Agents
Agents are applications that perform data backup, recovery, and other operations on the machines managed by Acronis Backup.
Choose an agent, depending on what you are going to back up. The following table summarizes the information, to help you decide.
Note that Agent for Windows is installed along with Agent for Exchange, Agent for SQL, Agent for Active Directory, and Agent for Oracle. If you install, for example, Agent for SQL, you also will be able to back up the entire machine where the agent is installed.
What are you going to back up? |
Which agent to install? |
Where to install it? |
Agent availability |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
On-prem |
Cloud |
|||
Physical machines |
||||
Disks, volumes, and files on physical machines running Windows |
Agent for Windows |
On the machine that will be backed up. |
+ |
+ |
Disks, volumes, and files on physical machines running Linux |
Agent for Linux |
+ |
+ |
|
Disks, volumes, and files on physical machines running macOS |
Agent for Mac |
+ |
+ |
|
Applications |
||||
SQL databases |
Agent for SQL |
On the machine running Microsoft SQL Server. |
+ |
+ |
Exchange databases and mailboxes |
Agent for Exchange |
On the machine running the Mailbox role of Microsoft Exchange Server. If only mailbox backup is required, the agent can be installed on any Windows machine that has network access to the machine running the Client Access role of Microsoft Exchange Server. |
+ |
+ No mailbox backup |
Microsoft Office 365 mailboxes |
Agent for Office 365 |
On a Windows machine that is connected to the Internet. |
+ |
+ |
Machines running Active Directory Domain Services |
Agent for Active Directory |
On the domain controller. |
+ |
+ |
Machines running Oracle Database |
Agent for Oracle |
On the machine running Oracle Database |
+ |
– |
Virtual machines |
||||
VMware ESXi virtual machines |
Agent for VMware (Windows) |
On a Windows machine that has network access to vCenter Server and to the virtual machine storage.* |
+ |
+ |
Agent for VMware (Virtual Appliance) |
On the ESXi host. |
+ |
+ |
|
Hyper-V virtual machines |
Agent for Hyper-V |
On the Hyper-V host. |
+ |
+ |
Virtual machines hosted on Windows Azure |
The same as for physical machines** |
On the machine that will be backed up. |
+ |
+ |
Virtual machines hosted on Amazon EC2 |
+ |
+ |
||
Citrix XenServer virtual machines |
+*** |
+ |
||
Red Hat Virtualization (RHV/RHEV) virtual machines |
||||
Kernel-based Virtual Machines (KVM) |
||||
Oracle virtual machines |
||||
Nutanix AHV virtual machines |
||||
Mobile devices |
||||
Mobile devices running Android |
Mobile app for Android |
On the mobile device that will be backed up. |
– |
+ |
Mobile devices running iOS |
Mobile app for iOS |
– |
+ |
|
*If your ESXi uses a SAN attached storage, install the agent on a machine connected to the same SAN. The agent will back up the virtual machines directly from the storage rather than via the ESXi host and LAN. For detailed instructions, refer to "LAN-free backup".
**A virtual machine is considered virtual if it is backed up by an external agent. If an agent is installed in the guest system, the backup and recovery operations are the same as with a physical machine. Nevertheless, the machine is counted as virtual when you set quotas for the number of machines in a cloud deployment.
***With an Acronis Backup Advanced Virtual Host license, these virtual machines are considered as virtual (per host licensing is used). With an Acronis Backup Virtual Host license, these machines are considered as physical (per machine licensing is used).
Other components
Component |
Function |
Where to install it? |
Availability |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
On-prem |
Cloud |
|||
Management Server |
Manages the agents. Provides the web interface to users. |
On a machine running Windows or Linux. |
+ |
– |
Components for Remote Installation |
Saves agent installation packages to a local folder. |
On the Windows machine running the management server. |
+ |
– |
Monitoring Service |
Provides the dashboard and reporting functionality. |
On the machine running the management server. |
+ |
– |
Bootable Media Builder |
Creates bootable media. |
On a machine running Windows or Linux. |
+ |
– |
Command-Line Tool |
Provides the command-line interface. |
On a machine running Windows or Linux. |
+ |
+ |
Backup Monitor |
Enables users to monitor backups outside the web interface. |
On a machine running Windows or macOS. |
+ |
+ |
Storage Node |
Stores backups. Is required for cataloging and deduplication. |
On a machine running Windows. |
+ |
– |
Catalog Service |
Performs cataloging of backups on storage nodes. |
On a machine running Windows. |
+ |
– |
PXE Server |
Enables booting machines into bootable media through the network. |
On a machine running Windows. |
+ |
– |