NetVault Bare Metal Recovery 12.4 - User Guide for Plug-ins

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 Backup Installation CD.

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Separate NetVault Backup 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 Backup installed. This machine must have network connectivity to all desired Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients.


	IMPORTANT: NetVault Backup requires that you install the Plug-in Live Client for Linux on both the NetVault Backup Server and each applicable NetVault Backup Client. Installation of the plug-in is required on the Client machine during backup and on the Server machine during restore. If the NetVault Backup 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 Backup Server is running Windows, the Windows version of the Plug-in Live Client for Linux is required for installation on the NetVault Backup 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 Backup 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 Backup Clients: All machines that serve as Linux NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Clients must have at least the Client version of NetVault Backup installed. Also, each machine must be successfully added to the NetVault Backup Server as NetVault Backup Clients by using the Manage Clients page.


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

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

From the machine acting as the NetVault Backup Server, access the NetVault Configuration Wizard or Manage Clients page.


	NOTE: If the selected clients are all the same type, you can use the configuration wizard to install the plug-in on multiple clients at the same time. When you select multiple clients, verify that the plug-in binary file is compatible with the OS and platforms of the target clients. From the Manage Clients page, you can only select one client for plug-in installation.

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To access the NetVault Configuration Wizard page:

In the Navigation pane, click Guided Configuration.

On the NetVault Configuration Wizard page, click Install Plugins.

On the next page, select the applicable client, that is, one or more of the Linux-based clients previously added to the NetVault Backup Server as NetVault Backup Clients.

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To access the Manage Clients page:

In the Navigation pane, click Manage Clients.

On the Manage Clients page, select the applicable client, that is, a Linux-based client previously added to the NetVault Backup Server as a NetVault Backup Client, and click Manage.

On the View Client page, click the Install Plugin button (

Click Choose Plug-in File, navigate to the location of the Linux-based version of the “.npk” installation file for the plug-in, for example, on the installation CD or the directory to which the file was downloaded from the website.

Based on the operating system (OS) in use, the path for this software may vary on the installation CD.

Select the file entitled “drx-x-x-x-x.npk,” where xxxxx represents the version number and platform, and click Open.

To begin installation, click Install Plugin.

After the plug-in is successfully installed, a message is displayed.

Storix installation for Plug-in Live Client for Linux

Installation of this plug-in on the NetVault Backup Server and each Linux Client also creates two additional directories on the machine:

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/storix

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/opt/storix

These directories contain Storix SBAdmin — a third-party DR boot utility application that is used by this plug-in to perform backups and restores. The data contained within these directories is required by this plug-in. Removal of these directories results in the inability to use the plug-in.

When you install the Plug-in Live Client for Linux, two additional Storix directories are created — the Storix Bin directory and the Storix Temp directory.

The Storix Bin directory is where the Storix software is installed. With Plug-in Live Client for Linux 3.0 and earlier, the Storix Bin directory is located in /opt/storix/bin by default. With Plug-in Live Client for Linux 3.1 and later, the default Storix Bin directory is /usr/bin — the binaries in this directory set up the correct environment and then call the scripts in /opt/storix/bin.

The Storix Temp directory contains the “linuxboot.iso” file after a successful backup. It resides in /storix/temp by default. With Plug-in Live Client for Linux 3.0 and earlier, both the Storix Bin and Storix Temp directory locations can be changed by using NetVault Backup Configurator. With Plug-in Live Client for Linux 3.1 and later, only the directory location for Storix Temp can be changed through the VaultDR Linux Online section on the Plug-in Options dialog box. The Storix Bin directory can only be changed from the configuration file.

The BB Agent Timeout option can also be set through the VaultDR Linux Online section on the Plug-in Options dialog box. This option indicates the time (in seconds) that the plug-in waits for a Storix request before timing out. The default is 360 seconds.

If you change the location of the Storix Temp directory, before performing a DR backup by using the NetVault Backup WebUI, configure the new Storix Temp path in the Plug-in Options dialog box.

For example, if you change the Storix Temp directory to /storix/temp222, perform the following steps.

On the Linux Client, create the directory where the Boot Image should reside:

mkdir /storix/temp222

In the Navigation pane of the NetVault Backup WebUI, click Change Settings.

Click Client Settings.

Select the client on which Plug-in Live Client is installed, and click Next.

On the Settings page, click Plugin Options.

In the VaultDR Linux Online section of the dialog box, modify the path and name in the Storix Temp Directory field so that it is identical to the path and name created in Step 1.

To save the settings, click Apply.

Removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

In the Navigation pane, click Manage Clients.

On the Manage Clients page, select the applicable machine, that is, the NetVault Backup Server or an NetVault Backup Client with the Plug-in Live Client for Linux installed, and click Manage.

In the Installed Software table on the View Client page, select the applicable plug-in for removal, for example, Plug-in Live Client for Linux, and click the Remove Plugin button (

In the Confirm dialog box, click Remove.

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NetVault Bare Metal Recovery 12.4 - User Guide for Plug-ins

Prerequisites for installing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

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

Storix installation for Plug-in Live Client for Linux

Removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux