Acronis Backup v11.5 Licensing FAQ

General licensing questions

Q: How Acronis Backup is licensed?
A: Most Acronis Backup products are licensed per protected machine, with the exception of Acronis Backup for VMware product, which is licensed per physical host CPU socket.

Q: How many licenses do I need for my environment?
A: A license is required for every machine or physical host that you want to backup. In the case when the product is used on a cluster, each node of the cluster must be licensed.

Q: What is the difference between Acronis Backup and Acronis Backup Advanced products?
A: Acronis Backup products are designed for backing up data in small business environments that have a small number of machines and that have no need of centralized management, data deduplication, and backup to tapes. Acronis Backup Advanced products provide centralized management, data deduplication, tapes support, and other great functionality. This Advanced backup solution is designed for larger customer environments and it protects any system type: virtual machines, physical servers, applications, workstations, and more.

Q: What is the difference between Server and PC products?
A: PC products cover all Windows client operating systems. Server products cover Windows Server and Linux operating systems. Visit http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/AcronisBackup_11.5/#13684.html for details.

Q: Can I apply a PC license to protect a server and vice versa?
A: A PC license cannot be used by Acronis Backup running on the Server operating system. However, when Acronis Backup is running on a PC operating system, it accepts the license for Windows Server.

Q: I have a VMware host running several virtual machines. How many licenses do I need to purchase?
A: Depending on your requirements, you can buy Acronis Backup for VMware product licenses or Acronis Backup Advanced for VMware product licenses. The Acronis Backup for VMware product is the best choice to protect one or two VMware hosts. The Acronis Backup Advanced for VMware product is the best choice when building a mixed backup solution, covering both virtual and physical environments, or when advanced features like tape support are required. The Acronis Backup for VMware product is licensed per CPU socket on the virtualization host. The Acronis Backup Advanced for VMware is licensed per host. Both licenses include any amount of virtual machines running in the target host. In addition, both licenses include protection for applications running on those virtual machines.

Q: I have a Hyper-V host running several virtual machines. How many licenses do I need to purchase?
A: The Acronis Backup Advanced for Hyper-V product is licensed per host. This license includes any amount of virtual machines running in the target host, as well as protection for applications running on those virtual machines.

Q: I have a physical server running Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, Active Directory, or SharePoint. How many licenses do I need to purchase?
A: Acronis provides you with a product for each application. To protect a physical server running the application, you need a single application license. For example, single license of Acronis Backup Advanced for SQL is required to protect a single physical server that runs the Microsoft SQL Server software. This license allows you to protect the application, as well as provide a backup of the entire server and its disks and files.

Q: I have a virtual machine running Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, Active Directory, or SharePoint. How many licenses do I need to purchase?
A: You only need one license for your hypervisor, like Acronis Backup Advanced for VMware or Hyper-V. Any of these licenses include application protection.

Q: What is included in Acronis Backup for Windows Server Essentials?
A: Acronis Backup for Windows Server Essentials applies to Windows SBS operating systems only. This product includes backup of all supported applications on one SBS machine. Visit http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/AcronisBackup_11.5/#13684.html for details.

Q: What is included in the Acronis Backup Advanced Universal License?
A: The Universal license includes all capabilities provided by Acronis Backup products: backup of local machine and files, virtual machines of any hypervisor, all supported applications, centralized management, Tapes support, deduplication, and so on. This license applies per protected machine.

Q: Is maintenance included with a new license?
A: Yes, one year of maintenance is included with any new license.

 

Trial version

Q: Where do I go for the trial serial number and proper installation file to start a product trial?
A: Go to the Acronis website http://www.acronis.com, choose the desired product, click Try Now, and then submit a registration form. You will receive a download link that will allow you to download and install the selected product. No trial license is required to start a product trial; the trial period starts after the product is installed.

Q: Can I extend my trial period?
A: Yes. To request an extended trial period, please contact Acronis sales or find your nearest reseller.

Q: What is the trial period for the Acronis Backup products?
A: The trial period is 15 days.

Q: What happens at the end of the 15 days trial? Can I continue to use the same Acronis Backup installation?
A: After 15 days, backup creation and other operations will become unavailable. In order to continue work with the product, you must register a license. Backup plans, tasks, vaults and other configuration items created during the trial will be kept. To purchase a license, you can contact your reseller, Acronis sales rep, buy online from the product console, or through the Acronis website at http://www.acronis.com/en-us/business/backup-advanced/.

 

Licensing for particular scenarios

Q: If I want to back up a machine just once, do I need an Acronis Backup license for this machine?
A: Yes. Every backed up machine should be licensed separately.

Q: Do I need to purchase separate licenses to backup several machines using single boot media?
A: Yes, even though no software components need to be installed into the OS of the target computers when you are using boot media, you must have a license for each of the target computers.

Q: How many licenses do I need to protect multiple Microsoft SQL Server instances running on the same host?
A: One license of Acronis Backup Advanced for SQL is enough for all SQL Server instances running on the same host.

Q: I have one physical server running multiple applications, for example both Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Active Directory. How many licenses do I need to purchase to protect this server and applications?
A: One Universal license will protect the server and all applications on this machine.

Q: I have purchased an Acronis Backup Advanced for Windows Server license to protect a physical server. Now I need to protect a Microsoft SQL Server application running on this machine. Should I change the license or buy another one?
A: You can buy an Acronis Backup Advanced for SQL Add-On license that can be used with Acronis Backup Advanced for Windows Server, which is cheaper than the full Acronis Backup Advanced for SQL product license. Acronis offers add-on licenses for all other supported applications.

Q: What license should I purchase to do backup to tapes? How many licenses should I purchase to do backup to multi-drive tape libraries?
A: Every Acronis Backup Advanced product license includes tape support, with no limitation on the number of drives. Tape support does not require any additional license.

Q: I would like to backup both Windows and Linux servers. Which product should I buy?
A: You must buy a license for each server. You will need an Acronis Backup (Advanced) for Windows Server license and an Acronis Backup (Advanced) for Linux Server license.

Q: If I need to backup VMware virtual machines and the ESXi host itself, how many licenses should I purchase?
A: You need one license of Acronis Backup for VMware for each CPU of the protected host. Acronis Backup for VMware includes backup for both virtual machines and the host itself.

Q: Can Acronis Backup (Advanced) for Windows Server/PC licenses be used to protect a virtual machine?
A: Yes. You can use a Server/PC license to do agent-based backup, when the agent is installed inside the VM.

Q: I want to move a license to another machine. Is it possible? How to do this? Do I need to obtain a new license?
A: If the current machine with Acronis Backup goes out of service or becomes obsolete, you can move your product license to another machine. In order to revoke a license, go to the Licenses/Change License view in the Management Console. After revoking the license from the old machine, you can assign it to a new one.

 

Upgrade, Downgrade, and Compatibility questions

Q: Is there anything related to licensing that I need to consider before upgrading to the next major version?
A: To perform an upgrade, you need to have an upgrade license. If you have a valid maintenance subscription, you can access a free upgrade license in your account section of the Acronis website, under My Products & Downloads, next to the licenses you registered in your Acronis account. If you don't have a maintenance subscription, you can extend your maintenance or purchase an upgrade license.

Q: Should I buy an upgrade or a maintenance subscription? Which is more cost efficient?
A: A maintenance subscription gives you 24/7 support and free upgrades for a year. Without a maintenance subscription, an upgrade license must be purchased separately.

Q: How can I renew my maintenance subscription?
A: Contact your reseller to renew your maintenance subscription. Alternatively, you can submit a maintenance renewal request using this form

Q: How can I check which licenses I purchased and their expiration dates?
A: Information about expiration dates is available in the my.account section on the Acronis website, under your registered products. Refer to this Knowledge Base article for more information.

Q: I want to use an older version of Acronis products. How can I buy them? What are the downgrade possibilities?
A: After you buy a license and register it in the my.account section on Acronis website, you can downgrade to one major version below. The downgrade option is available in my.account for each product that has a previous version. If you want to use product that is two versions back or older (such as Acronis True Image 9.1), you have to contact support. Register old licenses in my.account and you will receive the download link to the corresponding setup program.

Q: Is an upgrade/cross-grade from Acronis Backup to Acronis Backup Advanced possible? Or should I buy a new version?
A: Yes. You can switch to an Advanced product from non-Advanced. You have to contact your reseller to purchase a Feature Upgrade license for a special price.

 

Other questions

Q: How can I obtain an NFR key?
A: Please contact Acronis sales.

Q: How can I find a reseller?
A: Please use the Partner locator on the Acronis website