The Universal Recovery Console (URC) is a recovery environment embedded into a bootable ISO image, and is used to perform bare metal restore. When you boot the BMR target from the boot CD ISO image, the URC environment appears. The user interface appears slightly differently for Windows and Linux targets.
- The URC for Windows targets uses a graphical user interface based on Windows Preinstallation Environment (Win PE) 10 OS.
- The URC for Linux targets uses a Linux Ubuntu 16 command line interface.
On a Linux recovery target machine, the sole purpose of the URC is to provide single-use credentials to connect the BMR target machine with a running Rapid Recovery Core instance to perform the restore process.
In addition to providing single-use credentials for BMR, the URC for Windows contains a full-featured recovery environment. It includes function buttons and (when launched) a console.
The buttons in the Windows-based URC perform the following functions:
|
Start Universal Recovery Console |
Launches the console from which you can manage drivers on the boot CD, manage additional drivers on the BMR target, perform bare metal restore from a Rapid Recovery archive, and monitor the restore progress. |
|
Useful Tools |
Menu to access tools that may be required to help with your bare metal restore. For example, to launch a browser that runs on Windows PE, select Chromium from the Tools menu.
For specific information, see About Windows Universal Recovery Console tools. |
|
Power menu |
This menu includes options to reboot or shut down the BMR target machine. Each time you reboot, the authentication key is refreshed. |
The Windows-based URC includes the following tabs:
Boot CD Driver Manager |
Lets you manage the drivers available on the boot CD. Click the arrow next to each item to expand to show its child objects. After you make changes, click Force Load to apply the changes and test the drivers.
|
NOTE: Items listed under Other devices do not yet have the correct drivers associated with them. | |
Existing Windows Driver Manager |
Lets you load and manage drivers not included on the boot CD. |
Restore from Archive |
Lets you perform a BMR from a Rapid Recovery archive. |
Restore Progress |
Lets you monitor the process of the bare metal restore. This tab only appears when a restore takes place. |
For both Windows and Linux BMR target machines, the Authentication area shows the following information:
|
IP address |
When an appropriate network adapter is loaded, the IP address of the BMR target machine is displayed. |
|
Authentication key |
A new single-use password generates each time the BMR target machine is started using the boot ISO image. |
Write down the authentication information. You will need this information to connect the BMR target machine with the Rapid Recovery Core Console to complete the restore process.
The Windows-based Universal Recovery Console (URC) includes access to tools that may assist you in completing a bare metal restore (BMR).
You can find the following tools by clicking
(Useful tools) from the top buttons displayed on the BMR target machine when booted into the URC. These tools include the following:
- Far Manager. This tool is similar to Windows Explorer. It provides a way to browse for files on the server until you complete the BMR and install an operating system with its own browsing function, such as Windows Explorer.
- Chromium. This open-source browser lets you access the Internet on a server that has a network controller loaded through the URC.
- PuTTY. This tool is an open-source terminal emulator. In the context of performing a BMR in Rapid Recovery, it lets you connect to a NAS storage device that does not include a user interface. This capability may be necessary if you want to restore from an archive stored on a NAS.
- Notepad. As in a Windows operating system, this text tool lets you type unformatted notes and view log files.
- Task Manager. As in a Windows operating system, this tool lets you manage processes and monitor the performance of the server while the restore is in progress.
- Registry Editor. As in a Windows operating system, this tool lets you change the system registry of the BMR target.
- Command Prompt. This tool lets you perform commands on the BMR target outside of the URC until you install a user interface.
The following tasks are prerequisites for this procedure.
The Universal Recovery Console lets you add any drivers that were not included in the ISO image but are required for a successful bare metal restore.
This task is part of the process for
Using the Universal Recovery Console for a BMR.
When creating a boot CD, you can add necessary drivers to the ISO image. After you boot into the target machine, you also can load storage or network drivers from within the Universal Recovery Console (URC).
If you are restoring to dissimilar hardware, you must inject storage controller, RAID, AHCI, chipset, and other drivers if they are not already on the boot CD. These drivers make it possible for the operating system to operate all devices on your target server successfully after you restart the system following the restore process.
Complete the steps in one of the following procedures to load drivers using the URC:
Complete the following procedure to use a portable media device to load drivers in the Universal Recovery Console (URC).
- On an internet-connected machine, download the drivers from the manufacturer’s website for the server and unpack them.
- Compress each driver into a .zip file using an appropriate compression utility (for example, WinZip).
- Copy and save the .zip file of drivers onto a portable media device, such as a USB drive.
- Remove the media from the connected machine and insert it into the BMR target machine.
- On the target server, load the boot CD ISO image from removable media and start the machine.
The Quest splash screen appears.
- To start the URC, click the (Start URC) button.
The URC opens to the Boot CD driver manager tab.
- Expand the Other devices list.
This list shows the drivers that are necessary for the hardware but are not included in the boot CD.
- Right-click a device from the list, and then click Load Driver.
- In the Select driver load mode window, select one of the following options:
- Load single driver package (driver will be loaded without verification for device support)
- Scan folder for driver packets (drivers for selected device will be searched in selected folder)
- Expand the drive for the portable media device, select the driver (with file extension .inf), and then click OK.
The driver loads to the current operating system.
- In the Info window, click OK to acknowledge that the driver successfully loaded.
- Repeat this procedure as necessary for each driver you want to load.