Acronis Agent Install: Linux

This guide details the process of installing the Acronis Backup Agent on a Linux server (without a web control panel).

To complete the guide, you’ll need to access your server through SSH or remote console.

If you’d like to learn how to access your server via the remote console, read the following guide:
How to access IPMI / Remote Console

This guide is to be used if Secure Boot is ENABLED on your Linux server.
This can be checked with the following command:
( (command -v dnf && dnf install -y mokutil) || (command -v yum && yum install -y mokutil) || (command -v apt-get && apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y mokutil) ) >/dev/null 2>&1 ; echo -e "\n-----------\n" ; mokutil --sb-state
If the command outputs “SecureBoot disabled” or “EFI variables are not supported on this system”, use this guide instead:
Acronis Agent Install: Linux
If the command outputs “SecureBoot enabled”, you may continue with this guide.

Installing Acronis with Secure Boot requires a system reboot.
This is used to enroll Machine Owner Keys for the Acronis “snapapi” kernel module.
Make sure you are prepared for server downtime before you proceed.

Adding a Protection Plan

Before we can start, your Acronis Cyber Protect tenant requires at least ONE valid Protection Plan.

Additionally, we strongly recommend cloning and using a separate Protection Plan for each protected workload, as any changes made to a multi-use plan will affect all workloads protected by that plan.

You can find a list of Protection Plan templates at the linked page. Make sure to select a “Standard Backups - Plesk” plan.
Protection Plan templates
A guide showing how to import the downloaded Protection Plan file is linked below:
How to import a Protection Plan

A guide showing how to clone the imported Protection Plan can be found further down in the same guide:
Cloning a Protection Plan
If you already have a suitable Protection Plan, you may continue to the next section:
Allowing Acronis IPs into the firewall

Allowing Acronis traffic through the firewall

To set up and run Acronis backups, you need to whitelist the following outgoing TCP ports:

443
7770-7800
8443
44445

To accomplish this easily, we have created an Acronis Firewall Allow script for your convenience. This script works on Debian, Ubuntu, or any RHEL-based Linux distribution and accounts for multiple software firewall implementations: CSF, Imunify360, firewalld, UFW, and plain iptables/nftables.

You can make use of this script by running the below one-liner as root any user in the sudoers group.

( (command -v dnf && sudo dnf install -y wget) || (command -v yum && sudo yum install -y wget) || (command -v apt-get && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y wget) ) >/dev/null 2>&1 ; sudo wget -q https://salt-fileserver.servercontrol.com.au/files/acronis/acronis_firewall_allow.sh -O /root/acronis_firewall_allow.sh && sudo chmod +x /root/acronis_firewall_allow.sh && sudo bash /root/acronis_firewall_allow.sh

If you ever need to revert any changes made by the script, simply execute the acronis_firewall_allow.sh file with the --revert flag.

If your SAU server is protected by a FortiGate Firewall, please refer to the below drop-down to see how to easily allow these IP addresses:
How to whitelist Acronis IPs on a FortiGate Firewall
Log into your FortiGate web UI.
Copy and paste the below code block into the FortiGate CLI.
These commands will create Acronis service object for use with a firewall policy.
config firewall service custom
    edit "Acronis Backup Ports"
        set tcp-portrange 443 7770-7800 8443 44445
        set comment "Required Acronis outbound TCP ports"
    next
end
In your Firewall Policy table, create a LAN > WAN ACCEPT policy named “Acronis Backup Ports - Outgoing” that matches the below image. The “Acronis Backup Ports” service object will already exist if you ran the commands in the second step.

A written description of the policy configuration is below:
Name: Acronis Backup Ports - Outgoing
Incoming interface: vdXXXXX_lan (VLANXXXX)
Outgoing interface: vdXXXXX_wan
Source: all
Security posture tag: <Unchanged>
Destination: all
Schedule: always
Service: Acronis Backup Ports
Action: Accept
Inspection mode: Flow-based

Downloading the Agent installer

Log in to the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud portal, found here:
h ttps://backup.aci.servercontrol.com.au/login
The default tenant username can be found in the MySAU portal, as shown in this guide:
How to access the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud portal

Click “Devices”.
Click the “Add” button in the top-right.
Under “Servers”, click “Linux” to download the Acronis Linux agent.
Once the installer binary has downloaded, copy it to your Linux server.
We recommend using standard SCP, but if you have a preferred way to copy a file to your server, you may use that instead.
This may include tools such as WinSCP, rsync, or SFTP.

Installing and registering the Acronis agent

If your server previously used our R1Soft backup solution, this is the point where the R1Soft agent needs to be removed from the server.
Doing this at a later time may cause the server to crash!

Run the following one-line command on your Linux server to remove R1Soft. This will work with CentOS, AlmaLinux, Ubuntu and Debian.
bash -c 'set -euo pipefail; r1softpacks="r1soft-getmodule serverbackup-agent serverbackup-async-agent* serverbackup-setup serverbackup-enterprise-agent"; svc(){ for s in cdp-agent sbm-agent; do (systemctl stop $s 2>/dev/null || service $s stop 2>/dev/null || true); done; }; pkg(){ if command -v dnf>/dev/null; then sudo dnf remove -y --skip-broken $r1softpacks; elif command -v yum>/dev/null; then sudo yum remove -y --skip-broken $r1softpacks; elif command -v apt-get>/dev/null; then sudo apt-get update -y || true; sudo apt-get purge -y $r1softpacks || true; sudo apt-get autoremove -y || true; else echo "No supported package manager detected!"; exit 2; fi; }; svc; pkg; sudo rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/r1soft.repo >/dev/null 2>&1; [ -f /etc/apt/sources.list ] && sudo sed -i "\|repo.r1soft.com/apt|d" /etc/apt/sources.list >/dev/null 2>&1 || true'
If you don’t have R1Soft installed, continue on.

Before running the installer, make sure you have the server’s root password ready. You’ll need this later.

Once the installer binary has been copied to the Linux server, cd to its current directory.
Make the file executable, and run the installer wizard with the below commands:
```
chmod +x SAUAcronisBackup_AgentForLinux_x86_64.bin
sudo ./SAUAcronisBackup_AgentForLinux_x86_64.bin
```
The wizard can be navigated using arrow keys, and options are selected with the space bar.
Depending on the Linux distribution installed on the target server, the installer wizard may first request to install a certain critical package such as rpm.

If you do come across this, simply select “Continue”.
When the binary opens, ensure “Agent for Linux” is selected, and then select “Next”.
Select “Continue”.
This step may fail, citing a failure to find the correct kernel headers.
If this occurs:
1. Update the kernel using the system’s package manager.
2. Reboot the server.
3. Install new kernel headers:
  For older RedHat based systems (CentOS 7.9, CloudLinux 7.9 and earlier), run:
```
sudo yum install -y kernel-devel-$(uname -r) kernel-headers-$(uname -r)
```
  For newer RedHat based systems (CentOS 8 and above, CloudLinux 8 and above, Almalinux, Rocky Linux), run:
```
sudo dnf install -y kernel-devel-$(uname -r) kernel-headers-$(uname -r)
```
  For Debian based systems (Debian, Ubuntu), run:
```
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r)
```
After this, you should be able to continue as normal.
The wizard will now download and install the Acronis backup agent.
When this screen appears, select “Show registration info”.
Copy the registration code.
Back in your browser, navigate to Devices » Add, and scroll down on the right sidebar.
Click “Register”.
In the registration wizard, complete the following:
1. Paste the registration code.
2. Select your user. The example used here is “John Smith”.
3. Click “Validate code” to confirm connectivity from the server to the Acronis Cloud.
4. Click “Next”.
Ensure that your preferred protection plan is selected.
Leave all other plan types unselected.
Click “Next”.
Click “Register”.
After a short moment, the server should appear in the list of devices. You may need to refresh the page.
Returning to your Linux server, the installer should now display the following.
Select “OK”.
The Linux server must now undergo a reboot, BUT WAIT! Please read the info box below before rebooting.
Before you perform a restart, you’ll need to access the server via remote console.
A guide detailing this process can be found here:
How to access IPMI / Remote Console
Upon reboot, a blue screen will appear for a limited time. You must quickly press any letter key to enter Key Management.
Failure to complete this in time will require a full reinstall and re-registration of the Acronis agent.
Once you have the remote console open and ready, select “Restart”.
During boot, you should encounter this blue screen, as previously mentioned.
Make sure to press any letter key as quickly as possible.
Use the arrow keys to navigate the menu.
Select “Enroll MOK”, and press Enter.
Select “Continue”, and press Enter.
Select “Yes”, and press Enter.
Enter the server’s root password, and press Enter.
You get three attempts to complete this, so make sure it’s correct.
Select “Reboot”, and press Enter.
Once the server is back online, test the kernel module is running with this command:
```
lsmod | grep snapapi
```
If the command outputs anything, it means the kernel module is loaded.

Acronis agent setup is complete!
If you’d like to manually run an initial backup to test this, refer to this guide:
How to manually start a backup

Documentation Index

Acronis Agent Install: Linux - Secure Boot

Adding a Protection Plan

Allowing Acronis traffic through the firewall

Downloading the Agent installer

Installing and registering the Acronis agent