Linux System Recovery using Symantec Netbackup and a Linux Live-CD

The aim here is to describe a Linux System Recovery using Linux Live-CD and Symantec Netbackup Backup. Before delving into technical details, we want to highlight the fact that Symantec Netbackup has a Bare Metal Recovery features that suit this type of Recovery. But this feature doesn’t support all Linux OS (most of the popular ones are supported). For instance, this procedure was used to restored a complete Redhat 9 :)  Installation (it can also be used for a P2V migration).

Let’s check what is required for such restoration.

1.   A valid Full Symantec Netbackup Backup of the system we're trying to restore(I guess that one is obvious)

2.   A Linux Live CD that can support Symantec Netbackup Client, we’re using Ubuntu 8.04 LTS in this guide (fully supported, a list of supported OS can be found here)

3.  The installation CD of the Distribution we’re restoring, as stated above, we’re restoring a Redhat 9. So a Redhat 9 Boot CD is what we need for this case. The main reason for having the Install CD of the distribution is to avoid some incompatibility (like creating a filesystem which isn’t supported by the maintenance tools –e.g fsck- of the restored system)

4.  An Internet Connection (though it isn’t mandatory, we may just need some softwares/packages to install before installing Symantec Netbackup Client)

Once these prerequisites are met, we’re ready to start our restoration. As already described above, for this post, we’re using Ubuntu 8.04 LTS as Live-CD and are restoring a Redhat 9 Installation (the procedure can be easily adapted to others Distribution).

Below, a step-by-step (from a to f) description

a.     Boot on the Redhat 9 CD in rescue mode (linux rescue at the prompt) and recreate the target filesystems (the ones which will contain the restored data). Below is what we’ll create during this step.

MountPoint	Size	Filesystem	Device
/	65 GB	Ext3	/dev/sda3
/boot	100 MB	Ext3	/dev/sda1
/var	65 GB	Ext3	/dev/sda2
Swap	10 GB	Swap	/dev/sda5

Note that the target filesystems could be re-sized during this step (as long as we give enough space for the restoration). It’s also important to create these filesystems using the operating system we’re going to restore (avoid some filesystems features incompatibilities).

We just need a shell at this stage, so we’ll choose skip during the step in the screenshot below.

The filesystems are then created using fdisk and mkfs.ext3, mkswap… (as usual)

b.     Reboot the system on the Ubuntu Live-CD and install the required software for Netbackup Client Installation.

I assume that the network connectivity for Internet Connection and Software Installation is done for the Ubuntu LiveCD System. The list of software required to install on Netbackup Client for Supported Ubuntu/Debian can be found here. For proper NetBackup client operation on Ubuntu 8.04 Server Edition (64bit) the following packages are needed:

-  ia32-libs (In Universe Repository, so universe repository was enabled)

-  xinetd

-  ssh-server/rsh-server (required for remote install only)

We’ve also added the following for our specific environment

-  nfs-common (required to mount the directory where we’re keeping Netbackup Client binaries)

-  autofs (use to automatically mount the NFS shares)

root@ubuntu:~# apt-get update root@ubuntu:~# apt-get install ssh autofs nfs-common ia32-libs xinetd

Let’s also configured autofs to use /net automount features and complete Netbackup Client Installation.

root@ubuntu:~# cat /etc/auto.master # # $Id: auto.master,v 1.4 2005/01/04 14:36:54 raven Exp $ # # Sample auto.master file # This is an automounter map and it has the following format # key [ -mount-options-separated-by-comma ] location # For details of the format look at autofs(5). #/misc /etc/auto.misc --timeout=60 #/smb /etc/auto.smb #/misc /etc/auto.misc /net /etc/auto.net root@ubuntu:~# mkdir /net root@ubuntu:~# /etc/init.d/autofs start Starting automounter: done. root@ubuntu: # cd /net/nbmaster/applis/NetBackup_7.5_CLIENTS/ root@ubuntu:/net/nbmaster/applis/NetBackup_7.5_CLIENTS# ./install Symantec Installation Script ..... Do you wish to continue? [y,n] (y) Do you want to install the NetBackup client software for this client? [y,n] (y) This package will install Linux/Debian2.6.18 client. This package will install NetBackup client 7.5. Enter the name of the NetBackup server : nbmaster Would you like to use "ubuntu" as the configured name of the NetBackup client? [y,n] (y) Client binaries are located in /net/nbmaster/applis/NetBackup_7.5_CLIENTS/NBClients/anb/Clients/usr/openv/netbackup/client/Linux/Debian2.6.18. Saving client binaries for Linux/Debian2.6.18. ...... File /usr/openv/tmp/install_trace.10360 contains a trace of this install. That file can be deleted after you are sure the install was successful

c.     After the prerequisites, we’re adding Netbackup servers entries to the /etc/hosts files, add the Ubuntu Client Entries in Netbackup Servers hosts file, Install the client and register the Ubuntu LiveCD node.

On Ubuntu LiveCD,

root@ubuntu:~# cat /etc/hosts 127.0.0.1 localhost 127.0.1.1 ubuntu #Netbackup Master Server 10.252.37.60 nbmaster nbmaster.mtncameroon.net

On Master/Media Netbackup Servers,

[esso_s@nbmaster ~]$ head /etc/hosts 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost ::1 localhost 10.252.37.60 nbmaster nbmaster.mtncameroon.net # Live CD Restoration 10.252.32.187 UBUNTU [root@nbmaster~]# bptestbpcd -client ubuntu [root@nbmaster~]#bpplclients baunixsystem -add ubuntu Linux Debian2.6.18

d.     We can now mount the filesystems that were previously created (step a.) in the directory where we’ll push the restoration

root@ubuntu:~#mount /dev/sda3 /mnt root@ubuntu:~# ls -lrt /mnt/ total 16 drwx------ 2 root root 16384 2013-06-11 21:02 lost+found root@ubuntu:~# mkdir /mnt/{boot,var} root@ubuntu:~# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/var root@ubuntu:~# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot root@ubuntu:~# df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on tmpfs 1.9G 15M 1.8G 1% /lib/modules/2.6.24-26-generic/volatile tmpfs 1.9G 15M 1.8G 1% /lib/modules/2.6.24-26-generic/volatile varrun 1.9G 128K 1.9G 1% /var/run varlock 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /var/lock udev 1.9G 52K 1.9G 1% /dev devshm 1.9G 12K 1.9G 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 1.9G 80K 1.9G 1% /tmp /dev/sda3 62G 33M 58G 1% /mnt /dev/sda2 62G 33M 58G 1% /mnt/var /dev/sda1 99M 4.1M 90M 5% /mnt/boot

e.     Let’s the restoration begin (using Netbackup Java Console, specifying as source the system to restore and as destination our Ubuntu Server, choose “restore everything to different location” and fill with the name of the directory where / is mounted)

Choose the last full you want to recover from the backup history and start the / restoration.

Uncheck  the rename soft/hard link options that are enabled by default.




f.      After the restoration, we can reboot the system and fix the Specific Operating Systems Issues that will arise. In this case, we’ve to do the following:

1.     Reinstall the Grub, for that we’re going through the “linux rescue” using Redhat 9 CD. We’ll let the rescue mode trying to mount the restored system under /mnt/sysimage. If not able, mount the filesystem manually and chroot under the mounted directory

# mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/sysimage # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sysimage/boot # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/sysimage/var # chroot /mnt/sysimage # /sbin/grub-install /dev/sda

2.     Modify the /etc/modules.conf to add Vmware scsi controller driver by replacing the following in /etc/modules.conf

# alias scsi_hostadapter mptbase

# alias scsi_hostadapter1 mptscsih

3.     Recreate the initrd which will now have the correct scsi modules

# mvinitrd-2.4.20-8smp.img initrd-2.4.20-8smp.img_old # mkinitrd -v initrd-2.4.20-8smp.img 2.4.20-8smp

4.     I found that my etc/fstab was set to use e2label , so label were well reassigned to each filesystem

# cat /etc/fstab LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1 LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2 none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 none /proc proc defaults 0 0 none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0 LABEL=/var /var ext3 defaults 1 2 /dev/sda5 swap swap defaults 0 0 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0 /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0 # e2label /dev/sda3 / # e2label /dev/sda2 /var # e2label /dev/sda1 /boot

Migration : From Solaris 10 Sparse Local Zone to Solaris 11 Local Zone

Let's described the migration process of Solaris 10 Sparse Local Zone to Solaris 11 Local Zone in 09 easy steps. But before delving into the subject, it's important to remind the following. 
In Solaris 10, we had 02 types of zones/containers that we could create, the first (and the default type) is "Sparse root zone" and the second is "Whole root zone". 
The main difference between these 02 types was that with "sparse root zone", you shared part of the root filesystem with the global zone while with  "whole root zone", every Solaris packages are copied to the local zone private filesystem. In Solaris 11, this distinction goes away (more details about Comparison between Solaris 11 Zone and Solaris 10 Zone can be found here). What we address below is the migration of a sparse Solaris 10 zone from Solaris 10 Global Zone to Solaris 11 Global Zone.

1. Let’s Print the existing zone's configuration. We will need this information to recreate the zone on the destination system:

SOURCE_GLOBAL_ZONE# zonecfg -z Source_local_zone info zonename: Source_local_zone zonepath: /zpool_slz/slz brand: native autoboot: false bootargs: pool: scheduling-class: ip-type: shared hostid: inherit-pkg-dir: dir: /lib inherit-pkg-dir: dir: /platform inherit-pkg-dir: dir: /sbin inherit-pkg-dir: dir: /usr net: address: 192.168.1.118/24 physical: nxge5 defrouter: 192.168.1.1

2. The next step is to stop this source local zone and bring it to a state where it can be archived.
The reason for stopping the zone is that we should not archive a running zone because the application or system data within the zone might be captured in an inconsistent state.Also,  the zone is a sparse root zone that has inherit-pkg-dir settings, For that reason we need to bring it in the state "ready" ( that'll enable the archiving of  inherited directories).

SOURCE_GLOBAL_ZONE# zoneadm -z Source_local_zone halt SOURCE_GLOBAL_ZONE# zoneadm -z Source_local_zone ready

3. Now, we should copy the /var/sadm/system/admin/INST_RELEASE from the source global zone to the source local zone, otherwise we may face the  Bug 15751945 (with an error stating that The image release version must be 10 (got unknown), the zone is not usable on this system).

# cp /var/sadm/system/admin/INST_RELEASE /zpool_slz/slz/root//var/sadm/system/admin/

4. Let’s archived the local zone (zonepath: /zpool_slz/slz).  For that we’ll create a gzip compressed cpio archive named Source_local_zone.cpio.gz (The local zone will still be named Source_local_zone on the target system)

SOURCE_GLOBAL_ZONE# cd /zpool_slz/slz SOURCE_GLOBAL_ZONE# find root -print | cpio -ocP@ | gzip >/export/home/slz.cpio.gz

N.B: the –c option of cpio is to avoid the error similar to “UID or GID are too large to fit in the selected header format”

5. Transfer the archive to the target Oracle Solaris 11.1 system, using any file transfer mechanism to copy the file, we’ll use sftp here.

SOURCE_GLOBAL_ZONE# scp /zpool_slz/slz.cpio.gz admin@192.168.1.20:

6. On the target systems (DEST_GLOBAL_ZONE), create the target zone. Below, we're using a configuration file that's sourced for the creation of the zone.
Note – The zone's brand must be solaris10 and the zone cannot use any inherit-pkg-dir settings, even if the original zone was configured as a sparse root zone.

root@DEST_GLOBAL_ZONE:/export/zonecfg# cat /export/zonecfg/Source_local_zone.cfg create -t SYSsolaris10 set zonepath=/zones/slz select anet linkname=net0 set linkname=Source_local_zone_net0 set lower-link=net0 end add anet set linkname=Source_local_zone_net1 set lower-link=net1 end root@DEST_GLOBAL_ZONE# zonecfg -z Source_local_zone -f /export/zonecfg/Source_local_zone.cfg

7. Display the new local zone's configuration:

root@DEST_GLOBAL_ZONE:/export/zonecfg# zonecfg -z Source_local_zone info brand: solaris10 autoboot: false bootargs: file-mac-profile: pool: limitpriv: default,proc_priocntl,proc_clock_highres,sys_time scheduling-class: ip-type: exclusive hostid: fs-allowed: anet: linkname: Source_local_zone_net0 lower-link: net0 allowed-address not specified configure-allowed-address: true defrouter not specified allowed-dhcp-cids not specified link-protection: mac-nospoof mac-address: random mac-prefix not specified mac-slot not specified priority not specified rxrings not specified txrings not specified mtu not specified maxbw not specified rxfanout not specified anet: linkname: Source_local_zone_net1 lower-link: net1 allowed-address not specified configure-allowed-address: true defrouter not specified allowed-dhcp-cids not specified link-protection: mac-nospoof mac-address: random mac-prefix not specified mac-slot not specified priority not specified rxrings not specified txrings not specified mtu not specified maxbw not specified rxfanout not specified

8. Install the zone from the archive that was created on the source system, with the archive transferred into the /zpool_slz directory on the destination system

DEST_GLOBAL_ZONE# zoneadm -z Source_local_zone install –p -a /export/home/admin/slz.cpio.gz

N.B: Again, you might get an error here specifying that “The image release version must be 10 (got unknown)” if you haven’t copied the /var/sadm/system/admin/INST_RELEASE file in the source local zone as specified above.

9. Once the zone installation has completed successfully, the zone is ready to boot.

DEST_GLOBAL_ZONE# zoneadm -z Source_local_zone boot

Migration Completed....

Solaris 11 REPO - Configuration of Multiple Repositories Using Multiple Depot Server Instances

As part of the exercise to install some virtualized highly available infrastructures using Oracle Solaris Technologies (Solaris Cluster, Solaris Zones, Solaris LDOMs…), I started by configuring and installing a Solaris 11  local IPS repository server. In this post, we’ll address the topic of installing an http shared repository for Solaris 11.1, Solaris Cluster 4.1 and EMC PowerPath.

As prerequisite for this configuration we need a working Solaris 11 System (can be either an x86-based or a SPARC-based system) with enough space available to copy the repositories (15Gb for Oracle Solaris 11.1 release repository and about 500 Mb for Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.0 and EMC PowerPath)

1.        Oracle Solaris 11.1 IPS Repository

There’s 02 ways to obtain a copy of the Oracle Solaris 11.1 IPS package repository: the first is to download the repository images files from the Oracle Solaris 11 download site and the second is to retrieve the repository directly from the Internet (using pkgrecv). We’ll go for the first method.
We’ll first create a zfs dataset for the package repository and disable the atime of this dataset (to improve performance during the update of this repo).

# zfs create rpool/export/repoSolaris11_1 # zfs set atime=off rpool/export/repoSolaris11_1

Then, concatenate the iso files downloaded , validate the download using digest and mount it
# cd /export/install/media/ # cat sol-11_1-repo-full.iso-a sol-11_1-repo-full.iso-b > sol-11_1-repo-full.iso # digest -v -a md5 /export/install/media/sol-11_1-repo-full.iso md5 (/export/install/media/sol-11_1-repo-full.iso) = be2f78ac92adc9ccafc936bcc8a74ba7 # lofiadm -a /export/install/media/sol-11_1-repo-full.iso /dev/lofi/1 # mount -F hsfs /dev/lofi/1 /mnt

Synchronize the content of the repo directory by using rsync (pay attention to the / at the end of repo) and unmount the lofi device (optionally delete the iso files)

# rsync -aP /mnt/repo/ /export/repoSolaris11_1 # ls /export/repoSolaris11_1 pkg5.repository publisher # umount /mnt

To enable clients to search for packages in the local repository, we’ll use the following command ( catalogs packages in the repository and updates search indexes).

# pkgrepo -s /export/repoSolaris11_1 refresh Initiating repository refresh.

At this stage, the repository is in place and can be used locally. But, in order to enable clients to retrieve packages in this local repository, we’ll configure an HTTP interface (also possible by using NFS Share). We’re using pkg.depotd to serve the repository to clients. Pkg.depotd (svc:/application/pkg/server) is the depot server for the image packaging system. It provides network access to the data contained within a package repository. By default, pkg.depotd listens for connections on port 80. For this Solaris Repository, we’ll use port 8080.

First of all, let’s make sure the publisher prefix is set on the ha-cluster repository:

# pkgrepo get -s /export/repoSolaris11_1 SECTION PROPERTY VALUE publisher prefix solaris repository description This\ repository\ serves\ a\ copy\ of\ the\ Oracle\ Solaris\ 11.1\ Build\ 24b\ Package\ Repository. repository name Oracle\ Solaris\ 11.1\ Build\ 24b\ Package\ Repository repository version 4

If not, then let’s do it

# pkgrepo set -s /export/repoSolaris11_1 publisher/prefix=solaris

To enable clients to access the local repository via HTTP, let’s configure and enable the svc:/application/pkg/server Service Management Facility (SMF) service.

# svccfg -s application/pkg/server setprop pkg/inst_root=/export/repoSolaris11_1 # svccfg -s application/pkg/server setprop pkg/readonly=true # svcprop -p pkg/inst_root application/pkg/server /export/repoSolaris11_1 # svccfg -s application/pkg/server setprop pkg/port=8080 # svcadm refresh application/pkg/server # svcadm enable application/pkg/server

Check and Browse the repository at http://<reposerver_ip_address>:8080/.

# netstat -an | grep 8080 *.8080 *.* 0 0 128000 0 LISTEN

Now we can configure our repository on client system by resetting the origin for the Solaris publisher.

We first check the actual solaris publisher which is configured for the client node (by default it’s the oracle public repository).

# pkg publisher PUBLISHER TYPE STATUS P LOCATION solaris origin online F http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release/

We can reset the origin of this Solaris Publisher by running

# pkg set-publisher -G ’*’ -M ’*’ -g http://10.252.33.160:8080/ solaris -G ’*’ Removes all existing origins for the ha-cluster publisher. -M ’*’ Removes all existing mirrors for the ha-cluster publisher. -g Adds the URI of the newly-created local repository as the new origin for the ha-cluster publisher. # pkg publisher PUBLISHER TYPE STATUS P LOCATION solaris origin online F http://<local_ip>:8080/

2.       Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.1

Let’s now configure a second instance for the pkg.depotd (svc:/application/pkg/server)which will serve Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.1 Packages. The iso is downloaded from  OTN.

# zfs create rpool/export/repoCluster4u1 # zfs set atime=off rpool/export/repoCluster4u1 # lofiadm -a /export/install/media/osc-4_1-ga-repo-full.iso /dev/lofi/2 # mount -F hsfs /dev/lofi/2 /mnt # rsync -aP /mnt/repo/ /export/repoCluster4u1 # ls /export/repoCluster4u1 pkg5.repository publisher # umount /mnt

Again, the repository creation commands do not build a search index by default. To enable clients to search for packages in the local repository, we’ll use the following command  (catalogs packages in the repository and updates search indexes).

# pkgrepo -s /export/repoCluster4u1 refresh Initiating repository refresh.

As described above, the repository for Solaris 11.1 is already configured using an http interface (pkg.depotd daemon handling the web service) So we’re going to serve multiple repositories using multiple pkg.depotd daemons running on different ports on the same repository server.  As we used port 8080 for Solaris 11.1 Repository, we’ll use 8081 for Solaris Cluster 4.1 Repository

Let’s make sure that the publisher prefix is set on the ha-cluster repository:

# pkgrepo get -s /export/repoCluster4u1 SECTION PROPERTY VALUE publisher prefix ha-cluster repository description This\ repository\ serves\ a\ copy\ of\ the\ Oracle\ Solaris\ Cluster\ 4.1\ Package\ Repository. repository name Oracle\ Solaris\ Cluster\ 4.1\ Package\ Repository repository version 4

Add a new instance of the pkg/server service:

# svccfg -s pkg/server add ha-cluster # svccfg -s pkg/server:ha-cluster addpg pkg application # svccfg -s pkg/server:ha-cluster setprop pkg/port=8081 # svccfg -s pkg/server:ha-cluster setprop pkg/inst_root=/export/repoCluster4u1 # svccfg -s pkg/server list :properties default ha-cluster

Complete configuration of the new pkg/server instance:

# svccfg -s pkg/server:ha-cluster addpg general framework # svccfg -s pkg/server:ha-cluster addpropvalue general/enabled boolean: true

Start the new service:

# svcadm refresh application/pkg/server:ha-cluster # svcadm enable application/pkg/server:ha-cluster

Check and Browse the repository at http://<reposerver_ip_address>:8081/.

# netstat -an | grep 8081 *.8081 *.* 0 0 128000 0 LISTEN

Configure the Solaris Cluster Repository on The client

# pkg set-publisher -G ’*’ -M ’*’ -g http://10.252.33.160:8081/ ha-cluster -G ’*’ Removes all existing origins for the ha-cluster publisher. -M ’*’ Removes all existing mirrors for the ha-cluster publisher. -g Adds the URI of the newly-created local repository as the new origin for the ha-cluster publisher. # pkg publisher PUBLISHER TYPE STATUS P LOCATION ha-cluster origin online F http://10.252.33.160:8081/ solaris origin online F http://10.252.33.160:8080/

3.       EMC PowerPath

For EMC PowerPath, the Archive was downloaded from EMC PowerLink and uncompressed.

Below are the steps to configure its repository.

# zfs create rpool/export/repoPPath # zfs set atime=off rpool/export/repoPPath # tar xf EMCPower.SOLARIS11.5.5.P01.b002.tar # rsync -aP ./EMCpower/ /export/repoPPath # ls /export/repoPPath pkg5.repository publisher # rm -r EMCpower EMCPower.SOLARIS11.5.5.P01.b002.tar

To enable clients to search for packages in the local repository

# pkgrepo -s /export/repoPPath refresh Initiating repository refresh.

As described above, the repositories for Solaris 11.1 and Solaris Cluster 4.1 are already configured using an http interface (pkg.depotd daemon handling the web service) So we’re going to add a third instance of pkg.depotd.  As we’ used port 8080 for Solaris 11.1 Repository and 8081 for Solaris Cluster 4.1, we’ll use 8082 for EMC PowerPath. Let’s check the publisher prefix of this new repository.

# pkgrepo get -s /export/repoPPath SECTION PROPERTY VALUE publisher prefix emc.com repository version 4

Add a new instance of the pkg/server service:

# svccfg -s pkg/server add emcppath # svccfg -s pkg/server:emcppath addpg pkg application # svccfg -s pkg/server:emcppath setprop pkg/port=8082 # svccfg -s pkg/server:emcppath setprop pkg/inst_root=/export/repoPPath # svccfg -s pkg/server list :properties default ha-cluster emcppath

Complete configuration of the new pkg/server instance:

# svccfg -s pkg/server:emcppath addpg general framework # svccfg -s pkg/server:emcppath addpropvalue general/enabled boolean: true

Start the new service:

# svcadm refresh application/pkg/server:emcppath # svcadm enable application/pkg/server:emcppath

Check and Browse the repository at http://<reposerver_ip_address>:8082/.

# netstat -an | grep 8082 *.8082 *.* 0 0 128000 0 LISTEN

Configure the EMC PowerPath Repository on The client

# pkg set-publisher -G ’*’ -M ’*’ -g http://10.252.33.160:8082/ emc.com -G ’*’ Removes all existing origins for the ha-cluster publisher. -M ’*’ Removes all existing mirrors for the ha-cluster publisher. -g Adds the URI of the newly-created local repository as the new origin for the ha-cluster publisher. # pkg publisher PUBLISHER TYPE STATUS P LOCATION ha-cluster origin online F http://10.252.33.160:8081/ solaris origin online F http://10.252.33.160:8080/ emc.com origin online http://10.252.33.160:8082/

Install EMC PowerPath Package

# pkg search emc INDEX ACTION VALUE PACKAGE pkg.description set EMC Powerpath Multipathing, version 5.5.0.1.0 pkg:/system/EMCpower@5.5.0.1.0-2 pkg.summary set EMC Powerpath Multipathing, version 5.5.0.1.0 pkg:/system/EMCpower@5.5.0.1.0-2 basename dir etc/emc pkg:/system/EMCpower@5.5.0.1.0-2 # pkg install EMCpower Packages to install: 1 Create boot environment: No Create backup boot environment: No Services to change: 1 DOWNLOAD PKGS FILES XFER (MB) SPEED Completed 1/1 226/226 28.2/28.2 0B/s PHASE ITEMS Installing new actions 320/320 Updating package state database Done Updating image state Done Creating fast lookup database Done

HP ILO/Linux output to VSP

The aim here is to describe the configuration and usage of HP ILO VSP (Virtual Serial Port) in order to redirect a RHEL5 System Output on this Virtual Port.

Note that the procedure is different for RHEL6/Upstart or RHEL7/Systemd, these entries address the same for: RHEL6/Upstart based-System , RHEL7/Systemd based-system. 

The same procedure could be used with others Init-based Linux Distribution. We'll go through the following Steps:

BIOS Configuration

Grub Configuration

Init Configuration

Connect trough ILO

1. BIOS Configuration:

Go to ‘BIOS Serial Console & EMS’ menu

Set  ‘BIOS Serial Console Port’ to COM2

Set ‘BIOS Serial Console Baud Rate’ to 115200

2. Grub Configuration:

Before modifying the grub.conf, we should first confirm the name of COM2 device which was previously configured in the BIOS. Setserial is a program designed to set and/or report the configuration information associated with a serial port. This information includes what I/O port and IRQ a particular serial port is using.

[root@mypc.me ~]# setserial -g /dev/ttyS[01] /dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4 /dev/ttyS1, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3

Append "console=tty0 console=ttyS1,115200" to the kernel configuration of your boot entry in grub.conf.

#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz #hiddenmenu title myboot (2.6.18-128.1.10.el5)         root (hd0,0)         kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 console=tty0 console=ttyS1,115200         initrd /initrd-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.img

3. Init Configuration:

Add the following lines to /etc/inittab

# Added for VSP of ILO S1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 115200 ttyS1 vt100

getty / agetty - agetty opens a tty port, prompts for a login name and invokes the /bin/login command.

Ask Init Daemon to reread its configuration file

root@mypc.me # init q

4. Connect trough ILO:

Now, it's time to try to connect.

</>hpiLO-> vsp Virtual Serial Port Active: COM2 Starting virtual serial port. Press 'ESC (' to return to the CLI Session. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.3 (Tikanga) Kernel 2.6.18-128.el5PAE on an i686 mypc.me login:

If the Virtual Port is already in use by someone else, you'll have the following error: "Virtual Serial Port is currently in use by another session." In this case, you can stop the actual connection and start yours.

</>hpiLO-> vsp status=2 status_tag=COMMAND PROCESSING FAILED error_tag=COMMAND ERROR-UNSPECIFIED Virtual Serial Port is currently in use by another session. </>hpiLO-> stop /system1/oemhp_vsp1