Linux system state recovery

The Backup Manager utilizes third-party recovery tool Relax-and-Recover (ReaR) to address System state on Linux. ReaR is the leader recovery solution for Linux based on GPLv3 license and developed entirely in Bash.

Linux system state restore instructions

The following is the sequence of steps to restore Linux system state:

  1. Restore the rescue ISO image

    If your source device is broken, you need to use another physical or virtual device to install the Backup Manager and restore the rescue image.

    1. Under the Restore tab, select a specific System state backup session, cove-rear.iso, and the restore location where the cove-rear.iso file will be restored

  1. Boot a device from the rescue ISO image

    If a target device is a virtual device:

    1. Connect the cove-rear.iso to CD/DVD drive

    If a target is a physical device:

    1. Create a bootable USB drive from cove-rear.iso, following the below steps:

    1. Open Terminal and identify the USB device name using lsblk utility

    2. Unmount the USB drive if it’s mounted:

      # umount /dev/sdX

    3. Write the ISO to the USB:

      # dd if=path/to/cove-rear.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress

    4. Eject the USB:

      # eject /dev/sdX

       

    Reboot the device from the USB, if the target is a physical device

    Once the device is started from the rescue ISO, the Relax-and-Recover boot menu appears:

    1. Select Recover <hostname> or Automatic Recover <hostname>

    1. If you have selected Recover <hostname>, enter a username (it might be any e.g. root) to log in

    2. After logging in, run rear recover command to initiate the recovery process

    Select Recover <hostname>, if you want to set up the rescue system before the recovery process begins.

    In case of selecting Automatic Recover <hostname>, logging in and running rear recover are performed automatically after the system finishes booting up.

  1. Recover partitions and filesystems

    Follow the prompts to recover partitions and filesystems. For more details, refer to the Relax-and-Recover documentation related to Layout configuration.

  2. Restore the file system

    Once the disk layout is recreated, the Backup Manager installation package is automatically downloaded and launched.

    1. Enter the installation token and the encryption key or passphrase during the installation

    The installation token can be generated by a Security offer on the device Settings tab.

    After successful installation the Backup Manager automatically restores files and folders based on the closest Files and folders backup session.

    Relax-and-Recover then performs some checks and set up the bootloader.

  3. Reboot the device

    1. Reboot the system by running the reboot command

      In case of Automatic Recovery, select 3 to reboot the system

    2. Boot the device from the hard drive or select the correct hard drive in the Relax-and-Recover boot menu

      The system is then recovered.

      On the recovered device, the Backup Manager must be updated and running in the restore-only mode.