Table of Contents
Table 14.1. Supported File Systems
| File system | Supported | Optimized* |
|---|---|---|
| FAT 16/32 | Yes | Yes |
| NTFS | Yes | Yes |
| Ext2/Ext3 | Yes | Yes |
| Reiserfs 3 | Yes | Yes |
| XFS | Yes | Yes |
| JFS | Yes | No |
| Linux swap | Yes | Yes |
| Compaq System Partition (SmartStart) | Yes | No |
* Optimized: unused data blocks not backuped. In any case, used sectors are compressed before being saved.
Table 14.2. Supported Partitions Types
| Type | Supported | Software RAID supported |
|---|---|---|
| MSDOS (Basic Disks) | Yes | - |
| Windows Logical Disk Manager (Dynamic Disks) | Yes | Raid 1 |
| LVM 1 and 2 (Logical Volume Manager) | Yes | Raid 0/1 |
Others file systems not listed here may be supported soon. Please contact Linbox for more information.
Warning ! LVM partitions cannot be restored via a bootable CD or via TFTP at boot. Only NFS and Multicast TFTP restorations are supported for LVM partitions.
Also, you have to disable your LVM snapshots before a backup.
The cards equipped with the following PXE BIOS are known to work:
MBA 4.x (3COM)
Intel Boot Agent 4.0.14 and newer, Intel Boot Agent 4.1.x, Intel Boot Agent GE 1.2.x
Most Intel UNDI PXE 2.1 boot ROMs
Broadcom Boot Agent
Realtek add-on ROM v2.10 and newer
SMC PXE v1.17
This may include the following network cards:
3COM 3C905B with additional ROM, 3C905C, 3C920
Intel Ether Express Pro 10/100 or 1000, IBM EtherJet PCI
Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit, Broadcom BCM 4400
SMC 1255 with PXE 1.17 add-on ROM
However, the following cards are not fully PXE 2.x compliant and will not fully work with the LRS (but can boot on an Etherboot PXE boot disk) :
Cards compatible with Intel PXE v0.99
Most SMC cards with Accton chipset and an additionnal ROM.
Most of the problems occur during the backup on a client. In that case, the same error message will be displayed again and again :
*** Warning: the NFS service does not seem to work on the LRS !The NFS service does not seem to work properly on the LRS. Read 'NFS' below to find more.*** eth0: not yet configured ***Indicates that, either your NIC is not supported, or that the loaded driver is not appropriate. In any case, contact the Linbox support and provide your NIC's model type.*** eth0: no IP received !!! ***Indicates that your NIC has not received an IP address from the DHCP server. First, check your cables, and the your DHCP server as shown below.
If you have more than one NIC on the client, you may have to specify which one to use for DHCP requests. For that, you have to modify the interface number in the client's options page (see Section 4.5, “Boot and back up options”).
Are the server network parameters good? Try to ping a machine from the server. Try to ping the server from a machine. If the tests fail, check the network parameters in /etc/sysconfig/network and /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 on a Redhat or Mandriva Linux based system, or in /etc/network/interfaces on a Debian Linux based system.
The most common problem with the NFS server, is that before allowing a mount request. NFS does a reverse DNS lookup on the IP of the client. If the reverse lookup fails, the NFS mount request will be denied. Therefore, the first thing to try is to remove /etc/resolv.conf, restart nfs server services, and check if the client backup works better (this is not needed on our Debian based LRS which has been patched to avoid problems with NFS and name resolution).
Then check that a local mount on the server is possible:
mkdir /mnt/testnfs mount 127.0.0.1:/tftpboot/revoboot/images /mnt/testnfs umount /mnt/testnfs rmdir /mnt/testnfs
portmapper: a "portmap" process should be running, and the command "rpcinfo -p" should display:
program vers proto port 100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper 100000 2 udp 111 portmapper 100024 1 udp 1024 status 100024 1 tcp 1024 status 100003 2 udp 2049 nfs 100003 3 udp 2049 nfs 100021 1 udp 1026 nlockmgr 100021 3 udp 1026 nlockmgr 100021 4 udp 1026 nlockmgr 100005 1 udp 1027 mountd 100005 1 tcp 1025 mountd 100005 2 udp 1027 mountd 100005 2 tcp 1025 mountd 100005 3 udp 1027 mountd 100005 3 tcp 1025 mountdmountd: "mountd" and "nfsd" (or knfsd) process should be running
statd: a "statd" process should be running
lockd: a "lockd" process should be running
/etc/exports: no space between "*" and "(" in "/tftpboot *(rw,async)". The 'async' option is important. Without it, the backup performance can seriously decrease.
/etc/host.allow and /etc/host.deny to check that the services can be contacted
Enter /tmp (cd /tmp), and use the tftp client (tftp or atftp) to download the file revoboot.pxe as a client would do during a network boot:
# cd /tmp # tftp > connect 127.0.0.1 > get /tftpboot/revoboot/bin/revoboot.pxe
The tftp service is defined in inetd.conf or xinetd (/etc/xinetd.d/tftp)
Check that tftpd or atftpd is running with "ps auwx | grep tftpd"
Restart inetd or xinetd, and look for error messages in the logs
Watch the tail of the file /var/log/messages ("tail /var/log/messages") when DHCP start ("service dhcpd restart"), and when the PXE/etherboot clients send requests (DHCP_DISCOVER, DHCP_OFFER, DHCP_REQUEST, DHCP_ACK...). The configuration file of the DHCP server is /etc/dhcpd.conf.
Check that this process runs in the background ("ps auwx | grep getClientResponse"). Check the log file of getClientResponse (/tftpboot/revoboot/log and files ending with ".log"). If there is a problem, the file to change is /etc/lbs.conf
Webmin access (http or https://server_name:10000) requires an authentication. The default password on pre-installed version is "linbox" for the user "root".
Webmin use "Perl" and a script called "miniserv.pl." Check that miniserv.pl is running if you cannot connect to Webmin. The Webmin configuration files are in /etc/webmin, and the Webmin scripts are in /usr/share/webmin (depends of your Linux vendor).
In the "Others" pane of Webmin, you should find the administration modules for the LRS, in particular the "LRS control center". If not, try to re-install the .wbm files available on our ftp site.
 |
|---|
| The LRS modules |
Admin ID. Password asked when a new host has to be declared on the LRS server. This avoids host declaration by a non-administrator.
IP address. Unique numerical address, associated with an host connected to an IP based network.
MAC address. Media Access Control. Also called hardware address. Address of a network card, involved in low-level management of a local network. This address must be unique for each network peripherals. It is usually represented in hexadecimal base. Example: 12:52:F3:EB:4C:37 .
basedir. LRS configuration parameter. Specifies the LRS root directory. By default, this is /tftpboot/revoboot. This parameter is located into the file /etc/lbs.conf .
Boot. Usually, this term indicates the starting stage of a computer.
Client. Here, a client is a computer requesting services of another computer, named server. In the LRS case, the client is the machine whose hard-disk has to be saved or restored.
DHCP. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol: network protocol whose aim is to automatically provide IP addresses to hosts. Usually, this task is under the responsibility of a program called Dhcpd .
dhcpd.conf. Global configuration file of the DHCP server program. Located in the /etc directory of the server hosting the service.
Image. An image is a raw copy of a data structure, like a filesystem for example. It is qualified as raw because no translation is performed any more concerning internal data meaning. On the LRS side, an image is a full or partial copy of data stored on a hard-disk.
ID. Acronym of IDentifier. It is often an identification number.
Shared image. Image that can be shared between several client hosts. Usually, this type of image includes an operating system, featured with a configuration simple enough to be installed on a maximum of hosts without modification.
Local image. As opposed to shared image, a local image is host specific. Generally, this type of image is not intended to be installed on a computer different than the one owning the image.
lbs.conf. Global LRS configuration file. Located in the /etc server directory.
MBR. Master Boot Record. Special hard-disk area involved in the start process of an operating system.
NFS. Acronym of Network FileSystem. It allows a user to access a remote filesystem in the same way as it would do it on the filesystem located on his local hard-disk.
OS. Acronym of Operating System.
Boot menu. This is the LRS menu in text mode which appears at boot time on the client's screen. It gives the user the ability to select an operating mode, like making a disk back up, installing a new OS, or simply booting the existing OS.
Server. This word usually means two things: Either a computer supplying a service to clients computers (e.g. an internet access) or either the software itself performing the service. This small difference is very important when several types of services are performed. For example, it is possible to have simultaneously running DHCP, TFTP and NFS servers , which are functionally independent, but physically located on the same computer. This is just the case of an LRS server configuration.
TFTP Acronym of Trivial File Transfer Protocol.
The PXE network boot fails (DHCP server not found) :
----------------------------------------------------
The first thing to check is your NIC's PXE BIOS version and try to find
an update. Most of the BIOS implementing PXE 0.99 are bugged
(for example Intel IBA versions 1.x 2.0 or 3COM MBA version 3.x).
For NICs based on Intel chipsets you can find utilities for updating the BIOS
here (proutil.exe or proboot.exe) :
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Support_Intel.aspx
For 3COM cards :
http://support.3com.com/infodeli/tools/nic/mba.htm
3COM also provides a "MBA on Disk", mbadisk.exe :
http://support.3com.com/mbaondisk_license.html
Using Etherboot PXE disks I see a strange F? message:
-----------------------------------------------------
That means that your client has received a DHCP response which does not contain
the filename option. Check the settings of your DHCP server.
Backuping SCSI and IDE drives at the same time:
-----------------------------------------------
The backup and restoration software rely on the fact that IDE drives are probed
before SCSI drives during the boot sequence. If your BIOS does the contrary,
you'll have problems during a restoration. Check in your BIOS settings, that
you have not enabled an option to probe SCSI disk first.
Similarly SCSI CD-ROMS drives should not be seen by the BIOS.
MBR and partition table:
------------------------
Reconstruction of hard disk's partitions will usually be done (and it is the case
by default when using automatically created "conf.txt" at backup time), without
erasing the full partition table (only the reconstructed partition table entry
gets modified).
That means :
1/ It is possible to restore partition by partition, without erasing an already
existing partition). Example would be to restore the system disk C: without erasing
the existing data partition D: . This of course can only be made if the two partitions
do not overlap (i.e. C: is smaller than the previous C: partition).
2/ At backup time, we are saving partitions, based on the content of the hard-disk's
partition table: thus if the table was not correctly built (a single partition restored,
but the previous table contained 2 entries), we will detect 2 partitions, one of which
is not desired and/or may be corrupted...
The workaround is to make "clean" reconstructions, by using partition table reconstructions
(ptabs command) and/or MBR restorations :
add "root (hd0) & mbr (nd)/tftpboot/revoboot/bin/mbr.bin in header.lst and/or conf.txt.
Summer time :
-------------
Images that are stored contain all parameters that were used to install the PC, this
includes in particular the settings of "automatic handling of summer time". If numerous
restorations are done, then each time the time shift will be applied, each time the
RTC will take one hour shift, and the PC will not be in sync with time. Prefer the use
of a NTP server (and a free NTP client of the PC).
You can also use NET services (using Samba perhaps) with a batch command in startup
and/or login scripts such as :
NET TIME \\server /S/Y
Resize hard disk partition at boot time :
-----------------------------------------
To limit the number of images for deployment, while using optimally the different hard-
disks capacities, it is possible to use (NTFS & Win2000) "Sysprep" and the
"ExtendOemPartition=1" key in the [Unattended] section of sysprep.inf.
See document Q240126 of Microsoft :
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q240/1/26.ASP
Windows boot error 0x0000007B :
-------------------------------
If you see this error after a recovery, that probably because your hardware
configuration has changed and that Windows does not have the suitable drivers
to boot.
For more information: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q271965
or follow this procedure.
Before making the image:
* log on the windows computer (the box to backup) as administrator
* extract these files from %SystemRoot%\Driver Cache\i386\Driver.cab :
Atapi.sys, Intelide.sys, Pciide.sys, and Pciidex.sys and copy them
to %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers
* copy the following text in a mergeide.reg file
* merge the mergeide.reg file to the registry (right click in the explorer)
Text to copy in the reg file (without the ====)
===========
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\primary_ide_channel]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="atapi"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\secondary_ide_channel]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="atapi"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\*pnp0600]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="atapi"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\*azt0502]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="atapi"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\gendisk]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="disk"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#cc_0101]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_0e11&dev_ae33]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1039&dev_0601]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1039&dev_5513]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1042&dev_1000]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_105a&dev_4d33]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1095&dev_0640]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1095&dev_0646]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1097&dev_0038]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10ad&dev_0001]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10ad&dev_0150]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5215]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5219]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5229]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1106&dev_0571]
"Service"="pciide"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_1222]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_1230]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2411]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2421]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_7010]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_7111]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_7199]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"
;Add driver for Atapi (requires atapi.sys in drivers directory)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000019
"Type"=dword:00000001
"DisplayName"="Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller"
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,61,00,74,00,61,00,70,00,69,00,2e,\
00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
;Add driver for intelide (requires intelide.sys in drivers directory)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IntelIde]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="System Bus Extender"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000004
"Type"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,69,00,6e,00,74,00,65,00,6c,00,69,\
00,64,00,65,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
;Add driver for pciide (requires pciide.sys and pciidex.sys in drivers directory)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PCIIde]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="System Bus Extender"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000003
"Type"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,70,00,63,00,69,00,69,00,64,00,65,\
00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
===========
Updates are available at ftp://ftp.linbox.com/pub/lrs/webmin/, and are named:
lbs-x.x.wbm, for the LRS module
lbs-CD-x.x.wbm, for the CDs creation module
Updates are available at ftp://ftp.linbox.com/pub/lrs/base/base-update/, and are named:
base-update-xxxxxxxx.tgz (where xxxxxxxx is a release date)
revoboot.pxe: the network bootloader
bzImage and initrd.gz: the diskless kernel used during the backup
lbl.cdrom: the CD bootloader