362 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010Backup optionsConfiguration parameters of a backup operation (p. 361), such as pre/post backup commands,maximum network bandwidth allotted for the backup stream or data compression level. Backupoptions are a part of a backup plan (p. 362).Backup plan (Plan)A set of rules that specify how the given data will be protected on a given machine. A backup planspecifies: what data to back up where to store the backup archive (p. 361) (the backup archive name and location) the backup scheme (p. 363), that includes the backup schedule and [optionally] the retentionrules [optionally] the archive validation rules (p. 373) the backup options (p. 362).For example, a backup plan can contain the following information: back up volume C: (this is the data the plan will protect) name the archive MySystemVolume and place it to \\server\backups\ (this is the backup archivename and location) perform full backup monthly on the last day of the month at 10:00AM and incremental backupon Sundays at 10:00PM. Delete backups that are older than 3 months (this is a backup scheme) validate the last backup immediately after its creation (this is a validation rule) protect the archive with a password (this is an option).Physically, a backup plan is a bundle of tasks (p. 372) configured for execution on a managedmachine (p. 369).A backup plan can be created directly on the machine (local plan) or appears on the machine as aresult of a backup policy (p. 362) deployment (centralized plan (p. 364)).Backup policy (Policy)A backup plan template created by the management server (p. 370) administrator and stored on themanagement server. A backup policy contains the same rules as a backup plan, but might notexplicitly specify what data items to back up. Instead, selection rules (p. 371), such as environmentvariables, can be used. Because of this flexible selection, a backup policy can be centrally applied tomultiple machines. If a data item is specified explicitly (e.g. /dev/sda or C:\Windows), the policy willback up this item on each machine where this exact path is found.By applying a policy to a group of machines, the administrator deploys multiple backup plans with asingle action.The workflow when using policies is as follows.1. The administrator creates a backup policy.2. The administrator applies the policy to a group of machines or a single machine (p. 369).3. The management server deploys the policy to the machines.4. On each machine, the agent (p. 360) installed on the machine finds data items using the selectionrules. For example, if the selection rule is [All volumes], the entire machine will be backed up.
