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CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ALBERTA
2009 Authored by: Tareq Hanaysha Email: [email protected]
Disaster recovery / Business continuity planning lab 1
Implementation using Acronis true image
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Disaster recovery / Business continuity planning lab 1
Implementation using Acronis true image
Abstract:
In this report, the author will take you through detailed steps
of on-site backup using Acronis
true image server edition on MS windows vista and Ms windows 03
server, this lab experiment
takes us through three different backup procedures, and then the
restoration of these backed up
data using the same software.
This software is considered as layer 7 in the classification of
disaster recover /business
continuity planning layers, but it is still provide us with all
the on-site backup procedures ,security
options for our archives ,and a bootable zone in case of
operating systems failure .
Going through this lab will help the reader to better understand
or give a general image of how
the backup /recovery process take place using one of the
available software for backup & recovery.
Detailed information of all the steps taken to accomplish the
Lab is explained in this report with the
screen shots.
1. Introduction:
With the increased use of information systems and the importance
of this information,
availability became major concern since 1980 s when computer
scientist started first backing up
their data, we quite frequent encounter computer crash and
information loss, there can be many
reasons for this problem, one of these reasons is poor
management of information system because
we dont practice the standard procedure for the system and data
Backup, therefore it is very
important for any organization to take backup of information
system to avoid data loss.
In this lab experiment I`m learning how to create backup of the
system using Acronis True
Image software , the operating system and all other important
softwares are mostly installed on C-
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drive of the computer, therefore I will back up my C-volume to
another volume within the same
computer(onsite-back up)
The result of the process will create an image of the operating
system with all the programs,
software, hardware definitions and utilities installed which I
will be able to use to recover in case of
a system failure or problem .
2. Methods and Procedures
1. Installing Acronis True Image
The software and the key for the software was downloaded from
http://www.9down.com/ , I
demonstrated the lab experiment process by recording videos
showing the steps throughout all the
lab, to watch these videos you need to left click on the video
and then to watch in full screen, after
you play it you will need to right click and then click full
screen multimedia.
Programs used:
1. Acronis true image server edition.
2. Snageit 32 v9.1.
3. Extra video convertor v5.85.
Step 1: Installing Acronis true image server edition and
universal restore which we will need for
restoring the hard drive in case of an operating failure; we
will be able to use it for booting up the
system and accessing the image without the need of an operating
system environment:
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1. Acronis installation :
2. Universal restore installation :
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Notes : During the installation process , you go through simple
and easy setup steps, one of the
setup steps is the setup type you wana pick , you have 3 options
: typical , complete , and custom ,I
went through the typical setup for my systems
After I finished, I had to restart my system, restarting the
system after installing Acronis is a
must, because without restarting your system you wont be able to
use it.
b. Security Management
The following video shows the complete process of securing our
backup partition
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Protecting our backed up data is very important, by securing our
backup we make sure that our
data confidentiality and integrity is meet.
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As we see, I selected the Tools menu. The in the Tool menu
select the Archive protection to set
the Password for security, the password may be any of your
choice for future authentication.
Here Default restoration option and within this option select
the File Level Security Setting
and then check the option for Restore files preventing their
security setting, this will require the
user authentication before any recovery process .
Note: some screen shoots has been took in the lab using windows
server and some at home using windows vista.
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C. Backup Process
1. Full backup:
During the full backup process three main steps are there , you
select to backup the entire
computer , then you have to give you backup a name after
selecting the place to save your backup
in .
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No incremental or differential backup for the first time you are
backing up your system.
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2. Incremental backup
a. creating a folder contains one file , then backing up folder
with 1 file :
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b. adding file two to the folder and creating the 2nd
incremental backup :
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c. creating file 3 and incremental backup for the folder with
file 3:
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3. Creating differential backup, the video and then the screen
shoots illustrate the process
a. step one was creating the folder, and then placing a file in
the folder
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D. Restoration Process
Data Recovery
Is the process of salvaging data from damaged, failed, corrupted
or inaccessible primary storage
media when it cannot be accessed normally . Often the data are
being salvaged from storage media
formats such as hard disk drive, storage tapes, CDs, DVDs and
other electronics. This can be due
to physical damage to the storage device or logical damage to
the file System that prevents it from
being mounted by the host although there is some confusion as to
the term; data recovery can also
be the process of retrieving and securing deleted information
from a storage media for forensics
purposes or spying.
Data Restoration
Is the simple process of getting the data back if once it is
lost or infected or altered Data can be
restored by copping the same data saved some ware else, or
through some back up mechanism or
software. But there is always cretin start point from where the
data can be restored e.g. A specific
date or time or size.
In these two videos, I demonstrated the restoration process,
when you watch the video ,
you will notice that we can restore our files one by one using
the incremental backup, or
restore the folder contains the differential backup , and at the
end we will see how we will be
able to retrieve the folder from the location where we restored
it at :
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Here in this video, I would like to show the security of our
backup archives, and how it is
password protected; access is restricted to the users holding
the password:
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As we see, we restored the same file but the time is different.
The File would be modified if I
added some content to it.
E. Operating System`s backup utility
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Here I`m using windows vista backup utilities, it is really
limited compared to Acronis with
limited backup options,
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To restore the file I backed up ;here are the steps :
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3. Results and Discussion
Theoretical Comparison of the Acronis Backup Method with that of
my Operating Systems
Acronis true image backup is a tool that is used in backing up
and restoring images for
operating systems, servers, and even enterprise machines. It
Stores the images of a servers disk or
a machines disk on-site. This employs a bit by bit backup or
image restoration rather than a file
by file like traditional utilities do. One advantage of the
Acronis Backup method is that backup
could be done directly to an external storage device such as a
DVDs, external hard drives and
CDs. During an Acronis backup, it backs up everything the system
needs to operate, including but
not limited to the operating system, databases and configuration
files. In addition to this, backups
made could be managed remotely from one location. Last but not
the least, Acronis employs the
ideology of Business continuity that is, when backups are
executed servers could be kept running.
The Windows Backup utility is also used for backing up and
restoring data or information. The
Windows backup utility uses the new Volume Shadow Copy service
(VSS). This offers new backup
functionality of which includes: Business continuity like
Acronis. That is, it allows the backups of
volumes that reflect the state of those volumes at the instant
the back commenced. When data
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changes during the backing up process, the volumes are
automatically updated as well. This feature
makes sure that all the data in the backup is internally
consistent. In addition back up files are open
for exclusive access. The Window Server 2003 backup utility also
notifies other programs and
services that are running that a backup is about to occur. This
then allows other services and
programs to organize themselves for a backup by cleaning on-disk
structures, doing away with
caches and log files and folders.
Limitations of Acronis Backup Approach
Acronis Backup cannot create and restore a disk image when
launched from the bootable rescue
media. When using the feature of Acronis Snap Restore, some its
limitations are, the Acronis Snap
Restore is only currently available for images located in the
Acronis Secure Zone. The Acronis
Snap Restore does not support images on Windows Vista. Last but
certainly not the least, Acronis
Snap Restore cannot be used if the image contains no operating
system. Acronis Backup utility
features such as the Try and Decide have limitations. There can
be no operations made with
Acronis Secure Zone with the Try and Decide feature. The try and
decide feature also
automatically discards all changes when the computer is
rebooted. Backup in a Try mode are not
recommend because data from a backup file might not be restored
correctly. Also the try and
decide utility is unable to track changes found in disk
partitions. Lastly the try and decide feature
will not work if Acronis Secure Zone is found on an external
hard disk
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Conclusion
In conclusion I would like to say that the purpose of this lab
is to introduce us ,students the
importance of disaster recovery and the backup of information .
The different types of backups e.g.
Incremental, Differential and Full backups. The similarities and
differences using different backup
software utilities. In addition, to examine the ways of
restoration data and or information via both
Acronis Backup Utility and the Window O.S Utility .
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References:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/company/inpress/2004/10-22-softdeko-trueimage.html/
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/6/1/561c9fd7-0e27-4525-94ec-4d2d38f61aa3/TSHT_SBS.htm#BKMK_backup/
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/features-recovery.html/
http://www.9down.com/
Abstract:Introduction:Methods and ProceduresInstalling Acronis
True Imageb. Security ManagementC. Backup ProcessD. Restoration
ProcessData RecoveryData Restoration
E. Operating System`s backup utility
Results and DiscussionTheoretical Comparison of the Acronis
Backup Method with that of my Operating SystemsLimitations of
Acronis Backup Approach
ConclusionReferences:
