The following options are available in the bare metal boot CD menu:
• Bare metal boot CD tasks option
• Bare metal boot CD backup option
• Bare metal boot CD restore option
• Bare metal boot CD utilities option
The Tasks Option provides Real Time Statistics and a Real Time Task Monitor.
The Real Time Statistics dialog shows the real time statistics of the currently running bare metal backup.
The Real Time Task Monitor is similar in functionality to the Task Monitor on the backup system. It displays the task number, the client name, and type of action taking place, the device on which the backup is taking place, the tape number, the current status and a comment on whether the task is completed.
Select Backup > Backup for the backup screen to be displayed.
The Bare Metal Backup dialog displays the name of the client and the server. These fields cannot be altered.
The Server backup Device field allows you to enter the backup device being used.
Verify the backup? field is used to determine if a backup will be verified. Bare metal backups should be done at least once a month.
To exclude a partition, select Exclude Partitions and press Enter. A list of partitions displays. Use the up-down arrow keys to select a partition and press the space bar to check the box.
A backup comment can be added if desired. Press F6 to start a backup.
Restore All – This option queues a restore job on the server and restores all the partitions.
Restore Master Boot Record (MBR) – This option allows you to restore only the master boot record from the backup.
Restore MBR and Extended MBR – This allows the restore of the master boot record and the extended MBR from the backup selected.
Restore Selected Partitions – This option allows you to select specific partition(s) to restore. The Select Partitions field allows you to select partition(s) to restore. The default is none. Press Enter, and use the space bar to check or uncheck the partition.
Note: A bare metal backup cannot be restored to a smaller disk.
All the restore options mentioned above have the same restore fields.
The Client name and the Server name are not editable.
Server Backup Device allows you to change the device name, if required.
Backup Number allows you to select the backup number to restore. By default this is 0, which indicates the last successful bare metal backup. If you know the number of the backup you want to restore, you can change this number.
Press F6 to run the restore.
Before a selective partition restore is performed, the partitions have to be created. If a restore is being done to a blank hard drive, then restore the MBR/EMBR first and then restore the selected partition. You could use fdisk to create the partitions as well. If the partition is larger than the one in the backup, the restore does not restore the partition. You will have to use some third party application to restore the partition.
Select Client: This option is used only if the boot CD has multiple clients. If you select Yes to the question asked about configuring the client, a list of clients displays. Choose the client you wish to configure. A hostname and the network for this client is also configured.
Bare Metal Quick Test: See the section on Quick Test to view details.
Escape to UNIX Shell: This takes you to a UNIX shell prompt where you can perform command line functions and then exit back to the Bare Metal interface.
Disk Utilities: This option provides a set of utilities to change the root drive if the one detected is not the correct drive, a utility to partition the disk, cleanup the Master Boot Record, and some statistic information about the disk. Disk Utilities has these options:
• fdisk to root disk: This option allows you to view information about the partitions on the system. You can also use this option to partition the drive if the restore is being done to a new disk.
• Zap the MBR: This will clean the Master Boot Record which holds the information about partitions and the boot record. This should be used with caution since this will render the system unbootable. Make sure you have a good bare metal backup before performing this operation.
• View Hard Drive: Allows you to view the information about all the hard drives on the system.
• Set root drive: This option allows you to set the appropriate root drive if the one detected is incorrect.
Troubleshooting: This menu allows you to view the system configuration in detail. It shows information about network configuration, the devices detected during boot up, and also allows you to set the speed of the network card if desired.
View PCI Bus: This option displays all devices that are attached to the PCI bus.
View Loaded Modules: This option displays all the loaded modules on the system.
View SCSI Devices Attached: This displays the SCSI devices attached to the system.
View Network Settings: This option displays the network card configuration. If there are several network cards, the one connected to the server would be configured.
Change Network Settings: This option allows you to change the settings for any network card. The Restart Autonegotiation option tries to configure the network to autonegotiation mode. By default it is set to no.
The Force Speed option allows you to set a speed. Select the option and press Enter to view a drop-down list. The force speed options are 10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1000 Mbps.
Force Mode sets the mode to be Half or Full Duplex.
Logs: This menu option allows you to view or delete the bare metal logs.
View Bare Metal Logs: This menu allows you to view the startup logs, the bare metal logs, or a log of a particular file.
Delete Logs: This option allows all the log files to be deleted.
Advanced: This option has the following parts:
• Change settings – As seen the client and server IP settings can be changed. While doing the Bare Metal Quick Test, if there is a failure in phase 3 or 4 (ping server by IP and name), you can check the settings and if incorrect, set the correct IP address. The netmask and the gateway can also be altered if required.
• Confirm hardware detection– This option helps you identify the hard drives and network on the system. If the root drive has been identified correctly, select Yes to display all network interfaces. Again you are asked to identify whether the network interface is correct. If both the root drive and the network interface have been correctly identified, it performs the Bare Metal Quick Test.
Note: This function must be done for hot bare metal to function properly.
• Backup Entire Disk – This option is used to back up the entire disk instead of backing up the partitions on the disk. This option should be used in cases where the system is configured for Software Raids (Dynamic Disks or GPT partitions in Windows).
• Exit – This allows you to exit out of the Bare Metal Menu.