ABR10: Tell me about your experiences
This is a question for everybody.. For experiences sharing ..
I would like to know some things about your acronis installations.
Here we go:
1. Which build(s) of ABR10 do you use? On which OS(es)?
2. How do you schedule tasks? (complete, incremental, differential .. )
3. Where do you store backups (on smb, ftp, nas, nfs, tape...)? Which storage hardware model (if possible) ?
4. If you're using scheduled tasks: have you ever had problems with the automatic deletion of older archives?
5. How many times do you need to deal with acronis issues?
I'm asking this since I'm facing a lot of problems and I would like to hear some success stories from you... and even some ideas :)
Sorry for my crappy english ;)
Thank you for everyone who will going to collaborate.
Hello,
I'm an acronis reseller for my customers and I have plenty of ABR10 installations both on Windows (XP, Server 2003, 7) and Linux (CentOS 5.x), and most of them are having problems.
These the issues i'm facing:
*** GENERAL ISSUES (BOTH WINDOWS AND LINUX VERSION) ***
1. It always requires credentials for access SMB shares even if there's no need. PLEASE! Don't tell me that's a security feature.. Just now i'm trying to make acronis like a WD World Edition Ethernet Disk (1TB), and seems it doesn't...
2. Backup consolidation DEFINITELY DOES NOT WORK! I can set whatever option i want (delete backups older than X days, maintain archives within X GB..).. No way.. it ends up filling the backup storage and customers call me almost everyday for this..
3. Creating backups on SMB storages behaves really bad: it often loses storage credentials and I need to reenter them each time I edit a job.
4. I often found backup archives without name (something like: 2010_09_02_23_00_07_104D.TIB) on my storage, which are not deleted automatically.
5. Sometimes the acronis scheduler gets crazy and begin to start jobs when it wants.. (I can't reproduce this..)
*** ABR 10 FOR LINUX (Centos 5.x x86_64, build 11639) ***
1. In one installation when i create tasks they suddenly disappear. But I don't know how to replicate this.
** WISHLIST **
1. There should be an option which make the post command execute even the backup job fails. What happens when i stop db server, or other vital services in the pre command and the backup job miserably fails (mainly for what described at point 2)? Services remain down, and the customer calls telling that nothing works!
2. There should be an option which limit backup execution time (eg. Stop job if exceeds X hours) . We make backup on daily basis (during the night when people sleep) and sometimes it happens that, for some unexplained reason, backup jobs get stuck needing manual intervention, and since we stop services to make consistent database backups, the next day the customer calls...
Thanks
Hello,
I am using Acronis Baceup and recovery 10 server for window (licensed).
I successfully created boot able media and back up the whole hard disk to USB harddisk.
Then I tried to restore on server 2008 Hyper V. I already created virtual machine in hyper V and tried to restore from bootable media. I can not see my destination drive and restored.show tib feature also cannot see the files in destination folder.
So I wanna know that do I need to convert .tib to .vhd first and what converter I will need to use?
I wanna know the steps to restore image in hyper v.
Thanks.
No further comment?
Marco,
Are your problems with the Italian version of ABR10 (if there is one) or with the English language builds?
Is this the Server version and Workstation Advanced/Ordinary?
The only problem I have with Workstation is that a custom task insists on performimg two cleanups per schedule (meaning I often run out of room) and consolidation doesn't work as I would expect it to.
Hi Colin,
I'm using the Italian localization of ABR10, but I've experienced most issues with the the English version as well.
I always use the latest build, which currently is 11639, and the server version is the standard one.
IMHO, Backup consolidation DOES NOT WORK AT ALL... No way.. I tried every possible options combination without luck..
Maybe it could work for a couple of days, or when you manually execute your backup job, but don't try to let it work automatically..
How do you deal with automatic deletion of older backup? Is there another way to obtain the same result?
May should I use different storage from external USB hdd, or NAS ?
Sorry.. double post..
same issues that I have. This software is very troublesome, and the support is incompetent.
The cleanup function is really terrible, it only works 20% at a time.
For consolidation, you willl need atleast 301% times from your data of extra storage space since it will create temp files to consolidate. E.g. 100 GB of Data, you need atleast 401 GB of extra space for data consolidation to work properly. This is what acronis support told us. This is not found in any documentation, and a realy bad design.
Hope this helps.
I have the same issue, the clean up task and consolidation task just don't work. Regardless I use GFS job's default clean up or Custom job with my own consolidation schedule it never worked. I spent hours dealing with the support and they just aren't able to fine the problem, and it was always suggested I have a corrupt installation and to proceed with a manual clean up and reinstall the program! I have more than 301% of the storage for consolidation, I don't think what they say is true. Even it is, like JohnS said, it's a really lousy design.
It's great software, if you like software that apparently isn't tested by anything other than retarded monkeys before it's released. This is the single buggiest piece of software I've experienced in 14 years in IT.
Nice to hear that :)
Well.. I think that ABR10 is a great software... when it works of course...
But it has several problems that need to be resolved ASAP and it's not ready for production use yet...
The first thing that need to be resolved is...... that orrible backup consolidation!!!
@acronis support: When will be released a build which resolves this issue??
Thanks
Mike Silva, that statement is so true!
apologize for the long comment first, but:
I've been using Acronis TrueImage (Now call ABR) extensively on Windows and Linux platform (Mainly for Business use) for the last ~7 years and I'm here to share my experience of using Acronis as a Business and mission-critical backup tools. Generally speaking, this software work ok. Once in a while, you get into "wired" display/error message (happen to me quite a few times) and unable to mount backup image (happen a lot, sometime I've to "reboot" the whole machine in order to "mount" the image). However I've the worst experience a week ago causing me 8 days of production down time. In this case, we're using acronis to backup a Window 2003 server which act as a "source code" repository (let skip the repository details, but it is file based). We've been using Acronis to backup the whole repository and logs. We backup C(OS), D(Data), and L(Logs and other files) on a daily basic and we kept 2 weeks and 7 days. (yes, it is a LOT, just those are important data). The backup is set to written to a network share (Linux/samba/FreeNAS). Backup size is ~500GB (total). As mentioned, it is purely file based backup, no database type of block changes. Everything is good until recently, we've a need to restore the whole repository (including logs) backup to 1 day. I booted up with the acronis boot CD and try to restore, unfortunately, we're being prompted for password/credentials. A quick search in acronis web site found that it is a "known issue" which require to use the latest version/CD. And here comes the nightmare - This is the email I finally wrote to their customer service:
I’ve discussed with Shekhar Tomar (live chat) who had confirmed the issues reported is a “known issue” and requested me to download the latest build of the software. However the version available online was 11639 even it is labeled as 12433. Shekhar therefore suggested that to request the Linux build version of the bootable CD. A screenshot and Acronis Linux Report was provided so that support can generate the linux based ISO file. On 9/8/2010, I contacted support regarding the status of the ISO image; I was told that there was no ISO image created for this purpose. I had therefore requested again for the iso image to be generated. Meanwhile, I tried to download the latest 1GB installation file (Full install) and install it myself on a windows machine so that I can create the bootable media myself. I created the bootable media (after installing the license server, workstation and all those). We used that latest build bootable CD and we ended with exactly the same problem (i.e. we’re being prompted for password when trying to restore the image stored on a Linux share) except this time it hang up after a few prompt. I therefore told the support engineer that the issue is NOT resolved by using the latest build of the software and requested further assistant. The support professional told me that in this case, the issue need to be escalated to Tier 2 support and someone will contact us shortly (within 48 hours). I expressed to the support professional that it is critical that we can restore the previous backup and we would like to get the issue resolved earlier than 48 hours. A “Support Manager” contacted me afterward and told me that I’ve his personal guarantee that an escalated support engineer will contact us shortly with 24 hours. No call back, no email after that. On 9/10, (48 hours afterward), I finally got an email from Sangram and he told me again to download the bootable media; but the case was escalated to their group because it is NOT working!!?! I reply and explained that the latest version is NOT working. On 9/13, I called in again trying to get the issue resolved, I talked to Rohit initially and requested to speak to a supervisor/manager as I really need some help to get to the Tier-2; the call was transferred to Kamal. I explained the situation to him and he said that he would connect me to the “concerning manager”. The call was then further transferred to Sandeep. I therefore re-explained to him the issue we’ve having and requested him to help us on this issue. At this time, Sandeep explained to me that he is actually NOT a manager, but a "Tier1 Support Professional". I asked Sandeep why is then the call being transferred to him, he said he was told to “take note” of the case. I therefore requested him to transfer me to a "Manager". After on hold for more than 30 minutes, he said he could NOT transfer to a manager since there “isn’t one available”, he therefore transferred the call back to Rohit. I requested Rohit to transfer the call to a manager (I'm really frustrated at this time) and the call was transferred to Kamal again. I asked why did he transfer my call to another Tier1 Support when I requested to speak to a Tier-2 manager. He said he was “told” to transfer the call to that extension and he had NO idea whose that extension is. How could a support supervisor blindly transfer a support call to an extension he had no idea about?? I told Kamal again that I would like to speak with a Tier-2 Manager to try to get our issue resolved. After a long hold, he told me that it is NOT possible to speak to a Tier-2 support (no tier-2 is available to take the call). He then requested me to send an email to managers@acronis.com. (see email below). Kamal then said he had to transfer the call to another support manager, for what reason I do not know. I was then transferred to Ankur and he said that he do NOT have a Tier2 support personnel to assist us at this moment. Ankur said the only thing you can do is to transfer the call to a Tier-1 support professional. BTW, the attitude I received from Ankur is extremely unfriendly and unpleasant. I answered the same question (we need a time to call you back) 5 times and he just keep asking and asking over and over and over again. The whole issue here strongly revealed that:
1. Acronis is good when it works
2. it is definitely NOT a enterprise/business software
3. Support = NONE, there appears to be of no way to talk to a tier-2 person (manager or staff).
4. Save your time and money on the pay per case support, you won't get/go anywhere.
To be honest : Acronis have to improve.
As as reseller & a certified partner, i have to mention some important points:
- Applying backup policy takes too much time and in most cases it fails.
- Credential issue is very annoying issue on all types of operating systems on the storage nodes.
- Backup consolidation and backup deletion doesn't work everytime.
- The services of Acronis are truely heavy on the PCs.
- I've never saw a setup file 1GB !?!?!? "" Latest build "" disadvantages are well known of this.
- Many cases need to resolved via the Acronis support team, and they ALWAYS tells : we still working on this issue and will be resolved in the next build soon.
I do really receive too much of customer calls who have same problems always.
This is my own opinion as an ACE and as Acronis supporter from the date it issued.