ABA 12.5 Build 10330 - some issues
Hi there,
lately I did a clean reinstall of AFA 12.5 Build 10330.
In the installation before I did the backups of the servers with Microsoft tools and also a replication to an offsite-location was not configured so I tried these tasks.
In the end I wanted to:
- backup the physical Hyper-V host
- backup 4 VMs (one of them is the domain controller)
- replicate the backups to an offsite location via a slow 15MBit/sec connection
So I first configured the plans for the backups.
The good news:
It seems as if the plans run fine and the backups are made properly.
Bad news:
a) Backup name and Backup File Name are different
I created a plan and saved it.
If I remember correctly I did not start the plan.
I then changed the Backup filename in the settings of the plan to [Machine Name]-FullBackup.
After the first run of the plan I checked the backups on the storage location.
There the Backup has a name [Plan Name]-[Machine Name].
The filename on the NAS is correct: [Machine Name]-FullBackup.tibx
Any explanation or just another bug?
Is it possible to change the Backup Name manually in the database?
Question regarding Active Directory:
b) Do I understand it right, that an application aware backup of Active Directory is not possible for a virtual machine hosted on a Hyper-V Host?
c) If yes, this yould make the agent for Active Directory on such a machine more or less useless right?
Now the stuff regarding replication:
d) Can I simply copy the backup files to the offsite location?
As the storage location is on a NAS I could use RTRR replication and this seems to be faster than the replication done by Acronis.
This offsite location is only necessary if the worst case happens: a complete loss of all hardware in the server-room.
And the last question for today:
A typical plan in my setting has the backup, the replication and the validation phase.
e) Which of the phases needs access to the data to backup?
The backup phase needs it for sure ;-)
But is the access also needed during replication and validation or work these tasks only on the already created backup files?
Thanks in advance
Sven
Hey Ivo,
thanks for your remarks.
Now I am confused as the manual states:
"Application-aware disk-level backup is available for physical machines and for ESXi virtual machines."
If you were told that in a training...was the question regarding a virtual Hyper-V or a physical DC ?
If I do an agentless backup via the host it is not needed.
And if the plan uses the agent in the VM I cannot select to do an application aware backup.
Any remarks from the Acronis pros ?
I can bring it to one question:
What must I do to backup my Domain Controller that runs as a Hyper-V guest to have a backup that can be restored and the Domain Controller runs as in the moment of the backup?
Regards
S.
Hi Sven.
My question was from a Hyper-V environment.
VMware runs a bit different when adding the ESXi host to Acronis as it will detect all the VM's running on it.
So if you have Hyper-V with a DC/Exchange/SQL VM, you would need to install the corresponding agent on that VM to create application consistent backups.
But I will leave it to the pros to verify and answer your other questions, which I hope they will be answered soon :)
Hopefully one of the pros may answer within the next few days.....
Hi, you don't need to install an Agent into DC VM. Agent for Hyper-V installed on the host with the Acronis Backup Virtual Host license allows backing up unlimited VMs on this host - the entire VM or DC/Exchange/SQL on them.
Hello Andrey,
thanks for your post, but honestly spoken, that was not the question ;-)
As you can see in my first post, I´d like to know whether an application aware backup is possible.
And in my understanding this is NOT possible.
The manual states:
"Application-aware disk-level backup is available for physical machines and for ESXi virtual machines."
So if this is only available for these types of machines, an agent for Active Directory in a Hyper-V guest is useless.
And that was one of my questions whether this is correct.
As a result of this assumption the only usefull option is an agentless backup via the host (as you mentioned).
So is there an Acronis pro who can confirm this ?
And may also the remaining questions be answered ;)
S.
Hello Sven,
a) backup file name - please contact the support for investigation, the default backup file name should be [Machine Name]-[Plan ID]-[Unique ID]A. http://dl.managed-protection.com/u/backup/help/12.5/user/en-US/index.ht…
b, c) yes, this is the correct information, Application-aware disk-level backup for Hyper-V VM is planned to further versions. Until that, you have to install an Agent inside guest VM.
The statement in the documentation should be modified - "Application-aware disk-level backup is available for physical machines, for ESXi virtual machines as well as for VM under any other hypervisor with Agent (for AD in your case) installed inside guest VM."
d) Can I simply copy the backup files to the offsite location?
Nothing prevents you to copy any files including backup to the offsite location)
c) during backup you definitely need access to the client machine. Regarding replication/validation it depends on the way you perform it. If the replication/validation are part of backup plan - access to the client is required. Also you can set up a separate mini-plan for replication/validation (and other mini-plans), you can install a separate agent for mini-plans, in this case, access to a backed up machines is not necessary.
Hello Andrey,
Now I am confused.
On the one side you confirm that b) and c) is correct, so that means that the agent within the Guest is useless and that currently an appliaction aware backup of Active Directory is not possible.
On the other side you state, that until the implementation of this feature I have to inastall the Agent inside the guest.
So what´s correct ?
Regards
Sven
I meant Agent-less application aware VM backup for Hyper-V will be supported in the further versions. Agent-less here is when you have Agent for Hyper-V installed on a hypervisor's host to backup VMs without installation of agents inside VMs. In this case you can backup entire VM without application-aware option.
But if you want appliaction aware for VM now - you should install Agent for %Application% inside the VM.
Hello Andrey,
but even if I have the agent installed inside the VM I had nu success in having the option "Application backup" as shown in the manual:
https://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/AcronisBackup_12.5/index.html#41420.html.
So is there any hint to get it to work?
S.
If you have both - agent inside and agent on the host, the VM will be listed twice in the list of machines. Make sure you specified the VM instance with agent inside to create backup plan.
Hi Andrey,
okay now I detected my fault:
I have to select "entire machine" and only then the "Application backup" option shows up.
The selection of the correct device (Hyper-V or VM instance) was clear.
So now I´m able to do an application aware backup of my Domain controller.
BUT ;-)
Now the next question comes up:
If I have an application aware backup of my domain controller and I must recover it....I must have a VM in which I can restore it, right?
In the past I made some bad experience in creating a new VM regarding SID, activation status and so on.
The agentless backup via the Hyper-V host is - in my understanding - an easy way to backup and recover a VM in quite a fast way and all IDs (SID, IDs of the disks and so on) are as in the moment of the backup.
So in my understanding I have 2 options to be able to perform a fast recovery in the worst case if I have to bring up a new bare metal system:
1) Only agentless
I make only agentless backups via the Hyper-V host.
2) agentless + application aware
I make agentless backups via the Hyper-V host and additionally the application aware ones.
In the worst case I first recover the VM from the agentless backup and then recover the application aware backup to have my Active Directory up and running.
I think option 2 is the better one as I then have the guarantee that I have a proper running VM with the same IDs everywhere and my Active Directory is also properly recovered.
Or is there a mistake in my thoughts ?
Thanks for any hints
Sven
You can use only agent-based backup with application aware. For recovery - boot VM into the bootable media and recover the application consistent image of the VM.
Hello Andrey,
from my understanding I need an existing VM to boot that VM from the bootable media correct?
And if I create a VM before booting from the bootable media or during recovery, the IDs of the VM are not the same as before or where is my fault in thinking?
S.
Sven, nothing prevents you to recover to the same VM.
I'm not sure how the VM ID affects your environment, but from OS/services/applications perspective, the recovered VM will be pretty the same machine as the backed up, even in the newly created VM.
Hey Andrey,
I often had problems with windows activation because a newly created VM has a different ID.
The guest seems to regard this as a different machine and e.g. Win10 needs a new activation.
It´s the same as if you would move your complete installation to an identical hardware and there the OS recognizes a change of Mainboard, Processor and HDD and therefore says "re-activate my license".
S.