Scenario

You have Acronis Management Server (AMS) installed on a Linux machine or you have an Acronis Cyber Protect appliance (“all-in-one” appliance). Unlike Windows-based AMS, these management servers cannot perform remote installation of the protection agents. This article describes how to enable remote installation from Linux-based AMS to one or more Windows machines by using a "Discovery" agent.

Solution

Pre-requisite: have at least 1 Windows machine which will be used as a “Discovery” agent, which in turn will be responsible for remote installation of Windows agents to other machines.

Remote installation

1. Install AMS on Linux or deploy Acronis Cyber Protect Appliance (aka “All-in-One appliance”) which contains Linux-based AMS.
2. Log into Linux via SSH by using any client, for example WinSCP.
3. Create a folders structure as follows (case-sensitive):
   • /usr/lib/Acronis/RemoteInstallationFiles/
     • /installation_files/
       • /[version and build number]/ - Example: /15.0.27009/
         • /x64/ - for 64-bit installation files
         • /x32/ - for 32-bit installation files
       • web_installer.exe - That’s the standard web installer for Windows downloaded from the main download page, which corresponds to the AMS build number
4. On a spare Windows/Linux machine: Download and unpack the full installation package of Acronis Cyber Protect 15.
5. Rename AcronisCyberProtect_15_64-bit.exe to AcronisCyberProtect_15_64-bit.zip and unpack all the contents to a folder:
   
6. Copy the extracted files to Linux AMS into the /usr/lib/Acronis/RemoteInstallationFiles/installation_files/[version and build number]/x64/ (or ../x32/ if you extracted full 32-bit installer) folder, for example via WinSCP tool.
7. Download Acronis Cyber Protect 15 web installer (example: AcronisCyberProtect_15_web.exe), and rename it to web_installer.exe.
8. Copy the web_installer.exe file into /usr/lib/Acronis/RemoteInstallationFiles/installation_files/ The resulted set of files should be as follows:
   
   
9. Install Agent for Windows on a Windows machine by downloading the main installation package to this machine. This agent will be used as a “Discovery” agent. See https://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/AcronisCyberProtect_15/#autodiscovery-of-machines.html
10. Now you can discover and install components onto multiple Windows devices via web console UI:
    1. Devices -> Add -> Multiple devices (Windows only).
       
    2. Select the "Discovery" agent which was installed in step 9.
       
    3. Select the discovered machines which need to have components installed.
    4. Select the components to be installed.
       
    5. Make sure that the target machines can access AMS by hostname or specify an IP address.
       
    6. Proceed with the installation.
       

Remote update

1. Download a new update of Acronis Cyber Protect 15, including full Windows installation package and web installer.
2. Update Linux AMS as usual. For Acronis Cyber Protect appliance, use the corresponding update procedure: https://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/AcronisCyberProtect_15/#appliance.html
3. Repeat steps 2-8 described in the 'Remote installation' section above. Notes:
   1. The “Discovery” agent must be updated first before running installation/update to other machines.
   2. In step 5, change build number in the path to the remote installation files: /usr/lib/Acronis/RemoteInstallationFiles/installation_files/[new build number]/
4. Update the remaining agents using standard methods, for example https://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/AcronisCyberProtect_15/#updating-agents.html