Acronis Backup 12.5 and 12: unattended installation

This article describes unattended installation of Acronis Backup 12.5 or 12.

Windows components of Acronis Backup 12.5/12 can be installed or updated using Windows Installer via Group Policy with a transform file or with parameters provided directly in the installation script.

Linux components also allow installation in unattended mode.

Windows

Create the .mst transform and extract the installation package

1. Start the full 64-bit Acronis Backup for Windows installer.
2. Click Create .mst and .msi files for unattended installation.
3. Specify installation options and click Proceed.
4. Specify the path where to extract files and click Generate.

Files necessary for installation of chosen components will be extracted (.msi and .cab) and MST transform file containing specified installation options will be created.

Even if you don’t use an .mst-file during installation, you have to extract installation files by using the Create .mst and .msi files for unattended installation option of the setup program. Select required components to extract their .cab-files from the installer. If unsure which components to select, select all components to extract all .cab-files from the installer.

These files are ready to be installed through Group Policy or using Windows Installer (msiexec.exe) in command line, as described in this article.

Install using Windows Installer (msiexec.exe) and .mst transform

1. Open Command Prompt.
2. Issue:
   msiexec /i <package.msi> TRANSFORMS=<file.mst>

Where:

• /i installs or configures the product
• <package.msi> isthe Windows Installer package file
• TRANSFORMS specifies which transform (.mst) file(s) should be applied to the package
  
• <file.mst> is the transform (.mst) file generated in the previous step

Example:
msiexec /i AB64.msi TRANSFORMS=AB64.msi.mst

Install using Windows Installer (msiexec.exe) and specify parameters manually

It is also possible to install without MST transform file and specify parameters manually:

1. Open Command Prompt.
2. Issue:
   msiexec /i <package.msi> <PARAMETER 1>=<value 1> ... <PARAMETER N>=<value n>
   

Where:

• /i installs or configures the product
• <package.msi> isthe Windows Installer package file
• <PARAMETER> is the parameter you want to specify, see table below
  

Parameters

ADDLOCAL=<component(s) to install>
Specifies components to install. Separated by comma without spaces.

The following components are available for installation:

REMOVE=<components>
Specifies components to remove. Separated by comma without spaces

TARGETDIR=<path>
Specifies directory where the product should be installed.

REBOOT=ReallySuppress
Forbids reboot.

WEB_SERVER_PORT=<port>
Specifies HTTP port for web console. TCP 9877 is default.

AMS_ZMQ_PORT=<port>
Specifies TCP port for components. TCP 7780 is default.

AMS_PUBLIC_ADDRESS=<IP address>
Specifies the public address of Acronis Management Server. Agents connect to Management Server by this address. It is useful if there are several networks in environment.

SQL_INSTANCE=<instance>
Specifies external MS SQL DB to be used by Acronis Management Server. Optional parameters SQL_USER_NAME and SQL_PASSWORD to specify credentials for the instance. If credentials are not specified, Windows authentication is used (Management Server service account). If SQL_INSTANCE is not specified, then the built-in database (SQLite) is used.

HTTP_PROXY_ADDRESS=<IP address>
Specifies proxy server address.

HTTP_PROXY_PORT=<port>
Specifies proxy server port. If the parameters are not specified proxy is not used.

CURRENT_LANGUAGE=<language ID>
Specifies product language. For example, “en”, “ru”, etc.

ACEP_AGREEMENT={0,1}
Specifies agreement to participate in ACEP.
If the parameter value is 1, the user accepts to participate in ACEP.

SET_ESX_SERVER={0,1}
Specifies the ESX(i) server for Agent for ESX(i).
If the parameter value is 1, specify these parameters:

• ESX_HOST=<IP address or hostname> specifies ESX server
• ESX_USER=<user name> specifies ESX server user name
• ESX_PASSWORD=<password> specifies password for ESX server user

Account for Acronis Agent service (MMS):

• MMS_USE_SYSTEM_ACCOUNT={0,1}
  If the parameter values is 1, the system account has to be used for the MMS service.
• MMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT={0,1}
  If the parameter value is 1, a new account has to be created for the MMS service.
• MMS_SERVICE_USERNAME=<user name>
  Specifies the user name of an existing account that has to be used for the MMS service, if MMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT=1 is absent or is set to 0.
• MMS_SERVICE_PASSWORD=<password>
  Specifies user password for the user set in MMS_SERVICE_USERNAME=<user name>, if MMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT=1 is absent or is set to 0.

MMS_USE_SYSTEM_ACCOUNT, MMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT and MMS_SERVICE_USERNAME (+MMS_SERVICE_PASSWORD) are mutually exclusive. One of them MUST be specified, if MMS is installed.

Account for Acronis Management Server service (AMS):

• AMS_USE_SYSTEM_ACCOUNT={0,1}
  If the parameter value is 1, the system account has to be used for the AMS service.
• AMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT={0,1}
  If the parameter vaule is 1, a new account has to be created for the AMS service.
• AMS_SERVICE_USERNAME=<user name>
  Specifies the user name of an existing account that has to be used for the AMS service, if AMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT=1 is absent or is set to 0.
• AMS_SERVICE_PASSWORD=<password>
  Specifies user password for the user set in AMS_SERVICE_USERNAME=<user name>, if AMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT=1 is absent or is set to 0.

AMS_USE_SYSTEM_ACCOUNT, AMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT and AMS_SERVICE_USERNAME (+AMS_SERVICE_PASSWORD) are mutually exclusive. One of them MUST be specified, if AMS are installed.

Account for Acronis Storage Node service (ASN):

• ASN_USE_SYSTEM_ACCOUNT={0,1}
  If the parameter value is 1, the system account has to be used for the ASN service.
• ASN_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT={0,1}.
  If the parameter vaule is 1, a new account has to be created for the ASN service.
• ASN_SERVICE_USERNAME=<user name>
  Specifies the user name of an existing that has to be used for the ASN service, if ASN_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT=1 is absent or is set to 0.
• ASN_SERVICE_PASSWORD=<password>
  Specifies user password for the user set in ASN_SERVICE_USERNAME=<user name>, if ASN_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT=1 is absent or is set to 0.

ASN_USE_SYSTEM_ACCOUNT, ASN_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT and ASN_SERVICE_USERNAME (+ASN_SERVICE_PASSWORD) are mutually exclusive. One of them MUST be specified if ASN are installed.

MANAGEMENT_SERVER_ADDRESS=<IP address or hostname>
Specifies the address of Acronis Management Server where agents (Acronis Agent, Acronis Storage Node, Catalog Browser) have to be registered. All agents specified in this command (ADDLOCAL parameter) will be registered on this Management Server.

TENANT=<unit name>
Specifies tenant (unit) where agents should be registered. It is used with MANAGEMENT_SERVER_ADDRESS. By default agents are registered into the root unit.

/l*v <log-file>
Enables verbose logging. The log file is used for analyzing installation issues.

Other standard command line parameters of msiexec.exe can be used. See https://msdn.microsoft.com/ru-ru/library/windows/desktop/aa367988(v=vs.85).aspx for details.

Examples

Install Management server only:

msiexec.exe /i ab64.msi /l*v my_log.txt /qn ADDLOCAL=AcronisCentralizedManagementServer,WebConsole,ComponentRegisterFeature TARGETDIR=”C:\Program Files\Acronis” REBOOT=ReallySuppress CURRENT_LANGUAGE=ru ACEP_AGREEMENT=1 AMS_USE_SYSTEM_ACCOUNT=1 AMS_PUBLIC_ADDRESS=10.250.1.12

Install Agent for Windows with registration on a remote Management server:

msiexec.exe /i ab64.msi /l*v my_log.txt /qn ADDLOCAL=AgentsCoreComponents,BackupAndRecoveryAgent,ComponentRegisterFeature,CommandLineTool,TrayMonitor TARGETDIR=”C:\Program Files\Acronis” REBOOT=ReallySuppress CURRENT_LANGUAGE=en ACEP_AGREEMENT=1 MMS_CREATE_NEW_ACCOUNT=1 MANAGEMENT_SERVER_ADDRESS=10.250.1.1

Linux

1. Open Terminal.
2. Issue: AcronisBackup_12.5_64-bit.x86_64 --[PARAMETER1] ... --[PARAMETER N]
   

Parameters

-i,   --id=STRING                            specifies component to be installed (only for unattended installation).
--id=AcronisCentralizedManagementServer
--id=BackupAndRecoveryAgent
--id=BackupAndRecoveryBootableComponents
--id=MonitoringServer

Multiple components can be specified, delimiter is comma  ‘,’ .
Example:  -i BackupAndRecoveryAgent,BackupAndRecoveryBootableComponents 
If –i is not specified explicitly, everything is installed.

-C,  --ams=STRING                       Acronis Management Server (AMS) address for registration

       --skip-registration                 skip registration on AMS

-g,  --login=STRING                      AMS login

-w,  --password=STRING             AMS password

       --unit=STRING                       AMS unit. Currently only unit ID is accepted, unit name cannot be specified. In the Web Console go to the necessary Unit and get the unit ID from the web browser's address bar.

-L,  --license-server=STRING      specifies address of Acronis License Server

-W, --web-server-port=INT           specifies port for Web Server

      --ams-tcp-port=INT                 specifies TCP port for communication between the product components

      --language=STRING               force language, available languages: en, en_GB, cs, da, de, es_ES, fr, ko, it, hu, nl, ja, pl, pt, pt_BR, ru, tr, zh, zh_TW

-v,  --version                                  show version information

      --product-info                          print product info

-a,  --auto                                       automatic (unattended) setup

-t,   --strict                                      make all warnings into errors

-n,  --nodeps                                  ignore dependencies during unattended setup
 
-u,  --uninstall                                uninstall
 
      --purge                                     removes all configuration files

-d,  --debug                                    verbose log information

-?,  --help                                       shows help by installation parameters

      --usage                                     displays brief usage message

Examples

1. Install AMS only: ./AcronisBackup_12.5_64-bit.x86_64 -a -i AcronisCentralizedManagementServer
2. Install AMS with Monitoring Service and custom ports: ./AcronisBackup_12.5_64-bit.x86_64 -a -i AcronisCentralizedManagementServer,MonitoringServer --web-server-port 6543 --ams-tcp-port 8123
3. Install Agent only with registration on remote AMS: ./AcronisBackup_12.5_64-bit.x86_64 -a -i BackupAndRecoveryAgent --ams 10.250.144.140 --login root --password 123456
4. Install Agent only with registration on remote AMS in specified unit: ./AcronisBackup_12.5_64-bit.x86_64 -a -i BackupAndRecoveryAgent --ams 10.250.144.140 --login root --password 123456 –unit 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000