Image Deployment using Acronis

• Acronis10 - Acronis 10 TWIKI page
• Acronis11 - Acronis 11 TWIKI page
• Imaging Notes: CscfGradImageNotes

Setup

• Make sure that you connect your PC to be imaged onto a network port configured for VLAN 420 (connected to Asimov)

• Boot ACRONIS 10 LINUX CD
  • Note: CD image is located at \\asimov\rawiso\linux_utils\Acronis\acronis10.iso
• - OR -
  • PXE boot on vlan 420 and pick Acronis Backups and Recovery 10 ISO
• Pick Acronis Backup & Recovery 10:
  IMAGE

• Check networking configuration
  • Make sure the IP address is in the range: 192.168.1.xxx
  • If not, click on "Configure Network", click on the checkbox "Auto configuration", Click "OK"

• Click on Run management console :
  IMAGE

Using Disk Management Tool

Note: we have discovered that Acronis will not restore an image onto a system with existing partitions. Therefore, we need to delete the existing partitions using the steps below:

• Click on "Navigation" in the menu and pick "Disk Management"
  IMAGE

Deleting Existing Partitions

• Highlight Disk
  IMAGE
  • If the disk already says "Unallocated" then you are done - nothing else to do!
  • Right-click on Partition you want to delete, and select "Delete Volume":
    IMAGE
    • If there is data on the volume, you will be asked if you are sure. Click "OK" if you are
  • Example view after deleting all of the partitions:
    IMAGE
  • Click on "Commit x operations" to save your changes
    • Click on "Proceed"
    • The "Task Details - Disk Management" screen will appear. Wait until it reaches 100%, then click the "Close" button. IMAGE
  • If you click Exit before doing the above, it will prompt to commit changes - then pick Commit :
    IMAGE
• you will return to the Acronis main screen

Deleting Existing Partitions with DD

• Enter a shell prompt Actions Menu (use ALT F1 to exit when you are done)
• fdisk -l
  • list existing partitions.
  • Note: you may see partitions like /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 and so on these are partitions on the disk /dev/sda
  • The Partition Table is at the start of the disk so if we overwrite the beginningof /dev/sda then we erase the partition table itself.
• We can use dd is the shell to zero out the Partition Table
  • dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M count=1000
    • Overwrites the first 1G of disk /dev/sda with zeros
• Exit the shell
  

Recover Data Process (Restoring an Image)

• make sure you have deleted any existing partitions first (see above)
• From the Acronis Main Screen, click on "Recover"
• Archive - click on Change - this with open the Backup Archive Selection window:
  IMAGE

Samba Mount ASIMOV Process

• Backup Archive Selection :
  
  • Fill in Path: smb://asimov/images then click on GREEN ARROW to the right:
    IMAGE
  • TIP: If you know the exact file you want you can type in its full location (ie smb://asimov/images/research/winxp-ubuntu-x32 and when its done loading just click OK)
  • Access Credentials - enter cscf-adm or cscf-op and the 2010 password - see safe:
    IMAGE
  • wait for a while ... a minute or so ... until ASIMOV appears in the left-hand pane with all of its folders underneath

Backup Archive Selection

• Navigate to the folder where the Acronis Archive resides, eg: Network Folders -> CSCFSUPPORT -> ASIMOV -> IMAGES -> research:
  • Expand Network Folders (ie click + ):
    • It will take about 1 minute*:
      IMAGE
  • Expand CSCFSUPPORT :
    IMAGE
  • Expand research :
    IMAGE
  • Expand WinXP-Ubuntu-x32 :
    IMAGE

• Open Archive
  • Highlight Folder (eg: WinXP-Ubuntu-x32 on left) IMAGE

• Highlight Archive Name (eg: WinXP-Ubuntu10.10-x32 on Right) - click OK :
  IMAGE
• It will show a "Checking Vault..." screen

Disk Method (automatically adjust partitions)

• On the Recover Data screen, in the section "What to Recover":
• Click on the dropbox to Right of Data Type
  • Click on "Disk" and click "OK"
• On the Recover Data screen, in the section "Where to Recover":
• Click Change to Right of Recover Disk 1 to
  • Click on "Disk 1" and click "OK"

Partition Method (default, manually select partitions)

MBR Selection

• On the Recover Data screen, in the section "Where to Recover":
• Click Change to Right of Recover Disk 1 MBR to :
  IMAGE
  • Click on "Disk 1" and click "OK"

Partition Selection

• On the Recover Data screen, in the section "Where to Recover":
• Scroll down to see the partitions
• TIP: For an 80GB hard drive make the first two partitions 36GB or else the image is too big
• Click Change to the right of each partition :
  IMAGE
  • Click on Disk 1, then pick Unallocated space:
    IMAGE

• Click on Change on next partition if needed :
  IMAGE
  • Click on Disk 1, then pick Unallocated space:
    IMAGE

• Click on Change on next partition if needed :
  IMAGE
  • Click on Disk 1, then pick Unallocated space:
    IMAGE

• See Universal Restore Options section of specialized hardware options - should NOT be required if image was syspreped!

Starting Restore

• Click OK - we assume all of the right hand side option have been filled in previously (hint: you should not see any yellow bars if you scroll up and down):
  IMAGE

• Operation Progress:
  IMAGE

• Task Details :
  IMAGE
• On a 1 Gigabit connection, you can expect it take about 10 minutes. On a 100Mb connection, it takes about 35 minutes.
• Once the "Task Execution" bar reaches 100%, you can click "Close"
• You will be returned to the main Acronis Menu Screen

Restart the system

• From the main Acronis Menu Screen, click "Action" -> "Exit" or click the [x] button
• Remove the Acronis 10 CD
• Click on "Reboot"

Universal Restore Options - OPTIONAL (only if standard restore doesn't work)

*Note:

• This step can allow restore to alien hardware when image was not sysprepped*
• This might fix bluescreen problems on sysprepped images - only try this if the normal restore fails!

• Click Use under Universal Restore:
  IMAGE

• Click Change* to right of Search Folder :
  IMAGE

• Expand Network folder * (ie click *'+' ) :
  IMAGE

• Expand CSCFSUPPORT :
  IMAGE

• Expand ASIMOV :
  IMAGE

• Expand IMAGES :
  IMAGE

• Expand research :
  IMAGE

• Expand sysprep :
  IMAGE

• Highlight drivers :
  IMAGE