NetVault Bare Metal Recovery 14.0 - User Guide for Plug-ins

Using NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Plug-in Live Client for Linux

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Plug-in Live Client for Linux: an overview

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Installing and removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

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Generating a DR image for use with Plug-in Live Client for Linux

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Creating the required bootable CD for use with Plug-in Live Client for Linux

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Recovering a DR image for use with Plug-in Live Client for Linux

Plug-in Live Client for Linux: an overview

This topic describes how to install, configure, and use Plug-in Live Client for Linux for backing up and restoring data.

The Plug-in Live Client for Linux supports DR operations for Linux x86 and x86-64-based systems. This plug-in can back up and recover an entire disk including the OS, applications, system settings, partition information, and data. The plug-in enables online backup a full Linux system, thus allowing system administrators to conduct DR backups while eliminating system downtime for users.

After the plug-in is correctly installed and configured, a DR image of a live system can be taken and saved for future recovery if a system failure occurs. During creation of this image, the Plug-in Live Client for Linux can automatically include all information pertaining to the networking hardware in use by the target Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client machine, that is, driver information files. These files are then compiled into a separate CD creation file, “.iso” file format, that can be saved along with the DR image. At the time of recovery, this file is recovered and used to create a bootable CD, complete with the necessary driver files that were taken from the Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client. Using this CD, the Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client can be successfully booted to a state that allows for the recovery of the DR image.

The Plug-in Live Client for Linux does not support the following:

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Backup of Named Pipe file and Socket file.

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Backup of unmounted partitions.

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Backup of NFS-mounted partitions.

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Backup of EVMS file system.

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For large sparse files, the BB Agent Timeout must be configured to a large value. For details on the BB Agent Timeout option, see Storix installation for Plug-in Live Client for Linux.

Installing and removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

This topic covers the installation procedures required to install Plug-in Live Client for Linux for use with NetVault.

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Prerequisites for installing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

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Installing or upgrading Plug-in Live Client for Linux on each Linux-based NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client

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Removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

Prerequisites for installing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

Certain prerequisites must be met before a system administrator can successfully install this plug-in. Ensure that all the following points have been accounted for:

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Plug-in Live Client for Linux obtained: Download the plug-in from the Quest website or the Quest NetVault Installation CD.

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Separate NetVault Server established: A machine that does not serve as a Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client must be set up with the Server version of NetVault installed. This machine must have network connectivity to all desired Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients.


	IMPORTANT: NetVault requires that you install the Plug-in Live Client for Linux on both the NetVault Server and each applicable NetVault Client. Installation of the plug-in is required on the Client machine during backup and on the Server machine during restore. If the NetVault Server is running an OS other than Linux, ensure that the correct version of this plug-in is available for installation on this OS. For example, if the NetVault Server is running Windows, the Windows version of the Plug-in Live Client for Linux is required for installation on the NetVault Server, while the Linux-based version of the plug-in is required for installation on all target NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients. If both the NetVault Server and the desired NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients are running Linux, only a single version of the plug-in is required.

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Uninstall previous version of Plug-in Live Client: If a previous version of the plug-in is installed, it must be removed before proceeding with the installation. For details, see Removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux.

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Client machine memory requirement: All machines that are to serve as NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients must have at least 128 MB of RAM installed.

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Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client machines configured as NetVault Clients: All machines that serve as Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients must have at least the Client version of NetVault installed. Also, each machine must be successfully added to the NetVault Server as NetVault Clients by using the Manage Clients page.


	NOTE: For complete instructions on installing the Server or Client version of NetVault and adding a machine to the NetVault Server to serve as a NetVault Heterogeneous Client, see the Quest NetVault Administrator’s Guide.

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100 MB free space on all target machines for plug-in installation: All machines that the plug-in is to be installed on must have 100 MB of free space to accommodate a third-party DR boot utility application that is used by this plug-in to perform backups and restores.

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Extra free hard disk space on target NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients: This plug-in uses existing free space on a target NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client’s hard disk to synchronize the backup of currently online files. If a target NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client’s hard disk is full, or nearly full, attempts to perform an online backup may fail.

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The “genisoimage” or “mkisofs” utility installed and available on all Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients: The plug-in requires installation of either of these components to allow for the creation of “.iso” CD creation files from any potential Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients. These components may not be automatically available with all installations of Linux.

To verify that one of these components is installed, issue the following commands:

rpm -qa | grep genisoimage

rpm -qa | grep mkisofs

If the component does not exist on an intended Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client, it can be obtained and installed as follows:

Access your copy of the Linux installation media, and locate the “genisoimage*.rpm” or “mkisofs*.rpm” file.

With this file available on the NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client, that is, through copying the file or direct download, open a terminal session, and navigate to the location of the file.

To initiate the installation, enter the following command, and follow the install prompts as they appear:

rpm -i <installationFileName>

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The “SYSLINUX” package installed (SUSE Linux 9.0, ONLY): This version of the Plug-in Live Client for Linux uses a specific boot loader application for the creation of the bootable CD that is required for the restore procedure. Default installations of SUSE Linux 9.0 do not offer support for this boot loader application. Therefore, the SYSLINUX package must be installed on all NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client systems running SUSE Linux 9.0. At time of this publication, this component could be found for download at: http://syslinux.zytor.com

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The “vim-6.3.84-2.i586.rpm” package installed (SUSE Linux 10, ONLY): Backups of SUSE Linux 10 NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients fail, unless this package is installed. At time of this publication, this package could be obtained from: http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat/17/dept/4/idg/Productivity_Editors_Vi

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Enable RAM file system and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support: Support for ramdisk is enabled by default. If it is not, run make menuconfig or make xconfig from the kernel source directory and set the Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support option under General setup. The .config parameters are BLK_DEV_INITRD and BLK_DEV_RAM.

During a backup, the Plug-in Live Client for Linux uses Storix to create a bootable image from the currently running Linux installation. While booting, it tries to load its data into a temporary ramdisk (root=/dev/ram0). To complete this process, the booted kernel must have ramdisk support. Because the plug-in uses the same kernel that the previously running system was using, the original kernel must have support for ramdisk enabled.

If ramdisk support is not enabled, an attempt to boot from the boot image fails with the following messages:

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“Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(1,0)”

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Message regarding a failed “__find_get_block_slow()” function

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Additional configuration for Xen Dom0 machine: On a Xen Dom0 machine, complete the following steps:

Open “/boot/grub/grub.conf” and find the section from which the machine was booted.

Create a file named “/storix/config/multibootfile” with a line specifying the full path to the hypervisor file as shown in the following example:

/boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-53.el5

If this process is not completed, backups may fail with the following error: “Cannot find the Xen hypervisor file which the system was booted with. Without this process, you cannot install a system. Create the file /storix/config/multibootfile with a line specifying the full path to the hypervisor file and recreate the boot media.”


	IMPORTANT: NetVault’s Plug-in for Encryption functionality is not supported for use with this plug-in. Ensure that this functionality is disabled before installing and using NetVault Bare Metal Recovery. For details on uninstalling the Plug-in for Encryption, see the Quest NetVault Plug-in for Encryption User’s Guide.

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Multipath support: If you intend to use multipath support, verify that your environment meets the following requirements. For more information, see the Storix System Backup Administrator DM‑Multipath Guide, which is available at http://www.storix.com/download/sbaDM-Multipath.pdf.

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Software requirements: At a minimum, you must have:

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dm-multipath-tools version 0.4.5, also known as device-mapper-multipath

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device-mapper version 1.02

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udev version 039-10

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Device-detection requirements:

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Device naming: The SBAdmin software must be able to recognize your devices before creating a backup. There are multiple ways your multipath devices can be named. How the devices are named depends on the “user_friendly_names” setting in “/etc/multipath.conf,” aliases set up in “/etc/multipath.conf,” and UDEV rules. Multipath support with SBAdmin requires the setting “user_friendly_names yes” and that you use a UDEV rule that creates a symbolic link from the device node to the device in “/dev/mpath.”

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Entries in “/etc/fstab”: Different Linux distributions handle multipath devices differently. One area that can cause problems with the SBAdmin software is the mount entry in the “/etc/fstab” file. Some distributions use an underlying path device, which causes problems when the software queries the device for size and geometry. If your “/etc/fstab” file is using the “/dev/disk/by-uuid/*” — where * is a numerical value — naming convention, change the entries to the dm-multipath device name or to use the “/dev/disk/by-name/*” naming convention.

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Systems with non-English characters in filenames or directories: If you use non-English characters in filenames or system names, you must update the “/.stdefaults” file before completing a backup job. In the “/.stdefaults” file, specify the applicable language and set the tar flag to blank. For example, if you are using a system that includes files that use Japanese characters, you must update the file with the following entries:

LANG=ja_JP.utf8

TARFLAGS=


	TIP: To display a list of supported language values, type: 'locale -a'

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NetVault Bare Metal Recovery 14.0 - User Guide for Plug-ins

Using NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Plug-in Live Client for Linux

Plug-in Live Client for Linux: an overview

Installing and removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

Prerequisites for installing Plug-in Live Client for Linux