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Complete Linux Recovery using TBMR

Restoring a complete Linux system is made easier with TBMR which provides a bootable image (akin to an Ubuntu installer ISO) that is able to recover whole systems from the TSM backup server.

To be able to perform a restoration in the future with the help of TBMR, a utility has to be installed and set up on the system while the system is functional. In other words, you need TBMR installed and configured before data has been compromised and a disaster recovery is needed.

This document will describe how to install and set up TBMR on Linux. Windows is supported as well, and can be set up in an equivalent way to how it is done on Linux. However, that will not be described here.

TBMR Preparation Guide

Client Installation

We will describe step by step how to install the TBMR utility on Linux systems to make them recoverable using TBMR.

Note

These steps must be taken before data has been compromised!

Prerequisites

• The client machine must be running a Linux distribution.
• The TSM Backup-Archive client (dsmc) must be installed and configured to perform a full incremental system backup. See the Quickstart Guide for information about how to do this.
• A license for TBMR. As a customer, you have access to our site license.

Please contact support to receive a copy of the TBMR software and license.

Installation

1. Install TBMR (on Ubuntu/Debian):

   dpkg -i tbmr_*_amd64.deb
   

   Install TBMR (on CentOS/Red Hat/Rocky Linux):

   rpm -i tbmr-*.x86_64.rpm
   

2. Install the TBMR site license:

   rm -f /etc/cbmr/TBMR.lic
   licmgr -p tbmr --cid [CONTRACT-ID] --act [ACTIVATION-CODE]
   

3. In /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin/dsm.sys add the following line:

   PRESCHEDULECMD '"/usr/bin/tbmrcfg"'
   

   This option will run tbmrcfg before every scheduled event, such as incremental backups. It will regenerate an important folder called /TBMRCFG.
4. The special folder created by TBMR called /TBMRCFG contains information about the OS, dsmc configurations and the hardware it is running on. It is important that it is available in the backup during a disaster recovery, so make sure to back up the system one more time to ensure that /TBMRCFG is included.

Note

For btrfs file systems, it is recommended to exclude snapshot directories. You can do so by appending the following line to /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin/dsm.sys:

exclude.dir /.snapshots/*/snapshot      

System Recovery on Safespring Compute

This section covers the extra steps needed to recover a Linux instance running on Safespring Compute.

Step 1: Create an image

Similar to the pre-defined images on the Compute platform such as ubuntu-22.04 or debian-12, you can upload your own images.

To upload the xbmr-for-safespring-x.x.x.x.linux.x86_64.iso ISO so that you can use it on the compute platform, go to Compute -> Images and click on "Create Image." Then:

• Specify a descriptive name, such as xbmr-x.x.x.x.
• Select the ISO as the image file.
• Select Format as ISO - Optical Disk Image.
• Set the architecture to x86_64.
• Set the minimum RAM (MB) to 8192.
• Set Protected to No.

You may optionally change other settings if you would like to further customize the image.

Once done, hit "Create Image."

Step 2: Create a volume to restore to

You need a new volume to restore the system to. It should be at least the same size as that of the original system.

Go to Volumes -> Volumes, and click on "Create Volume." Then:

• Specify a descriptive "Volume Name."
• Keep the "Volume Source" as "No source, empty volume."
• The "Size" should be at least the same or larger than the original boot volume.

You may optionally change other settings if you would like to further customize the volume. Once done, hit "Create Volume."

Click on "Edit Volume" next to the newly created volume, and make sure that the "Bootable" checkbox is ticked.

Step 3: Create an XBMR instance

To use the ISO image, you must create a compute instance for XBMR. This is not the instance for the system to be restored, rather it is for XBMR only. It can be safely discarded once the restoration is complete.

Go to Compute -> Instances and click on "Launch Instance."

1. Specify a descriptive "Instance Name", such as XBMR.
2. Click "Next >", then choose "Image" under "Select Boot Source." Choose the XBMR image that you have created on "Step 1" by clicking on the arrow next to it. This will move it to the "Allocated" list.
3. Click "Next >". Then select an instance flavor that has storage allocated to it, such as l2.c4r8.100, by clicking the arrow next to it. Make sure that it has at least 8GB of RAM. You will not need more than 100GB of storage because this space will only be used by the XBMR ISO and not the system to be recovered.
4. Click "Next >". Select either public or default.
5. Click on "Launch Instance."
6. Once the instance has been launched, on the "Actions" column, click on the arrow and then "Attach Volume." Select the volume from "Step 2" and attach it. This is the volume that the system will be recovered to.

Step 4: Perform the system recovery

At this point, you should have everything ready to perform the system recovery. A secure way to interface with XBMR on the Safespring Compute platform is to use the Console (a web-based VNC client). It can be accessed from Compute -> Instances -> [Your TBMR instance] -> Console.

Perform all the obligatory steps described in the System Recovery section below as you would on any other machine.

Once done, go to Compute -> Instances and click on the arrow next to the XBMR instance, and click on "Detach Volume." Select the restored volume, and detach it. Proceed to Step 5.

Step 5: Create an instance for the recovered system

With the recovered drive, you are ready to create the compute instance for the recovered drive.

Make sure to:

• When creating the instance, choose a flavor without any storage.
• In the "Source" section, set "Select Boot Source" to "Volume" and "Delete Volume on Instance Delete" to "No." Next, select the recovered volume.

Once you have configured everything, you can launch the instance and test it to see if it has booted up and is functional.

If everything worked correctly, you may delete the XBMR instance. The XBMR image can be kept around for future use if you want, or be discarded as well.

System Recovery

To perform a restore of a machine with TBMR, the following steps must be taken:

1. Locate a replacement machine for the broken machine.
2. Boot the replacement machine with the bootable image, having Internet network access.
3. Generate a new password for the node via API or portal.
4. Enter the node name (12 characters A-Z) and password into the booted tool.
5. Optionally add any additional missing drivers for the new machine.
6. Restore the old machine into a new system.

More information

For further details at this point, please see:

• TBMR For Linux Usage Guide
• TBMR For Windows Usage Guide

Preparations

Safespring recommends all users to prepare and maintain bootable media of the recovery tool before the required use of the tool.

To restore a machine, the following preparatory steps need to be taken:

1. Retrieve the bootable ISO image.

   The bootable ISO of TBMR for Linux, called XBMR. The ISO is named xbmr-for-safespring-x.x.x.x.linux.x86_64.iso.

2. Prepare bootable media (DVD or USB) with this bootable image.

   Using your favorite method, prepare, for example, a DVD or USB drive with the ISO image retrieved in step 1.

Restore of a Linux machine

1. Make a bootable USB or DVD with xbmr-for-safespring-x.x.x.x.linux.x86_64.iso if you have not done so already.
2. Boot into the recovery environment using the ISO. X11 based Linux recovery environment is recommended. Automatic recovery wizard is recommended.
3. (Optional) Manually set network options, if needed, at Tools -> Network Setup.
4. (Optional) Set the keyboard layout at Tools -> Keyboard Layout.
5. Select Automatic Recovery. Provide the following TSM server information:
   • Server address
   • Port
   • Node name
   • Password (You will probably have to rekey the node beforehand, since the client rotates passwords)
6. Hit "Next >" and select a recovery date.
7. Proceed further, and click on "Recovery Options." A new window will open where you can map backed-up storage devices to local devices by dragging-and-dropping the target block devices. You can also select which filesystems to restore.
8. Click "Ok" and "Next >". The recovery process will begin.
9. Once done, reboot into the recovered OS.

Creating Safespring's Custom XBMR ISO

The instructions in this section are optional.

The ISO that was provided to you by Safespring called xbmr-for-safespring-x.x.x.x.linux.x86_64.iso was created for your convenience and includes the Safespring CA certificate as well as the right hostname and port number already set. In this section, we document how we created this ISO so that you have an idea of exactly what changes were made, and possibly use this information to create your own further customized ISO.

Note

This guide helps you prepare SSH connectivity for flexibility in Step 1. But you could technically create the ISO without SSH, and use the built-in terminal exclusively if you like as well.

Prerequisites

You need:

• Cristie's ISO xbmr-x.x.x.x.linux.x86_64.iso burned to a USB stick, a drive or a partition. If you are using a VM (recommended), you should be able to boot directly into the ISO without burning it to anything.
• Another drive, USB stick or partition to save the new ISO file to.
• Two machines on the same network. One for booting the Cristie's ISO, and another for accessing the booted XBMR system through SSH.

Step 1: Preparing the Environment

1. Boot into Cristie's ISO xbmr-x.x.x.x.linux.x86_64.iso. Make sure that this machine has an external storage device that you can save files to.
2. Change the keyboard layout at Tools -> Set Keyboard Layout.
3. Change the root password: Tools -> Change password.
4. Start the SSH server: Tools -> Start SSH.
5. Get the IP address of the machine. This should be used to connect via SSH using another machine.
6. Run the shell: Tools -> Run shell.
7. Type:

   ip address
   

   Ignore the first lo loopback interface. Find the right local network or public IP address from among the other interfaces.
8. Once you have the IP address, you should be able to access the machine from another machine on the same network using SSH:

   ssh root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
   

Step 2: Creating the Custom ISO

1. Edit /etc/cbmr/DRAnswer.ini. Replace:

   [CustomISO]
   CDROMDevice="/dev/sr0"
   
   [TSM]
   TCPPort="1600"
   

   With:

   [CustomISO]
   CDROMDevice="/dev/sr0"
   IncludeCertificate="1"
   IncludeAnswerfile="1"
   OutputDir="/mnt/slash"
   OutputFile="xbmr.iso"
   LogfileDir=""
   Drivers=""
   ISOTitle=""
   KernelParameters=""
   IncludePassword="0"
   IncludeConfig="0"
   TimeoutBoot="iso"
   
   [TSM]
   TCPPort="1600"
   Certificate="/etc/cbmr/safespringca.crt"
   TCPServerAddress="server2.backup.dco1.safedc.net"
   COMMMethod="TCPIP"
   

2. Download Safespring's CA certificate to the right location:

   wget -O /etc/cbmr/safespringca.crt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/safespring/cloud-BaaS/master/pki/SafeDC-Net-Root-CA.pem
   

3. Mount the external storage device /dev/xxx to /mnt/slash. Make sure to pick the right device.

   mount /dev/xxx /mnt/slash
   

4. Create the ISO.

   custom_iso
   

5. Verify that it has been created in the right location. It should be called xbmr.iso.

   ls /mnt/slash
   

6. Shut down XBMR and boot into the new ISO xbmr.iso instead. Now all the Safespring-specific settings, including the CA certificate, should be available by default.