Storix Software SBAdmin Recovery Guide

Linux System Recovery Guide

Version 8.2

Trademarks and Copyrights

SBAdmin is a registered trademark of Sto rix, Inc. SBAdmin is a trademark of Storix, Inc in the USA a nd othe r countries Intel is a registered trademark o f Intel, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Intel, Pentium, IA32, Itanium, Cele ron and IA64 a re registere d tradema rks of Int el Corp oration. AMD, Opteron, and Athlon are registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. HP Integrity servers are regis tered tradema rks of Hewlet t-Packa rd Devel opment Compan y.

Publicly Available Software

This product either includes or i s develo ped usi ng sourc e code tha t is publicl y availabl e:

AESCrypt* Rijndael and Cipher Block Feedback

mode (CFB-128) encryption/decryption algorithms

BusyBox Single executable containing tiny

versions of common UNIX utilities

Tcl Open source scripting language Copyright Regents of the University of Californi a,

Tk Tk graphics toolkit Copyright Regents of the University of Californi a,

Lighttpd Secure, fast, compliant and flexi ble

web-server

OpenSSL Toolkit implementing Secure Socket

Layer

ELILO Linux boot loader for EFI/x86_64 based

systems

http://aescrypt.sourceforge. net/

http://busybox.net/cgi-bin/cvswe b/busyb ox/

http://freshmeat.net/projects /lilo/

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

http://tcl.sourceforge.net

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

http://tcl.sourceforge.net

http://www.matt.ucc.asn.au/dro pbear /dropbea r.html

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.html

http://www.lighttpd.net

http://www.openssl.org

http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf

Computer Science

http://www.gnu.org/software/parted

ftp://ftp.hpl.hp.com/pub/linux-ia 64

http://www.btrfs.wiki.kernel.org

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*Encryption Software

Storix System Backup Administr ator Backu p Data E ncr yption Featur e has a crypt ographic compon ent, using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) "Rijndael" encryption algorith m in Cip her Block Fe edback (st ream) mo de (CFB -128) , supportin g

128, 192 and 256-bit keys.

It is not for export or redistribution to any of what are called the "T-10 Terrorist States" as determined by the U.S. Department of State. Storix System Backup Administrator Backup Data Encryp tion Feature has be en register ed with U.S. Bur eau of Information and Security and is distributed unde r Export Contro l Classi fication Numb er (E CCN) 5D 992. This e ncryptio n item is authorized for export and re-export unde r section 742.15 (B )(2) of the Export Administrati on Regulations (EA R).

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction.........................................................................................................7!

When to Use this Guide .............................................................................................................................. 7!

Terminology................................................................................................................................................ 7!

System and Program Requirements............................................................................................................ 8!

Kernel Support Requirements................................................................................................................ 8!

System Memory.....................................................................................................................................9!

UEFI Firmware Support Requirements................................................................................................... 9!

Programs for Creating and Writing Bootable CDROMs........................................................................... 9!

The Device Filesystem (Devfs)............................................................................................................... 9!

Boot Loaders ....................................................................................................................................... 10!

2. Creating System Recovery Boot Media...........................................................11!

When to Create Boot Media ...................................................................................................................... 11!

When You Should Create New Boot Media ............................................................................................... 11!

Creating System Installation Boot Media................................................................................................... 11!

CDROM image ..................................................................................................................................... 12!

Tape .................................................................................................................................................... 13!

Hard Disk............................................................................................................................................. 14!

Network ............................................................................................................................................... 14!

Customizing the Boot Media...................................................................................................................... 16!

Select SCSI Modules ........................................................................................................................... 16!

Network Modules ................................................................................................................................. 17!

Boot console device............................................................................................................................. 18!

Kernel Release Level........................................................................................................................... 19!

No-prompt Installation............................................................................................................................... 19!

Enabling Remote Installation Manager...................................................................................................... 20!

Configuring RIM when Creating Boot Media......................................................................................... 20!

Configuring RIM after Booting from the Boot Media.............................................................................. 21!

Connecting to the Remote Install Process ............................................................................................ 21!

3. Network Boot/Install Configuration ................................................................. 23!

Understanding Network Boot and Network Installation .............................................................................. 23!

Enable/Disable Client for Network Boot/Install........................................................................................... 23!

Disable a Network Install Client ................................................................................................................. 26!

Using an Alternate Network to Restore the Data ....................................................................................... 26!

Using a Different Install Server than the Boot Server................................................................................. 26!

Using the Same Boot Server to Install Different Linux Versions ................................................................. 27!

Updating Network Boot Images................................................................................................................. 28!

4. Booting to the System Installation Process....................................................29!

Booting the Various System Types............................................................................................................ 29!

Booting to the System Installation Process ................................................................................................ 29!

CDROM or Tape.................................................................................................................................. 29!

Hard Disk............................................................................................................................................. 29!

Network Boot ....................................................................................................................................... 30!

Tape Boot............................................................................................................................................ 32!

Completing the Boot Process.................................................................................................................... 33!

Troubleshooting a Network Boot ............................................................................................................... 34!

Determining the Network Adapter Hardware Address................................................................................35!

5. Reinstall from a System Backup...................................................................... 36!

Cloning Systems....................................................................................................................................... 36!

Installing onto UEFI-Based Firmware Systems.......................................................................................... 36!

No-Prompt Installation............................................................................................................................... 36!

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Installing from an Encrypted Backup ......................................................................................................... 37

Enter a HEX Key .................................................................................................................................. 38!

Enter an ASCII (text) Key..................................................................................................................... 38!

System Installation Process ...................................................................................................................... 38!

After booting from a network boot server .............................................................................................. 38!

Verifying the hardware configuration.................................................................................................... 38!

The System Installation and Maintenance Menu ....................................................................................... 39!

Using Keys and Getting Help ............................................................................................................... 39!

Select Installation Device/Backup ............................................................................................................. 40!

Select Local Tape Device Drives(s)...................................................................................................... 40!

Select Local Disk Backup ..................................................................................................................... 42!

Install From Local NFS Mount.............................................................................................................. 43!

NFS Considerations............................................................................................................................. 44!

Set or Change Network Configuration.................................................................................................. 44!

Select Remote Tape Device ................................................................................................................. 45!

Select Remote Disk Backup................................................................................................................. 45!

TSM Configuration.................................................................................................................................... 46!

TSM Client Configuration ..................................................................................................................... 48!

TSM Server Configuration.................................................................................................................... 48!

TSM Administrator Configuration.......................................................................................................... 48!

Change the Installation Settings................................................................................................................ 48!

Install the System with Current Settings.................................................................................................... 48!

6. View/Change Installation Settings...................................................................50!

Select Disks to Use for Installation............................................................................................................ 50!

View/Change Partition Table................................................................................................................ 51!

Assign All Contents of a Disk to a Different Disk .................................................................................. 53!

Migrate a Partition to a Different Disk................................................................................................... 53!

Select Not to Restore Data to a Disk.................................................................................................... 53!

Change Partition Tables ............................................................................................................................ 53!

Logical Volume Management.................................................................................................................... 54!

Add or Remove Physical Volumes........................................................................................................ 55!

Add or Change Volume Groups............................................................................................................ 55!

Add or Change Logical Volumes.......................................................................................................... 57!

Add or Change Meta-disks ........................................................................................................................ 59!

RAID 0+1.................................................................................................................................................. 61!

Add or Change Filesystems...................................................................................................................... 61!

External Journals................................................................................................................................. 63!

Minimum Filesystem Size versus Device Size......................................................................................63!

Add or Change Swap Devices................................................................................................................... 64!

Change Boot Options................................................................................................................................ 64!

7. Install the System .............................................................................................66!

Verification Process .................................................................................................................................. 66!

Starting the Installation ............................................................................................................................. 67!

Configuration Files.................................................................................................................................... 67!

Making the System Bootable..................................................................................................................... 67!

The Boot Loader.................................................................................................................................. 67!

Initial Ramdisk Image ........................................................................................................................... 68!

The /boot filesystem............................................................................................................................. 68!

Doing it yourself................................................................................................................................... 69!

Installation Errors...................................................................................................................................... 70!

System Boot Problems .............................................................................................................................. 70!

Network Re-configuration (avoiding conflicts) ............................................................................................ 70!

8. System Recovery Utilities ................................................................................72!

Load Additional Device Adapter Modules.................................................................................................. 72!

Start a Maintenance Shell......................................................................................................................... 73!

Configure Remote Install Manager............................................................................................................ 74!

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Configure Backup Group ID ...................................................................................................................... 75

Index......................................................................................................................76!

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1. Introduction

The SBAdmin for Linux S ystem R ecove ry Guide is a suppl ement to the SBAdmin User Guid e, providi ng details on reinstalling a Linux system from a SBAdmin System Backup. Note that a System Backup is not limited to reinstalling the s ame syst em from which it was mad e, but it may also be used t o “clone” t he orig inal system onto different systems cont aining th e same or different h ardware.

When to Use this Guide

This guide provides instructions for booting and reinstalling a system from a SBAdmin System Backup. This document should be reviewed after first installing the software to become familiar with this process and its requirements BEFORE a system recovery is required.

Installation from a System Backup is f airly int uitive, b ut there i s informati on and ste ps that must be taken to be prepared in the event that a system re-installation is required. The System Backup contains all of the backup data and the information nee ded to recr eate t he syst em and re store th e data. T o access t he S ystem Insta llation Process, boot media must first be creat ed. This m ay be either a bootable CDROM, network boot image, system backup disk, or tape (for systems which support tape boot).

This guide will refer to information found in the SBAdmin User Guide. When doing so, the reference term or section will be shown in Blue Text. If you need to refer to that informat ion in t he SBAdmin User Guide, highlighted sections (in bold) can be found in the Table of Contents, and other terms can be found in the

Index.

Terminology

The system recovery proc ess is straight-f or ward and pr ovides i nstructi on and help scre ens to gu ide yo u throug h the process. Even when creating and changing devices, filesystems, partition maps, logical volumes, etc, the information provided s hould make th e proc ess fair ly intuit ive. T here are a f ew terms you s hould understa nd before beginning this process:

Linux kernel: This is the first “program” that gets executed when your Linux system starts. It is

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considered the “base oper ating s ystem” f rom whic h all other pr ocesse s are ru n. Vari ous kern els provide support for different types of hardware and software devices and filesystem types.

Kernel modules: These are individual programs providing support for various devices and

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filesystems. If the modules are compiled into the kernel, they are considered “built-in”. Otherwise, they are compiled into binary programs outsi de of the kernel (but ma y only be executed b y the kernel) and are just referred to as “modules”. These are placed in a spec ific direct ory wher e the kernel kno ws where to find them. This directory is /lib/modules/kernel-name, where kernel-name is the name of your kernel. The kernel “name” is compiled into the kernel, and usually includes the kernel release level and an optional suffix, oft en referr ing to t he Lin ux distrib ution (i. e. “/lib/ modules/ 2.4. 18mdk”). Y ou can query the kernel name on yo ur system by typi ng “uname –r” at the command line.

Boot Loader: This is a program that exist s on the b oot disk or CDROM th at is use d to find and

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execute the Linux kernel. It usuall y will ins tall a n initia l filesyste m in memor y, and execut e progra ms within to load device modules needed to access the root (/) filesystem. The boot loader depends on the firmware of the system, since the firmware must kno w how to lo ad and execut e the b oot loader.

Firmware: The firmware of a mac hine is a m ini-o peratin g system t hat is used to detect av aila ble boot

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devices (disks, CDs, tapes or network adapters) and load and execute the “real” operating system. The following table shows the system firmware supported by SBAdmin:

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Firmware Supported Systems Boot Media Types Boot loaders BIOS Intel-based (32-bit,

AMD64 and EM64T)

OpenFirmware (IEEE1275 Standard)

UEFI 64-bit Intel-based

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. The boot loader is an additional program that is designed to read and execute the Linu x kern el, pro viding it inf ormat ion ne eded t o conf igure a dditi onal d evices, et c.

LVM: This is Logical Volume Management, and provides the ability to create devices similar to

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“software partitions”, that are easily res izable, relocatable, and provide optional data striping (RAID 0) for enhanced performance. LVM is supported by most Linux distributions today. If it is available on your system it will be automatically included on the SBAdmin boot media even if you are not using it. This allows you to implement LVM during the install process if you are not already doing so.

Metadisks: Also referred to as “mu lti-disks”, thi s is a form of “soft ware RAID” that prov ides diff erent

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RAID types, such as striping (RAID 0), mirroring (RAID 1), striping with parity (RAID 4), striping with striped parity (RAID 5), striping with double striped parity (RAID 6), and striping of mirrors (RAID 10). It also provides the ability to combine devices into a single sequential device they refer to as “linear” RAID. Meta-disk, or “md” devices are supported by most Linux distributions. If available on your system it will be automatically includ ed on the SBAdm in boot media ev en if you are not usi ng it. This allo ws you to implement meta-disk devices if yo u are not alread y doing so.

IBM POWER, System p and System i (CHRPbased systems)

(x86_64)

Disk, CDROM, network LILO, GRUB, GRUB2

Disk, tape, CDROM, network, tape

Disk, CDROM, network ELILO

Yaboot

Filesystems: There are numerous filesystem t ypes availa ble on Linux. D ifferent Linux distr ibutions

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automatically provide support for different filesystems, and others may be added to the kernel or compiled as modules. Others n ot include d in the distri bution m ay us ually b e found on the int ernet, downloaded and built into the kernel. SBAdmin supports most popular filesystem types, including ext2, ext3, ext4, ReiserFS, JFS, XFS, Minix, MSDOS (3.1) and Vfat (win95 and later). Filesystems build on ext2, for instance, may be changed to a JFS filesystem during the system recovery process, providing simple conversion to more robust filesystems.

System and Program Requirements

Every Linux distribution is different, and this poses certain challenges since SBAdmin must depend on some common programs or support to be installed on your system. The requirements are few, and most Linux distributions provide the base support b y default, or as an option al packag e. This section d escribes requirements of SBAdmin that differ most commonly between distributions.

Kernel Support Requirements

To be able to boot from the SBAdmin boot media (or most any media), you must have R AM disk support and Initial RAM disk support built into the kernel. Also, the process of creating the media uses either RAM disks or loopback devices. If your RAM disk driver is only configured to support the default of 4 MB, then the loopback device support will also be required (may be compiled as a module). Refer to your documentation for rebuilding the kernel or adding kernel modules. We recommend the following settings:

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Block Devices: Loopback device support: Module RAM disk support: Built into kernel Default RAM disk size: 32768 (This will allow up to a 32MB ramdisk to be created) Initial RAM disk (initrd) support: Built into kernel

System Memory

The SBAdmin System Installation pr ocess re quires that t he syste m have at le ast 64 MB of memory to operate, although a minimum of 256 MB is recomm ended.

UEFI Firmware Support Requirements

Performing recovery to a system that boots from UEFI firmware requires that you boot from UEFI firmware using SBAdmin boot media, a nd then r estore from a back up that suppo rts UEFI f irmware. S BAdmin determines that a system has support for UEFI firmware based on the following requirements:

UEFI Support Requirements: x86_64 systems (output of uname -m command)

2.6.21 kernel level or later (out put of uname -r command) CONFIG_EFI support enabled in kernel (typically found in /boot/config-RELEASE) Support for creating VFAT filesystem (mkfs.vfat command)

Programs for Creating and Writing Bootable CDROMs

The program “mkisofs” or “genisofs” is a free program that m ust exist o n the system from whic h yo u will create the bootable CDROM. This program is included on most distributions but may not be installed by default. If you receive a message that this program is missing, you will need to install it from your distribution media or download a copy from the internet. This program will be used to generate the “ISO” image, which is a CDROM format compatible with many operati ng systems.

To create a bootable CDROM, this software will generate the CDROM image file. It is then up to you to copy that image to a CD Writer device using your own CD Writer software. On most Linux systems, the “cdrecord” program e xists. If not, then you can usually instal l it from your distributio n media or download a copy from the internet. You will need to refer to the instructions or “man” pages that accompany that program. If you choose any other pr ogram to c opy the CDROM i mage to the C D Writer, t hen you must b e sure to specify, if necessary, that this is an ISO image.

The Device Filesystem (Devfs)

The Device Filesystem is a function implemented on some Linux systems for management of devices. It has, however, been replaced in more recent Linux distributions by Udev. Devfs is not a requirement of SBAdmin, but its existence or use can pose certain problems, so it d eserves menti on here. Its function is to provide a consistent nam ing co nventio n for d evices ba sed on t heir ph ysical l ocati on, rat her than allo wing the system to name the devices (possibly differently) each time the system is booted based on their order of detection.

Unfortunately, this presents many problems for products designed to work with the “classic” Linux device naming conventions, and also creates quite lengthy filenames and symbolic links between old and new names that are more difficul t to manage. A classic p artiti on name suc h as “/dev/hda1”, for example, will be named “/dev/ide/host0/bus0/t arget0/lu n0/par t1” under Devfs. Devfs often creates another link to this file “/dev/hd/c0b0t0u0p1”.

SBAdmin must be able to scan for devices on the system, and does so by looking for devices of the classic Linux convention, as this is most widely used. To look also for Devfs filenames would probably result in detecting the same physical devices under multiple different names, so SBAdmin will only recognize devices my the known “classic” device names.

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The product will work quite well on syste ms with Devfs impl emented as lon g as the system maint ains 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. SBAdmin also attempt s to cross-references the devfs names to the classic names whenever the system configuration files use the devfs names (as occurs automatically whe n some Linux distr os are instal led). Syste m configurat ion files which may use either devfs or classic nam es include:

• /etc/fstab – Filesystem definitions

• /etc/raidtab – Software RAID device definitions

• /etc/mtab – Mounted filesystem table (automat ically u pdated b y the syst em)

To avoid any potential problems if yo u are using D evfs, you shoul d make sure thes e files refere nce the classic disk and partition names, such as /dev/sda (first SCSI disk) and /dev/hdc3 (third partition on the third IDE disk) whenever possible. If you attempt to perform a System Backup with SBAdmi n and are informed that the root filesyst em, or an y other files ystem, is e ither not fo und or n ot mounted, t hen SBA dmin may have been unable to determine the devfs names, and you probably need to put the classic names in the /etc/fstab file.

Boot Loaders

SBAdmin will attempt to determine which b oot loader the syst em is current ly using when p erformin g a system backup. If the backup process is unable to determine the boot loader used, the backup will fail.

Initial Ramdisk (initrd/initramfs) Support

One of the most difficult issues with an y system reco very product is trying to figure out how to make the system bootable. The confi guratio n files re stored fr om the backup ma y no longer be a pplicabl e if changes to the hardware or storage configur ation have bee n made. After a SBAdmin S ystem Install ation is completed, the boot loader is configured to make the system bootable based on that kernel and the root filesystem. This is often not enough information to make everything available at system startup that is required. For example, if your root filesystem resides on a SCSI disk, and the SCSI adapter support is not built into your kernel, then your system probably loads an Initial Ram Disk (initrd/initramfs) containing the SCSI adapter support, which allows the adapter to be configured before attempting to mount the root filesystem. SBAdmin will determine if an initrd is necessary and create one automatically. If not required, SBAdmin will configure the system to boot from your kern el without an initr d image. If your ker nel has builtin support for any devices or filesystems required to mount your root filesystem, you should have no problems. If an initrd image is requir ed, yo u are g iven t he opp ortunit y at t he end of t he sys tem rec overy process to configure your own boot loader, or modify the boot loader configuration file to handle any potential problems. Note that SBAdmin does not support systems using monolithic kernels (no loadable kernel modules).

More specific informatio n creatin g an

Initial Ramdisk Image is provided later in this document.

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2. Creating System Recovery Boot Media

The SBAdmin User Interfac e (either Xwind ows GUI or W eb Interf ace) p rovides a very sim ple pr ocedur e for creating boot media, which i s describ ed in this section. T his int erface may be used t o create b ootabl e tapes, boot CDROM images, network boot images, or can configure a local hard disk to boot to the system recovery process. This interface m ay cre ate an y of the b oot medi a types. Also refer t o the stmakeboot command in the

Commands Reference, which may be run on any client to make bootable media directly from that system. All

media types will boot the t arget s ystem int o the sa me recover y menu s.

When to Create Boot Media

It is generally a good idea to create bootable media for each individual system that is backed up using SBAdmin. This is because most systems do not ru n under t he sam e Linux ker nel lev el, have t he same device support installed and configured, and have the same software level of various device support and other applications installed.

If you attempt to boot from media c reated u sing on e Linux ker nel vers ion (i.e. “2.4”), th en attem pt to inst all the system from a backup that was ru nning under a v ersion 2. 6 ker nel, you m ay ru n into problem s duri ng or after the installation completes. This is because the devices and filesystems created during the system recovery will be later accessed by a different Linux kernel vers ion that may n ot be compatib le or provide the pr oper support. For this reason, the SBAdmin Installation process provides strong warnings if you boot from a different kernel than was running at the time the back up was cr eated. T he instal lation pr ocess als o verifies t hat your boot me dia contains the device and f ilesyst em supp ort that i s requir ed to inst all t he syst em, base d on th ose devic es or filesystems that were in use at the t ime of th e backup. If th e support is not provid ed by the bo otable media, you will be required to remove or change those devices or filesystems that are not supported.

If you have multiple systems, all running the same kernel level (but not necessary the exact same kernel), it is generally safe to use the same boot media to bo ot and install d ifferent systems. B ecause the boot me dia is probably the most important boot media you will ever need, it is a good idea to keep at least one spare or create boot media of different types.

When You Should Create New Boot Media

1. Any time you update your operating system or compile/install a new kernel. Even if the kernel version

does not change, support for built-in devices or filesystems may have been added or removed, and device or filesystem modules may also have been added or removed.

2. Any time you inst all a new releas e level of SBA dmin. Although we try to maintain compatibility between

current and past versions, there may be times when a new feature supported by the backup software also adds new support to the system recovery process. Since the system recovery pr ograms ar e written to your boot media, you will need to remake t he boot m edia to mak e sure you ar e using t he latest installation programs.

Creating System Installation Boot Media

To create the boot media, select Utilities->Create/Manage Boo t Media->( CDROM, Netw ork, H ard Disk or

Tape Boot Images) from the menu bar in the admini strator m ain men u. If usi ng a Network Ad ministra tor, you

will be prompted to select the server on which the boot media will be stored, the name of the image to create/update, and the cli ent o n which th e boot me dia sh ould be created. N ote that t he bo ot media is creat ed on the selected client, but may be used to boot other clients of similar system type and operating system release levels.

When selecting A Linux client, a screen similar to the following will appear: Storix System Backup Administrator 11 Version 8.2 Linux System Recover y Guide

Remember to use the QuickHelp (right mouse button) o n any button or entr y field for d etails on the use an d options for each when using the Graphical User Interface (GUI). When using the Web Interface, utilize the Over Help

for details.

Roll-

Creation of each media type is descri bed separat ely:

CDROM image

This process will make a CDROM ISO image, but will not actually burn the image to the CDROM. This image may be copied t o an y system where your CD/ RW d evice r esides where you c an us e any s oftware or program you choose to cop y the ima ge to the C DROM. If us ing t he Network Ad ministrat or you can make the CDROM image for any client you have configured.

To create a bootable CDROM, select Utilities!Create/Manage Boot Media!CDROM Boot Images.

When using Workstation E dition, you w ill not be pr ompted for the C lient and Bo ot Server Name.

Using Network Administrat or a min imum of thr ee field s are r equire d Boot Server name, CDROM Boot

Image Name, and Client Name.

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The Boot Server name is the name of th e server t he boot media will be stor ed on. Use the d rop do wn arro w to select a configured server. The boot media will be created using the selected client, but will be copied to “Client Directory for CDROM & Net work Bo ot Images” direct ory as config ured o n the s elected boot serv er. You may also select “Store On Client” to keep the image on the client rather than send it to a server.

The CDROM Boot Image Name is the na me of the imag e as it will be store d on the files ystem. Fo r clarit y you may choose to name the image to reflect the hostname or operating system level of the client. Further details about the image can be saved in the User Description field and can be viewed when managing boot media through the SBAdmin int erface.

The Client Name is selected with the drop down menu to th e right of the fi eld. This is the clie nt used to create the boot media. The client’s Kernel Release Level and Platform Type will automatically be populated into the appropriate fields.

The UEFI Boot Support will be enabled if the client has support booting from BIOS firmware. However, if you wish to create the CDROM boot media with support for booting from both BIOS and UEFI firmware, then select “Yes”.

Boot media is not specific to this client, and can be used to perform recover y from backups of similar systems running the same Linux distribution and update level.

When this process is complete, you may copy this image to a system containing the CD writer device, if there is no CD burner on the Boot Server.

support for UEFI. The boot media will always

Tape

A bootable tape may be created for any hardware platform that supports tape boot. Currently, only the IBM PowerLinux (POWER, System p) and System i systems are c apabl e of b ooting f rom a tape drive. T o creat e

the boot tape, you need only insert the tape into the drive, and the boot images will be written to the start of the tape. Note that any other data on the tape will not be readable after making the tape bootable.

To create a bootable tape, select Utilities!Create System Installation Boot Media!Tape Boot Media.

For systems which support bo oting from t ape, the t ape will aut omatic ally be m ade bo otable when you create a System Backup to the start of the tape. You can stack additional System Backu ps to the ta pe, but no further boot images will be written since they must be at the start of the tape.

If using a Network Administ rator, select the Server Name, the Tape Drive Nam e, and the Client Name. To boot from the tape, you must have the tape in the drive, and select to boot from the tape devic e within

the system firmware (OpenFirmware on IBM System p and System i hardware). After booting fro m a

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bootable system backup, the tape will be the def ault instal l device, and you can co ntinue the s ystem 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 bootabl e to boot directly t o the system r ecover y process. T his all ows you t o perform your system backups to a local (or SAN-attached/portable) disk, then boot and reinstall the system from that same disk with no need f or other backup m edia.

Using this option will not change how the syste m boots by defa ult. After configuri ng a disk to boot to the SBAdmin System Install process, you must select to boot from that disk from within your system firmware boot menus.

To create a bootable disk, select Utilities!Create System Installati on Boot Media! Hard Disk Boot Media.

Select the Client Name to configure using t he dro p do wn arrow to th e right. Ne xt, sele ct the disk t o configure in the Hard Disk Name field by using the arrow to the right of the e ntry fie ld. When pressin g the arrow, the system will be queried to find one or more disks that were configured as a Local System Backup Disk. If no disks are listed, then none were co nfigured fo r system bac kup/recov ery. T he UEFI Bo ot

Support option will be selected based on how the disk was or iginally c onfigured a nd cannot be cha nged.

Network

Use this option to create a network boot image to be used with various network boot loaders to boot a client system over the net work from a n etwork boot serv er.

To create a network boot image on any configure d client or server an d save the image on th e boot server, select either:

Configure!Net work Boot/Install!Create/Update a Network Boot Image or Utilities!Create System Installation B oot Medi a!Network Boot Images

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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 s ame 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 pressi ng the arrow button t o the right of the entry field. If yo u enter a unique name, a new image will be created using that name. Not e that the networ k boot “image” actually consists of several files on disk, but will always be referred to within the application as a single image by a unique boot

image name. The files ar e copie d into t he direct ory s peci fied as t he Client Dir ectory for CDROM & Network Boot Images directory when the s erver was c onfig ured. Yo u may also use t he sel ect butto n to the

right to choose an existing name. The named image will be overwritten. Finally, select the Client name for which boot media is to be created using th e drop d own arro w to th e right

of the Client Name field. Kernel Release Level and Platform Type will be automatically populated with the appropriate information f rom the c lient. T he UEFI Boot Support will be enabled if the client has

UEFI. The boot media will always support booting from BIOS firmware. However, if you wish to create the

Network boot images capable of booting from both BIOS and UEFI firmware, then select “Yes”. Upon successful completion, the network boot image will be created and transferred to the boot server. It

will now be possible to configure any client to boot from this image using the option “

Network Installation of a Client” below.

When all selections are complete, press t he Create/Update button. A new window will appear with the output of the command to create the media a nd any er ror messa ge if they s hould oc cur, such as in the f ollo wing example:

Enable/Disable

support for

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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 2.6 kernel distributions should be able to detect and automatically load all necessary modu les/dr ivers to perform t he rec overy to t he same or diss imilar h ardware. However, i n those instances where the detection is not possible you may select which specific SCSI adapter or Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) support should be automatically loaded when booting from the media. If there are devices (i.e. disk or tape) attached to an adapter of a selected type, those devices will be made available automatically.

All SCSI and HBA support (if included) will be available on the boot media. Therefore, even if the desired adapter support is not loaded automatically when booting from the media, it may be loaded at a later time from the

To select which SCSI or HBA modules will be automatically loaded on system boot, press the Select SCSI

Modules button. By default, SBAdmin will automatically load only the modules which ar e curr ently lo aded

on the client system. Those adapters, if any, will be aut omatic ally selected on th e screen whic h appears, similar to the following:

System Installation Menus (see Loading Additional Device Support).

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Modules with a dash are defined in the configuration file, but do n ot exist on the syst em, and t heref ore cannot be selected or de-selected. Those wit h a checkmark are currently s elected and will be loa ded 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-se lect a module, move the cursor ov er the box and press the left mouse button.

When finished with selections, press the Done button. The Reset button may be used if you wish to revert back to the original confi guratio n file di stribute d with t he soft ware. If you wish to ca ncel on ly the c hanges made in this session, press the Cancel button on the far right.

Network Modules

SBAdmin boot media created from most 2.6 kernel distributions should be able to detect and automatically load all necessary modu les/dr ivers to perform t he rec overy to t he same or diss imilar h ardware. However, i n those instances where the detection is not possible, you may wish to manually select the network module support to automatically load on the boot media. Select or de-se lect them by pressing the Select N etwo rk

Modules button. By default, SBAdmin will include all network modules available f or the s elected k ernel

release level. Only modules that are selected will be loaded automatically. It is not recommended to automatically load all network module support as some modules may conflict when they are loaded (often causing the boot process to hang). If a network adapt er is detected b y one of the load ed modules, a network device will be automatically created.

Again, all network modules on the system the boot media is created from will be available on the boot media. Therefore, even if the desired network adapter support is not loaded automatically when booting from the media, it may be lo aded at a l ater tim e from th e

Device Support).

To select which network adapter modules will be automatically loaded on system boot, press the Select

Network Modules button. By default, SBAdmin will automatically load only the network modules which are

currently loaded on the system. Those adapters, if any, will be automatically selected on the screen which appears, similar to the following:

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System Installation Menus (see Loading Additi onal

Modules with a dash are defined in the configuration file, but do n ot exist on the syst em, and t heref ore cannot be selected or de-selected. Those wit h a checkmark are currently s elected and will be loa ded on system boot. Lines with an empty box indicate those available on the system th at will be included on the boot media, but not automatically loaded on boot. To select or de-se lect a module, move the cursor ov er the circle and press the left mouse button.

Boot console device

By default, SBAdmin will create boot media t o be displayed on a grap hical disp lay direct ly attached to the system (tty0). If you will be using a console other than tty0, it is necessary to define the type of console device that will be used.

To define the boot conso le devic e you must se lect eit her No-P rompt or Menus (set defaults) as the

Installation Mode. Use the arrow next to the Console Device T ype field to list and select a device name.

Note the description of each device name. When using a serial console attache d to a serial port, select ttyS0. Other types may include ttyUSB0 (for

USB-attached console devices), etc.

The boot media can only be created to boot a particular console type. If you select the wrong type, the boot process will compl ete, but you ma y not see the Installati on Menus on the screen.

If booting from a serial terminal, the terminal must be connected to the first serial port (S1 or COM1) and must be set to 9600 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop bit and no parity (9600, 8,1,NONE).

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Kernel Release Level

Your system may be configured with multiple kernels a nd associated mod ules. This is typical of a syst em that is being tested or in the pr ocess of upgra ding. T his proces s will a utomatica lly displa y the name of th e kernel (as provided by the “uname –r” command) that the client is currently running under in th e Kernel

release level field.

If you wish to create boot media using a ker nel releas e level oth er than the curr ently run ning level, you may do so by using the stmakeboot command on the client. Documentation f or this c omman d may be found in the Commands Reference Guide.

When you boot from this media, the kernel and modules you will be running under will match those displayed here. Keep in mind that the kernel release level and modules level should also match the level of

backup that you will be restoring.

the

No-prompt Installation

CDROM and Network boot media ma y be creat ed wit h the def ault i nstallati on opti ons set, also al lowing t he

system to be installed as soo n as a syst em is boote d from this m edia. This all ows an insta llation t o take p lace simply by booting from a network boot image, for instance, with no operator intervention required.

Be careful not to leave the CDROM in the drive with the system firmware set to boot from CDROM first, as a no-prompt installation could occur without any user intervention.

Be very careful when using this option, as the user will not have the option of intervening in the system recovery process if the boot media was creat ed for no-prom pt installat ion. The ex ception, however, is if the def aults are not valid (such as an installation device not being available), or if the backup data will not fit onto the new system’s hardware without some re-configuration. In this case, the installation menus will be presented to allow the user to make the necessary changes.

When creating CDROM boot media, the following options are available when using the option to

Installation Media. For Network boot media, the options are available when selecting to Enable Network Installation of a Client. The reason is that, when creating network boot media, a single network boot image may

be used for different client system s, and each c lient s ystem can be confi gured with differ ent defa ults. Ref er to each corresponding section for additional details.

If you select either “No-prompt” or “Menus (set defaults)” for the Installation Mode, additional information will appear within the window, such as in the following example:

The Install Server is available onl y if using a Network Ed ition or TSM Edition license. If the client will in stall from a backup on a local device (ie. Tape or local system b ackup device ), leave this field set t o “none”. If the system will be installed from a remote server, use the arrow button to the right of this field to select a server name.

Create System

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When selecting an Install S erver name when differ from the boot server, more information will appear on the screen belo w this field:

For the client to be install ed from a remot e server , you m ust select t he nam e of the cl ient to be inst alled ( 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.

Enabling a Client for Network B oot/Inst all and th e instal l server

Select the Alternate Server N etwork if t he serv er was conf igure d with an alternat e server net work. In this cas e, the client will retrieve the backup data from the server using this alternate network. Be sure to select the correct adapter name the client will us e to c ontact the serv er via its altern ate adapt er.

Enabling Remote Installation Manager

This feature will allow connection to the SBAdmin System Installation Process from any remote system. With proper authority, a remote user can perform all of the tasks in recovering a system as if they were at the locally attached console. This proc ess ma y be st arted fr om the SBA dmin int erface on a Net work Admi nistrat or syst em, or from any SSH client appli cation. T heref ore, in stallat ion of eve n a Work statio n Editio n system may be managed remotely.

The remote user will be required to enter a password to access the system installation process. This password may have been defined when the boot media was created or may be defined in the system installation menus after booting from the m edia.

The Remote Install Manager (RIM) may be configured and started in one of t wo ways:

Configuring RIM when Creating Boot Media

To start RIM automatically when booting a system from SBAdmin boot medi a:

Utilities!Create System Installatio n Media

Select either Menus (set defaults) or No prompt for the installation mode. The screen will expa nd to inc lude the following options:

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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 c onfigure d to connect t o the r emote inst all clie nt. If perfor ming a network boot, then you may select UseBootAdapter to use the adapter that was used to perform the network boot. If you configured the Client Netw ork Adapter on the previous scree n, you can select UseInstallAdapter to use the same adapter configure d for net work instal lation.

Enter the IP Address used to configure the network adapter. This field will be disabled if you selected to use either the boot or install adapter, which will already be configured.

Enter the Subnet Mask used (if necessary) when configuring the network adapter. This field will be disabled if you select to use either the boot or install adapter.

After pressing Done, the settings will be saved in the boot configuration. The adapter will be enabled, and a remote connection (with appropriate password) will be accepted when booting from this media.

Configuring RIM after Booting from the Boot Media

From within the System Installation Menus select System Recovery Util ities. T hen select Confi gure Remote

Install Manager, and follow the instructions for

Configuring Remote Install Manager in the Utilities section.

Connecting to the Remote Install Process

To connect to the remote instal l client use o ne of th e follo wing:

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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 pr evious step. If you do not have an SSH client program, you can use the one installed on the SBAdmi n Administr ator System. This pr ogram is calle d strimsh (i.e. “/opt/storix/bin/strimsh sbadmin@192.168.1.121”).

or Select Utilities!Start Remote Install Manager from the SBAdmin Interface. A window will appear

where you must enter the remote install password:

Select the Remote Install Client Name from the drop-down list. The primary IP address of the client will be shown in the Remote Install Client IP field. You may change this IP address if you are connecting using a different adapter.

When you press the Connect button, a new terminal window will display, and the

System Installation Menus will appear. You can, from this window, perform all system installation and maintenance tasks

for the remote client.

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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 o r reinst alled fr om a System Backup. That System Backup will typically reside on the disk or on a tape device attached to a backup server. In order for the client to restore from this backup data, it must f irst be booted over th e net work from a bo ot serve r, and then installed from an install server.

• The boot server is used solely to deliver the boot images to the target client. The boot images will provide a basic operating system with whic h the cl ient will run t he remain der of th e insta llation proces s.

• The install server is used only to provide access t o the data to be rest ored. If the backup is on tape, t he install server will be the system on which the tape drive is attached. Likewise, if the backup is a disk image file, the disk will be attached to the install server.

Although the boot server and install server are typically the same system, this is not a requirement. If, for instance, there are several systems on which tape driv es are attache d, the client ma y be installe d from any tape on any system, even though the clie nt is always boot ed from th e same b oot server.

The first step is to create a net work boot image f rom the c lient or any ot her syst em runni ng the sa me leve l of Linux that you will be installing. The system from which the network boot image is created must also have installed and selected the device support necessary for the target network adapter. To create a network boot image on any system and copy the boot image to the boot server, refer to “

Media - Network”.

Create System installation Boot

Enable/Disable Client for Network Boot/Install

This section provides det ails on conf igurin g a clie nt to be bo oted an d install ed from a net work boot server and/or network install server. Altho ugh the b asic sett ings are sim ple, ther e are o ptio nal sett ings whi ch ma y be used for more flexibility, such as c onfigur ing a backup data) from a different network adapter than the one the client was booted from.

To setup the client, select the opti on Configure!Network Boot/Inst all!Enable/Disable Network Installation of a

Client from the menu bar. Y ou will b e prompted fo r the client t o config ure. Sele ct the client and pr ess the Continue button. A screen similar to the following will appear:

no-prompt installation of the client, or installing (reading the

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Options may appear or disappear from this screen depending on your selections. The screen is broken into two main sections; one for conf igur ing th e Client network boot options and one for config uring t he Client network

install options. The setting for the Sy stem In stallatio n Mode to wards the bottom of the screen determines

whether or not the Client network install options section will appear. The following fields are used to c onfig ure th e client to boot from a boot serve r:

1. Server to Boot From: If the server in this field is incorrect, use the ar row button to list and select a

different server from which to boot fr om. By d efault, the boot serv er is ass umed t o be the inst all serve r as well. However, the install server may be changed as described later. If updating an image and you choose to change the boot server, t he ima ge on the o ld boot server will be automat ically d isabled.

If the boot server has been configured with an Alternate Server Network and you wish to perform the network boot over that network, select the network from the drop-down list.

2. Boot Image N ame: Use t he arro w button to t he right of t he entr y field to s elect from a list of b oot

images previously created using the image name selected will determine the operating system, platform and network type that will be used to install the client.

3. Gateway Address: If the client must go through a gateway to reach the boot server, enter the IP

address of the gateway machine.

4. Subnet Mask: If the client is on a subnet, enter the subnet mask.

Create Bootable Installati on Medi a (Net work) option. The boot

5. Network Adapter Hardw are Addre ss: The process for network booting a Linux system is referred to

as a broadcast boot. It is required that the client and server a re on th e same network ( no gat eway between them). The broadcast is initiated from the client network adapter using the client's network adapter hardware address. T his is als o refe rred to as t he MAC add ress . Having the MAC address available on the server allo ws the client s ystem t o be boot ed without k nowing th e server or client IP address, as this information is obtained from the server. Refer to the section Boot a Client for Installation from a System Backup for details on Because the MAC address is required, yo u will need to enter the tar get client’s ha rdware address when configuring a client for network boot.

6. Boot on UEFI Firmware: To perform a network boot of th e client on UEFI firm ware select “Yes” to this

option. Otherwise, the client will be enabled to boot from BIOS. This option is only selectable for boot images that were created wi th support f or booti ng from UEFI firm ware.

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determining the client hardwar e adapter addr ess.

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