Selection rules for volumes

Define volume selection rules, according to which the volumes on the machines included in the centralized backup plan will be backed up.

The following table explains the pre-defined rules that can be selected from the list. The names of templates are case-sensitive.

Windows operating systems prior to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 keep system files and the loader on the same volume, unless a different volume has been specified during the system installation. If Windows files and the loader are on the same volume, selecting either [SYSTEM] or [BOOT] is enough to back up the entire operating system. Otherwise, select both [SYSTEM] and [BOOT].

Operating systems starting from Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 create a dedicated system volume called System Reserved. If you select [SYSTEM], only this dedicated volume will be backed up. Always select both [SYSTEM] and [BOOT] when backing up machines running these operating systems.

Because centralized backup plans usually include multiple machines with various operating systems, Acronis recommends that you always select both the system and the boot volumes for backup. This ensures the integrity of every operating system.

You can include both Windows and Linux volumes (partitions) in one centralized backup plan.

For example, it is possible to set up a centralized backup plan to back up volume C: on Windows machines and partition /dev/hda1 on Linux machines.

Unlike Windows, there is no clear distinction between a volume (partition) and a folder (directory) in Linux. Linux has the root partition (denoted as /) to which elements of various types—including hard disks, directories, and system devices—are attached (mounted). This forms a tree similar to the file and folder structure in Windows.

For example, let a Linux machine contain a hard disk which is split into three volumes, or partitions: the first, second, and third partitions. These partitions are available in the tree as /dev/hda1, /dev/hda2, and /dev/hda3, respectively. To perform a disk backup of the, say, third partition, you can specify the rule /dev/hda3 in the Data to Back Up dialog box.

Furthermore, a Linux partition can be mounted anywhere inside the tree. For example, /dev/hda3, can be mounted as a “subdirectory” inside the tree. Such a tree might be /home/usr/docs. In this case, you can type either /dev/hda3 or /home/usr/docs in the Volume field to perform a disk backup of the third partition.

In general, when setting up a centralized backup plan to perform volume backups of Linux machines, make sure that the paths entered in the selection rules for volumes correspond to partitions (such as /dev/hda2 or /home/usr/docs in the previous example), and not to directories.

Standard names for Linux partitions

Names such as /dev/hda1 reflect the standard way of naming IDE hard disk partitions in Linux. The prefix hd signifies the disk type (IDE); a means that this is the first IDE hard disk on the system, and 1 denotes the first partition on the disk.

In general, the standard name for a Linux partition consists of three components:

Disk type: hd for IDE drives, sd for SCSI drives, md for software RAID drives (for example, dynamic volumes)
Disk number: a for the first disk, b for the second disk, and so on
Partition number on the disk: 1 for the first partition, 2 for the second partition, and so on

To guarantee backing up selected disks regardless of their type, consider including three entries in the Data to Back Up dialog box, one for each possible type. For example, to back up the first hard disk of each Linux machine under a centralized backup plan, you may want to add the following rules:

/dev/hda1

/dev/sda1

/dev/mda1

Names for logical volumes

To back up logical volumes, also known as LVM volumes, specify their full names in the selection rules. The full name of a logical volume includes the volume group to which the volume belongs.

For example, to back up two logical volumes, lv_root and lv_bin, both of which belong to the volume group vg_mymachine, specify the following selection rules:

/dev/vg_mymachine/lv_root
/dev/vg_mymachine/lv_bin

To see the list of logical volumes on a machine, run the lvdisplay utility. In our example, the output would be similar to the following:

--- Logical volume ---
LV Name          /dev/vg_mymachine/lv_root
VG Name          vg_mymachine
…

--- Logical volume ---
LV Name          /dev/vg_mymachine/lv_bin
VG Name          vg_mymachine
…

Tip: To be able to automatically create the volume structure information during recovery, make sure that the volume with the /etc/Acronis directory of each machine is selected for backup. For more details, see “Saving the volume structure information”.


To include	In the selection rules box:	Comments
Windows and Linux volumes
All volumes	Type or select: [All Volumes]	Refers to all volumes on machines running Windows, and all mounted volumes on machines running Linux.
Windows volumes
Volume C:	Type C:\ or select it from the list
System volume	Type or select: [SYSTEM]	The system volume contains the hardware-specific files that are needed to start Windows, such as Ntldr, Boot.ini, and Ntdetect.com. There is only one system volume even if multiple Windows operating systems are installed on the computer. For more details, see "Note on Windows machines" below.
Boot volume	Type or select: [BOOT]	Refers to the registered machine's boot volume. The boot volume contains the Windows folder and the supporting files for the Windows operating system (typically located in the Windows\System32 folder). It may or may not be the same as the system volume. If multiple operating systems are installed on the computer, this is the boot volume of the operating system in which the agent is working. For more details, see "Note on Windows machines" below.
All fixed volumes	Type or select: [Fixed Volumes]	Refers to all volumes other than removable media. Fixed volumes include volumes on SCSI, ATAPI, ATA, SSA, SAS and SATA devices, and on RAID arrays.
First disk	Type or select: [Disk 1]	Refers to the first disk of the registered machine, including all volumes on that disk.
Linux volumes
First partition on the first IDE hard disk of a Linux machine	Type or select: /dev/hda1	hda1 is the standard device name for the first partition of the first IDE hard disk drive. For more details, see "Note on Linux machines" below.
First partition on the first SCSI hard disk of a Linux machine	Type or select: /dev/sda1	sda1 is the standard device name for the first partition of the first SCSI hard disk drive. For more details, see "Note on Linux machines" below.
First partition on the first software RAID hard disk of a Linux machine	Type or select: /dev/md1	md1 is the standard device name for the first partition of the first software RAID drive. For more details, see "Note on Linux machines" below.