Bare metal restore
When operating as expected, servers perform the tasks for which they are configured. If a server protected in your Rapid Recovery Core suffers a catastrophic failure that renders the server inoperable, administrators must take immediate action to restore the full functionality of that machine.
In such cases, especially when the data loss includes a system volume, you can use Rapid Recovery to perform a bare metal restore (BMR) for your protected machines. BMR is a process that restores the full software configuration for a specific system. It uses the term “bare metal” because the restore operation recovers not only the data from the server, but also reformats the hard drive and reinstalls the operating system and all software applications.
Rapid Recovery Core lets you perform bare metal restore for protected Windows or Linux machines. The protected system can be restored to similar or dissimilar hardware.
As of release 6.5, in addition to BMR of volume-level backups, you can also perform BMR for disk-level backups of Linux machines.
This section describes how to restore a recovery point from a protected machine to bare metal using similar or dissimilar hardware. Most of the tasks for a BMR are performed from the Restore Machine Wizard. When restoring a Linux machine to bare metal, you can also accomplish several tasks from the command line. These procedures are also included in this section.
Topics include:
About bare metal restore
Bare metal restore is the process of restoring all content from a specific computer system — data, applications, user accounts, and the operating system — from a recovery point.
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NOTE: Before performing bare metal restore, ensure you have a healthy hardware system with which to replace the failed system. |
BMR is used not only in disaster recovery scenarios, but also to migrate data when upgrading or replacing servers. To perform a BMR, Rapid Recovery uses an ISO image as a boot disk, which lets you connect the BMR target machine with the Rapid Recovery Core using a restore interface called the Universal Recovery Console.
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NOTE: An ISO image is a single archive that contains data for every sector of a disk, including the disk file system. ISO images are saved in ISO-9660 format, set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The file format uses the .iso file extension. |
For more flexibility, Rapid Recovery supports BMR both to similar and dissimilar hardware. Examples of restoring to similar hardware include replacing the hard drive only of the existing system, or swapping out a failed server with an identical machine. An example of restoring to dissimilar hardware is the case where you replace the failed system with a server produced by a different manufacturer or with a different configuration.
The process of performing a BMR includes several separate procedures. At the top level, it involves creating or downloading a bootable ISO image; transmitting that image to an accessible location (removable media, network location, or hypervisor); starting up the BMR target server from the boot image; connecting it to the recovery console instance; mapping volumes; initiating the recovery; and then monitoring the restore progress. Once the bare metal restore is complete, you can continue with the task of loading the operating system and the software applications on the restored server, followed by establishing unique settings required for your configuration.
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NOTE: Bare metal restore is supported for virtual machines (VMs) as well as for physical machines. However, to be practical, if the machine you want to replace is a VM, it is generally quicker and easier to perform virtual export from a recovery point to achieve the same goal. For more information on performing a VM export, see Exporting to virtual machines using Rapid Recovery. |
Rapid Recovery supports BMR for both Windows and Linux machines using the Restore Machine wizard from the Rapid Recovery Core Console. Some steps differ. For a list of general BMR steps, differentiated for Windows and Linux restores, see Differences in bare metal restore for Windows and Linux machines.
For Linux, you can also accomplish many tasks required for BMR from the command line. If that is your preference, both approaches are included in this User Guide when applicable.
This section includes conceptual topics throughout, including prerequisites and information about boot ISO images used for BMR for Windows and Linux machines. Before performing any BMR, consider requirements as described in Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for Windows or Linux machines.
An ISO image is a single archive that contains data for every sector of a disk, including the disk file system. The topic Performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard describes the process to start a BMR from the wizard in the Core Console. Following that process, and referring to other topics for additional information, users can perform a BMR from the Restore Machine Wizard for both Windows and Linux machines.
Differences in bare metal restore for Windows and Linux machines
The main tasks for performing BMR are described in the following table. Differences are noted between the process for Windows and Linux bare metal restores.
| Step | General BMR Steps | Windows | Linux | ||
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1
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Prepare the destination machine. Repair or prepare hardware to replace the failed system. The fixed or replaced system is referred to as the BMR target machine. |
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2
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Specify a recovery point. When restoring to bare metal, you must select the recovery point from which to restore all data, the OS, and applications. Often this is the most recent snapshot. However, there are cases in which you want to select an earlier recovery point (for example, if the failure was due to a recent change in software configuration). For restore of any machine (Windows or Linux), including BMR, you can identify the recovery point from the Rapid Recovery Core Console in two ways:
In either case, for BMR, choose to restore from a boot image such as a Windows boot CD or the Linux Live DVD. |
Select the appropriate recovery point from the Rapid Recovery Core Console. To perform a BMR from the Recovery Points page of a specific machine, see see About restoring volumes from a recovery point. See steps 2 and 3 in the task Performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard. |
You have two options:
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3
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Manage the boot image. This step involves the following sub-steps: |
For descriptive information on managing a boot CD image for a Windows machine, see Managing a Windows boot image. |
For more descriptive information about managing the boot image for Linux, see Managing a Linux boot image. | ||
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3a
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Windows machines may require driver injection, which can be performed on the Driver Injection page of the Restore Machine Wizard. See step 11 in the task Performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard. |
The Live DVD has a variety of necessary drivers. Driver injection is typically not required for Linux machines. | ||
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3b
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Define the requirements for the boot ISO image from the Restore Machine Wizard. Define an export path and generate the boot CD to a location you specify. See steps 6 to 10 in the task Performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard. |
Download the Linux Live DVD boot ISO image for the appropriate version of Rapid Recovery Core from the Downloads page on the QorePortal or the Rapid Recovery License Portal. | ||
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3c
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3d
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4
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Obtain URC login credentials. On the BMR target machine, launch the Universal Recovery Console (URC) user interface, and capture the session-unique IP address and authentication key credentials provided in the URC. |
If the machine is not able to find the IP address, you may be required to manually configure it. | |||
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5
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Connect the BMR target machine to the Core Console. From the Core Console, connect to the BMR target machine using the credentials from the URC. |
See step 14 in the task Performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard. |
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6
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Map volumes to be restored. From the Core Console, map volumes to be created during the restore process. |
See step 16 in the task Performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard. |
If using complex LVM or RAID volumes, use the automatic mapping feature in the Restore Machine Wizard if you want to automatically create the appropriate partitions. Otherwise, the partitions must be created manually before you begin the restore process. If mapping volumes manually, you must first ensure the number and size of volumes from the recovery point matches the number and size of volumes on the machine to which you are restoring data. To manually create partitions, see Creating partitions on the destination drive. | ||
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7
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Begin restoring data. The next step is to begin the actual restore process.
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From the Core Console, start the restore process. |
Starting the restore process can be performed both from the Restore Machine Wizard in the Core console and from the command line. For more information on using the command line, see Launching a bare metal restore for a Linux machine using the command line. | ||
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8
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Monitor the restore process. You can monitor the progress on the Events page. For more information, see Viewing events using tasks, alerts, and journal pages. |
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9
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Verify the restore process. During the restore process, and when it completes, you can verify the restore process. |
You can verify from the Core Console. See Verifying a bare metal restore. |
You can verify from the Core Console or from the command line. For this second option, see Verifying the bare metal restore from the command line. | ||
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10
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Complete your custom configuration. Optionally, establish any unique settings required for your new configuration. |
Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for Windows or Linux machines
Before you can begin the process of performing a bare metal restore for a Windows machine, you must ensure that the following conditions and criteria exist:
- Backups of the machine you want to restore. You must have a functioning Rapid Recovery Core containing recovery points of the protected server you want to restore.
- Hardware to restore (new or old, similar or dissimilar). The BMR target machine must meet the installation requirements for a protected machine. For details, see the Rapid Recovery Installation and Upgrade Guide. At minimum, the BMR target must have a 64-bit central processing unit (CPU). The Windows boot CD created by the Core uses the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Win PE) 10 operating system. Rapid Recovery BMRs are not compatible with x86-based CPUs. You can only perform a BMR on a 64-bit CPU.
NOTE: Prior to generating a boot CD, you must install Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE). If not installed, you are prompted to download the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit and the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit Add-Ons from the Microsoft website.
- Compatible storage drivers and network adapter drivers. If restoring to dissimilar hardware, then you must have compatible storage drivers and network adapter drivers for the target machine, including RAID, AHCI, and chipset drivers, as appropriate. These should be injected to the boot ISO image.
- Bootable ISO image. You must have an ISO image from which to boot the BMR target machine. The steps are different for Windows or Linux BMR targets:
- Windows: Generate a Boot CD. You must generate a boot CD ISO image from the Rapid Recovery Core from which to boot the BMR target machine. The boot CD contains the Rapid Recovery Universal Recovery Console UI. From the URC, you can connect the BMR target to the Core to perform the restore. If restoring from a network location, you may be able to boot directly from the ISO image.
- Linux: Live DVD boot image. Obtain the Linux Live DVD ISO image, which includes a bootable version of Ubuntu Linux. You can download it from the QorePortal at https://qoreportal.quest.com/ or from the Rapid Recovery License Portal at https://rapidrecovery.licenseportal.com. If you have any issues downloading the Live DVD, contact Quest Data Protection Support. When booted from this ISO image, a simplified version of the Universal Recovery Console appears.
- Image media and software. If you cannot boot directly from the ISO image, move the image to physical storage media such as a bootable USB flash drive, CD, or DVD. This process requires blank storage media and disk burning software, or software to create an ISO image or make one bootable. For BMR on Windows, if managing machines remotely using virtual network computing software such as UltraVNC, then you must have VNC Viewer.
- Storage space and partitions, as appropriate. Ensure that there is enough space on the hard drive of the BMR target to create destination partitions to contain the volumes you want to restore from the recovery point source volumes. Any destination partition should be at least as large as the original source partition. To perform a BMR, you must restore at least the system volume.
NOTE: If recovering LVM volumes and RAID volumes on Linux machines (including LVMs and RAIDs with partitions, and complex LVMs and RAIDs), you must either specify automatic volume mapping, or create the partitions prior to starting the BMR.
- Windows: compatible partitions.Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016 operating systems that are booted from FAT32 EFI partitions are available for protection or recovery, as well as are Resilient File System (ReFS) volumes. UEFI partitions are treated as simple FAT32 volumes. Incremental transfers are fully supported and protected. Rapid Recovery provides support of UEFI systems for BMR including automatic partitioning GPT disks, LVM and software-based RAID volumes.
- Linux: Restore path. Identify the path for the restore, which is the path for the device file descriptor. To identify the path for the device file descriptor, use the
fdiskcommand from a terminal window.