis

vmProtect 8 allows you to create a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) that contains simple step-by-step

instructions on how to recover data from backup archive in case of system failure. The Disaster

Recovery Plan can be sent by e-mail to specified users or saved to specific location/folder.

Disaster Recovery Plan is generated by Acronis Agent and sent after the first backup. A new Disaster

Recovery Plan is sent if the backup task is modified or if there are significant changes to the backup

contents.

The default value for the Disaster Recovery Plan parameter is “Disabled”.

You can enable the Disaster Recovery Plan in the Default Backup Settings for all backup tasks. Go to

Configure->Backup settings and click Disaster Recovery Plan. You can also set up DRP for any

individual backup task at the step 4 of the New backup task wizard. Click More options and go to

the Disaster Recovery Plan section.

Select Send disaster recovery plans check box to enable the DRP. Configure the DRP options as

follows:

 Enter the destination e-mail address in the E-mail addresses field. You can enter several e-mail

addresses separated by semicolons.

 Enter the e-mail subject. The default subject line is Acronis vmProtect 8 Notification from

Acronis Appliance.

 Enter the outgoing mail server (SMTP) in the SMTP Server field.

 Set the port of the outgoing mail server. By default the port is set to 25.

 If your SMTP server requires authentication, enter User name and Password in the appropriate

fields.

 Enter the e-mail sender's name in the From field.

 If necessary, select Use encryption and choose the encryption type - SSL or TLS.

 You can click Send test e-mail message to check if the Disaster Recovery Plan is sent correctly

with the specified settings.

Select Upload disaster recovery plans to the following location check box if you would like to keep

the DRP copy and Browse the location.

7.5.6 Notifications

1) E-mail notifications

This option sets up e-mail notifications about the basic events during your backup task, such as

successful completion, backup failure or need for user interaction. The default setting for this option

is Disabled.

Select the Send e-mail notifications check box to enable notifications.

Under Send e-mail notifications check box select the desired settings as follows:

 When backup completes successfully – to send a notification when the backup task has

completed successfully.

 When backup fails – to send a notification when the backup task has failed.

 Add full log to the notification – to receive the full log.

Type one or several e-mail addresses where notifications will be sent. Addresses are entered in the

E-mail addresses field separated by semicolons.

Indicate the desired Subject for your notification messages.

SMTP server – enter the name of the outgoing mail SMTP server.

Port – set the port of the SMTP server (the default port value is set to 25).

User name – enter your username.

Password – enter your password.

From – type the e-mail address of the user from whom the message will be sent. If you leave this

field empty, messages will be sent as if they are from the destination address.

Use encryption – you can opt for the encrypted connection to the mail server and choose SSL or TLS

encryption types.

Click Send test e-mail message to make sure all your settings are correct.

2) SNMP notifications

This option defines whether the agent(s) operating on the managed machine have to send the logs of

the backup operation events to the specified Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

managers. You can choose the types of events to be sent. The default setting for this option is:

Disabled.

Select whether to send the backup operation events log messages to machines running SNMP

management applications, please, choose one of the following:

 Do not send SNMP notifications – to disable sending the events log of the backup operations to

SNMP managers.

 Send SNMP notifications individually for backup operation events – to send the events log of

the backup operations to the specified SNMP managers.

Type of events to send – choose the types of events to be sent: Information, Warnings or Errors.

Server name or it's IP – type the name or IP address of the host running the SNMP management

application where the notifications will be sent to.

Community – type the name of the SNMP community to which both the host running the SNMP

management application and the sending machine belong. The typical community is public.

Click Send test message to make sure all your settings are correct.

SNMP objects

Acronis vmProtect 8 provides the following Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) objects to

SNMP management applications:

 Type of event

Object identifier (OID): 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0

Syntax: OctetString

The value may be "Information", "Warning", 'Error" and "Unknown". "Unknown" is sent only in

the test message.

 Text description of the event

Object identifier (OID): 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0

Syntax: OctetString

The value contains the text description of the event (it looks identical to messages published by

Acronis vmProtect 8 in its log).

Example of varbind values:

1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0:Information

1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0:I0064000B

Supported operations

Acronis vmProtect 8 supports only TRAP operations. It is not possible to manage Acronis vmProtect

8 using GET- and SET- requests. This means that you need to use an SNMP Trap receiver to receive

TRAP-messages.

More information

http://kb.acronis.com/content/11851

About the test message

When configuring SNMP notifications, you can send a test message to check if your settings are

correct.

The parameters of the test message are as follows:

 Type of event

OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.1.0

Value: "Unknown"

 Text description of the event

OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.24769.100.200.2.0

Value: "?00000000"

7.5.7 Additional Settings

1) Deduplication

This option defines whether to enable or disable the deduplication for the archive created by the

backup task. The default setting for Deduplication is: Enabled.

Deduplication is performed on the archive level. This means that only the data which is saved to this

archive will be deduplicated. In other words, if there are 2 archives saved into the same location with

deduplication enabled, the duplicated data which may be present in both of these archives will not

be deduplicated.

2) CBT backup

This option defines whether to utilize the Changed Block Tracking feature of VMware for the virtual

machines supporting it. The default setting for CBT backup is: Enabled.

CBT backup keeps track of all the changed blocks inside the virtual machine. This significantly reduces

the time for creating backups. The time is reduced because Acronis vmProtect 8 does not need to

check which blocks have changed since the last backup. It gets this information from the VMware

API.

3) Use FTP in active mode

It is possible to use FTP active mode for FTP authentication and data transfer. The default setting for

Use FTP in active mode is: Disabled.

Enable this option if your FTP server supports active mode and you want this mode to be used for file

transfers.

After you finished with all the settings, click OK to close the pop-up and apply them for the current

backup task only.

7.6 Managing created backup task

When editing an existing backup task you will see all the sections (steps) of the backup wizard you

completed while creating your backup task. All four steps of the wizard will appear on the screen at

once. Note that when editing an existing backup task you cannot modify the archive type (Always

Incremental or Legacy Mode). (For further information, please, refer to “Managing Tasks" section (p.

85)).

8 Replication

8.1 New Replication Task

The replication feature provides you with the ability to clone your critical VMs and to be able to start

your critical service fast in case of failure. To run the New Replication Task, click

Actions->Replication.

8.1.1 Select VM(s) for Replication

In the first step of the New Replication Task wizard you should select the virtual machine(s) you

want to replicate. The left side shows all of the ESX(i) hosts/vCenter you have which are managed by

Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent and a list of their virtual machines. If you don’t see the exact virtual

machine to be replicated in this list, make sure that you have added the corresponding ESX(i) host

from the Configure->ESX(i) Hosts page.

Select the virtual machine(s) by moving the machines from the left side of the butterfly control to the

right side by using the > and < buttons. The list on the right shows the virtual machines selected for

replication. The > button is used to add the VM to the selected list, and the < button is used to

remove the VM from this list.

New Replication Task, step 1 "Select VM(s) for replication"

You can back up dynamic groups of the machines by selecting the upper level unit (e.g. ESX(i) host or

VMs folder) in the tree and moving it to the right list with the same > button. As a result, all the

machines running within this group will be automatically included in the backup list. Moreover, any

new machines created in this group will be replicated automatically by the current replication task.

You have to select at least one VM for replication. After you make your selection, click Next to finish

the first step and continue further on.

8.1.2 When to Replicate

In the second step of the New Replication Task wizard, you should define the schedule of replicating

your virtual machines. There are two options available – creating a single time replication task (“Do

not schedule, run on demand”) and weekly scheduling. The default value is "Create replicas every 1

week(s) on Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat at 12:00:00." In this step, you can change the default

value or select “Do not schedule, run on demand” which means that the replication task will not be

executed on schedule. It will be started either right after creating your replication task or can be run

manually from the Tasks view.

New Replication Task, step 2 "When to replicate"

Replication task scheduling is the same as backup task scheduling. Detailed information on

scheduling options as well as scheduling examples can be found in "When to back up" section (p. 32).

After setting up your replication task schedule, click Next to go to the next step of the wizard.

8.1.3 Select location and datastore for replica

In the third step of the New Replication Task wizard you should define the location and datastore for

VM replicas. Here, you have to first define the ESX(i) Host by selecting one from the drop-down list.

Then, select the Resource Pool on the destination ESX(i) Host and destination datastore.

New Replication Task, step 3 "Select location and datastore for replica"

Define the Replica name's Suffix to be used when creating the VM replica. The default replica name

is "%Machine_Name%_vmpreplica", where "%Machine_name%" is the original VM name which is

being replicated, and "_vmpreplica" is the Replica name's Suffix. If a VM with such a name already

exists, you'll get a warning prompting you to change the name suffix.

Upon making the selection, click Next to proceed to the next step.

8.1.4 Replication task options

In the fourth step of the New Replication Task wizard you should define your replication task name.

Note that [ ] { } ; , . symbols are not allowed for the task name.

For replication task preferences click More options.... The following options are available.

1) E-mail notifications.

2) SNMP notifications.

For details see the Notifications section (p. 42).

3) CBT replication.

This option in the Additional settings section defines whether to utilize the Changed Block Tracking

(CBT) feature of VMware for the virtual machines supporting it. The default setting for CBT

replication is: Enabled.

CBT replication keeps track of all the changed blocks inside the virtual machine. This significantly

reduces the time for replication. The time is reduced because Acronis vmProtect 8 does not need to

check which blocks have changed since the last backup. It gets this information from the VMware

API.

4) Provisioning mode.

Specify the provisioning mode that will be used on the target VM replicas. The modes are thin

provisioning/thick provisioning/flat provisioning/As an original. The default mode is Thin

provisioning. Flat provisioning mode is used for ESXi version 5.0.

When you click on the Save button, all your task parameters will be saved and you will see the

created task in the Tasks view. Clicking on the Save & Run button will save the task and run it right

away.

8.2 Managing replicated VMs

8.2.1 Replicated VM Manager

On the Replicas (View->Replicas) page you can see all the created replicas that are detected on all

the ESX(i) hosts added to the Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent. You can also manage your replicas here.

The replicas list contains information on the original replicated virtual machines, it's replicas, last

update times and statuses (Replication scheduled/not scheduled). Select the VM replica to see it's

detailed information.

In the VM Info tab on the right, you can see the summary information about the original VM for the

selected replica:

 ESX(i) Host information.

 Datastore information.

 Resource Pool where original VM is stored.

 Guest VM information.

Replicated VM Manager

On the Replica Info tab you can see the summary information on the selected replica:

 ESX(i) Host information.

 Datastore information.

 Resource Pool where original VM is stored.

Here, you can also perform the basic operations - Failover and Failback from replica. The following

sections describe these basic operations in detail.

8.2.2 Failover

If a replicated virtual machines crashes, you can start it quickly by running replica VM (Failover). The

Failover feature helps you to get the critical service up and running even before the failed VM is

recovered.

Select the replica VM you want to start and click the Failover button in the ribbon menu. In the

drop-down menu, select if you want to use the network on the replica VM. If the original VM is

running, you can choose to Stop the Original VM before Failover. Then click Run.

Failover

8.2.3 Failback VM from Replica

The failback operation (restoring a VM from replica) allows you to restore your original VM by using

the replica VM. This operation can also be used if you decide to stop the replica VM after the Failover

operation is started and save the changes to the original or new location. Click Failback from Replica

to start the wizard.

In the first step of the wizard, Failback from replica, use the butterfly control to select the replicas

you will restore VMs from, then click Next.

Failback from Replica, step 1 "Select Replica(s) to failback from"

In the second step, Where to failback VM(s) from replica, select the VM(s) location. You can select

the original location and choose to overwrite the original VM(s) or generate new names for the

restored VM(s). You can also select a new location. Upon selecting the location, click Next.

Failback from Replica, step 2 "Where to failback VM(s) from replica"

In the third step, How to failback, select the restore task options. In the VM power management

block, select the check boxes for Power off target VMs when starting failback and Power on target

VMs when failback is finished and other options. Define the task name.

Failback from Replica, step 3 "How to failback"

When you click on the Save button, all your task parameters will be saved. In the Tasks view, you will

be able to see the failback from replica task which you have created. Clicking on the Save & Run

button will save the task and run it right away.

In case replica VM is running, the Failback VM from replica task is restoring the original VM without

stopping the replica VM. Only when the failback is finished, the replica VM is stopped. Finally, the

Failback VM from replica task recovers the changes from replica VM to the original (new) VM that

have been done during the time of the failback operation. It allows to minimize the downtime and to

restore the VM state as much as close to its replica state.

8.2.4 Deleting Replica VM

Remove a replicated virtual machine by selecting it from the list and clicking the Delete button in the

ribbon menu.

9 Restoring a Backup of Virtual Machines

Click on the Restore button in the Actions tab of the main menu to restore one or several backed up

virtual machines. The New Restore Task wizard opens in the main workspace area and asks you to

provide the required information and configure the necessary settings for the new restore task. The

wizard consists of the three consecutive steps which appear in the same area:

 Select VM(s) to restore.

 Where to restore.

 How to restore.

These three steps of the restore wizard and their possible options are described below.

9.1 Select VM(s) to restore

In the first step of the restore backup task wizard, you should define the backup location and select

the virtual machines to be recovered. The chosen locations are scanned for the archives presence

and contents, which is necessary to define the recovery point(s) for backup restore.

New Restore Task wizard, Step 1 “Select VM(s) to restore”

Note that if you select an archive which contains an image of a physical machine (when you need to

perform “physical to virtual” or P2V migration), there will be no other options provided at this step,

because such archives have a single recovery point inside.

If the selected location contains any password-protected archives or archives of physical machines,

they are shown in the separate list under the Encrypted and Physical machines Data. To restore your

data from these archives, you have to specify the password in the Password pop-up.

You can select any of the virtual machines from the left side list and move them to the Selected

Virtual Machines section on the right. The selection of the virtual machines is done by moving the

machines from the left side of the butterfly control to the right one, via the > and < buttons. The list

on the right shows all the virtual machines selected for recovery. The > button is used to add the VM

to the recovery list, and the < button is used to remove the VM from this list. This list contains the

selected virtual machines and their latest available recovery point(s), i.e. point(s) in time you can go

back to.

For each virtual machine the latest recovery point is selected by default. This recovery point could be

changed by clicking on it. The pop-up window will appear where you can select a different recovery

point.

In the Select Recovery Point pop-up you can see the list of all recovery points available for this virtual

machine and select the recovery point to be restored. The list includes the name of the archive which

includes this recovery point and its creation time.

After you selected “Select VM(s) to restore”, click Next to finish the first step of the wizard and

continue further on.

9.2 Where to restore

In the second step of the restore backup task wizard, you should define where to restore the

selected virtual machine(s) to.

New Restore Task wizard, Step 2 “Where to restore”

First of all, with the Select location drop-down list you should define the desired destination for your

restore task. Please choose if you want to restore the selected virtual machine(s) to their original

location or to a different ESX(i) host or datastore. The list shows only those ESX(i) hosts which are

managed by Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent. If the ESX(i) host you need is not in this list, then make sure

it is added in the Configure->ESX(i) hosts view.

When the Original Location is selected for restoring VM(s), you can implement the incremental

restore mode by selecting the Use Incremental restore check box. Incremental restore checks and

restores only the blocks that have been changed on the original VM instead of restoring all the data

over the virtual machine. This mode can help to increase the speed of recovering from the slow

backup locations like Acronis Online Storage or other slow connections and help to minimize the

traffic during recovering.

Note that the incremental restore mode can be used only if the recovery is performed over the

original VM that has been used to create a backup. In case the recovery is performed to a new

location or the original VM is missed, a full recovery is performed.

When restoring to Original Location the restored VM may not appear in the same location

(automatically overwriting the existing VM) as it was at the moment of creating the recovery point.

This will be the case if the selected VM (defined by the recovery point) has been migrated to a host

and/or datastore, ESX(i) host, resource pool or vApp. Since VMs are preserving their UUIDs during

migration, the recovery will go to the current location of the virtual machine. For example, at the

moment of creating the recovery point the VM was in vApp1, but later it has migrated to vApp2.

Then this VM will be restored to vApp2 overwriting the existing VM.

Once the ESX(i) host is defined, the list of available resource pools and datastores is build up

automatically where you can define the exact location for the restored virtual machine(s).

You should also define the format of the restored virtual drives, As in original VM (recommended),

Thick provisioning disk or Thin provisioning disk with the respective drop-down list. Thin

provisioning increases the VM storage utilization by enabling dynamic allocation and intelligent

provisioning of the physical storage capacity.

Based on this selection, a hint will appear indicating how much space is required on the datastore for

the successful recovery operation. You cannot proceed to the next step of the restore backup task

wizard until the valid datastore with enough free space is selected.

Note that when restoring multiple virtual machines all of them will be placed to the destination

defined at this step of the restore wizard, each to unique new VM on the selected datastore.

New Restore Task wizard, Step 2 “Where to restore”, overwrite the existing VM confirmation dialog

If there are virtual machines on the selected ESX(i) host or datastore with the same names, you will

be asked to confirm overwriting the existing VMs. This choice defines the restored virtual machines

naming. If you choose to “Overwrite VMs”, then the existing virtual machines will be replaced with

the restored ones.

Note that in this case the datastore selection will be unavailable (since it is already defined by the

target VM being overwritten), however, you can change the resource pool location for this VM by

choosing corresponding item in the Resource Pool selection.

Note that if the existing machines are running, then for the successful recovery operation you should

either stop them manually or select the Power off target VMs when starting recovery option in the

recovery options dialogue (see "VM power management" section (p. 61)).

When choosing the Create VMs with different names option the restored VMs will be named

according to the following convention:

“[Original_VM_name]_DATE”.

Where “Original_VM_name” is the initial name of the restored virtual machine, and DATE is the

current date. For example if the restored VM was called “VM_original” then after recovery it will be

named “VM_original_05/25/2011”.

After you completed the selection of “Where to restore”, click Next to finish the second step and

proceed to the last one.

9.3 How to restore

In the third step of the restore backup task wizard, you should define the preferences of your

recovery task.

Here you can specify whether to validate the archives before the recovery (for further information on

Backup validation, please refer to "Validating backups" section (p. 96)). Also, here you can adjust the

settings for your recovery task by clicking the More options… link.

New Restore Task wizard, Step 3 “How to restore”

To complete the wizard and create the restore backup task you must set up the task name and define

how to run it. Note that [ ] { } ; , . symbols are not allowed for the task name.

When you click on Run Now button the task will be immediately executed with the specified

parameters. You could see the task progress bar in the Tasks view and in the Dashboard view. This is

your choice if you want to execute this task just once. The result of this task will be shown in the

Dashboard or can be checked through the Logs view.

Clicking the Save button results in saving the task in the tasks list (View->Tasks). This is more

convenient if you plan to run this task manually later from the Tasks view page or run this task

several times.

9.4 Options

Click More options… on the last step of the restore backup task wizard to open the pop-up with the

additional settings.

In case of no changes made to the settings, they will retain their respective default values for your

current restore task. Note that if later on you change certain settings and save them as default, it will

not affect the tasks created with the default settings (these settings will retain the values which were

default at the moment of the task creation).

9.4.1 Notifications

1) E-mail notifications

This option allows setting up the e-mail notifications about the basic events during your restore task,

such as successful completion, restore failure or need for user interaction. The default setting for this

option is disabled.

Select the Send e-mail notifications check box to enable notifications.

Under Send e-mail notifications check box select the desired settings as follows:

 When recovery completes successfully – to send a notification when the restore task has

completed successfully.

 When recovery fails – to send a notification when the restore task has failed.

 Add full log to the notification – to receive the full log.

Type one or several e-mail addresses where notifications will be sent. Addresses are entered in the

E-mail addresses field separated by semicolons.

Indicate the desired Subject for your notification messages.

 SMTP server – enter the name of the outgoing mail SMTP server.

 Port – set the port of the SMTP server (the default port value is set to 25).

 User name – enter your username.

 Password – enter your password.

From – type the e-mail address of the user from whom the message will be sent. If you leave this

field empty, messages will be sent as if they are from the destination address;

Use encryption – you can opt for the encrypted connection to the mail server and choose SSL or TLS

encryption types.

Click Send test e-mail message to make sure all your settings are correct.

2) SNMP notifications

This option defines whether the agent(s) operating on the managed machine have to send the logs of

the restore operation events to the specified Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

managers. You can choose the types of events to be sent. The default setting for this option is

disabled.

Select whether to send the restore operation events log messages to machines running SNMP

management applications. Please choose one of the following:

 Send SNMP notifications individually for restore operation events – to send the events log of

the restore operations to the specified SNMP managers.

Types of events to send – choose the types of events to be sent: Info, Warnings or Errors.

Server name or it's IP – type the name or IP address of the host running the SNMP management

application the notifications will be sent to.

Community – type the name of the SNMP community to which both the host running the SNMP

management application and the sending machine belong. The typical community is "public";

Click Send test message to make sure all your settings are correct.

 Do not send SNMP notifications – to disable sending the events log of the restore operations to

SNMP managers.

9.4.2 Error Handling

These options enable you to specify how to handle errors that might occur during the restore

operation. Select the Re-attempt if an error occurs check box for enabling the silent mode.

When a recoverable error occurs, the program re-attempts to perform the failed operation. You can

set the Interval between attempts and the Number of attempts. The task finishes as soon as the

restore operation succeeds OR the specified number of attempts is reached.

If you select the Re-attempt if an error occurs check box, set up the Number of attempts and the

Interval between attempts. This option is enabled by default with the following settings: Number of

attempts – 5, and Interval between attempts – 30 seconds. For example, if the restore network

destination becomes unavailable or not accessible, the program will attempt to reach the destination

every 30 seconds, but no more than 5 times. The attempts will be stopped as soon as the connection

is resumed or if the specified number of attempts is reached.

Select the Cancel all task operations upon failure check box, for example, if you need to restore a

number of interconnected VMs. Then in case of failure in restoring a single VM, all other restore

operations will also be cancelled.

9.4.3 VM power management

Power on target VMs when recovery is finished

This option allows configuring the virtual machines power management after executing the restore

backup task.

After a machine is recovered from a backup to another machine, there is a chance that the existing

machine's replica will appear on the network. For a safe operation, power on the recovered virtual

machine manually, after you take the necessary precautions.

This option is disabled by default. Select the Power On target VMs when recovery is finished check

box for starting up the virtual machine automatically.

9.4.4 Additional Settings

Use FTP in active mode

It is possible to use FTP active mode for FTP authentication and data transfer. The default setting for

Use FTP in active mode is disabled.

Enable this option if your FTP server supports active mode and you want this mode to be used for file

transfers.

After you finished with all the settings, click OK to close the pop-up and apply them for the current

restore task only.

9.4.5 Exchange Server Restore Settings

Prior to running Exchange Server Backup Extraction you have to configure the Default Exchange

extracting settings. Extracting of mailboxes or mailbox contents requires temporary mounting of a

specific VM from the backup. Go to Exchange settings tab and specify the VM mounting parameters.

 ESX(i) host.

 Resource Pool.

 Datastore.

9.5 Managing created restore task

When editing an existing restore task you will see all the sections (steps) of the wizard you completed

while creating you restore task. All three steps of the wizard will appear on the screen at once. (For

further information, please refer to “Managing Tasks" section (p. 85)).

10 Exchange Server Backup Extraction

Sometimes there is a need to extract just Exchange data from disk-level backups of Virtual Machines

with Microsoft Exchange server installed. The Extract Exchange Server Items feature allows:

 Extracting complete Exchange databases from VM backups.

 Extracting Exchange data (mailboxes, mailbox items) from VM backups.

NOTE: Prior to running Extract Exchange Server Items wizard you have to configure your backups to become

“Exchange-aware”. Optionally you can choose to truncate the transactions logs after backup. (For more

information, please, refer to "Exchange-Aware Backup Settings" (p. 38) section).

Click on the Exchange Recovery button in the Actions tab of the main menu to extract the required

Exchange items from your backup archive. The Extract Exchange Server Items wizard consists of the

several steps you have to go through in order to complete the operation. The steps of the wizard for

extracting Exchange Databases and extracting Exchange mailboxes and mailbox contents are

described in the sections below.

10.1 Extracting Databases

When choosing to extract Databases, you can extract the MS Exchange server databases in .edb

format saving it over to a network share.

Recovering databases to the specified folder means that the database files along with transaction log

files are extracted from the backup to a folder you specify. This can be useful if you need to extract

data for audit or further processing by third party tools; or when you are looking for a workaround to

mount the databases manually.

To extract Exchange databases you have to go through the following four steps:

1. Select location with Exchange Server backups.

2. What do you want to extract? (Databases).

3. Select Databases and Recovery Point.

4. Where to extract Database?

On the first step you have to select a location and a VM with Exchange Server backups. On the left

you can see the list of backup locations. When choosing a location it is then scanned for Exchange

VM backups which you see in the middle section. Select the VM you need to extract Exchange

Databases from. On the right you can see the summary information. Then click Next.

Extract Exchange Servet Items, Selecting a lication with Exchange Server backups

Select Databases on the second step. On the third step select your Exchange Server databases from

the list on the left, and then select the recovery point on the right. By default, the latest recovery

point is selected. Here you can see the information on the selected recovery point, database and its

size. Click Next.

Extract Exchange Servet Items, Selecting databases and a recovery point

Finally, click Browse and select the destination folder where to save the database archive. Click

Finish to proceed with extraction.

The extracted databases will be in a Dirty Shutdown state and cannot be mounted. To be able to

mount the databases you have to bring them to a Clean Shutdown state by using the Eseutil /r

<Enn> command. <Enn> specifies the log file prefix for the database (or storage group that contains

the database) into which you need to apply the transaction log files. For instructions on how to do

this, refer to:

 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876926.aspx

 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998340(EXCHG.80).aspx

10.2 Extracting Mailboxes

When choosing to extract Mailboxes you can extract specific Microsoft Exchange server mailboxes by

going through the following steps:

1. Select location with Exchange Server backups.

2. What do you want to extract? (Mailboxes).

3. Select Recovery Point for browsing and mailbox(es).

4. Where to save selected Items.

On the first step you have to select the location and a VM with Exchange Server backups. On the left

you can see the list of backup locations. When choosing a location it is then scanned for Exchange

VM backups which you see in the middle section. Select the VM you need to extract mailboxes from.

On the right you can see the summary information. Click Next.

Select Mailboxes on the second step. If there is another active Exchange items extraction task you

will get a pop-up warning to continue. In order to continue the current Exchange items browsing

operation that already started task have to be terminated. Confirm stopping the other task to

continue.

On the third step select the recovery point on the left. By default, the latest recovery point is

selected. On the right browse the Exchange server and select the mailbox(es) you want to extract.

Then click Next.

Extract Exchange Servet Items, Selecting a recovery point for browsing

On the final step click Browse to select the destination folder where to save the selected items, and

click Finish to proceed with the extraction. Upon completing the wizard, the extraction task is

created which you can see in the Tasks view (View->Task). You will be able to track the progress and

other statistics for your task. Note that it is not possible to edit this type of task.

Extracting mailboxes requires starting a temporary virtual machine directly from backup's selected

recovery point which might take a few minutes. You could see the mounting operation progress. In

case mounting failed, you might see the log and cancel the task.

Note that this temporary VM stays mounted for 15 minuted. If you leave the Extract Exchange Server

Items wizard and then start it back again, you'll be opt to Continue browsing the previously selected

recovery point.

The selected Mailboxes are saved to the specified destination as the Acronis vmProtect 8

self-extractible (.exe) archive. You can run this file on any machine which has Microsoft Outlook

(2003+) installed in order to extract the e-mails and other items in .pst format.

When unpacking the data from the archive you can also select the contents to be extracted and

indicate the folder where to exctract the data to. Click Extract to see the progress. The data will be

extracted into a .pst file which can be opened by Microsoft Outlook (File->Open). Note, that the

machine where you run the extracting process should have Microsoft Outlook installed (since MAPI is

required).

10.3 Extracting Mailboxes content

When choosing to extract Mailboxes Content you can browse mailboxes to extract specific content -

folders and items - by going through the following steps:

1. Select location with Exchange Server backups.

2. What do you want to extract? (Mailboxes Content).

3. Select Mailbox(es) for extraction or Recovery Point for browsing.

4. Select Folders or Items for extraction.

5. Where to save selected Items.

On the first step you have to select the location and a VM with Exchange Server backups. On the left

you can see the list of backup locations. When choosing a location it is then scanned for Exchange

VM backups which you see in the middle section. Select the VM you need to extract mailboxes &

mailboxes contents from. On the right you can see the summary information. Click Next.

Select Mailboxes Content on the second step.

On the third step select the recovery point on the left. By default, the latest recovery point is

selected.

On the fourth step click Browse E-mails to select the specific mailbox content you want to extract.

Browsing the mailbox contents requires starting a temporary virtual machine directly from backup's

selected recovery point which might take a few minutes. You could see the mounting operation

progress. Upon successful completion you can select the mailbox(es) contents. In case mounting

failed, you might see the log and cancel the task.

Note that this temporary VM stays mounted for 10 minutes. If you leave the Extract Exchange Server

Items wizard and then start it back again, you'll be opt to Continue browsing the previously selected

recovery point.

The selection of the mailbox(es) contents on the fourth step is as follows. The list of the available

mailbox(es) is on the left side. Choose the mailbox, and you will see all its contents as folders and

items. Select all the items you would like to extract. You can repeat the items selection with other

mailboxes. When you're done, click Next.

On the final step click Browse to select the destination folder where to save the selected items, and

click Finish to proceed with the extraction. You will see the Exchange items extract information

pop-up.

Extract Exchange Servet Items, Selecting destination for saving items

The selected Mailboxes & Mailboxes Contents are saved to the specified destination as the Acronis

vmProtect 8 self-extractible (.exe) archive. You can run this file on any machine which has Microsoft

Outlook (2003+) installed in order to extract the e-mails and other items in .pst format.

When unpacking the data from the archive you can also select the contents to be extracted and

indicate the folder where to exctract the data to. Click Extract to see the progress. The data will be

extracted into a .pst file which can be opened by Microsoft Outlook (File->Open). Note, that the

machine where you run the extracting process should have Microsoft Outlook installed (since MAPI is

required).

11 Running VM from Backup

Click Run VM from Backup in the Actions tab of the main menu to mount certain backed up virtual

machine without restoring it. The Run VM from Backup wizard opens in the main workspace area

and asks you to provide the required information and configure the necessary settings for the Run

VM from Backup task. The wizard consists of the three steps:

 Select VM(s) to run from backup.

 Where the VM(s) will be run.

 Additional settings.

These three steps of the Run VM from Backup wizard and their options are described below.

11.1 Select VM(s) to run from backup

In the first step of the Run VM from Backup wizard, you should first define the backup location and

make a selection of the virtual machines to be run. The chosen locations are scanned for archives and

their contents. This is necessary to pick up the recovery point(s) which will define the state of the

virtual machine you want to run from backup. Running VM from backup process is also referred to as

“mounting a virtual machine”.

Run VM from Backup wizard, Step 1 “Select VM(s) to run from backup”

Note that for Run Vm from Backup locations, you can only select Network folders or Local folders.

Other locations, such as Online backup storage or FTP/sFTP servers, are not available here.

If the selected location contains any password-protected archives or archives of physical machines,

then the VMs included in these archives cannot be shown, and you will be warned about it. You can

select any of the virtual machines from the left side list and move them to the Selected Virtual

Machines section on the right. The selection of the virtual machines is done by moving the machines

from the left side of the butterfly control to the right one, via the > and < buttons. The list on the

right shows all the virtual machines selected for mounting. The > button is used to add the VM to this

list, and the < button is used to remove the VM from the list. This list contains the selected virtual

machines and their latest available recovery points, i.e. points in time you can go back to.

For each virtual machine the latest recovery point is selected by default. This recovery point could be

changed by clicking on it. The pop-up window will appear where you can select a different recovery

point.

In the Select Recovery Point pop-up you can see the list of all recovery points available for this virtual

machine and select the recovery point to be mounted. The list includes the timestamps of the

recovery points, the file name of the archive which includes this recovery point and its size.

After you selected VM(s) to run from backup, click Next to finish the first step of the wizard and

continue further on.

11.2 Where the VM(s) will be run

In the second step you should define where to run the selected virtual machine(s).

Run VM from Backup wizard, Step 2 “Where the VM(s) will be run”

First of all, with the Select Location drop-down list you should define the ESX(i) host where you want

to mount the selected VMs on. The list shows only those ESX(i) hosts which are managed by Acronis

vmProtect 8 Agent. If the ESX(i) host you need is not in this list, then make sure it is added in the

Configure->ESX(i) hosts view.

Once the ESX(i) host is defined, the list of available resource pools is build up automatically where

you can define the exact location for the mounted virtual machine(s). The datastore selection is

necessary to define where to store the changes made to the mounted virtual machine(s).

Note that when mounting multiple virtual machines all of them will be placed to the destination

defined at this step of the Run VM from backup wizard, each to one particular resource pool. The

changes made to these VMs will be saved to unique folder on the selected datastore.

Also, note that Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent is compatible with vMotion (Storage vMotion in

particular). When the mounted VM is moved to another datastore via Storage vMotion, then upon

unmounting it will remain in its new location. In this case the mounting process will be similar to

backup restore since during vMotion all data is physically moved to the new datastore.

Please, specify the postfix for the mounted virtual machine name in the Mounted VM name postfix

field. This is necessary since running two virtual machines with the same name on one ESX(i) host is

not possible, especially when there is the original VM already running on it. The mounted VM will be

named using the following convention:

“[Original_VM_name]_mount”.

Where “Original_VM_name” is the original name of the mounted virtual machine and “_mount” is

the postfix you can change. For example, if the mounted VM had the “VM_original” name then after

mounting it will be named “VM_original_mount”.

After you selected where the VM(s) will be run, click Next to finish the second step and proceed to

the last one.

11.3 Additional Settings

In the third step of the wizard you can select the check boxes for the Power on the mounted VM and

Connect to network options.

Run VM from Backup wizard, Step 3 “Additional Settings”

Select the Power on the mounted VM option to automatically run your machine upon completion of

the wizard. Note that the mounted machine's replica (e.g. the original machine) might appear on the

network. Theerefore, for safe operation, it’s advisable to power on the mounted virtual machine

manually after taking the necessary precautions.

Select the Connect to network check box when mounting a failed VM which is no longer present in

the network. If you are mounting a VM for testing purposes (to ensure some data consistency inside)

while the original VM is currently running, keep this check box cleared. Before you power on a VM,

you should manually change the VM network configuration settings to disconnect it from the

production network and re-connect to an isolated non-production network to avoid possible

conflicts.

After clicking on the Run Now button, the selected VM will appear in VMware Infrastructure Client

and you will be able to manage it like any other virtual machine in your environment. In order to

dismount (stop running) the VM you should go to the View->Mounted VMs view.

11.4 Managing created “Run VM from Backup” activity

There is no way to edit the existing Run VM from Backup activity. You can only unmount the

mounted VMs from the View->Mounted VMs page.

Besides Unmount, there is also an Unmount and Save option which shuts down the mounted VM

and when the machine is stopped it incrementally backs up it's changes. Note that if the machine

cannot be stopped during 5 minutes it shuts down (powers off) forcibly.

12 File Recovery

Sometimes there is a need to recover just a single file or just a few files from a backup archive

without restoring the whole virtual machine. The File Recovery feature allows browsing the archive

and restoring the selected files for the pre-defined version of this archive (recovery point). The

recovery destination is defined by the available options provided by the Internet browser which runs

the vmProtect 8 Management Console (the dialogue is the same as you see when trying to save some

Internet page via File->Save As… option).

Click File Recovery in the Home tab of the main menu to restore one or several backed up files. The

File Recovery wizard opens in the main workspace area and asks you to provide the required

information and configure the necessary settings for the file recovery task. The wizard consists of the

two steps:

 Select VM(s) to extract files from.

 Explore recovery point.

NOTE: File Recovery feature is not available for backups saved in Acronis Online Backup storage.

You can only perform entire VM recovery from this type of backup storage.

12.1 Select VM(s) to extract files from

First, you should define your backup location which will be then scanned for archives and their

contents.

File Recovery wizard, Step 1 “Select VM(s) to extract files from”

If the selected location contains any password-protected archives or archives of physical machines

(Encrypted and Physical machines Data), you have to specify the password in order to restore your

data from these archives.

The selected location is scanned for archives and their contents. As a result of the scan, on the left

side you will see a tree-list of the virtual machines included in all archives stored in the selected

location or inside the selected archive. By clicking on any virtual machine, you can check the list of all

its recovery points on the right side.

For each machine, the latest recovery point is selected by default. The recovery point could be

changed by clicking on it. Note that File Recovery allows the selection of just a single Virtual Machine

and single recovery point at a time, while the Restore Backup task allows recovery of several VMs.

After selecting the recovery point for the virtual machine you can proceed to the next step. This

recovery point defines the virtual machine state which you want to extract files or folders from.

12.2 Explore Recovery Point

In the second step of the File Recovery wizard you have to choose which files or folders to restore.

Here you can see the selected VM recovery point contents with a Windows Explorer-like directory

browser. In the browsing tree on the left side you can expand the volumes and folders and

browse/select the contents of each volume/folder you want to recover on the right side.

Acronis vmProtect 8 File Recovery wizard has the built-in search feature. The search box is located in

the top right corner above the files and folders list. You can use the search when you don’t know the

exact file name you want to restore. You can filter files and folders in the list, and see only those that

match any of the search criteria called “file masks”.

You can use one or more wildcard characters “*” and “?” as a file mask, for example:

“C:\Finance\*.*”.

Also, you can sort the search results by any of the columns: name, date and time modified, size, and

folder. If you select to sort first by a certain field, for example, by time, you can then select to sort by

another field, for example, by name. In this case your data will have a sorting of 2 levels, first the

name, and then the time. So you can easily find the needed files for recovery.

After you’ve selected all the files you would like to recover, click the Download button. You will see

the default browser pop-up window (as for the right mouse click -> Save target as… pop-up) where

you can select the destination for saving the selected backup files. All files and folders you selected

will be downloaded there as a single .zip archive.

Note that File Recovery cannot be sucessfully done for the file names containing any invalid

character: * : ? « < > | / \. For restoring such files please use Run VM from backup operation.

13 P2V Migration

13.1 How to Perform a P2V Migration

To reduce hardware requirements, there is often a need to migrate physical machines to virtual

ones. To perform a physical to virtual migration (P2V), you need to boot your physical machine from

Acronis bootable Media, create a full backup and then restore it to a virtual machine.

To perform a P2V migration the following steps are to be made:

1. Create Acronis Bootable Media. Download the Acronis Bootable Media Builder of Acronis

vmProtect 8 from the My products & Downloads section of your account at the Acronis website.

Install it.

2. Boot the physical machine that you need to migrate to virtual from Acronis Bootable Media.

3. Create a full backup of the physical machine.

4. Run Acronis vmProtect 8 web console, connect to the Acronis Agent and click Restore on the

Actions tab.

5. Select the created backup and choose the target ESX(i) host where to restore the backup.

14 Bare Metal Recovery of ESXi Hosts

The Acronis vmProtect 8 Bare Metal Recovery (BMR) of the ESXi host feature provides a totally

unique functionality that helps you minimize the recovery time if the ESXi server crashes, fails to start

or doesn’t work properly after a patch update. The feature allows you to restore ESXi server binaries

and patches, ESXi configuration, and missing VMs (VMs present in backups, but missing on the

datastores; VMs should be backed up separately) after the ESXi server is recovered and started.

Bare Metal Recovery supports only VMware ESXi version 4.1 and 5.0, and does not support ESX.

NOTE: Recovery of ESXi host configuration can be performed only onto local disks. Recovery to USB drives

connected to the system is not supported.

The following sections describe how ESXi host configuration backup and recovery can be configured.

14.1 ESXi host configuration backup

ESXi host configuration backup in Acronis vmProtect 8 differs from the backup of Virtual Machines.

Note that the ESXi host configuration backup will forcibly enable SSH access for the ESXi host, i.e.

its configuration will automatically be adjusted in order to enable ESXi configuration backups.

To back up an ESXi host configuration, run the New ESXi Backup Task wizard by clicking

Actions->ESXi Configuration Backup. In the first step of the New ESXi Backup Task wizard (Select an

ESXi host to back up), select the ESXi host whose configuration you want to back up. Select the ESXi

host from the list of all ESXi hosts/vCenter managed by Acronis vmProtect 8 Agent. If you don’t see

the exact host that you are looking for in the ESXi hosts list, make sure that it's added at the

Configure->ESX(i) Hosts page. Note that ESXi backup supports only ESXi servers. ESX servers cannot

be selected for backup.

After selecting the ESXi host, enter the root credentials (login/password) to access it. In order to

create a backup of ESXi binaries and patches, a connection to the ESXi server is performed via SSH.

This means that root credentials are required. You can check that the submitted credentials are valid

by clicking Test connection. Click Next.

New ESXi Backup Task, Select an ESXi Host to back up

In the second step (When to Backup), you can schedule the backup. The options of the BMR backup

task scheduler are the same as for the VM backup wizard.

New ESXi Backup Task, When to back up

In the third step (Where to back up), select the location for storing your ESXi configuration backup

archive and archive name. Click Browse to open the pop-up, select the location among one of the

following and then click OK:

 Local folders.

 Network folders.

 FTP servers.

 SFTP servers.

ESXi backup is created only in the Multiple files backup scheme (legacy mode archive) (p. 9). The

Save all backups in one file (Recommended) option is disabled.

Select Automatically delete old backups check box to set up the clean up rules. The details for these

settings are explained in the "Where to back up" section (p. 33).

Select Copy the backup to a second location check box. The following settings allow you to configure

the backup copying options. Select the second location where you would also like to store your

backups and the archive name. Click Browse and select from the available list of locations.

From the When to copy drop-down list select if you would like to copy the backup to the second

location immediately after each backup is created. Or you can indicate the specific days for

performing your backup copy, other than the backup schedule days. In this case you can also choose

to copy all missed recovery points or copy last created recovery points only.