FAQ

How is the licensing of the Image Service regulated?

Image Service is done per job in octoplant.

To backup a Windows workstation, you need a license. To backup a Windows server, you need three licenses. The distinction is made during job configuration via the dropdown menu Operating system.

No third-party licenses are required, the Image Service licenses cover everything.

Can I use the Image Service with existing Drive Snapshot licenses?

The license for the Image Service includes the necessary Drive Snapshot licenses. The use of existing licenses must be clarified individually. For more information, please contact your contact person at AUVESY.

Can I use Image Service with existing Acronis licenses?

The Image Service cannot be used with Acronis. For the use of Acronis, we offer our own solution.

Can I test the Image Service using the demo package?

Yes, you can test the functionality of the Image Service with the demo package.

It can be accessed either from the local system (on which the demo package is running) or from other devices accessible via the network.

From how many devices can I create images with the DEMO version?

In the demo package, 10 Image Service Jobs have been activated. This means that an image can be created from up to 10 devices.

Is a restore possible with the DEMO version?

Yes, this is possible. Copy the image into the working directory or into another directory. All necessary files for recovery are provided (such as the image itself and the application snapshot.exe).

You can then restore the device using the snapshot.exe application.

To restore an image, snapshot.exe must not be licensed.

Can also LINUX systems be secured with the Image Service?

This is not currently supported. It is planned to extend the Image Service so that it will be possible in the future to backup LINUX systems as well. At present, no time frame can however be given for this.

Can Windows systems older than Windows XP Service Pack 3 also be backed up?

Image creation is supported up to Windows XP Service Pack 3.

Images of Windows XP Service Pack 1 systems created using the Image Service need to be tested individually in order to make a statement.

Windows NT is not supported by the Image Service.

For older windows systems, we recommend using our solution for Drive Snapshot.

Can Windows RAID systems be backed up?

Drive Snapshot uses Windows to access your drive. For this reason, backup and restore of all Windows RAID drives is possible (only limited to DOS mode).

RAID hardware is fully supported.

Can an FTP server also be secured?

Currently, this is not yet possible with the Image Service, but is planned for further development. An exact date by when this will be implemented cannot be given at present.

Can an SIMATIC HMI be secured?

Yes, the image creation has already been successfully performed with a SIMATIC HMI (Windows 7, Built 7601). It is possible that the Windows patch KB0033929 is required for successful execution.

Can removable media also be backed up with the Image Service?

Yes, removable media can be selected on the dialog Selected drives or the corresponding drive letter can be entered manually. Please note a possible change of the drive letter during backup and restore.

Can computers that are offline be backed up?

No. This is not possible with the current version of the Image Service. However, a mobile Image Service Client is planned for the future, which can be used on computers that are not connected to the network.

Do I need to install anything on the computer from which I want to create an image?

Yes, it is necessary to install a service. The service can be installed remotely or with the web installer.

Are administrator rights required when installing Image Service?

Yes, the right to install services or applications on the computer is required. This can be a domain or local administrator. For a local administrator, the IP address or computer name must be specified for the user name when logging in.

Access to our network is restricted. If no remote installation from the octoplant server is possible, can the Image Service be installed directly on the target computer?

Yes, this is possible via the web installer. The Web Installer will need to be activated in the Global Settings in the AdminClient. You only have to make sure that the address of the octoplant server can be reached from the target computer and that port 64007 is not blocked. Then, the files required for installing the Image Service can be downloaded as a ZIP archive. Subnets can be accessed via a octoplant gateway or an agent.

Another possibility would be to run the web installer on the octoplant server and create the installation files for all devices to be backed up there. You can then save them on a removable disk and copy them to the desired computers. Each ZIP file with installation files must be configured for the specific target computer. The certification of the installation package is tied to a specific IP address or computer name.

When selecting all drives in the What to save dropdown menu, are attached removable drives also saved?

Yes, connected removable storage devices are also backed up. A separate SNA file is created for each local drive. The name of the SNA file depends on the assigned drive letter.

What is compared when executing an Image Service Job?

The created images cannot be compared.

When creating the image, the file summary.info is created. This file contains the hardware ID and other information about the configuration of the computer. This information will be expanded in the future.

If Previous backup <-> Backup is selected as the comparison strategy, the file summary.info will be compared with the previous job execution.

To view the summary.info file, navigate to the job result in the UserClient, right-click on the backup and select Copy backup to directory from the context menu.

The connection to a share is aborted with the following error message "... last Windows Error: 520-A specified logon session does not exist. It may have been already terminated." What is the cause of this and how can the problem be fixed?

The mentioned behaviour may occur when the user name cannot be clearly assigned.

To fix the problem, the user name must be explicitly specified with the IP address, host-name or a domain in the following format:

Example:

Why is it no longer possible to restore an image that was created using the Image Service?

If the hardware or operating system on the device from which the image was created has changed, the image may not be restored successfully. Each time the job is executed, a hardware checksum is formed from the device hardware set to be backed up. Checksums of the hardware can be compared using octoplant. If the checksums in octoplant are different, this can be an indicator that changes were made to the device between the backups.

Is it possible to restore an image, which was created with the Image Service, even with changed hardware?

A recovery with changed hardware depends on many details and is not always possible without problems.

Drive Snapshot offers several options for this.

Is it possible to restore an image, which was created with the Image Service, even with changed hardware?

A virtualization of a hardware computer with an image created by the Image Service depends on several factors. Possibilities and difficulty can vary depending on the windows version.

In principle this is supported, but it cannot be guaranteed for all applications. Likewise, we cannot make any general statement as to what effort will be required.

Experience shows that a successful virtualization of a Windows 10 system is much more likely due to the driver handling of this version. In any case, we recommend that you test the virtualization in each individual case.

Further information can be found on the Drive Snapshot site.

Is it possible to integrate an image created with the Image Service as a virtual network and access the data?

Yes, this is easily done using the Drive Snapshot user interface. Once you copied the backup with octoplant to the desired directory, the directory will contain the application snapshot.exe. By selecting View contents of saved Disk Image you can mount the image as a virtual drive and access all data and copy it if necessary.

Is it possible to restore the image from the boot environment?

Yes, we provide a tool for creating a bootable USB stick. With this USB stick, you can also restore a PC with initialized hard disks. .

How can I continue to process the software list in the software.info file?

The file software.info is included in the job result of an Image Service job. You can access it by executing the function Copy backup to a directory in the UserClient.

If you always select the option Create version when during the job configuration, a new version will be created. This is done in the section Create a version automatically after job run. This will enable you to create a version of the software list so it can be processed automatically, for example, with the ExportModule in another script.

If the transfer way Device -> Temporary storage -> archive has been selected, the image itself will be versioned. When the image is saved on a share, only a version of the software list is created.