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User's Guide

Acronis 
True Image Server 

8.0 

for Windows

Compute with confidence

www.acronis.com

Summary of Contents for TRUE IMAGE CORPORATE WORKSTATION 8.0

Page 1: ...User s Guide Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows Compute with confidence www acronis com ...

Page 2: ...ly modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder Distribution of this work or derivative work in any standard paper book form for commercial purposes is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED AS IS AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES INCLUDING ANY ...

Page 3: ... of any kind in the Software except as specifically permitted above D Attempting to un assemble de compile or reverse engineer the Software in any way E Granting sublicenses leases or other rights in the Software to others F Making copies or verbal or media translations of the users guide G Making telecommunication data transmission of the software Acronis has the right to terminate this license i...

Page 4: ... UP TO TAPE DRIVE 20 CHAPTER 4 CREATING A PARTITION DISK IMAGE 21 4 1 SELECTING PARTITIONS 21 4 2 SELECTING IMAGE LOCATION 21 4 3 SELECTING IMAGE MODE 22 4 3 1 Creating an incremental image 23 4 4 SELECTING IMAGE FILE SIZE 24 4 5 SELECTING DATA COMPRESSION LEVEL 25 4 6 PROTECTING IMAGES WITH PASSWORDS 26 4 7 PROVIDING COMMENTS 26 4 8 IMAGE CREATION SCRIPT 27 4 9 SELECTING IMAGE CREATION PRIORITY 2...

Page 5: ...PARTITIONS 53 8 3 DISK ADD SCRIPT 54 CHAPTER 9 SCHEDULING 55 9 1 CREATING SCHEDULED TASKS 55 9 1 1 Selecting partitions 55 9 1 2 Selecting task periodicity 56 9 1 3 Setting up daily execution 57 9 1 4 Setting up weekly execution 58 9 1 5 Setting up monthly execution 58 9 1 6 Setting up one time execution 59 9 1 7 Entering user name 60 9 1 8 Task scheduled successfully 60 9 2 MANAGING SCHEDULED TAS...

Page 6: ...indows disk imaging approach provides you with the fastest bare metal server recovery without time consuming reinstallations configurations and alike Rapid ROI Is server downtime costing you thousands dollars an hour Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows dramatically reduces IT costs by providing an easy fast and reliable way to return your server to its original state in minutes or to restore...

Page 7: ...mply use a previously created image By default Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows image files have tib extension and can contain images of several partitions or disks Images of large partitions or several disks could be sizeable In that case an image can be split into several files that together make the original image A single image can also be split for burning to removable media Acronis ...

Page 8: ...age includes all files and folders independently of their attributes including hidden and system files boot record FAT and Root A disk image includes images of all disk partitions as well as the zero track with Master Boot Record MBR 1 4 Software usage terms and conditions The conditions for Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows software usage are described in the License agreement page 3 of t...

Page 9: ...rt the installation CD into your drive and start the installation procedure 2 Follow the instructions on the screen 3 After making your installation choices and copying of Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows files onto your hard disk you will be prompted to create a bootable diskette or CD R RW you can omit this step if you have purchased the boxed product that contains a bootable CD While A...

Page 10: ... will bring the program window on the screen If your operating system does not load for some reason you can run Acronis Startup Recovery Manager However this must be activated prior to use see Acronis Startup Recovery Manager to learn more about this procedure To run the program press F11 during server bootup when you see a message that tells you to press that key Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for...

Page 11: ...g several ways of their selection for more convenience Having selected an operation by clicking it you can run it as follows by double clicking its icon by selecting Start now in the Operations menu by selecting the operation in the Operations window or by clicking Start now on the toolbar The main window contains operation icons divided into three groups The Disk Imaging group contains disk image...

Page 12: ...e first case the menu contains only Start Now to execute the selected operation For information on managing scheduled tasks see Chapter 9 Delete deletes selected operation Appears only when a scheduled task is selected The View menu contains items for managing the program window look Toolbars contains commands that control toolbar icons Common Task Bar enables disables common task panel in the lef...

Page 13: ...s Arrange Icons by Choose Details and i Display the properties of the selected item the last duplicated in the context menu invoked by right clicking objects To sort messages by a particular column click its header another click will switch order to the opposite or Arrange Icons by button and select the column To select columns to view right click the headers line or left click the Choose Details ...

Page 14: ...ic full image Acronis Secure Zone can be located on any local disk It s created at the expense of the unallocated space if it s available or at the expense of partitions free space A server can have only one Acronis Secure Zone To create it on another disk you must first delete the existing zone When you click Manage Acronis Secure Zone in the menu the program searches for such zone on all local d...

Page 15: ...If necessary you can stop zone creation by clicking Cancel However the script will be cancelled only after the current operation is finished Acronis Secure Zone creation might take several minutes or more Please wait until the whole procedure is finished 3 2 2 Resizing Acronis Secure Zone When prompted by the wizard select Manage Acronis Secure Zone Select to increase or decrease the Acronis Secur...

Page 16: ...ed 3 2 3 Deleting the images in Acronis Secure Zone The images saved to Acronis Secure Zone are deleted automatically if required Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows uses the following scheme to clean up Acronis Secure Zone If there is not enough free space in Acronis Secure Zone to create an image then Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows deletes the most old full image with all subseq...

Page 17: ... Zone In the next window you will see an Acronis Secure Zone deletion script containing a list of briefly described operations to be performed on partitions disks After you click Proceed Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows will start deleting the Acronis Secure Zone Progress will be reflected in the special window If necessary you can stop zone creation by clicking Cancel However the script ...

Page 18: ...s True Image Server 8 0 for Windows by itself to restore damaged partitions from images To use Acronis Startup Recovery Manager it must be activated turn on your server and press F11 when you see the Press F11 for Acronis Startup Recovery Manager message This will run a standalone version of Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows that only slightly differs from the Windows version For informati...

Page 19: ...more dynamic volumes This is because a dynamic volume is located on several dynamic disks so a partial backup would not create a usable image The current version of the software is not capable of changing the size and file system of an image being restored to a dynamic volume However this is possible when you restore a dynamic volume to a basic disk partition When you create a dynamic volume image...

Page 20: ... created on and restored from tapes in the same way as from other devices with the following exceptions 1 If you are to use data tapes previously used by other programs their contents will be cleared 2 A new full image can be stored on an empty tape only If you use tapes that already contain data their contents will be cleared and overwritten 3 Incremental images can be appended to the tape contai...

Page 21: ...ions to image window you will see the hard disk layout of your server Flag a partition to select it Flag a whole disk to select all its partitions You can select one or more hard disks or any combination of partitions and hard disks Disk and partition layout Having selected partitions and or disks click Next Note that this button will be disabled until at least one partition or disk is selected 4 ...

Page 22: ...nd images to a file The program can generate an unique filename Just click Generate file name for a new file button at the right You can create a disk partition image on the same disk partition if there is enough space for it but do not leave it there Better burn images to removable media such as a CD DVD or Zip disks move to another hard disk or a network drive The only reason to place an image o...

Page 23: ...eated so it is usually smaller and takes less time to create Therefore if you create the first disk partition image you should select the complete mode If you already have a full image it is recommended that you create incremental images If you have defragmented your hard disk since the last full image an incremental image could be as large as the full image Therefore we recommend you to make a de...

Page 24: ... removable discs you must provide the latest image file otherwise restoration problems might occur 4 4 Selecting image file size At this step you can specify if the program should create a single file or split it into equal smaller images If you select Automatic Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows will try to decide this for every particular case If there s enough space on the selected disk ...

Page 25: ...dows will ask you to insert a new disc tape when the previous is full You can also fix image file size by selecting Fixed size and entering the desired size or selecting it from the drop down list By default the value is in bytes but you can also use kilobytes and megabytes by adding needed units You can also split the image file into several volumes when storing it on a hard drive Later you will ...

Page 26: ...ter a password and its confirmation into the text fields of the wizard page Image Archive Protection A password should consist of at least eight symbols and contain both letters in the upper and lower cases preferably and numbers to make it more difficult to guess Image password protection If you try to restore data from a password protected image Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows will ask...

Page 27: ...e comments the better If you don t provide comments you might mistake images and restore the wrong system partition for example 4 8 Image creation script In the next window you will see a disk s image creation script that will list all operations to be performed along with their brief descriptions Image creation script ...

Page 28: ... you prepare some more image creation operations they ll be queued after the current one Icons of the current and queued operations will be shown in the bottom of the main program window in due time If you are to burn an image to removable media be sure to enumerate them as you will have to insert them in order during the restoration 4 9 Selecting image creation priority After image creation is st...

Page 29: ... as the outgoing SMTP server name Your user name and password might also be needed if the SMTP server requires authentication 4 10 2 WinPopup notification To set up the WinPopup notification enable the respective parameter in Tools Options Notification WinPopup At that point you will need to provide the network name of the PC to which you want the notification sent ...

Page 30: ...ely into RAM so you can remove the bootable CD to insert an image disk To restore a partition disk from an image Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows must obtain exclusive access to this partition disk This means no other applications can access it at that time If you receive a message stating the partition disk can not be blocked close applications that use this partition disk and start over...

Page 31: ...ord Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows will ask for it The Next button will be disabled until you enter the correct password If you are to restore a disk partition from an incremental image Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows will suggest you to select one of successive incremental files by date time of its creation Thus you can return the disk partition state to a certain moment ofte...

Page 32: ...on the Verify Archive Before the Restoring page of the image restoration wizard Checking image integrity before restoration This is disabled by default in Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows 5 3 Selecting a partition to restore A single file might contain images of several partitions or even disks as shown in the figure below ...

Page 33: ...to restore to As a rule you should restore image to the same partition that the image was created from You can restore an image to another partition but this is needed rather seldom At that a partition should be of at least the same size as uncompressed image data If you don t have a special reason to restore an image to another partition restore it only to partition that was used to create the im...

Page 34: ...y the data you don t have to create another primary partition In this case you can restore the partition as logical to access the data only But if you are to restore a system partition you should select the Primary type for it Finally if you want to load operating system from it select Active as well Selecting Active for a partition without an installed operating system might prevent your server f...

Page 35: ...em It would make sense here to change the file system from FAT16 to FAT32 by setting the appropriate switch But you must also have in mind that not all operating systems support FAT32 Windows 4 x doesn t support FAT32 and won t be operable after you restore a partition and change its file system These can be normally restored on a FAT16 partition only However you can easily convert a FAT16 partiti...

Page 36: ...larger partitions This way of cloning is used if it is impossible to connect the second hard disk to the server for more details about cloning see 7 1 5 8 Assigning a letter to a partition Windows utilizes letters of Roman alphabet to identify disks and partitions automatically assigning them letters at loading Under Windows NT SP6 2000 XP OS Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows enables you t...

Page 37: ...s i e to those other than FAT and NTFS 5 9 Checking file system integrity Having restored a disk partition from an image under Windows NT SP6 2000 XP Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows can check the integrity of its file system To do this flag Yes I want to check file system after the restoring on the Check File System After the Restoring page of the image restoration wizard ...

Page 38: ...his select Yes I want to restore another partition or hard disk drive in the Next Selection window and click Next You can restore another partition during this operation After this you will see partition selection window again and will have to repeat the actions mentioned above If you want to restore only one disk partition or have already selected all of the partitions you need don t set this swi...

Page 39: ...k Cancel no changes will be made to disk s You can also stop the procedure by clicking Cancel However it is critical to note that the partition that should have been restored from the image will be deleted and its space unallocated the same result you will get if the restoration is unsuccessful To recover the lost partition you will have to restore it from the image again After the restoration is ...

Page 40: ...ng Windows Explorer and other file managers you will be able to see image files as if they were located on a physical disk or partition You ll be able to find necessary files or folders in order to copy them from the virtual disk to the real one The connected virtual drive will be read only and you won t be able to change anything within it 6 1 Connecting a virtual disk Use Explore Image to connec...

Page 41: ...s incremental images and the initial complete image If any of successive images is missing connecting is impossible 6 1 2 Selecting partitions to connect and letter assignment On this step you must select a partition to connect as a virtual disk Note that you can t connect the entire disk Select partition to connect Besides you can also select a letter to be assigned to the connected disk from the...

Page 42: ...nd that you unplug a virtual disk after all necessary files and folders are copied However the virtual disk will disappear anyway after your server is turned off To disconnect the virtual disk select Unplug You can also unplug the disk by clicking Unplug Image in Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows main window ...

Page 43: ...fer modes available automatic and manual In the automatic mode you will only have to take several simple actions to transfer all the data including partitions folders and files to a newer disk making it bootable if the original disk was bootable There will be only one difference between these disks partitions on the newer disk will be larger Everything else including the installed operating system...

Page 44: ...in No data will be lost because the original disk is only being read no partitions are changed or resized until data transfer is completed Nevertheless we don t recommend you to delete data from the old disk until you are sure it is correctly transferred to the new disk server boots up from it and all applications work 7 3 Executing transfers 7 3 1 Selecting clone mode You will see the Clone mode ...

Page 45: ...ill ask you what is the source i e the older data disk You can determine the source and destination using the information provided in this window disk number capacity label partition and file system information 7 3 3 Selecting destination disk After you select the source disk you have to select the destination where the disk information will be copied ...

Page 46: ...een Delete partitions on the destination hard disk all existing partitions will be deleted during cloning and all their data will be lost No I do not want to delete partitions no existing partition will be deleted making the cloning impossible You will only be able to cancel this operation and return to select another disk To continue select the first choice and click Next Note that no real change...

Page 47: ...on layout create a new partition layout All existing partitions and their data will be deleted but they will also be cloned to the new disk so you won t lose them Keep data leave the old disk partitions and data intact Destroy data delete partitions and data from the old disk If you are going to sell present etc your old disk we recommend you to clean it from any information to avoid it getting in...

Page 48: ...estruction takes more time The second method takes more time but makes it impossible to recover data afterwards even with special equipment The first method is less secure but is still suitable for most cases 7 3 8 Selecting partition transfer method Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows will offer you the following data transfer methods As is Proportional the new disk space will be proportion...

Page 49: ...ed according to the old and new disk capacities proportion In some cases some partitions may still be transferred as is or be enlarged to the less extent comparing to other As is Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows transfers unsupported and damaged file systems FAT16 partitions are enlarged less than other as they have 4 Gb size limit Depending on the selected combination you will proceed to...

Page 50: ...icating the source hard disk including its partitions and unallocated space as well as the new disk layout Along with the hard disk number you will also see partition number volume label e g SYSTEM file system e g FAT16 or FAT32 partition size Different partition types including primary logical and unallocated space are marked with different colors If you have selected manual partition creation be...

Page 51: ...edure by clicking Cancel In that case you will have to repartition and format the new disk or repeat the cloning procedure After the operation is complete you will see the results message 7 4 Cloning with manual partitioning 7 4 1 Old and new disk partition layouts The manual transfer method enables you to resize partitions on the new disk By default the program resizes them proportionally In the ...

Page 52: ...esize and relocate it on the next step You can do this by both entering values to Unallocated space before Partition size Unallocated space after fields by dragging partition borders or partition itself If the cursor turns to two vertical lines with left and right arrows it s pointed at the partition border so you can drag it If the cursor turns to four arrows it s pointed at the partition so you ...

Page 53: ... then clone To add a new disk you must first install it into your server 8 1 Selecting a hard disk Select the disk that you have added to the server This window might be bypassed if the program detects the new disk itself In this case you will immediately proceed to the New partition creation If there are any partitions on the new disk they must be deleted first Select Delete partitions on the des...

Page 54: ...on in unallocated space box and click Next 8 3 Disk add script In the next window you will see the disk add script containing a list of briefly described operations to be performed Disk add script After you click Proceed Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows will start creating and formatting new partitions indicating the progress in the special window You can stop this procedure by clicking C...

Page 55: ... main window To edit the previously created task click Edit on the toolbar or right click the task and select Edit The editing is performed in the same way as adding To delete a task select it and click Delete on the toolbar or right click the task and select Delete If any errors occur during the scheduled task execution its icon will be marked with a warning sign the red circle with a cross insid...

Page 56: ... one partition or disk is selected Other parameters are set further in the same way as described in the Chapter 4 related to image creation 9 1 2 Selecting task periodicity After you set image parameters you must set task execution periodicity Do not start automatically a task will not be executed You can select this variant to leave it disabled ...

Page 57: ...tep When my computer starts a task will be executed at OS startup When I log on a task will be executed when you log in the OS When my computer shuts down a task will be executed before every shutdown or reboot When I log off a task will be executed when you log off the OS Some variants might be disabled depending on the operating system 9 1 3 Setting up daily execution If you select the daily exe...

Page 58: ...in the Every x weeks each week in a week etc Check weekdays to execute the task on You can execute the task even if your server is turned off at the specified time To do this select Perform this task when the computer restarts only if the computer was turned off at the selected time In this case the task will be executed at the nearest startup 9 1 5 Setting up monthly execution If you select the m...

Page 59: ...Perform this task when the computer restarts only if the computer was turned off at the selected time In this case the task will be executed at the nearest startup 9 1 6 Setting up one time execution If you select the weekly execution you will have to specify some additional parameters First the Start time hours and minutes Second the Start date ...

Page 60: ...be available In the upper field enter user name Enter password twice in two fields below 9 1 8 Task scheduled successfully You have finished scheduling a task The wizard will again remind you the details of the task provided To close the wizard and return to the main window click Finish The task created will be named New task You can rename it appropriately 9 2 Managing scheduled tasks If you sele...

Page 61: ...lt so you won t have to enter them again Second after you make changes you will be asked about execution order I e you will be able to change image creation parameters like location without touching its execution periodicity and time though you can change it as well If you want to change only periodicity and time select Schedule At that you will have to perform only scheduling steps leaving image ...

Page 62: ...ogram Files Acronis TrueImage 10 1 1 Supported commands ti_cons has the following format ti_cons command option1 option2 The following commands are supported each command may be accompanied by additional options 1 create Creates an image file with the specified file name A complete image is created by default Use the incremental option to create an incremental image Options progress on off Shows h...

Page 63: ...e_name In that case the file name must be specified without drive letter or root folder For example file_partition D filename 1 tib raw Use this option to create an image of a disk partition with unrecognized or unsupported file system This will copy all disk partition contents sector by sector Without this option only the sectors containing useful system and user data are imaged compression 0 9 S...

Page 64: ...disks to restore by numbers partition partition number Specifies the partitions to restore by numbers target_harddisk disk number Specifies the hard disk number where the image will be restored start start sector Sets the start sector for restoring a partition to the hard disk unallocated space size partition size in sectors Sets the new partition size in sectors type active primary logical Sets t...

Page 65: ...es the target hard disk number where the source hard disk will be cloned 5 explore Connects an image file as a virtual drive Options filename image file name The image file name password image password The password for the image file if required partition partitions list Specifies a list of partitions to be mounted as virtual drives Without this option all partitions stored in the image file will ...

Page 66: ... to create a partition filesystem FAT FAT 16 FAT 32 NTFS NONE Sets the file system for the new partition The default value is NONE label partition label Sets the new partition label type active primary logical Sets the new partition type By default if this option is not defined an active partition is created on the first hard disk and logic partitions on other disks start start sector Sets the sta...

Page 67: ...ots the server after resizing moving log file name Creates a log file of the current operation with the specified file name 10 asz_create Creates Acronis Secure Zone on the selected drive Options harddisk X Specifies the hard disk number where Acronis Secure Zone will be created partition partitions list Specifies partitions from which free space will be taken for Acronis Secure Zone creation size...

Page 68: ... which free space will be added after the Acronis Secure Zone is deleted log file name Creates a log file of the current operation with the specified file name 12 asz_activate Activates Acronis Secure Zone or rather activates Acronis Startup Recovery Manager This command may also be used as an option with asz_create command 13 verify Verifies image archive data integrity Options filename filename ...

Page 69: ... will be rebooted after the operation is completed 2 Restore image ti_cons deploy filename C Test 1 tib partition 2 1 This will restore partition 2 1 from image 1 tib ti_cons deploy filename C Test 1 tib password qwerty harddisk 2 This will restore hard disk 2 from image 1 tib protected with password qwerty ti_cons deploy filename C Test 1 tib partition 2 1 target_partition 1 1 This will restore p...

Page 70: ...e utility It is located in a folder where Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows has been installed by default it is C Program Files Acronis TrueImage 10 2 Scripting 10 2 1 Script execution parameters Scripts are executed by the TrueImageTerminal exe utility located in the Acronis True Image Server installation folder i e C Program Files Acronis TrueImage This utility is also used to monitor ba...

Page 71: ...URCE tag for each of them e g source letter C source letter D source disk 1 source disk 2 Target Specifies name and location of an image file e g target file E Mybackup2 tib username username password password username and password parameters are optional They are used to access networked resources As a target for image files you can indicate CD R RW or tape drive Options This tag can be used with...

Page 72: ...ed as an incremental image file The High compression level is selected and the image is to be split into 650MB parts for recording to CD R RW media Password protection will also be added The entire script must be located between the backup and backup tags xml version 1 0 encoding utf 8 backup source letter C source letter F target file e mybackup2 tib options compression high incremental true desc...

Page 73: ...k Next to continue 11 1 1 Selecting image for checking In this window you will see the complete list of connected storage devices including hard disks and any other drives Using the standard Windows Explorer locate the image file to be checked and select it Its name will appear in the File Name field and the Next button will be enabled Click Proceed to continue The checking progress will be indica...

Page 74: ...ver 8 0 for Windows itself by selecting Programs Æ Acronis Æ True Image Server 8 0 for Windows Æ Bootable Rescue Media Builder from the Start menu You will see the bootable media wizard that will ask you to select either complete or safe loader version The latter doesn t have USB PC card PCMCIA SCSI drivers and is useful only in case the complete version doesn t work After you create a boot disk i...

Page 75: ...splay only messages of particular type particular columns or select sorting order To sort messages by a particular column click its header click again to reverse order or the Arrange Icons by button the second from the right and select the desired column To select columns to display right click the headers line or left click the Choose Details button and check columns to display The three buttons ...

Page 76: ... than any other device e g CD R RW Having specified image volume size equal to about 650 700Mb you can quickly create image files on your hard disk to burn them to CD R RW afterwards This allows doing the whole task more quickly What devices can a system partition be restored from if Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows is loaded from its bootable diskette of CD Acronis True Image Server 8 0 ...

Page 77: ...0 for Windows from a bootable disk to restore a partition disk from an image located on the network drive but couldn t find the necessary computer If there s at least one computer shown in the Network Neighborhood try to access the required computer by typing its address in the Filename line like computer folder If there s no Network icon in My Computer it means either there are network problems o...

Page 78: ...reate Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows bootable media using the corresponding wizard in the Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows menu 2 Run sysprep exe You can specify the following as command line parameters nosidgen if you plan to delete all data from the old disk and or don t plan to use the old and new disks in different servers simultaneously mini if you plan to transfer your OS...

Page 79: ...er way to burn an image to a DVD Using Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows you can create an image on your hard disk and burn it using the installed DVD recording application to a DVD afterwards You will be able to restore images from such discs under Windows and when Acronis True Image Server 8 0 for Windows is loaded from the bootable media 12 3 Technical support Users of legally purchased...

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