Cyber Protect 15 Fails full restore of Running Dell Server H755 Raid
I have a new Dell R550 server with PERC H755 RAID.
In testing before install to live environment, I tried running a full restore from the ACP console. This server is the license manager -host machine- One might need do a full restore or a C:\ drive Disk restore from a live machine when a software install/uninstall fails or another suspected corruption occurs..
The restore plan begins execution, the system reboots, the Acronis loader task fails at bootstrapper, and then the Windows server O/S launches without being restored.
I spent a couple hours with tech support only to be told that the Full Restore can only be done from Bootable Media.
This was news to me and is not mentioned in Acronis Cyber-Protect Documentation.
Full restore of a live machine seems like a pretty basic features to include.
Furthermore, standard Acronis Bootable media (Linux based) does not support the Dell PERC Raid nor does it find the USB attached disk. The Win/PE with Dell Drivers added only seems to boot if I disable "Secure Boot" and switch to BIOS Boot from UEFI boot and then reverse after the restore.
This type of complexity that is not contained within documentation and makes this product unsuitable for the average in-house "computer guy" or an end user.
As a system admin, I spent 4 hours with Acronis phone support and the above (boot with bios) fix was MY idea as a work-around. Your support had ZERO answers to resolve my issue.
Since Dell is the most popular mid-market server manufacturer, my suggestion is for Acronis to fully document the steps to do a FULL RESTORE for systems with Dell Raid Adaptors.
Or better yet, fix Cyber Protect 15 so it works as well as True Image Server Advanced 10, 11, 12.
Hi Jose,
Did you understand the first part of my problem? That a full restore from the console of a "live" machine will not run? This functionality was certainly available in previous editions of Acronis Backup and Restore and ABR Advanced.
Second,
The Acronis Boot media would only boot when the system was NOT in UEFI boot. The raid and USB drives are usable when the ABM is used in BIOS mode. The Acronis Support tech was unaware of this work-around.
Yes, I was already aware of the need to create WIN-PE bootable media with added drivers for the Dell Raid.
After creating Win-PE bootable media with PERC drivers, I found that the system would fail to boot to the Bootable media.
I created about 6 different disks that failed to boot before I discovered that if I turned OFF secure boot and changed from "UEFI boot" to "Bios boot" in the System Bios, I could get the Acronis Boot Media to start. Then, of course, I need to reverse those settings to have Windows Server 2022 O/S start again after restore.
Hello back.
Thanks for the reply!
Yes, I understood that you couldn't recover from the console. But without error codes we can't tell you what's the cause, because many scenarios can cause the failures. Could you please clarify what do you mean by recover as live machine? Do you mean Run as VM? Or a direct recovery?
What I can tell you is that the LInux B.media doesn't support PERC RAID controllers : https://kb.acronis.com/content/8149 ( As I mentioned on my first reply ).
Please note that our manuals can't contain details for your specific devices, they are general for main issues/devices and when other issues happen the situation should be investigated.
From your message seem you were trying to restore a system in a machine with a different hardware and that's extremely complicated to analyze without any logs.
Thanks in advance!
Here's what I mean by can't restore from console:
Let's say you have a good Running HARDWARE with Windows Server.2022 running. You can access the GUI and do all your admin functions. This server Has ACP running is licensed and acts as your Management server. You create a back-up plan to back-up the entire machine to a USB attached OR Network storage. The backup runs fine it creates an Acronis disk image image of all partitions, volumes etc.
Now, let's say for fun you just installed an antivirus program on this server and the install failed. When trying to uninstall the AV program the uninstall fails too.....So, You decide to restore the "system drive" to clean up the mess. In this case, you decide to restore the whole primary drive (Drive C:\).
You open the management console select the restore file, pick drive c: and run restore task.
Acronis tells you it needs to restart to complete operations on the system drive. Select Yes.
The server restarts, and launches Acronis Restore from a temp boot file that Acronis Created during the restore task -(Not a Bootable Media).
About 10-20 seconds into the Acronis launch, you will see a dos window open and can see the system reading files. It pauses at loading bootstrapper and fails.
Then the system moves to the next Bootable device. In this case, your Windows O/S on Drive C: and loads Windows without ever having preformed a restore.
The Acronis Tech I worked with dismissed this functionality (restore system) as unavailable from the Running machine.
This makes full restore from a running system beyond the capability of a basic user.
-----------------------------
As to the Bootable Media.
It is well understood that Acronis Win PE Boot Media needs hardware drivers installed to recognize the RAID array.
I have copies of True Image Boot Disc and ABR that boot on UEFI boot systems and BIOS boot systems. As I recall one of them asks during start-up if I want BIOS or UEFI.
In the past I've created Bart PE and Win PE disks from various systems and inserted multiple drivers for multiple systems so that I have one disk that works on many servers and desktops. I am aware of the driver issue.
In this case, after following directions to build the Boot media, the media fails to start UNLESS the System is set to use BIOS BOOT.
Only after changing the system settings from UEFI boot to BIOS Boot will the Acronis Win PE Boot media launch and function.
While the Linux boot disk will not see or manage the raid array, the Linux media will boot up without making any such changes to the System UEFI/BIOS Boot settings.
This leaves the end user thinking the WIN PE Boot disk he created is faulty. The user then searches relentlessly for guidance. Finding the articles you pointed to or other variants. None of these KB articles from Acronis suggests changing from UEFI to BIOS Boot as a work-around.
Having exhausted the basic trouble shooting, your end user phones Acronis Support. The Support tech clumsily goes through the same steps to create boot media, inject drivers, and then requests a Zoom session on your phone so he can witness his failure during boot-up......a discussion ensues and you cover all the same ground over and over without resolution.
It seems to me that Dell sells a lot of Servers. It seems to me that Acronis must have known of this issue during testing of the product. If not, there must be several people who have Dell Servers with Acronis who would call support and raise the same issue.
Why this subject is not covered in detail or is not common knowledge for Support Staff is my concern.
Robert Rabbitt wrote:Here's what I mean by can't restore from console:
Let's say you have a good Running HARDWARE with Windows Server.2022 running. You can access the GUI and do all your admin functions. This server Has ACP running is licensed and acts as your Management server. You create a back-up plan to back-up the entire machine to a USB attached OR Network storage. The backup runs fine it creates an Acronis disk image image of all partitions, volumes etc.
Now, let's say for fun you just installed an antivirus program on this server and the install failed. When trying to uninstall the AV program the uninstall fails too.....So, You decide to restore the "system drive" to clean up the mess. In this case, you decide to restore the whole primary drive (Drive C:\).
You open the management console select the restore file, pick drive c: and run restore task.
Acronis tells you it needs to restart to complete operations on the system drive. Select Yes.
The server restarts, and launches Acronis Restore from a temp boot file that Acronis Created during the restore task -(Not a Bootable Media).
About 10-20 seconds into the Acronis launch, you will see a dos window open and can see the system reading files. It pauses at loading bootstrapper and fails.
Then the system moves to the next Bootable device. In this case, your Windows O/S on Drive C: and loads Windows without ever having preformed a restore.
The Acronis Tech I worked with dismissed this functionality (restore system) as unavailable from the Running machine.
This makes full restore from a running system beyond the capability of a basic user.
-----------------------------
As to the Bootable Media.
It is well understood that Acronis Win PE Boot Media needs hardware drivers installed to recognize the RAID array.
I have copies of True Image Boot Disc and ABR that boot on UEFI boot systems and BIOS boot systems. As I recall one of them asks during start-up if I want BIOS or UEFI.
In the past I've created Bart PE and Win PE disks from various systems and inserted multiple drivers for multiple systems so that I have one disk that works on many servers and desktops. I am aware of the driver issue.
In this case, after following directions to build the Boot media, the media fails to start UNLESS the System is set to use BIOS BOOT.
Only after changing the system settings from UEFI boot to BIOS Boot will the Acronis Win PE Boot media launch and function.
While the Linux boot disk will not see or manage the raid array, the Linux media will boot up without making any such changes to the System UEFI/BIOS Boot settings.
This leaves the end user thinking the WIN PE Boot disk he created is faulty. The user then searches relentlessly for guidance. Finding the articles you pointed to or other variants. None of these KB articles from Acronis suggests changing from UEFI to BIOS Boot as a work-around.
Having exhausted the basic trouble shooting, your end user phones Acronis Support. The Support tech clumsily goes through the same steps to create boot media, inject drivers, and then requests a Zoom session on your phone so he can witness his failure during boot-up......a discussion ensues and you cover all the same ground over and over without resolution.
It seems to me that Dell sells a lot of Servers. It seems to me that Acronis must have known of this issue during testing of the product. If not, there must be several people who have Dell Servers with Acronis who would call support and raise the same issue.
Why this subject is not covered in detail or is not common knowledge for Support Staff is my concern.
Thanks for the details. We appreciate your feedback.
I am going to pass the message to the team regarding all of this.
Cheers!