Storix Software SBAdmin Linux System Recovery Guide - Manual (Page 11)

Storix System Backup Administrator 11 Version 8.2 Linux System Recovery Guide
2. Creating System Recovery Boot Media
The SBAdmin User Interface (either Xwindows GUI or Web Interface) provides a very simple procedure for
creating boot media, which is described in this section. This interface may be used to create bootable tapes,
boot CDROM images, network boot images, or can configure a local hard disk to boot to the system recovery
process. This interface may create any of the boot media types. Also refer to the stmakeboot command in the
Commands Reference , which may be run on any client to make bootable media directly from that system. All
media types will boot the target system into the same recovery menus.
When to Create Boot Media
It is generally a good idea to create bootable media for each individual system that is backed up using
SBAdmin. This is because most systems do not run under the same Linux kernel level, have the same device
support installed and configured, and have the same software level of various device support and other
applications installed.
If you attempt to boot from media created using one Linux kernel version (i.e. “2.4”), then attempt to install the
system from a backup that was running under a version 2.6 kernel, you may run into problems during or after
the installation completes. This is because the devices and filesystems created during the system recovery will
be later accessed by a different Linux kernel version that may not be compatible or provide the proper support.
For this reason, the SBAdmin Installation process provides strong warnings if you boot from a different kernel
than was running at the time the backup was created. The installation process also verifies that your boot media
contains the device and filesystem support that is required to install the system, based on those devices or
filesystems that were in use at the time of the backup. If the support is not provided by the bootable media, you
will be required to remove or change those devices or filesystems that are not supported.
If you have multiple systems, all running the same kernel level (but not necessary the exact same kernel), it is
generally safe to use the same boot media to boot and install different systems. Because the boot media is
probably the most important boot media you will ever need, it is a good idea to keep at least one spare or create
boot media of different types.
When You Should Create New Boot Media
1. Any time you update your operating system or compile/install a new kernel. Even if the kernel version
does not change, support for built-in devices or filesystems may have been added or removed, and
device or filesystem modules may also have been added or removed.
2. Any time you install a new release level of SBAdmin . Although we try to maintain compatibility between
current and past versions, there may be times when a new feature supported by the backup software
also adds new support to the system recovery process. Since the system recovery programs are
written to your boot media, you will need to remake the boot media to make sure you are using the
latest installation programs.
Creating System Installation Boot Media
To create the boot media, select Utilities->Create/Manage Boot Media->(CDROM, Network, Hard Disk or
Tape Boot Images) from the menu bar in the administrator main menu. If using a Network Administrator, you
will be prompted to select the server on which the boot media will be stored, the name of the image to
create/update, and the client on which the boot media should be created. Note that the boot media is created on
the selected client, but may be used to boot other clients of similar system type and operating system release
levels.
When selecting A Linux client, a screen similar to the following will appear: