Storix Software SBAdmin Backup and Recovery Guide for Xen Enabled Systems - Manual (Page 3)

Storix System Backup Administrator 3 SBAdmin Xen User Guide
Copyright © 2014 Storix, Inc.
Storix is a registered trademark of Storix, Inc in the USA. SBAdmin is a trademark of Storix, Inc in the USA and other countries
To specify the hypervisor to SBAdmin, create the file /storix/config/multibootfile (assuming /storix is your
Storix data directory). Within this file, specify the path to the Xen hypervisor. In this case it would be as
follows.
/boot/xen-3.0-i386.gz
You may now create a system backup and boot media.
Full System Backup and Recovery of a Paravirtualized domU
In a paravirtualized Xen environment, the Xen hypervisor is responsible for loading a modified kernel. For
SBAdmin to properly create a full system backup and perform recovery of this type of environment the following
requirements must be met.
1. There is a copy of the kernel used by domU in the /boot directory of domU. This may need to be copied over
from dom0.
2. There are kernel modules for the domU kernel in /lib/modules/$(uname -r) on domU. This may need to be
copied over from dom0 if the domU does not boot using the pygrub or pvgrub boot loaders.
3. If the domU does not contain a bootloader it will be necessary to specify “LILO” in the /.stdefaults file.
BOOTLOADER=LILO
4. If the dom0 system is not using pygrub or pvgrub there must be a copy of the domU kernel on dom0. Check for
the presence of the pygrub or pvgrub command on your dom0 system, or consult your Xen documentation.
Typically, SBAdmin provides support for migrating virtual systems to physical systems and vice versa. However,
because of the limitations of a paravirtualized domU kernel, this may or may not be possible. In order to migrate a
paravirtualized system, the domU kernel must support PVOPS. Most Linux distributions running a kernel newer
than 2.6.37 support this option. Most Linux distributions will include a kernel configuration file in the /boot
directory. The following command illustrates a supported kernel.
grep PARAVIRT /boot/config-$(uname -r)
CONFIG_PARAVIRT_GUEST=y
For further detail please consult your distribution documentation.
Performing a system backup of domU is done much in the same manner as any other Linux system. However, steps
specific to paravirtualized domU systems during system recovery are detailed here:
Creating Boot Media for Paravirtualized domU
Depending on your dom0 platform you may or may not be able to present ISO images to boot a domU. For
further information about your dom0 options please consult your vendor documentation.
Initrd Boot Media
If your Xen environment does not support attaching an ISO image or using a network boot path with
paravirtualization. You will need to create an initrd image to be presented to the domU for system recovery.
To create a SBAdmin install initrd image, run the following command on a configured domU client: