Storix Software SBAdmin Linux System Recovery Guide - Manual (Page 7)

Storix System Backup Administrator 7 Version 8.2 Linux System Recovery Guide
1. Introduction
The
SBAdmin for Linux System Recovery Guide is a supplement to the SBAdmin User Guide , providing
details on reinstalling a Linux system from a SBAdmin System Backup. Note that a System Backup is not
limited to reinstalling the same system from which it was made, but it may also be used to “clone” the original
system onto different systems containing the same or different hardware.
When to Use this Guide
This guide provides instructions for booting and reinstalling a system from a SBAdmin System Backup. This
document should be reviewed after first installing the software to become familiar with this process and its
requirements BEFORE a system recovery is required.
Installation from a System Backup is fairly intuitive, but there is information and steps that must be taken to be
prepared in the event that a system re-installation is required. The System Backup contains all of the backup
data and the information needed to recreate the system and restore the data. To access the System Installation
Process, boot media must first be created. This may be either a bootable CDROM, network boot image, system
backup disk, or tape (for systems which support tape boot).
This guide will refer to information found in the SBAdmin User Guide . When doing so, the reference term or
section will be shown in Blue Text . If you need to refer to that information in the SBAdmin User Guide ,
highlighted sections ( in bold ) can be found in the Table of Contents , and other terms can be found in the
Index .
Terminology
The system recovery process is straight-forward and provides instruction and help screens to guide you through
the process. Even when creating and changing devices, filesystems, partition maps, logical volumes, etc, the
information provided should make the process fairly intuitive. There are a few terms you should understand
before beginning this process:
• Linux kernel : This is the first “program” that gets executed when your Linux system starts. It is
considered the “base operating system” from which all other processes are run. Various kernels
provide support for different types of hardware and software devices and filesystem types.
• Kernel modules : These are individual programs providing support for various devices and
filesystems. If the modules are compiled into the kernel, they are considered “built-in”. Otherwise, they
are compiled into binary programs outside of the kernel (but may only be executed by the kernel) and
are just referred to as “modules”. These are placed in a specific directory where the kernel knows
where to find them. This directory is /lib/modules/kernel-name, where kernel-name is the name of
your kernel. The kernel “name” is compiled into the kernel, and usually includes the kernel release level
and an optional suffix, often referring to the Linux distribution (i.e. “/lib/modules/2.4.18mdk”). You can
query the kernel name on your system by typing “uname –r” at the command line.
• Boot Loader : This is a program that exists on the boot disk or CDROM that is used to find and
execute the Linux kernel. It usually will install an initial filesystem in memory, and execute programs
within to load device modules needed to access the root (/) filesystem. The boot loader depends on the
firmware of the system, since the firmware must know how to load and execute the boot loader.
• Firmware : The firmware of a machine is a mini-operating system that is used to detect available boot
devices (disks, CDs, tapes or network adapters) and load and execute the “real” operating system. The
following table shows the system firmware supported by SBAdmin: