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
- Install AMS on Linux or deploy Acronis Cyber Protect Appliance (aka “All-in-One appliance”) which contains Linux-based AMS.
- Log into Linux via SSH by using any client, for example WinSCP.
- 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
- /[version and build number]/ - Example: /15.0.27009/
- /installation_files/
- /usr/lib/Acronis/RemoteInstallationFiles/
- On a spare Windows/Linux machine: Download and unpack the full installation package of Acronis Cyber Protect 15.
- Rename AcronisCyberProtect_15_64-bit.exe to AcronisCyberProtect_15_64-bit.zip and unpack all the contents to a folder:
- 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.
- Download Acronis Cyber Protect 15 web installer (example: AcronisCyberProtect_15_web.exe), and rename it to web_installer.exe.
- Copy the web_installer.exe file into /usr/lib/Acronis/RemoteInstallationFiles/installation_files/ The resulted set of files should be as follows:
- 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
- Now you can discover and install components onto multiple Windows devices via web console UI:
- Devices -> Add -> Multiple devices (Windows only).
- Select the "Discovery" agent which was installed in step 9.
- Select the discovered machines which need to have components installed.
- Select the components to be installed.
- Make sure that the target machines can access AMS by hostname or specify an IP address.
- Proceed with the installation.
- Devices -> Add -> Multiple devices (Windows only).
Remote update
- Download a new update of Acronis Cyber Protect 15, including full Windows installation package and web installer.
- 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
- Repeat steps 2-8 described in the 'Remote installation' section above. Notes:
- The “Discovery” agent must be updated first before running installation/update to other machines.
- In step 5, change build number in the path to the remote installation files: /usr/lib/Acronis/RemoteInstallationFiles/installation_files/[new build number]/
- Update the remaining agents using standard methods, for example https://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/AcronisCyberProtect_15/#updating-agents.html