Linux System Recovery Guide Version 8.
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Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 7 When to Use this Guide .............................................................................................................................. 7 Terminology ................................................................................................................................................ 7 System and Program Requirements ...........................
Installing from an Encrypted Backup ......................................................................................................... Enter a HEX Key .................................................................................................................................. Enter an ASCII (text) Key ..................................................................................................................... System Installation Process ...................................................
Configure Backup Group ID ...................................................................................................................... 75 Index ...................................................................................................................... 76 Storix System Backup Administrator 6 Version 8.
1. Introduction The SBAdmin for Linux System Recovery Guide is a supplement to the SBAdmin User Guide, providing details on reinstalling a Linux system from a SBAdmin System Backup. Note that a System Backup is not limited to reinstalling the same system from which it was made, but it may also be used to “clone” the original system onto different systems containing the same or different hardware.
Firmware Supported Systems Boot Media Types Boot loaders BIOS Intel-based (32-bit, AMD64 and EM64T) Disk, CDROM, network LILO, GRUB, GRUB2 OpenFirmware (IEEE1275 Standard) IBM POWER, System p and System i (CHRPbased systems) Disk, tape, CDROM, network, tape Yaboot UEFI 64-bit Intel-based (x86_64) Disk, CDROM, network ELILO The firmware typically reads a boot loader from the boot media, which must be written in a manner that the firmware understands how to find.
Block Devices: Loopback device support: RAM disk support: Default RAM disk size: Initial RAM disk (initrd) support: Module Built into kernel 32768 (This will allow up to a 32MB ramdisk to be created) Built into kernel System Memory The SBAdmin System Installation process requires that the system have at least 64 MB of memory to operate, although a minimum of 256 MB is recommended.
The product will work quite well on systems with Devfs implemented as long as the system maintains the classic device naming conventions as well. This is the default for most Linux implementations using Devfs. All functions of the product will work the same on a Devfs system as for those not using Devfs, but all references to disks, partitions and tape devices will use the classic names.
2. Creating System Recovery Boot Media The SBAdmin User Interface (either Xwindows GUI or Web Interface) provides a very simple procedure for creating boot media, which is described in this section. This interface may be used to create bootable tapes, boot CDROM images, network boot images, or can configure a local hard disk to boot to the system recovery process. This interface may create any of the boot media types.
Remember to use the QuickHelp (right mouse button) on any button or entry field for details on the use and options for each when using the Graphical User Interface (GUI). When using the Web Interface, utilize the RollOver Help for details. Creation of each media type is described separately: CDROM image This process will make a CDROM ISO image, but will not actually burn the image to the CDROM.
The Boot Server name is the name of the server the boot media will be stored on. Use the drop down arrow to select a configured server. The boot media will be created using the selected client, but will be copied to “Client Directory for CDROM & Network Boot Images” directory as configured on the selected boot server. You may also select “Store On Client” to keep the image on the client rather than send it to a server.
bootable system backup, the tape will be the default install device, and you can continue the system installation from the same tape without a need to select any other options. Hard Disk If you configured a disk as a Local System Backup Disk (see SBAdmin User Guide), then this disk (or disks) can also be made bootable to boot directly to the system recovery process.
Select the Boot Server Name. This is the server on which the network boot image will be stored after it is created. The network boot server may be the same system from which the network boot image is created. Next, type the name of the boot image in the Network Boot Image Name field or select the name of an existing image to overwrite by pressing the arrow button to the right of the entry field. If you enter a unique name, a new image will be created using that name.
Customizing the Boot Media There are a number of options when configuring boot media, which may be used to boot the system on different systems and allow it to recognize different types of devices. Refer to the Create Linux System Installation Boot Media screen. The options specific to each boot media type are defined above. Each option for customizing the boot media is described below: Select SCSI Modules SBAdmin boot media created from most 2.
Modules with a dash are defined in the configuration file, but do not exist on the system, and therefore cannot be selected or de-selected. Those with a checkmark are currently selected and will be loaded on system boot. Lines with an empty box indicate those available on the system that will be included on the boot media, but not automatically loaded on boot. To select or de-select a module, move the cursor over the box and press the left mouse button. When finished with selections, press the Done button.
Modules with a dash are defined in the configuration file, but do not exist on the system, and therefore cannot be selected or de-selected. Those with a checkmark are currently selected and will be loaded on system boot. Lines with an empty box indicate those available on the system that will be included on the boot media, but not automatically loaded on boot. To select or de-select a module, move the cursor over the circle and press the left mouse button.
Kernel Release Level Your system may be configured with multiple kernels and associated modules. This is typical of a system that is being tested or in the process of upgrading. This process will automatically display the name of the kernel (as provided by the “uname –r” command) that the client is currently running under in the Kernel release level field.
When selecting an Install Server name when Enabling a Client for Network Boot/Install and the install server differ from the boot server, more information will appear on the screen below this field: For the client to be installed from a remote server, you must select the name of the client to be installed (which must a configured client). Also, the network adapter name (of the client) will be required. Other fields are optional, but may be required for the client to contact the server.
Select “Yes” for Enable Remote Install Manager Select the Configure button to the right to configure the settings. You will be presented with the following window: The Remote Install Username is set to “sbadmin” and may not be changed. Enter a password in the Remote Install Password field. The password will be necessary to login to the remote install client. Select the Network Adapter that should be configured to connect to the remote install client.
a. SSH client program (i.e. “ssh sbadmin@192.168.1.121”): Note that you will always use the user id “sbadmin” and the password you selected in the previous step. If you do not have an SSH client program, you can use the one installed on the SBAdmin Administrator System. This program is called strimsh (i.e. “/opt/storix/bin/strimsh sbadmin@192.168.1.121”). or Select Utilities!Start Remote Install Manager from the SBAdmin Interface.
3. Network Boot/Install Configuration The information provided in this section will prepare a client system for network boot and installation from a backup server. Understanding Network Boot and Network Installation Any client system defined to the admin system may be installed or reinstalled from a System Backup. That System Backup will typically reside on the disk or on a tape device attached to a backup server.
Options may appear or disappear from this screen depending on your selections. The screen is broken into two main sections; one for configuring the Client network boot options and one for configuring the Client network install options. The setting for the System Installation Mode towards the bottom of the screen determines whether or not the Client network install options section will appear. The following fields are used to configure the client to boot from a boot server: 1.
7. 8. System Installation Mode: You must select here whether you want to perform a no-prompt or menudriven installation: a. By selecting No-prompt, the client will be installed without entering any information on the client. This is referred to as a no-prompt install. If selected, all of the remaining prompts must be filled in. b. If Menus (set defaults) is selected, you will be provided the additional prompts now, all of which are optional.
server, the image on the old boot server will be disabled automatically. Refer to the section Boot a Client for Installation from a System Backup to initiate the installation process. Disable a Network Install Client It may be desirable to disable the network install for a client once the installation of the client is complete. If the client should inadvertently boot over the network and the client is configured for a no-prompt install, the client may end up being reinstalled automatically.
1. Gateway Address: If the client must go through a gateway to reach the install server, enter the gateway IP address in this field. 2. Subnet Mask: If the network the client uses to reach the install server uses a subnet mask, enter the subnet mask here. 3. Client Network adapter name: If the client will use a different network adapter to reach the install server than was used to reach the boot server, use the arrow button to select an adapter name from the list.
Updating Network Boot Images If you have updated the operating system or installed new base system hardware support (network devices, disk drives, platform types or display adapters) onto a system that you previously created a network boot image from, you will need to recreate that network boot image before the new device support will be accessible to the clients booting from that image.
4. Booting to the System Installation Process Booting the Various System Types This section will provide general guidelines for booting a system to the Installation and Maintenance Menu, used to install a system from a System Backup. Note that the steps differ widely between systems. Because new systems are being introduced frequently, this is not intended to be a compete guide for all systems. The following guidelines represent those systems most commonly found in our test and customer environments.
Assuming your firmware is setup to boot by default from the correct media, just turn on or reset the system. The remainder of the boot process will complete without further interaction. Network Boot To network boot an Intel-based system with BIOS/UEFI: Most BIOS or UEFI-based systems are not, themselves, network boot capable. However, if you have a network adapter card with network boot capabilities, you can have the system boot to the firmware on the network card.
/pci@800000020000002/pci@2,2/ethernet@1 : (Bootable) DEVICE : Ethernet ( loc=U7879.001.
e. The raid option is needed only on systems with disks previously containing software RAID devices, but will be ignored otherwise. Depending on the firmware of your network adapter, you may be provided the option of entering the client and server IP address (and optional gateway address). If your boot server is configured with your network adapter hardware (MAC) address, you may perform a broadcast boot without entering the IP addresses. If not, you will need to enter this information.
/pci@80000002000000b/pci@2,2/pci1069,b166@1/scsi@0/st@2,0 This procedure is ONLY to get the OF device name. Do not select to boot from this device. You must enter this device name manually (or use an alias) at the OF prompt. 2. Initiate OpenFirmware (OF) by pressing F8 (graphical display) or the “8” key (ASCII terminal) when the system configuration icons or messages begin to appear on the screen. After the system configuration completes, the OpenFirmware prompt will appear 3.
The detailed instructions for using the options on this menu are provided in the sections Reinstall a System from a Backup and View/Change Installation Settings. Troubleshooting a Network Boot To boot from the network, a server must have first been configured to provide a network boot image to this client. Those steps are outlined in the section Network Boot/Install Configuration. To perform a network boot, SBAdmin uses a standard network process called “BOOTP”.
7. If you are attempting a broadcast boot and the boot fails, return to the network boot menu (if any) and make sure there are no IP addresses entered in the network boot settings. Remove any entries if they exist. If any entries are found, they will be used instead of a broadcast boot. Determining the Network Adapter Hardware Address Some systems require that the adapter hardware address, also referred to as the MAC address, be used to network boot a client.
5. Reinstall from a System Backup A System Backup may be used to reinstall either the original system or a different system with either the same or different hardware configuration. To initiate the installation, you must first boot the client from CDROM, network boot server, local (internal, or external/portable) disk, or from the local tape using the instructions found in the section Booting to the System Installation Process.
However, if any error occurs, such as an install server or device not being available, or if the backup data read from the installation media cannot be installed onto the detected hardware without user intervention, an error message will occur and the System Installation Menus will appear. Refer to Creating Boot Media and Enable/Disable Network Installation of a Client for information how to preanswer any questions normally asked during the install process which are required for a no-prompt installation.
Enter a HEX Key The length of the key will depend on the number of bits of encryption. For 128-bit encryption, a 32-byte hexadecimal number is required. For 192-bit encryption, a 48-byte number is needed, and for 256-bit encryption, a 64-byte hex number is needed. Select option 1 from the list above, then when prompted to "Enter your 32-byte HEX key (or press Enter to reselect key type)", enter they key, or press Enter to return to the options above.
The System Installation and Maintenance Menu When the boot process has completed, the System Installation and Maintenance Menu will appear: Using Keys and Getting Help Because these menus are designed to appear on both graphic and serial (ASCII), the menus are provided in a form viewable on ASCII terminals. The use of the mouse is not available. Most keyboards will support arrow keys while others do not. Also, some keyboards have page up and page down keys, help keys, etc, that others do not.
Pop-up List Options: Pop-up lists are available for many entry options. When supported, “List=F4” will appear at the bottom of the screen. At that field, you may press the F4 or “$” key (shift/4) to list the available options for the corresponding field and select an option from the list. To select an option, use the arrow keys to highlight the desired option and press Enter. The selected option will be placed in the entry field and the pop-up window will disappear.
If you are restoring from a parallel tape device, then you should select all tape drives that make up that device. Otherwise you should only select a single tape drive. After selecting the tape drive, press F3 or ESC and the following window will pop-up on the screen: If the backup you wish to install from is not the first backup on the media, type the backup sequence number in the Backup Sequence Number field.
The Backup Sequence Number and Autoloader used? options are the same as previously described. However, there is a Parallel Read Policy which should be set to “y” if the backup was created using a Parallel Tape Device. If the backup was created using a Parallel Tape Device, you must select all tape drives that make up this device and enter “y” for Parallel Read Policy.
Select a backup by highlighting the desired line and pressing ENTER, or press F3 or ESC key to cancel the selection. After making your selection, you are returned to the Change Installation Server or Device menu. Install From Local NFS Mount If the system backup you wish to use for the recovery is located on a remote NFS share, you may use this option to get access to the backup by performing a NFS mount of the share to the local system.
After entering the above NFS mount configuration options, select the Select NFS Mount Backup option. Selecting this option will mount the remote share locally and list all system backups found in the share. Only backups of type FULL SYSTEM will be listed. If any are found a screen similar to the following will be shown: NFS Considerations SBAdmin in no way configures the remote NFS server. It must be configured to allow the client IP you are using read access to the files in the share.
To use a network install server, the Server IP Address, Client IP Address and Network Device fields must be filled in. If a gateway is required for the client to reach the install server, enter the gateway the client must use in the Gateway Address field. Under Adapter Configuration, press F4 to list the devices available on the system. The option to Apply Network Configuration to Restored System indicates whether you wish to migrate the above client network settings to the restored system.
After selecting the directory device, a list of System Backup images on the server will be displayed which you may select. The list will also display the client from which the backup was originally made, the date and backup job ID. If you expect a backup image to appear in the list that does not, it may be that the backup was written with permission for only the original client to read it.
If you wish to install from a TSM server, select Use TSM Server from the list above. The following screen will appear: You will need to enter additional information used to contact the TSM server on the screen below: Storix System Backup Administrator 47 Version 8.
TSM Client Configuration You are required to enter the NODEname of the TSM client you are installing. Note that this is not necessarily the same node from which the backup was originally created. If you know the node’s password, enter it in the NODE Password field. If you do not know the node password, then you will be required to supply the TSM Administrator username and password in the fields below.
The backup settings will again be verified to ensure consistency with the current hardware configuration as described in the Verification Process. If any problems are found, you will be returned to the Installation and Maintenance Menu. If no problems in the system configuration were found that prevent the installation from proceeding, a confirmation screen will appear, showing you the disks that will be overwritten by the installation. You will be required to press Enter to continue.
6. View/Change Installation Settings From the Main Menu, select View/Change Installation Settings. The first time you enter this option, the backup information will be read from the installation media and compared with the system and disk configuration to ensure there is adequate space on the available disks to perform the installation. Checks will also be made to ensure you booted from boot media that supports all of the devices you will be restoring from the backup.
Many options are available from this screen for moving data between disks. This is necessary when the disks currently available don’t match those defined on the backup, or if you simply want to reorganize the data on the disks for better performance or implement RAID striping or Logical Volume Management (all described later). To return to the Settings Menu, press F3 or ESC.
You may select to add a new partition by pressing Enter at the highlighted line at the top, or move the highlighted line over the partition you wish to change. When adding a new partition you will be prompted where to insert the partition within the table. Then, when either adding or changing a partition, a window similar to the following will be displayed: The above screen allows editing of partitions for MSDOS partition tables. Most systems only support these partition table types.
Assign All Contents of a Disk to a Different Disk Select this option only if you want to move all of the previously defined backup contents to a different disk. You will then be asked which disk to assign the data to. If you select a disk that is currently assigned other data, you’ll be given the option of making the other data unassigned so that you can either move it to a different disk or choose not to restore it.
Logical Volume Management The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) support, included with many distributions, provides the flexibility of logically managing multiple physical disks as one large logical disk. This allows, for instance, a filesystem to be spread sequentially across multiple disks, striped across disks, and the filesystem (contained in a logical volume) does not have to use contiguous segments of disk space.
You will also find that physical volumes may be created on meta-disks and meta-disks can be created from logical volumes. This will allow a Add or Remove Physical Volumes This option is used to define a block device as a physical volume for use with LVM. When selecting this option a list of potential physical volume devices as well as those currently defined is displayed: This list will only contain devices, such as disks, partitions or meta-disks, that do not already have other data assigned to them.
This will show the currently defined volume groups, if any. If you select the option at the top, you can define a new volume group. You will be required in this case to have first defined at least one physical volume to assign to the volume group. After making your selection, the following screen will be displayed: Remember to press F1 at any time for detailed help on a particular field. Use F4 in most fields to display a list of available choices.
If you change the PE size, any logical volumes currently assigned to the volume groups will be adjusted to fit. The number of LEs assigned to each LV will change, and in some cases, the LV size may change slightly in order to round up to the new PE size. To select physical volumes for the VG, press F4 in the Physical Volume List field.
Use the F1 key for help on any field or the F4 key to list current choices. The amount of space available in the volume group, and the minimum LV size (if the LV previously contained data) is shown at the bottom of the screen. These numbers will be adjusted as you change the size of the LV, which may be specified in either LEs or megabytes. You may also change the name of the volume group the LV is assigned to.
When finished with your selections, press F3 or ESC to return to the list of LVs, and F3 or ESC again to return the Change LVM Settings menu. Add or Change Meta-disks Use this option to add a new meta-disk (software RAID device) or to remove an existing meta-disk or change its attributes. Details on the use of meta-disks can be found throughout the Linux documentation as well as in the mkraid and raidstart command man pages. A brief description is provided here.
In any case, your next selection will take you the screen for adding, changing or removing meta-disk definitions as follows: From this screen you can choose to Create, Create and Restore, or Delete a meta-disk. The option to Create/Restore is only available if this is a meta-disk whose raw data contents were included on the system backup. The MD Name must begin with “md” and is followed by a number between 0 and 31.
The example above shows logical volumes to be assigned. Note that the LVs shown are of varying sizes, which is not recommended for striped or mirrored meta-disks, since the maximum amount of space available would be that of the smallest disk (times the number of disks). This will work fine for linear meta-disks, however. When finished with your selections, press F3 or ESC to return to the meta-disk list, and F3 or ESC again to return to the Change Settings menu.
reiserfs Reiser Filesystem btrfs Btrfs Filesystem jfs IBM Journaled Filesystem xfs SGI Extended Filesystem vfat MSDOS/Windows FAT Filesystem minix Old Linux Filesystem msdos MS/DOS FAT12 Filesystem Virtually any of the attributes which are available for the filesystems above can be set or changed from the menus.
The options displayed here are for an “ext2” filesystem. If you change to a different filesystem type, the options will change as well. We won’t describe the options in detail since you have much information available with the F1 (help) key. Also use the F4 key to show lists of available options. The options common to all filesystems are: Create Option – Here you can specify to Create the filesystem only, Create it and restore the data, or Delete it.
The journal size can be specified in some cases. We generally recommend using the default size, which varies by filesystem type. If you change the journal size, more or less room in the device itself will be taken up by the journal. The size of the journal also varies in most cases based on the size of the filesystem.
Each option is described below: Boot loader – Press F4 to select the boot loader to use. The only options provided are those available on the system and appropriate for the system type. The LILO boot loader will always be available for Intel 32-bit-based systems, ELILO for Intel-based systems that boot from UEFI, and the Yaboot boot loader will be the only available option for IBM System p and System i systems. Boot device – Press F4 to list and select the name of the boot disk.
7. Install the System To install the system from the SBAdmin System Backup, you first must have selected the Installation Device (which may be located on a local or remote host). You then have the option View/Change the Installation Settings, where you can make any changes to the backup information stored on the backup media. If you used that option, then the backup information was already restored from the backup, verified and modified as needed to ensure the installation can be started.
Starting the Installation If all checks out, you are given one final warning: Press “y” to continue the installation or “n” to return to the Main Menu. If you choose to continue the install, the system will begin by reading additional information from the backup media, then creating the devices and filesystems that are defined. Devices are created in the correct order so that meta-disks created on logical volumes, for instance, are created after those logical volumes they depend on, etc.
directory (where STXPATH is the Storix data directory). A new GRUB2 boot option configuration file /etc/grub.d/01_storix will be created. LILO – If GRUB or GRUB2 are not being used, LILO will be used instead. If there was a previous configuration in the /etc/lilo.conf file, that configuration is saved to the STXPATH/temp/storix_install directory (where STXPATH is the Storix data directory). A new stanza with the boot configuration will be added to the prior lilo.
Intel 32-bit (BIOS) systems using LILO or GRUB: In addition, the boot filesystem must be in a primary disk partition (1-4), not in an LVM logical volume or a striped software RAID (meta-disk) device. Intel 64-bit (UEFI) systems using ELILO: In addition, the boot filesystem (/boot/efi) must be a VFAT filesystem on a partition with the boot flag set. This may be either GPT or MSDOS partition table, but it is recommended that the boot filesystem is on the first partition of the boot disk.
Only when you are sure you have correctly applied the boot configuration should you type “exit”. Once you do so the system will be rebooted normally. Installation Errors If any error occurs in creating the devices, creating or mounting the filesystems, or restoring the data, you will be provided a message containing the details and the failing command and asked to correct the process manually before continuing the installation.
If, however, you installed the system from local boot media (CDROM, tape or hard disk), the new network configuration, if different, is not known. It is assumed that the backup being restored came from the same system, and the network configuration is unchanged. Therefore, when the system reboots at the end of the install, it the network will configure with the original settings restored from the backup.
8. System Recovery Utilities From the System Installation and MaintenanceMain Menu, select System Recovery Utilities to display the following options: Load Additional Device Adapter Modules This option is used to load SCSI, Fibre-channel or Network adapter modules that were not automatically loaded when the system was booted from the media.
An arrow (==>) will appear next to the device modules that are currently loaded on the system. If you highlight and select a line for a module that is not currently loaded, a message will appear indicating that the module is being loaded. If the module is loaded successfully and new devices (or adapters) are detected, a message will appear showing you the names of the configured devices.
Configure Remote Install Manager If you configured RIM at the time you created the boot media, it will be automatically enabled and it will not be necessary to configure in this option. If, however you did not pre-configure RIM, or if you need to change the RIM configuration, you make changes from within the system Installation menus after booting from the SBAdmin boot media.
When you have finished your selections, press ESC or to return to the RIM Menu. Then select Start Local SSH Server. The network adapter will be configured with these settings and the RIM server will be started. You can see the current status of the RIM server by looking at the Local SSH settings which appear on the screen. Configure Backup Group ID This option is used if you have configured a server with an “Optional client with access to all groups”.
Index boot type, 18 serial settings, 18 A ascii encryption key, 38 D decrypt. See encryption devfs, 9 device filesystem.
install server. See network install server installation. See system installation ISO. See boot media: cdrom re-configuration after system install, 71 selecting adapter modules, 17 network adapter hardware address, 30, 32 remote installation manager, 21, 74 network boot server, 15, 23, 24, 26, 27, 38 network boot/install, 23 alternate install server, 26 boot image creating, 14 updating, 28 boot loaders, 14 boot server, 14, 23, See network boot server install device, 25 install server.
S T SCSI selecting modules, 16 shell maintenance, 73 software RAID.