How to back up virtual machines to the online storage?

Use either of the following methods or both.

Install Acronis software onto the virtualization host

This approach comes in handy when the virtualization product installed on the host server is VMware ESX(i) or Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V or Microsoft Hyper-V Server.

Host-based backup is available only for paid licenses of VMware ESXi. If your ESXi uses a free license, choose the alternative approach described later in this section.

In this approach, you install one or more Acronis agents onto the virtualization hosts or dedicated Windows machines. Each agent can back up multiple virtual machines using a single subscription. Therefore, you need as many subscriptions as the number of the agents.

You will be able to back up and recover entire virtual machines or individual disks and volumes. In addition, you can recover individual files and folders to the agent's local file system (in Windows only), a network share, FTP or SFTP server. You cannot recover files directly to a virtual machine’s file system.

Installing the software, backing up, and recovery are described in the "Backing up Virtual Machines" document for Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 Virtual Edition. When installing Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 for online backup only, you do not need to enter a license key during installation.

Because ESX(i) machines may be automatically redistributed among the agents, you need to manually bind the machines to their agents so that the machines always use the same subscription.

Install Acronis software into the guest system

This approach applies only to virtual machines running Windows.

The machine will be treated as a physical one. You will need a separate server or workstation subscription for this machine. This approach comes in handy when:

• the machine is not hosted on a virtualization server
• the virtualization product installed on the host server is not VMware ESX(i) or Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V or Microsoft Hyper-V Server
• you want to back up an independent disk or an RDM disk attached in the physical compatibility mode on a running ESX(i) machine
• you want to back up a pass-through disk of a Hyper-V virtual machine
• you want to use pre/post backup or pre/post data capture commands on the virtual machine
• you want to back up individual files and folders of the virtual machine
• you want to recover files directly to the virtual machine’s file system.

Installing the software, backing up, and recovery are the same as with a physical machine.