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1.3.8 Components for centralized management
This section lists the components that are included in Acronis Backup Advanced and provide the
centralized management capability. Besides these components, Acronis Backup Agents have to be
installed on all machines that need data protection.
1.3.8.1 Management Server
Acronis Backup Management Server is the central server that drives data protection within the
enterprise network. The management server provides the administrator with:
a single entry point to the Acronis Backup infrastructure
an easy way to protect data on numerous machines using centralized backup plans and grouping
integration with VMware vCenter to discover virtual machines for protection
enterprise-wide monitoring and reporting functionality
built-in license management
the ability to create centralized vaults for storing enterprise backup archives
the ability to manage storage nodes
the centralized catalog of all data stored on the storage nodes.
If there are multiple management servers on the network, they operate independently, manage
different machines and use different centralized vaults for storing archives.
1.3.8.2 Storage Node
Acronis Backup Storage Node is a server designed to optimize the usage of various resources (such as
the corporate storage capacity, the network bandwidth, or the managed machines' CPU load) which
are required to protect the enterprise data. This goal is achieved by organizing and managing the
locations that serve as dedicated storages of the enterprise backup archives (managed vaults).
The most important function of a storage node is deduplication of backups stored in its vaults. This
means that identical data will be backed up to this vault only once. This minimizes the network usage
during backup and storage space taken by the archives.
The storage nodes enable creating highly scalable and flexible, in terms of the hardware support,
storage infrastructure. Up to 50 storage nodes can be set up, each being able to manage up to 20
vaults.
The administrator controls the storage nodes centrally from the Acronis Backup Management Server
(p. 9). Direct console connection to a storage node is not possible.
1.3.8.3 Components for Remote Installation
These are Acronis component installation packages used by the management console (p. 10) for
installation on remote machines.
Components for Remote Installation need to be installed on the machine with the console or with
the management server (p. 9). During installation, the setup program saves the components in the
default location and saves this location path in the registry. As a result, the components are readily
available in the Remote Installation Wizard (p. 45) as "registered components".
