Creating a backup policy

A backup policy can be applied to both Windows and Linux machines.

To create a backup policy, perform the following steps.

  General  

Policy name

[Optional] Enter a unique name for the backup policy. A conscious name lets you identify the policy among the others.

Source type

Select the type of items to back up: Disk/volumes or Files.

Policy credentials

[Optional] You can change the policy account credentials if necessary. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.

Policy comments

[Optional] Type a description of the backup policy. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.

Label

[Optional] Type a text label for the machine(s) you are going to back up. The label can be used to identify the machine or group of machines in various scenarios. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.

  What to back up  

Items to back up

Specify which data items to back up on each machine the policy will be deployed to. On each of the machines, the agent will find the data items using the rules you specify. For example, if the selection rule is [All volumes], the entire machine will be backed up.

Access credentials

[Optional] Provide credentials for the source data if the backup policy account does not have access permissions to the data. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.

Exclusions

[Optional] Set up exclusions for the specific types of files you do not wish to back up. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.

  Where to back up  

Archive

Specify the path to the location, where the backup archive will be stored, and the archive name. It is advisable that the archive name be unique within the location. The location must be available at the time when the management server starts to deploy the policy.

Access credentials

[Optional] Provide credentials for the location if the backup policy account does not have access permissions to the location. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.

Archive comments

[Optional] Enter comments to the archive. To access this option, select the Advanced view check box.

  How to back up  

Backup scheme

Specify when and how often to back up your data, define for how long to keep the created backup archives in the selected location, set up a schedule for the archive cleanup procedure. Use well-known optimized backup schemes, such as Grandfather-Father-Son and Tower of Hanoi, create a custom backup scheme or back up data once.

  Archive validation  

When to validate

[Optional] Define when and how often to perform validation and whether to validate the entire archive or the latest backup in the archive.

  Backup options  

Settings

[Optional] Configure parameters of the backup operation, such as pre/post backup commands, maximum network bandwidth allocated for the backup stream or the backup archive compression level. If you do nothing in this section, the default values as set in the management server, will be used.

After any of the settings is changed against the default value, a new line that displays the newly set value appears. The setting status changes from Default to Custom. Should you modify the setting again, the line will display the new value unless the new value is the default one. When the default value is set, the line disappears and so you always see only the settings that differ from the default values in this section of the Create Backup Policy page.

To reset all the settings to the default values, click Reset to default.

During the backup operation, the registered machines’ default backup options are ignored.

  Convert to VM  

Applies to: Disk/volume backup

Not effective for machines running Linux

By setting up regular conversion, you obtain a copy of your server or workstation on a virtual machine which can be readily powered on in case the original machine fails. The conversion can be performed by any machine that is registered on the management server and has Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent with the corresponding functionality. The archive has to be stored in a shared location, such as a network folder or a managed vault, so that the selected machine can access the archive.

When to convert

[Optional] Specify whether to convert every full, every incremental or every differential backup or convert the last created backup on schedule. Specify the conversion schedule if required.

Host

Specify the machine that will perform the conversion. The machine has to have Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for Windows, Agent for ESX/ESXi or Agent for Hyper-V installed.

Virtualization server

Here you select the resulting virtual machine type and location. Available options depend on the hos
t you selected in the previous step.

Storage

Choose the storage on the virtualization server or the folder to place the virtual machine files in.

Resultant VMs

Specify a name for the virtual machines to be created. The default name consists of variables that reflect the policy name and the name of the machine that will be backed up. You can add suffixes to the name but never delete variables, since each virtual machine has to have a distinct and unique name.

Folder on VMware vCenter

If the management server is integrated with vCenter Server, the resultant virtual machines will appear in the Acronis Backups folder on the vCenter. You can specify a subfolder for the machines resulting from execution of the policy.

After you have performed all the required steps, click OK to create the backup policy.

Creating a backup policy