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NetVault Bare Metal Recovery 10.5 - User Guide for Plug-ins

Introducing Dell™ NetVault™ Bare Metal Recovery Plug-ins Deploying NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Using the Plug-in Offline Client Using Plug-in Live Client for Windows® Using Plug-in Live Client for Linux® NetVault Bare Metal Recovery physical-to-virtual recovery Troubleshooting

Creating the virtual machine

After the restore job has completed, you can create a virtual machine from the restored VMDK file by using the VMware Server console.
To create a virtual machine:
1
Log on the VMware Server console.
2
Confirm that the VMDK file is located in the datastore path that was specified under ESX Server Options.
3
On the ESX Server, browse the datastore and navigate to the specified path.
The path should contain a file with the extension “.vmdk”.
4
In the upper-left corner of the VMware Server console, click the Create Virtual Machines icon.
5
When the Configuration dialog box appears, select Custom, and click Next.
6
In the Name field on the Name and Location dialog box, enter a descriptive name for your virtual machine, and click Next.
7
When the Datastore dialog box appears, select a datastore in which to store the virtual machine, and click Next.
8
When the Virtual Machine Version dialog box appears, select the version, and click Next.
9
When the Guest Operating System dialog box appears, select the guest OS, and click Next.
10
When the CPUs dialog box appears, select the number of virtual processors on the virtual machine, and click Next.
11
When the Memory dialog box appears, configure the virtual machine’s memory size, and click Next.
12
When the Network dialog box appears, configure the virtual machine’s network connections, and click Next.
13
When the SCSI Controller dialog box appears, select the SCSI Controller type, and click Next.
 
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NOTE: NetVault Bare Metal Recovery only supports LSI Logic Parallel SCSI controllers for ESX 4.0 and LSI Logic SCSI for ESX 3.5.
14
When the Select a Disk dialog box appears, select Use an existing virtual disk, and click Next.
15
When the Browse Datastores dialog box appears, navigate to the datastore to locate the VMDK file, select it, and click OK.
16
When the Ready to Complete dialog box appears, review the summary of the virtual machine you created, and then click Finish.
17
When the new virtual machine appears in the left pane of the VMware console, right-click it, and select Open Console from the pop-up menu.
18
Power on the virtual machine from the console.
The Windows® logo appears following a successful boot.
 
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NOTE: Dell recommends installing VMware Tools before using the virtual machine. For instructions, see the VMware documentation.
Notes
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The “@” character cannot be used in the datastore path.
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When restoring to an ESX Server, verify that there is sufficient free disk space available on the ESX virtual machine. For details on calculating the required disk space, see: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1003755
•
The block size determines the minimum amount of disk space that any file takes up on VMFS datastores. Choose the block size carefully when creating VMFS datastores. The following block sizes are available:
•
1MB block size = 256GB maximum file size
•
2MB block size = 512GB maximum file size
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4MB block size = 1024GB (1TB) maximum file size
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8MB block size = 2048GB (2TB) maximum file size

Using Plug-in Live Client for Linux®

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Plug-in Live Client for Linux: an overview
•
Installing and removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux
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Generating a DR image
•
Creating the required bootable CD
•
Recovering a DR image

Plug-in Live Client for Linux: an overview

This section 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:
•
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.

Installing and removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux

This section covers the installation procedures required to install Plug-in Live Client for Linux® for use with NetVault Backup.
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Prerequisites
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Installing Plug-in Live Client for Linux on each Linux®-based NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client
•
Removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux®
Prerequisites
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:
•
Plug-in Live Client for Linux® obtained: Download the plug-in from the Dell website or the Dell 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.
 
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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 128MB of RAM installed.
•
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.
 
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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 Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.
•
100MB free space on all target machines for plug-in installation: All machines that the plug-in is to be installed on must have 100MB 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:
a
Access your copy of the Linux installation media, and locate the “genisoimage*.rpm” or “mkisofs*.rpm” file.
b
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.
c
Enter the following command to initiate the installation, 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 the 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 the 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:
•
“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:
a
Open “/boot/grub/grub.conf” and find the section from which the machine was booted.
b
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 done, backups may fail with the following error: “Cannot find the Xen hypervisor file which the system was booted with. Without this, you cannot perform a system installation. You should create the file /storix/config/multibootfile with a line specifying the full path to the hypervisor file and recreate the boot media.”
 
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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 Dell 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.)
•
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:
•
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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