Technical Specifications
The cloud hype has blurred the lines between cloud storage and cloud backup. Many providers like it that way because it gives them a broader appeal in capturing potential customers. But clouding up cloud definitions confuses the market. In reality they are very different solutions for different business challenges.
Cloud backup is a cloud-based application, which provides you with the ability to automatically backup your files, applications, virtual machines or servers and store them safely for disaster recovery purposes and as result offers an insurance for your data and business continuity.
Typically built around a local client application that runs on a, ideally multiple times daily, automatic schedule in the background. The application collects, compresses, encrypts and transfers data to the service provider’s servers. To reduce the amount of bandwidth consumed and the time it takes to transfer files, the service provider provides incremental backups after the initial full backup.
The primary data resides in the original location where secondary stored data is safely stored to the cloud, to be used for data recovery. The cloud backup solution stores all data with a custom retention policy, so you can fix corrupted files by restoring earlier versions of a file. Professional cloud backup solutions comprise special plugins to back up data from third party applications (e.g. MS Outlook, Exchange, SQL). Clear reporting on the success of the backups, makes it easy to verify if all files are safe.
Typically built around a local client application that runs on a, ideally multiple times daily, automatic schedule in the background. The application collects, compresses, encrypts and transfers data to the service provider’s servers. To reduce the amount of bandwidth consumed and the time it takes to transfer files, the service provider provides incremental backups after the initial full backup.
The primary data resides in the original location where secondary stored data is safely stored to the cloud, to be used for data recovery. The cloud backup solution stores all data with a custom retention policy, so you can fix corrupted files by restoring earlier versions of a file. Professional cloud backup solutions comprise special plugins to back up data from third party applications (e.g. MS Outlook, Exchange, SQL). Clear reporting on the success of the backups, makes it easy to verify if all files are safe.
Cloud storage, like Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple’s iCloud and Microsoft’s SkyDrive, is a great way to easy share files. The main goal of cloud storage is to store files online to be accessible, and to work with, from any device anywhere. You can compare it with a cloud based USB flash drive.
However, there is no guarantee, no monitoring and reporting, no support and if a server goes down in one of their data centers, you may never see those files again. The majority of the services have a web interface for you to upload files. Therefore files can only be encrypted on the server side; making transportation less secure. They do not offer an automated process for uploading or syncing files between your computer and their service. Files have to be put over manually or placed in a shared folder to be synced. And last but not least, only files and folders can be stored, so no application data.
Cloud Storage is a great way to share documents. However, it isn’t the place to back up your business-critical applications and documents.
However, there is no guarantee, no monitoring and reporting, no support and if a server goes down in one of their data centers, you may never see those files again. The majority of the services have a web interface for you to upload files. Therefore files can only be encrypted on the server side; making transportation less secure. They do not offer an automated process for uploading or syncing files between your computer and their service. Files have to be put over manually or placed in a shared folder to be synced. And last but not least, only files and folders can be stored, so no application data.
Cloud Storage is a great way to share documents. However, it isn’t the place to back up your business-critical applications and documents.
- Disk-Imaging Backup Protect your entire business with complete and reliable backup images of your entire system, files, or data. Store backups to a variety of storage devices, including local disks, network storage, and the cloud. Easily recover a complete image or selected files, folders, items, and applications.
- Clustered SQL Support Protect entire infrastructure and follow best practices by backing up SQL Server clusters from passive nodes by default or by choosing active/specific node to perform the backup.
- Complete SQL Server Backup Reduce RTOs and simplify recovery with backup of entire Microsoft SQL Servers, including operating systems, databases, settings and configuration.
- Log Truncation Reduce downtime risks with automatic truncation of your transaction logs, ensuring you do not run out of local disk storage on your database server.
- Enhanced Validation in Sandbox Environment Ensure recovery success by validating backup content with checksum, validating recoverability by automatically running the backup as a VM, and performing service availability checks with pre-defined and custom scripts.
- Acronis Instant Restore Achieve RTOs of 15 seconds or less by starting your Windows or Linux backup directly from storage as a VMware VM; no data movement required.
- Bare-Metal Recovery Minimize expensive downtime and simplify recovery by restoring entire systems from reliable and proven disk-image backup, with no need to reinstall the operating system, applications, or reconfigure settings.
- Flexible Database Recovery Reduce RTOs by restoring your databases for immediate use (RESTORE WITH RECOVERY), as backed up (RESTORE WITH NORECOVERY), or in read-only mode (RESTORE WITH STANDBY) right in Acronis Backup — with no additional settings required.
- Local disks, NAS, SAN Reduce RTOs of individual systems and speed up granular recoveries with support of any local and network-based disk storage, without the need to establish backup or media servers.
- Tape Drives, Autoloaders, and Tape Libraries Satisfy regulatory requirements and disaster recovery needs by storing backups on local or central tape devices with support for media management, tape rotation, and retention rules.
- Acronis Cloud Storage Ensure recovery from any disaster and maintain control of data location by storing backups in one of 14+ secure and reliable Acronis Cloud Data Centers.
- Variable Block-Size Deduplication Reduce disk storage capacity utilization and network bandwidth requirements and protect more systems with efficient, resource-friendly in-line and global deduplication.
- Centralized Web Management Console Reduce IT’s workload with a touch-friendly, web-based management console. Reduce RTOs by accessing the web console from any device, including tablets.
- Customizable Dashboards Reduce time-to-action and resolve issues quickly with customizable dashboards for quick insights into your infrastructure.
- Role-based Administrative Access Enable IT to protect remote offices, branch offices, and departments with the ability to manage, delegate, and establish roles for multiple administrators.
- Advanced Reporting Increase infrastructure resiliency with regular, customizable reports that focus on the exceptions in your infrastructure.
- Acronis Active Protection Proactively prevent the need to recover by protecting data and systems from ransomware attacks, detecting and preventing suspicious changes to data, backup files, and the backup application.
- Acronis ASign Reduce miscommunication with users, suppliers, and customers, supporting the authenticity of your files with signatures enabled by blockchain.
- Acronis Notary Improve regulatory compliance and validity of recovery, ensuring your backup’s authenticity and integrity with blockchain.
- Strong Encryption Improve security of your data with at-source AES-256 encryption of your backups and metadata, protected by irreversibly encrypted passwords.
- Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008, 2005 – including cluster configurations** Some limitations and license-specific restrictions may apply. Click here for more details.
- Microsoft Windows Server with SQL Server
Windows Server 2016, 2012/2012 R2, 2008/2008 R2, 2003/2003 R2*
Windows Small Business Server 2011, 2008, 2003/2003 R2
Windows MultiPoint Server 2012, 2011, 2010
Windows Storage Server 2012/2012 R2, 2008/2008 R2, 2003* Some limitations and license-specific restrictions may apply. Click here for more details.
- Hypervisors with Virtual SQL Server
VMware vSphere ESX(i) 6.5, 6.0, 5.5, 5.1, 5.0, 4.1, including vSphere Hypervisor (free ESXi)*
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016, 2012/2012 R2, 2008/2008 R2
Microsoft Windows Server 2016, 2012/2012 R2, 2008/2008 R2 with Hyper-V
Microsoft Windows 10, 8/8.1 (x64) with Hyper-V
Citrix XenServer 4.1-6.5*
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2-4.0
Linux KVM
Oracle VM Server 3.0-3.3* Some limitations and license-specific restrictions may apply. Click here for more details.
- Cloud Workloads with SQL Server
Amazon Web Services EC2 Instances
Microsoft Azure VMs - On-Premise Management Console
Windows Server 2016, 2012/2012 R2, 2008/2008 R2*
Windows Small Business Server 2011, 2008
Windows MultiPoint Server 2012, 2011, 2010
Windows Storage Server 2012/2012 R2, 2008/2008 R2
Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7
Linux x86_64 with kernel from 2.6.18 to 4.9 and glibc 2.3.4 or later* Some limitations and license-specific restrictions may apply. Click here for more details.
- Storage
Local disks – SATA, SCSI, IDE, RAID
Networked storage devices – SMB, NFS, iSCSI, FC
Removable media – ZIP, Rev, RDX, etc.
External HDDs and SSDs – USB 3.0/2.0/1.1and IEEE1394 (Firewire)
Tape drives, autoloaders, and libraries, including media management and barcode support
Acronis Cloud Storage - File Systems
FAT16/32 NTFS HFS+ * ReFS *
Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 ReiserFS3 * ReiserFS4 * XFS *
JFS * Linux SWAP* Some limitations may apply. Click here for details.
- Web browsers
Google Chrome 29 or later
Mozilla Firefox 23 or later
Opera 16 or later
Windows Internet Explorer 10 or later
Microsoft Edge 25 or later
Safari 8 or later (running in Apple OS X and iOS)
Access from ANYWHERE
Easy to Implement
Fully Integrated
Local and Offsite Cloud Backup
Secure and Compliant Data Centers
Straightforward Restore process
Cloud Access in Just Three Clicks
Military-grade Encryption
SSAE-16 Certified Security
