Managing Your Enterprise Backup Service, Featuring Acronis

Using Your Enterprise Backup Service

Your Enterprise Backup Service is accessed through your Customer Portal from the "My Cloud" menu. From there you can install the required backup agent for your Virtual Servers, create and manage backup schedules, browse your backups, view your activity log, administer alerts, recover files, recover an entire backup of your server, and manage your billing subscription.

Enterprise Backup Service needed in each Data Center You must have an Enterprise Backup Service for each data center location where your Virtual Servers are running.

Enterprise Backup Center

1. Log into your eApps portal at https://portal.eapps.com
2. From the My Cloud menu click the Enterprise Backup Center (Acronis) menu item

The Enterprise Backup Center allows you to do four things.

1. Install the required backup agent in your Virtual Servers
2. Manage your server backups
3. Manage your backup subscription(s)
4. Request a full restore of a Virtual Server

Enterprise Backup Service subscription is needed to get started If you don't have an Enterprise Backup subscription, follow the instructions in the Enterprise Backup Center in your Customer Portal, to order the service.

Managed Backups Option: Your Enterprise Backup Service has an option to have eApps manage your backups. With this option, eApps staff will set up your backup schedules, monitor alerts, and check your backups every month. For more information, see the Managed Backups Option at the end of this guide.

Creating and Managing Backups

Installing the Backup Agent

Before you can start making backups, you must first install the Acronis backup agent on your server. 

1. From the Enterprise Backup Center 
2. Click the  icon for the server you want to install the agent on.

The agent install process takes a few minutes to complete. For the install process to be successful, the server should have SSH access for root user enabled on port 22. If your server is locked down, you may temporarily allow access for the agent install. Once the agent is installed, you can lock down the server. In addition to the SSH access,  the server requires an internal IP for the backup and recovery process. If your server doesn't have an internal IP, you can add one from the My Cloud -> Virtual Servers -> Click on the magnifying glass next to the server to get to the details page. Click on the "Upgrade/Downgrade" button on the top and use the slider to enable the free Internal IP and click to Continue and follow the onscreen instructions. 

NOTE: The backup agent installation is not automated for Windows and Debian servers. This must be performed by an eApps Technician. When you click the  icon for a Windows or Debian server, you will be able to send a request to our Technical Support team to install the agent for you.  

Managing Your Backups

Once the agent is installed, you can proceed to manage your backups.

1. From the Enterprise Backup Center for Acronis
2. Click the Manage your Backups link for the Enterprise Backup subscription you want to manage. Ex: Enterprise Backup - Acronis (ATL). You will now be automatically logged into the Acronis administrative interface for managing your backups.

Backing Up Your Entire Server 

Backups are not created automatically, you must create a backup schedule as explained below.

1. Log into the Backup Management Console as explained in the previous section

2. In the Backup Management Console, click the server for which you want to create a backup schedule and click the "Backup" icon on the top right 
   
   

   

3. Click the WHAT TO BACKUP UP drop-down and select Disks/volumes 
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Click Specify to select ITEMS TO BACKUP
   
   
   
   
5. Click the checkbox next to the disk (Ex: xvda1, sda1, hda1) and click OK
   
   
   
   
6. You can also modify the schedule and retention policy by clicking on the default SCHEDULE and HOW LONG TO KEEP values
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. If you have a MySQL/MariaDB database server, complete the steps below to enable MySQL/MariaDB data integrity. Otherwise, click CREATE and this concludes the backup setup process for your server 
8. Click All devices
9. Select the server you want to enable MySQL/MariaDB data integrity for
10. Click the  icon in the top right 
11. Click the   icon on the top right of the backup plan 
12. Click Backup options
13. Click Pre-post data capture commands 
14. Enable the pre-post data capture commands with the settings below

Execute a command before the data capture

Command or batch file path on the machine with an agent:

/var/lib/Acronis/mysql/pre-freeze-script.sh

Working directory: 

/var/lib/Acronis/mysql/

Execute a command after the data capture

Command or batch file path on the machine with an agent:

/var/lib/Acronis/mysql/post-thaw-script.sh

Working directory: 

/var/lib/Acronis/mysql/

The data capture scripts above are using the MySQL credentials in the /root/.my.cnf file. For Virtual Servers using the ISPmanager 5 (determine your ISPmanager version), Plesk, and cPanel templates, this file is automatically created and managed by the control panel. If you are using a different template, you will need to create this file manually in the format below and update it if you change the MySQL root password. [client] password="your_mysql_root_password"

Backing Up Files and Folders

To create a backup schedule for specific files and folders, please see how to back up files or folders to the cloud.

Restoring Files 

To restore individual files from a previously created backup, please see how to restore files.

Restoring Your Entire Server

Restoring your entire server is not automated. This must be performed by an eApps Technician. To make a request to restore your entire server, log into your Enterprise Backup Center and click on the Request Full Virtual Server Restore link on the bottom of the page.

WARNING: A full restore will completely replace the contents of your Virtual Server with the backup copy. All data on your virtual server will be permanently replaced with the data from the backup.

Additional Backup Resouces

• How to set up backup schedules
• Managing Notifications
• Copying Backup Plans

Managing your Enterprise Backup Subscription

Accessing Your Subscription

From the Enterprise Backup Center, you can access your subscription.

1. Log into your eApps portal at https://portal.eapps.com
2. From the My Cloud menu click the Enterprise Backup Center menu item
3. Click on the Manage Subscription link for the subscription you want to access

From this page, you will see the subscription details and a summary of statistics for the subscription. You can also upgrade or downgrade the quantity of cloud storage space for your subscription, and directly access the Acronis Administrative interface.

Upgrading/Downgrading Your Cloud Storage Space

You can increase or decrease the quantity of cloud storage space for your subscription. The quantity you choose is a soft limit. If you exceed the cloud storage quantity you will be billed for the excess storage at a rate of $.05 more per GB over the standard rate.

1. From your subscription page, click on the Upgrade/Downgrade Cloud Storage and Options button near the top of the page. 
2. Enter the new quantity of desired cloud storage space
3. Click the Click to Continue button
4. The system will pro-rate the billed amount
5. Click on Place Order and pay the order

Managed Backups Option

eApps offers a reasonably priced option for managed backups. With this option, eApps will set up your backup schedules, monitor alerts, and check your backups monthly. If you did not purchase this option when you purchased your Managed Backups Service, you can add it as follows:

1. From your subscription page, click on the Upgrade/Downgrade Cloud Storage and Options button near the top of the page. 
2. From the drop-down list, choose the item that covers the number of servers you have in the data center for your subscription.
3. Click the Click to Continue button
4. The system will pro-rate the billed amount
5. Click on Place Order and pay the order

eApps staff will be notified and will begin managing your backups.

Managed Backup Option required for each subscription If you have the Enterprise Backup Service for more than one data center, you will need to add this option to each Enterprise Backup Subscription.

IMPORTANT:  Backups are critical for the protection against loss of data. Even if you choose the Managed Backups option, we strongly recommend that you check the status of your backups yourself.

Canceling your Enterprise Backup Service

If you want to cancel your Enterprise Backup Service please do the following.

1. Remove all of your backups
2. Send your request to billing@eapps.com.

NOTE: You must send your request from the email address of the authorized administrator of your account.