Dell Appassure 5 User Guide

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Version 5.4.3 Revision B269 •Verifying a Bare Metal Restore. After starting the bare metal restore, you can verify and monitor your 
progress. See Verifying the bare metal restore from the command line.
•You can monitor the progress of your restore. See Viewing the recovery progress.
•Once completed, you can start the restored server. See Starting a restored target server.
•Troubleshoot the BMR process. See Troubleshooting connections to the Universal Recovery 
Console and Repairing startup problems.
Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for 
a Linux machine
Before you can begin the process of performing a bare metal restore for a Linux machine, you must ensure that 
the following conditions and criteria exist:
•Backups of the machine you want to restore. You must have a functioning AppAssure Core containing 
recovery points of the protected server you want to restore.
• Hardware to restore (new or old, similar or dissimilar). The target machine must meet the installation 
requirements for an agent; for details, see the Dell AppAssure Installation and Upgrade Guide.
• Live DVD boot image. Obtain the Linux Live DVD ISO image, which includes a bootable version of Linux. 
Download it from the Dell AppAssure License Portal at https://licenseportal.com. If you have any issues 
downloading the Live DVD, contact Dell AppAssure support.
• Image media and software. If using physical media, you must have a blank CD or DVD and disk burning 
software, or software to create an ISO image.
• 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 for the target operating system, as appropriate.
• Storage space and partitions, as appropriate. Ensure that there is enough space on the hard drive to 
create destination partitions on the target machine to contain the source volumes. Any destination 
partition should be at least as large as the original source partition.
• 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 fdisk command from a terminal window.
Managing a Linux boot image
A bare metal restore for Linux requires a Live DVD boot image, which you download from the Dell AppAssure 
License Portal. You will use this image to start the destination Linux machine. Based on the specifics of your 
environment you may need to transfer this image to physical media such as a CD or DVD. You must then virtually 
or physically load the boot image, and start the Linux server from the boot image.
You can perform the following tasks:
•Downloading a boot ISO image for Linux
•Transferring the Live DVD ISO image to media
•Loading the Live DVD and starting the target machine
Managing a Linux boot image is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines.
NOTE: The Live DVD was previously known as the Live CD. 
						

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Downloading a boot ISO image for Linux
The first step when performing a bare metal restore (BMR) for a Linux machine is to download the Linux Live 
DVD ISO image from the Dell AppAssure License Portal. The Live DVD functions with all Linux file systems 
supported by AppAssure, and includes a bootable version of Linux, a screen utility, and the AppAssure Universal 
Recovery Console (URC) interface. The AppAssure Universal Recovery Console is an environment that is used to 
restore the system drive or the entire server directly from the AppAssure Core.
You must download the Live DVD ISO image that matches your version of AppAssure. The current version of Live 
DVD is available from the Dell AppAssure License Portal at https://licenseportal.com. If you need a different 
version, contact Dell AppAssure Support.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Managing a 
Linux boot image.
Complete the steps in this procedure to download the Live DVD ISO image.
To download a Boot ISO image for Linux
1 Log into the Dell AppAssure License Portal at https://licenseportal.com.
2 Access the Downloads area.
3 Scroll down to Linux Based Applications and, from the Linux Live DVD section, click Download.
4 Save the Live DVD ISO image. If you are restoring a virtual machine, you can save it to a network 
location, and set the VM to start up from a CD or DVD drive associated with the ISO image.
5 If restoring from a physical machine, burn the Boot CD ISO image onto a compact disc (CD) or digital 
video disk (DVD) from which the target machine can be started. For more information, see Transferring 
the Live DVD ISO image to media.
Transferring the Live DVD ISO image to media
When you download the Linux Live DVD file, it is stored as an ISO image in the path you specified. You must be 
able to boot the target Linux machine from the Live DVD image.
You can burn the boot CD ISO image onto compact disc (CD) or digital video disk (DVD) media.
When you start the machine from the Live DVD, the Universal Recovery Console launches automatically.
If performing a BMR on a virtual machine, this step is not required. Simply load the ISO image in a drive and edit 
settings for that VM to start from that drive.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Managing a 
Linux boot image.
NOTE: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international body of representatives 
from various national organizations that sets file system standards. The ISO 9660 is a file system standard 
that is used for optical disk media for the exchange of data and supports various operating systems. An ISO 
image is the archive file or disk image, which contains data for every sector of the disk as well as the disk 
file system.
NOTE: For more information about the Dell AppAssure License Portal, see the Dell AppAssure License 
Portal User Guide. 
						

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Loading the Live DVD and starting the target machine
After you obtain the Live DVD ISO image, you need to start the Linux machine from the newly created Live DVD.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Managing a 
Linux boot image.
To load a Live DVD and start the target machine
1 Navigate to the new server and load the Live DVD image from the appropriate location. Specify that the 
server will start from the Live DVD image.
2 Start the machine.
An AppAssure splash screen displays and a terminal window opens, displaying the IP address and 
authentication password for the machine.
3 Write down the IP address and the authentication password displayed on the introduction screen. You 
will need this information later during the data recovery process to log back on to the console.
Once the target Linux machine is started with the Live DVD, this machine is ready for the user to connect to it 
from the Core to begin the bare metal restore process. You can perform this process using any one of two 
methods:
•Launching a restore from the AppAssure Core Console. For more information, see Launching a bare metal 
restore for Linux.
•Launching a Restore from the command Line using the aamount utility. For more information, see 
Launching a bare metal restore for a Linux machine using the command line.
Managing Linux partitions
When performing a BMR, the destination drive onto which you will be restoring data must have the same 
partitions as in the recovery point you are restoring. You may need to create partitions to meet this 
requirement.
You can launch the restore from the command line using the aamount utility, or you can launch the restore from 
the AppAssure Core Console. If restoring using the user interface, you must first mount the partitions.
You can perform the following tasks:
•Creating partitions on the destination drive
•Formatting partitions on the destination drive
•Mounting partitions from the command line
Managing Linux partitions is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines.
Creating partitions on the destination drive
Often, when performing a BMR, the destination drive is a new volume that may consist of a single partition. The 
drive on the destination machine must have the same partition table as in the recovery point, including the size 
of the volumes. If the destination drive does not contain the same partitions, you must create them before 
performing the bare metal restore. Use the fdisk utility to create partitions on the destination drive equal to 
the partitions on the source drive.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Managing 
Linux partitions.
NOTE: A new temporary password is generated each time the machine is started with the Live DVD 
image. 
						

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To create partitions on the destination drive
1 Optionally, you can start the Screen utility. Once started, it remains active until you reboot the machine.
2 From the command line, enter the following command and then press Enter to change privileges to run 
as administrator and then list existing disk partitions:
sudo fdisk -l
A list of all volumes appears.
This example assumes the volume you want to partition is /dev/sda. If your volume is different (for 
example, for older drives, you may see /dev/hda), change commands accordingly.
3 To create a new boot partition, enter the following command and then press Enter:
sudo fdisk /dev/sda
4 To create a new boot partition, enter the following command and then press Enter:
n
5 To create a new primary partition, enter the following command and then press Enter:
p
6 To specify partition number, enter the partition number and then press Enter. For example, to specify 
partition 1, type 1 and then press Enter.
7 To use the first sector, 2048, press Enter.
8 Allocate an appropriate amount to the boot partition by entering the plus sign and the allocation amount 
and then press Enter.
For example, to allocate 500 M for the boot partition, type the following and then press Enter:
+500M
9 To toggle a bootable flag for the boot partition (to make the partition bootable), type the following 
command and then press Enter:
a
10 To assign a bootable flag for the appropriate partition, type the number of the partition and then press 
Enter. For example, to assign a bootable flag for partition 1, type 1 and then press Enter.
11 To save all changes in the fdisk utility, type the following command and then press Enter:
w
NOTE: For more information, see Starting the Screen utility. 
						

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Formatting partitions on the destination drive
After creating partitions on a new volume on the destination drive, you must format the partitions before they 
can be mounted. If this situation applies to you, follow this procedure to format partitions in Ext3, Ext4, or XFS 
formats.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Managing 
Linux partitions.
To format partitions on the destination drive
1 Optionally, you can start the Screen utility. Once started, it remains active until you reboot the machine.
2 From the command line, enter the following command and then press Enter to change privileges to run 
as administrator and then list existing disk partitions:
sudo fdisk -l
A list of all volumes appears.
This example assumes the partition you want to format is /dev/sda1. If your volume is different (for 
example, for older drives, you may see /dev/hda), change commands accordingly.
3 Select one of the following command based on the format you want to use for the destination partition:
•To format a partition in Ext3 format, enter the following command and then press Enter:
sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1
•To format a partition in Ext4 format, enter the following command and then press Enter:
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
•To format a partition in xfs format, enter the following command and then press Enter:
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sda1
The selected partition is formatted accordingly.
4 Optionally, if you need to format other partitions, repeat this procedure.
NOTE: For more information, see Starting the Screen utility. 
						

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Mounting partitions from the command line
If performing a BMR using the AppAssure Core Console, you must first mount the appropriate partitions on the 
destination machine. Perform this from the command line in the Universal Recovery Console.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Managing 
Linux partitions.
Complete the steps in this procedure to mount partitions on the Linux machine before performing a restore.
To mount partitions from the command line
1 From the command line, enter the following command and then press Enter to change privileges to run 
as administrator and then list existing disk partitions:
sudo fdisk -l
A list of all volumes appears.
2 Format all partitions you will need to perform the BMR to the mount directory. These must match the 
volumes that are in the recovery point. For example, if the volume you want to mount is called sda1, and 
the mount directory is mnt, then type the following command and then press Enter:
3 Mount all partitions you will need to perform the BMR to the mount directory. These must match the 
volumes that are in the recovery point. For example, if the volume you want to mount is called sda1, and 
the mount directory is mnt, then type the following command and then press Enter:
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
4Repeat Step 3 as necessary until you have mounted all required volumes.
Once volumes are mounted, you can perform a restore to the destination Linux machine from the AppAssure 
Core Console. See Launching a bare metal restore for Linux.
Launching a bare metal restore for Linux
Before launching a bare metal restore (BMR) for a Linux machine, certain conditions are required.
To restore a recovery point saved on the Core, you must have the appropriate hardware in place. For more 
information, see Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for a Linux machine.
The BMR destination Linux machine must be started using the Live DVD boot image. For more information, see 
Managing a Linux boot image.
The number of volumes on the Linux machine to be restored must match the number of volumes in the recovery 
point. You must also decide whether to restore from the AppAssure Core Console, or from the command line 
using aamount. For more information, see Managing Linux partitions.
If restoring from the Core Console UI, the first step in launching a BMR is to select the appropriate recovery 
point, then initiate the restore to the hardware by specifying the IP address and temporary password you 
obtained from the Universal Recovery Console. You must then map the drives and start the restore.
To launch a BMR from the AppAssure Core Console, perform the following tasks.
•Selecting a recovery point and initiating BMR
•Mapping volumes for a bare metal restore
If restoring from the command line using the aamount utility, then you must first set appropriate privileges, 
mount volumes, execute aamount, obtain information about the Core from the list of machines, connect to the 
core, obtain a list of recovery points, select the recovery point you want to roll back onto bare metal, and 
launch the restore.
Optionally, you may want to start the Screen utility. 
						

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Version 5.4.3 Revision B275 To launch a BMR from the command line, perform the following tasks.
•Starting the Screen utility
•Launching a bare metal restore for a Linux machine using the command line
This process is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines.
Starting the Screen utility
Included on the Live DVD is Screen, a utility which is available when you boot from the Live DVD into the 
Universal Recovery Console. Screen allows users to manage multiple shells simultaneously over a single Secure 
Shell (SSH) session or console window. This allows you to perform one task in a terminal window (such as verify 
mounted volumes) and, while that is running, open or switch to another shell instance to perform another task 
(such as to run the aamount utility).
The Screen utility also has its own scroll-back buffer, which enables you to scroll the screen to view larger 
amounts of data, such as a list of recovery points.
The screen utility starts on the machine booted with the Live DVD by default. However, if you have closed this 
application, you must start the Screen utility from the Live DVD using the procedure below. 
To start the Screen utility
•If the machine was booted from the Live DVD, then in the terminal window, type screen and press Enter.
The Screen utility starts.
Launching a bare metal restore for a Linux machine 
using the command line
Once the Live DVD ISO image is accessible on the machine on which you want to perform a BMR, and the number 
and size of volumes matches between the target machine and the recovery point you want to restore to bare 
metal, then you can launch a restore from the command line using the aamount utility.
If you want to perform a BMR using the AppAssure Core Console UI, see Selecting a recovery point and initiating 
BMR.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Launching 
a bare metal restore for a Linux machine using the command line.
Complete the steps in this procedure to select a recovery point on the Core to roll back to the physical or virtual 
BMR target machine.
To perform a bare metal restore for a Linux machine using the command line
1 To run the AppAssure aamount utility as root, type the following command and then press Enter:
sudo aamount
2 To list the protected machines, type the following command and then press Enter:
lm
3 When prompted, enter the connection information for the AppAssure Core as described in the following 
table, pressing Enter after each required command:
NOTE: This utility is provided for convenience; use of the Screen utility is optional.
NOTE: When performing this procedure, do not attempt to mount recovery points to the /tmp folder, 
which contains the aavdisk files. 
						

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Version 5.4.3 Revision B276 A list displays showing the machines protected by the AppAssure Core. It lists the machines found by line 
item number, the host display name or IP address, and an ID number for the machine.
4 To list the recovery points for the machine that you want to restore, type the list recovery points 
command using the following syntax and then press Enter:
lr 
A list displays the base and incremental recovery points for that machine. This list includes:
•A line item number
•Date and time stamp
•A lettered list of volumes within the recovery point
•Location of the volume
•Size of the recovery point
•An ID number for the volume that includes a sequence number at the end, which identifies the 
recovery point
5 To select the recovery point for a restore, enter the following command and then press Enter:
r  
This command rolls back the volume image specified by the ID from the Core to the specified path. The 
path for the restore is the path for the device file descriptor and is not the directory to which it is 
mounted. Table 132. AppAssure Core connection information
Text Box Description Required
AppAssure Core IP 
address or hostnameThe IP address or hostname of the AppAssure Core. Yes
Domain The domain of the AppAssure Core. This is optional. No
User The user name for an administrative user on the Core Yes
Password The password used to connect the administrative user to 
the Core.Ye s
NOTE: You can also enter the machine ID number in this command instead of the line item number.
CAUTION: You must ensure that the system volume is not mounted.
NOTE: If you started the machine from the Live DVD, then the system volume is not mounted.
NOTE: You can also specify a line number in the command instead of the recovery point ID number 
to identify the recovery point. In that case, use the agent/machine line number (from the lm 
output), followed by the recovery point line number and volume letter (from the lettered list of 
volumes within the recovery point), followed by the path. For example:

r   
 

For example, type:

r 1 24 a /dev/sda1

In this command,  is the file descriptor for the actual volume. 
						

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Version 5.4.3 Revision B277 6 When prompted to proceed, enter y for Yes and then press Enter.
After the restore begins, a series of messages will display that notify you of the restore completion 
status.
7 Upon a successful restore, exit aamount by typing exit and then press Enter.
8 Your next step is to verify the restore. For more information, see Verifying the bare metal restore from 
the command line.
Verifying the bare metal restore from the 
command line
Dell recommends performing the following steps to verify a bare metal restore completed from the command 
line.
•Performing a file system check on the restored volume
•Using the command line to make a restored Linux machine bootable
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines.
Perf orming a file system check on the restored 
volume
Once you execute a bare metal restore from the command line, you should perform a file system check on the 
restored volume to ensure the data restored from the recovery point was not corrupted.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Verifying 
the bare metal restore from the command line.
Perform the task below to perform a file system check on the restored volume.
To perform a file system check on the restored volume
1 From the command line in the Universal Recovery Console of the Linux machine you have restored, to 
verify whether the appropriate partitions are mounted, type the following command and then press 
Enter:
df
2 If the restored volume is not mounted, then skip to Step 3. If the restored volume is mounted, unmount 
it by typing the following command and then pressing Enter:
umount 
3 Run a file system check on the restored volumes by typing the following command and then press Enter:
fsck -f 
If the fsck returns clean, the file system is verified.
4 Mount the appropriate volumes once again by typing the following command in format mount 
 , and then press Enter.
For example, if the volume path is prod/sda1 and the folder you want to mount to is mnt, then type the 
following and then press Enter:
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
NOTE: If you receive an exception message, the details regarding that exception can be found in 
the aamount.log file. The aamount.log file is located in /var/log/appassure. 
						

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Using the command line to make a restored
Linux machine bootable
Once you complete a clean file system check on the restored volume, you must create bootable partitions.
GNU Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) is a boot loader that allows administrators to configure which operating 
system or specific kernel configuration is used to start the system. After a BMR, the configuration file for GRUB 
must be modified so that the machine uses the appropriate universally unique identifier (UUID) for the root 
volume. Before this step you must mount the root and boot volumes, and check the UUIDs for each. This ensures 
that you can boot from the partition.
This task is a step in Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines. It is part of the process for Verifying 
the bare metal restore from the command line.
Perform the task below to create bootable partitions using the command line.
To use the command line to make a restored Linux machine bootable
1 You must mount the root volume first and then the boot volume. Mount each restored volume by using 
the following commands:
a To mount the root volume, type the following command and then press Enter:
mount / /mnt
For example, if /dev/sda2 is the root volume, then type mount /dev/sda2 /mnt and then press 
Enter.
b To mount the boot volume, type the following command and then press Enter:
mount / /mnt/boot
For example, if /dev/sda1 is the boot volume, then type mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot and then 
press Enter.
2 If the volume size is increasing — that is, if the destination volume on the new Linux machine is larger 
than the volume was in the recovery point — then you must delete any existing bitmap data files.
3 Obtain the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) of the new volumes by using the blkid command. Type 
the following and then press Enter:
blkid [volume]
4 Obtain the old UUID of the partition or partitions from the mounted recovery points /etc/fstab file 
and compare it to the UUIDs for the root (for Ubuntu and CentOS), boot (for CentOS and RHEL), or data 
partitions by typing the following command and then press Enter:
less /mnt/etc/fstab
NOTE: This procedure applies to Linux machines that use GRUB1 or GRUB2. When using this procedure, 
ensure that the boot partition is healthy and protected.
CAUTION: When you boot a restored Linux machine for the first time after a BMR, AppAssure takes a 
base image of the restored machine. Depending on the amount of data on the machine, this process 
takes more time than taking an incremental snapshot. For more information about base images and 
incremental snapshots, see Understanding protection schedules.
NOTE: Some system configurations may include the boot directory as part of the root 
volume.
NOTE: You can also use the ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid command.