Understanding Acronis Backup · 2020. 8. 16. · 2 or 3 nodes: replication, 1 or 2 node failure with no loss 5 or more nodes: erasure coding, 2 node failure with no loss ‒ Typically

1Acronis Training and Certification – Authorized Use Only

UNDERSTANDINGACRONIS BACKUPFundamental concepts in Acronis Backup and Acronis Backup Cloud


Module Outline

1. Components & Implementations

2. Storing Backups

3. Acronis Backup Cloud 3rd Party Integrations

4. Navigating The Backup Console

5. Backup, Recovery and Other Operations


Components & Implementations

Installable software components and types of deployment and

implementations


1. 3-Tier Architecture

On-premise | Cloud

StorageLocal, Network, Cloud,

Tape, Storage Node

On-premise | Cloud

ManagementBackup Console &

Management Server

Physical | Virtual | Cloud

Applications | UsersData Source Agents


1. List of Components

Type Components

Data Source

Install on machine or device to be backed up. Supports

physical, virtual, cloud, applications and user devices

(PC, Mac, iOS, Android)

‒ Agent for Windows

‒ Agent for Linux

‒ Agent for Mac

‒ Agent for VMware (Windows)

‒ Agent for VMware (Virtual Appliance)

‒ Agent for Hyper-V

‒ Agent for Virtuozzo

‒ Agent for Office 365

‒ Agent for Exchange

‒ Agent for SQL

‒ Agent for Active Directory

‒ Agent for Oracle

‒ Mobile app for iOS

‒ Mobile app for Android

Management

Install on-premise or use cloud-based management

hosted in Acronis or partner datacenter

‒ Web-based Backup Console

‒ Management Server

Storage

Store data on-premise or on cloud storage provided by

Acronis or Service Provider

Acronis Backup

‒ Local, Network, Cloud, SFTP, Tape

‒ Acronis Storage Node (ASN)

Acronis Backup Cloud

‒ Acronis Storage Gateway

‒ Acronis Storage 2.x


1. List of Components

Type Components

Ancillary

Additional components to enable additional features

‒ Bootable Media

‒ Bootable Media Builder

‒ Backup Monitor

‒ Command-Line Tool

‒ Acronis SharePoint Explorer

‒ Components for Remote Installation

‒ Catalog Service

‒ PXE Service

‒ Acronis Monitoring Service

Management Server Database

Database for storing management data

‒ SQLite (built-in, by default)

‒ Microsoft SQL Server 2012 or later (external, customize install settings)


1. Acronis Backup Cloud

End-User Site

Network

Storage

Web-Based

Console

Physical

Server

Virtual

Host

PC

Mac

Agents

Data CenterManagement

Servers

Cloud Management

& Storage

Service Provider

Cloud Storage

Cloud | Local | Network

Store backups on Acronis or Service Provider

cloud storage, local disks and network

storage

Storage

Agents

Perform backup, recovery and migration on

local, remote, cloud machines, applications

and mobile devices

Data Source

Management Server | Web-Based Console

Connect using a browser to the cloud-based

Management Server to configure and

manage backups for all devices

Management


1. Acronis Backup Cloud Implementations

Acronis HostedManagement

Servers

Cloud Management

& Storage

End-User Site

Network

Storage

Physical

Server

Virtual

Host

PC

Mac

Agents

HybridManagement

Servers

Cloud Management

& Storage

Service Provider

Cloud Storage

End-User Site

Network

Storage

Physical

Server

Virtual

Host

PC

Mac

Agents

SP HostedManagement

Servers

Service Provider

Cloud Management

&Storage

End-User Site

Network

Storage

Physical

Server

Virtual

Host

PC

Mac

Agents


Storing Backups

Supported backup locations for local and cloud backup


2. Storing Backups

‒ Backups can be stored on the following locations:

▪ Cloud Storage: Acronis datacenter or Service Provider cloud storage (Acronis Backup

Cloud only)

▪ Local folder: Local disks and removable media such as USB HDD

▪ Secure Zone: Secure partition on a local disk accessible by Acronis software only

▪ Network folder: SMB/CIFS/DFS shares, NFS folders (Linux and Mac OS X only)

▪ SFTP: Secure FTP

▪ Storage Node: Storage location managed by an Acronis Storage Node, can be local

disks, network folder or tape

▪ Tape: Tape device directly connected to the local machine or managed by Acronis

Storage Node


2. Supported File Systems

File System*Supported By

LimitationsAgents Linux-based Win-PE based Mac

FAT16/32

All agents

‒ No limitationsNTFS

ext2/ext3/ext4

HFS+ Agent for Mac

JFS

Agent for Linux

‒ Files cannot be excluded from a

disk backupResierFS3

ResierFS4 ‒ Files cannot be excluded from a

disk backup

‒ Volumes cannot be resized during

a recovery

ReFSAll Agents

XFS

Linux Swap Agent for Linux ‒ No limitations

* Software will automatically switch to sector-by-sector backup when backing up drives with unrecognized or unsupported file systems


2. Acronis Datacenters

14 Acronis Cloud

Data Centers now

More coming, it takes only 4

weeks to launch a new one

Strong presence in Asia-Pacific:

Singapore, Japan, Korea, Australia


2. Cloud Storage Implementations

‒ Service Providers on Hybrid and SP Hosted implementation model can

setup their own cloud storage to store their customers’ backups

‒ Acronis provides proprietary storage software as part of the Acronis Backup

Cloud solution:

▪ Acronis Storage Gateway: lightweight gateway software for easy and rapid deployment

of cloud storage for Acronis Backup Cloud

▪ Acronis Storage 2.0: Software-defined-storage for transforming low-cost commodity

hardware into scalable fault-tolerant enterprise-grade storage

‒ Acronis Storage 2.0 can be used as a storage solution for storing data other

than Acronis Backup Cloud backups:

▪ Usage is free when used for storing Acronis Backup Cloud backups, pay-per-use (per

GB) when used for storing other types of data (block, object and file storage)


2. Cloud Storage Implementations

Acronis Storage Gateway Acronis Storage 2.0

‒ Supports the following storage backends:

▪ Local directory or mounted NFS

▪ Amazon S3 & S3 API-compatible storage such as Swisscom,

IIJ GIO and Cleversafe

▪ Microsoft Azure

▪ Openstack Swift

‒ No fault-tolerance, redundancy dependent on storage, i.e., local or

mounted NFS must be on RAID 1/5/6; vendor SLA for S3, Azure

and Swift

‒ Each installation is limited to 1 storage backend connection with

multiple installations possible

‒ Requires 1 x physical or virtual machine for installation:

▪ 2-4 (v)CPU, 4GB RAM or more, 100GB free disk space for

logs

▪ Installed as Linux package on x86_64 RHEL 7 or CentOS 7

‒ Serve up to 2Gbps of user traffic (50-100 simultaneous backups)

‒ Supports local disks as storage backend with option of using SSD

for caching to improve performance

‒ Can be configured as Acronis Backup Cloud cloud storage, block

(iSCSI), object (S3) or file* storage

‒ Fault-tolerance depends on chosen redundancy mode which uses

either replication or erasure coding to prevent data loss:

▪ 2 or 3 nodes: replication, 1 or 2 node failure with no loss

▪ 5 or more nodes: erasure coding, 2 node failure with no loss

‒ Typically only 1 installation of Acronis Storage 2.0 is needed –

multiple clusters and storage tiers can be configured to cater to

different usages

‒ Requires 2 or more physical servers with min. 3 disks each for

installation:

▪ Recommended: Intel Xeon E5-2620V2 or faster CPU with at

least 1 core per 8 HDD, 16GB ECC RAM + 0.5GB per HDD, 4

or more HDD/SSD (min. 1 DWPD, 10 DWPD recommended),

2 x 10Gbps NIC

▪ Installed as Acronis Storage software on bare metal


Acronis Backup Cloud3rd Party Integrations

Supported Service Provider automation platforms


3. Integration via RESTful API and APS

‒ Acronis Backup Cloud provides automation integration though packages and

plugins for various management platforms

‒ Integration packages and plugins are based on either RESTful API or APS

(Application Packaging Standard)

‒ Operations possible include but are not limited to:

▪ Selling customized backup-as-a-service based on Acronis Backup Cloud in addition to

other cloud services such as hosting, connectivity, SaaS and IaaS

▪ Automating billing, customer provisioning and endpoint backup management via existing

web portals and tenant webpages


3. Supported Platforms


Navigating the Backup Console

How to navigate the web-based backup and account management consoles


4. Navigating Acronis Backup Cloud Consoles

Switch to Groups Menu Switch to Backup Management

Switch to Reports Menu

Switch between Groups

Usage summary

Group settings


4. Navigating Acronis Backup Cloud Consoles

Switch to Account Management Switch Views

Selected machine

Add Agents

Main Menus

Actions available


Backup, Recovery & Other Operations

Understanding backup, recovery, deduplication, Active Protection™, and

Acronis Notary™


5. Backup Operation – Agent Based Backup

Backup

Managed Machine

Agent

Backup Plan 1

Task 1

Always Inc. (Single-File)

Task 2

Cleanup

Backup Plan 2

Task 1

Weekly Full, Daily Inc.

Task 2

Replicate Backup

Task 3

CleanupMaintain

Archive

Cloud Storage

F Backup 1

I Backup 2

I Backup 3

Disk 1

Backup

Disk 2 Local Storage

F Backup 1

I Backup 2

Manage

Web Browser

Management Server

Backup Management Console


5. Backup Operation – Agentless Backup

Hypervisor

Manage

Web Browser

Management Server

Backup Management ConsoleAgent

(VMware/Hyper-V)

VM-n

Backup Plan 1

Task 1

Backup VM-1 to VM-n

Task 2

CleanupMaintain

Archive

Backup

Disk 1 Local/Cloud

F Backup 1

I Backup 2

VM-1


5. Backup Operation – Off-Load Backup

Managed Machine

Agent(VMware)

Backup Plan 1

Task 1

Backup VM-1 to VM-2

Task 2

Cleanup

Backup Plan 2

Task 1

Backup VM-3 to VM-n

Task 2

Replicate Backup

Task 3

CleanupManage

Web Browser

Management Server


Hypervisor(ESXi Host)

VM-n

VM-1

VM-2

VM-3

Backup

Backup


5. Recovery Operation – Online Recovery

Recover

Managed Machine

Agent

Recovery Task

Task 1

Validate Backup

Task 2

Restore Backup Select

Recovery

Point

Cloud Storage

F Backup 1

I Backup 2

I Backup 3

Disk 1

Disk 2 Local Storage

F Backup 1

I Backup 2

Manage

Web Browser

Management Server



5. Recovery Operation – Bare Metal Recovery

Managed Machine

Agent(Bootable Media)

Recovery Task

Task 1

Validate Backup

Task 2

Restore Backup

Select

Recovery

Point

Cloud Storage

F Backup 1

I Backup 2

I Backup 3

Disk 1

Local Storage

F Backup 1

I Backup 2

Manage

Bare Metal

Bootable Media

Boot

Recovery Task

Task 1

Validate Backup

Task 2

Restore Backup

Task 3

Apply Universal Restore


5. Snapshot Technologies

‒ Acronis Backup Agents performs disk imaging backup of physical and virtual

machines by leveraging on various snapshot technologies

‒ Hardware and software snapshot technologies are available and the

technology used depends on the backup source:

▪ Windows and Hyper-V: Microsoft VSS (Microsoft Shadow Copy Provider)

▪ Linux: Acronis SnapAPI (Acronis Snapshot Technology)

▪ VMware vSphere: VADP (VMware vStorage API for Data Protection) or SAN storage

snapshots (NetApp SAN only)

▪ Hardware storage devices that comes with Microsoft VSS enabled: Hardware

snapshots


5. Backup ProcessI/O frozen I/O unfrozen

Pre

command*

START ENDPost

command*

Backup

Initiate

snapshot

technology

Pre data

capture

command*

Take

snapshot

Post data

capture

command*

Backup Plan

created

Agent(s) starts

backup process

as per script

Pre commands

are executed

Backup Plan

script deployed

to computer(s)

Pre data

capture

commands are

executed

Snapshot

technologies

are initiated

Post data

capture

commands are

executed

VSS-aware

applications are

quiesced**

Unfreeze all

disk I/O

Cataloging of

backed up data

Freeze all disk

I/O

Snapshot taken

of all disk

blocks to be

backed up

VSS-aware

applications are

unquiesced

Post commands

are executed

Backup starts

with reference

to snapshot

Agent(s)

finishes backup

process

Cataloging

Start

backup

Complete

backup

* Pre/Post commands and Pre/Post data capture commands are optional and can be configured in Backup options

**For non-VSS aware applications, depending on the snapshot technology, crash-consistent quiescing will be performed, i.e., write all valid data to disk to prepare for snapshot



‒ Backups created with snapshot technologies will be crash-consistent, i.e.,

all data will be backed up consistently based on a single point-in-time and

individual files will be up-to-date

‒ Disk-level (including application-aware backups) and database-level

backups (for supported applications) of Windows machine with VSS-aware

databases will be application-consistent, i.e., VSS will checkpoint and

quiesce database prior to backup; results in database being usable

immediately upon recovery

‒ Non VSS-aware databases on Windows, Linux and Mac have to be

manually checkpoint or quiesced for application-consistent backup, if not

backup will be crash-consistent, i.e., after recovery, logs may have to be

applied to the database before it can be brought online and used



‒ To manually quiesce non VSS-aware databases, use Backup option >

Pre/Post data capture command

‒ For VSS-aware databases on Windows and Hyper-V, Microsoft VSS have to

be functional, use vssadmin list writers to check status of writers of vss-

aware databases

‒ Recommend to have 20% or more free space per volume to be backed up

for storing snapshots and other meta-data during backup


5. Acronis Active Protection™

‒ Actively protects a system from ransomware:

▪ Available for machines running Windows

Vista/Windows 2008 and later

▪ Monitor processes running on protected machines

▪ Uses behavioral heuristics to compare chain of

actions performed by a process against malicious

behavior patterns database

▪ When a 3rd party process tries to encrypt files,

Active Protection generates an alert and performs

additional actions if configured

▪ In addition, prevents unauthorized changes to

Acronis software processes, registry records,

executable and configuration files and MBR


5. How Active Protection™ Works

‒ How Active Protection works:

▪ Active Protection Driver and Service will be installed together with Agent for Windows

▪ When Active Protection Plan is applied, Driver will be enabled and Service will be started

▪ Driver: Analyze file content and type before and after a change, if content type is

changed – suspect in-place encryption

▪ Service: 5 consequent suspicious changes – trigger alert, takes configured action in

Active Protection Plan such as check whitelist/blacklist, block process and recover


5. Enabling Active Protection™

‒ Enabled via Active Protection Plan from

Management Server:

▪ Only 1 plan available currently, i.e., changes in the

Active Protection plan affects all machines with

Active Protection enabled, future updates will allow

multiple plans to be configured

▪ Enabling Active Protection on a machine starts the

Active Protection service

▪ Active Protection driver will then monitor file

changes performed by unsigned processes

▪ Self-protection allows only Acronis-signed

processes to modify backup archives (TIB/TIBX)

and backup configurations


5. Active Protection™ Limitations

‒ Does not protect files from changes made via network sharing protocols:

▪ On local machine: Local files are not protected from changes made by remote machine

▪ On client machine: Files on network shares are not protected

‒ Processes spawned from executables with valid signatures are ignored

except when they try to modify resources protected with self-protection:

▪ When self-protection is enabled, Windows Explorer and other file management tools will

report errors when trying to modify protected resources

‒ Only files that meet the file size criteria will be cached (copy-on-write):

▪ Cache size = 10% of disk volume size, max file size = 10% of cache size

▪ Used for reverting files that have been encrypted when Revert using cache is selected

for the Active Protection Plan


Questions?


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Documents

Understanding Acronis Backup · 2020. 8. 16. · 2 or 3 nodes: replication, 1 or 2 node failure with no loss 5 or more nodes: erasure coding, 2 node failure with no loss ‒ Typically