Product ComponentsThis agent enable disk-level and file-level data protection under Windows. Disk backupThe disk-level data protection is based on backing up either the disk or volume file system as a whole, along with all information necessary for the operating system to boot; or all the disk sectors using the sector-by-sector approach (raw mode.) A backup that contains a copy of a disk or a volume in a packaged form is called a disk (volume) backup or a disk (volume) image. You can recover disks or volumes as a whole from such backup, as well as individual folders or files. File backupThe file-level data protection is based on backing up the user's selection of files and folders. You can recover all files and folders that were backed up or select which of them to recover. Other operationsConversion to a virtual machineRather than converting a disk backup to a virtual disk file, which requires additional operations to bring the virtual disk into use, Agent for Windows performs the conversion by recovering a disk backup to a new virtual machine of any of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, Parallels Workstation or Citrix XenServer virtual appliance. Files of the fully configured and operational machine will be placed in the folder you select. You can start the machine using the respective virtualization software or prepare the machine files for further usage. Disk managementAgent for Windows includes Acronis Disk Director Lite - a handy disk management utility. Disk management operations, such as cloning disks; converting disks; creating, formatting and deleting volumes; changing a disk partitioning style between MBR and GPT or changing a disk label, can be performed either in the operating system or using bootable media. The bootable components of the agent enable operations with reboot, such as recovery of the volume containing the currently active operating system. Once the operations are completed, the machine boots into the operating system again. You can choose not to install the bootable components and perform operations that require reboot using bootable media. Acronis Bootable Media Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media with bootable Acronis components based on the Linux kernel. The server enables you to manage licenses of Acronis products and install the components that require licenses. Acronis WinPE ISO Builder is a dedicated tool for creating bootable media based on Windows pre-installation environment. This tool can be installed only on machines running Windows. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console is an administrative tool for remote or local access to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agents and, in the product editions that include the centralized management capability, to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server. Using the direct console-agent connection, the administrator sets up and manages local backup plans, recovers data, creates and explores personal archive vaults and performs other direct management operations. Having connected the console to the management server, the administrator sets up and manages backup policies and accesses other functionality of the management server, that is, performs centralized management. Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server is the central server that drives data protection within the enterprise network. The management server provides the administrator with: - single entry point to the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 infrastructure;
- easy way to protect data on numerous machines using backup policies and grouping;
- enterprise-wide monitoring functionality;
- ability to create centralized locations for storing enterprise backup archives;
- ability to manage storage nodes.
If there are multiple management servers on the network, they operate independently, manage different machines and use different centralized vaults for storing archives. Acronis PXE Server allows for booting machines into Acronis bootable components through the network. The network booting: - Eliminates the need to have a technician onsite to install the bootable media into the system that has to be booted.
- During group operations, reduces time required for booting multiple machines as compared to using physical bootable media.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Storage Node is a server aimed to optimize usage of various resources (such as the corporate storage capacity, the network bandwidth, or the managed machines' CPU load) required for the enterprise data protection. This goal is achieved through organizing and managing the locations that serve as dedicated storages of the enterprise backup archives (managed vaults). The storage nodes enable creating highly scalable and flexible, in terms of the hardware support, storage infrastructure. Up to 20 storage nodes can be set up, each being able to manage up to 20 vaults. The administrator controls the storage nodes centrally from the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Server. Setting up the storage infrastructureInstall the storage nodes, add them to the management server (the procedure is similar to the managed machine registration) and create centralized vaults. When creating a centralized vault, specify the path to the vault, the storage node that will manage the vault, and the management operations to be performed on the vault. A managed vault can be organized: - on the hard drives local to the storage node
- on a network share
- on a Storage Area Network (SAN)
- on a Network Attached Storage (NAS)
- on a tape library locally attached to the storage node.
The management operations are as follows. Storage node-side cleanup and validationArchives, stored in unmanaged vaults, are maintained by the agents that create the archives. This means that each agent not only backs up data to the archive, but also executes service tasks that apply to the archive the retention rules and validation rules specified by the backup plan. To relieve the managed machines of unnecessary CPU load, execution of the service tasks can be delegated to the storage node. Since the tasks' schedule exists on the machine the agent resides on, and therefore uses that machine’s time and events, the agent has to initiate the storage node-side cleanup and the storage node-side validation according to the schedule. To do so, the agent must be online. Further processing is performed by the storage node. This functionality cannot be disabled in a managed vault. The next two operations are optional. DeduplicationA managed vault can be configured as a deduplicating vault. This means that identical data will be backed up to this vault only once to minimize the network usage during backup and storage space taken by the archives. EncryptionA managed vault can be configured so that anything written to it is encrypted and anything read from it is decrypted transparently by the storage node, using a vault-specific encryption key stored on the node server. In case the storage medium is stolen or accessed by an unauthorized person, the malefactor will not be able to decrypt the vault contents without access to this specific storage node. If the archive is already encrypted by the agent, the storage node-side encryption is applied over the encryption performed by the agent. | 
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