ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
3-stage migration using Acronis AnyData Engine , SnapAPI , Acronis Universal Restore
1
Acronis AnyData Engine detaches workload from the original platform
The migration process starts with the Acronis AnyData Engine creating a disk image , which is a full copy of everything that is on the disks and partitions of a particular server or virtual machine . To preserve consistency of data , Acronis AnyData Engine takes a snapshot of the disk before creating the copy using Microsoft VSS , Linux LVM , or Acronis own drive snapshot technology , SnapAPI . The resulting disk image contains everything on the disk at the precise moment that the snapshot is taken . This creates a crash consistent image . The database saves all the transactions to the disk and freezes all activities .
The snapshot is taken and the resulting disk image is application consistent . During the copy process , the data is abstracted , a process of removing platform specifics from the data elements in order to reduce it to a set of essential characteristics and put it into a general , unified format . The Acronis AnyData Engine also creates the copy at the sector level so the opening and locking of files by the operating system does not affect the process . The disk image now contains everything required to run a workload .
2
Acronis AnyData Engine applies server workload to new hardware
The next step is to apply the disk and partition content to the target physical server or virtual machine . When migrating to a physical server , an operating system does not need to be installed on the new physical machine but simply load the image for bare metal recovery . Furthermore , the disk configuration of the target machine does not have to match the original machine because the Acronis AnyData Engine resizes the disks and partitions . The
How the Acronis AnyData Engine works .
disks only have to be large enough to hold all the data . For migration to virtual machines , the Acronis AnyData Engine connects directly to the managing hypervisor and creates a full virtual machine , including CPU , RAM , disk configuration . The Acronis AnyData Engine can also create virtual machines as a set of files on any disk storage .
Acronis AnyData Engine tunes
3 server workload to match new hardware
The Acronis AnyData Engine analyses the new hardware platform or hypervisor and tunes the operating system settings to match the new requirements . The Acronis AnyData Engine analyses the change in CPU type , number of CPUs , and changes the settings of the operating system . The Acronis AnyData Engine analyses each machine type , the motherboard and chipsets , hypervisor configuration , and changes the HAL setting of the operating system . Acronis Universal Restore technology analyses the target hardware and injects all the drivers required to boot the operating system . These include
SATA , SAS , SCSI and RAID drivers , as well as SAN HBA adapters .
Acronis Universal Restore disables all critical hardware drivers that are not present on the new machine in order to eliminate compatibility issues . Microsoft Windows drivers INF / SYS files can be loaded from any CD or network location . For Linux , Acronis Universal Restore leverages the driver modules built into the kernel , even if they are not active . The Acronis AnyData Engine injects and activates any required network drivers . On Windows systems , Acronis AnyData Engine disables and removes configuration of old network adapters when configuring the network .
Modern servers use UEFI method of booting the operating system , while virtual servers and older machines predominantly use BIOS . Acronis Universal Restore technology changes the partition layout , boot loader settings , boot configuration , to restore the image of the original BIOS machine to the UEFI platform or vice versa . This conversion works for most operating systems , in any direction .
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