This document contains the release notes for the open source project Relax-and-Recover.
This document is distributed with the following license: “Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)”. To read the license deed go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
Relax-and-Recover is a GNU/Linux system administrator tool used to create disaster recovery images which makes bare metal restore easier. System administrators use Relax-and-Recover as part of disaster recovery policy which does not replace in any way a good backup policy.
The following features are supported on the most recent releases of Relax-and-Recover. Anything labeled as (NEW!) was added as the most recent release. New functionality for previous releases can be seen in the next chapter that details each release.
The most recent release of Relax-and-Recover is supported on most GNU/Linux based systems with kernel 2.6 or higher. It provides the following functionality:
Hot maintenance capability. A rescue image can be made online while the system is running.
Command line interface. Relax-and-Recover doesnot require a graphical interface to run, nor in creation mode, nor in rescue mode (console is enough).
Support included for most common file systems, such as ext2, ext3, ext4 and reiserfs. Other filesystems like jfs, xfs and btrfs are also implemented, but are less tested. (Feedback is appreciated)
Selected Hardware RAID and (eg. HP SmartArray) and mirroring solutions (eg. DRBD) are supported.
LVM root volumes are supported.
Multipath support for SAN storage
UEFI support
Integrates with internal backup solutions such as:
Integrates with external backup solutions such as:
Integrates with Disaster Recovery Linux Manager (drlm) (NEW!)
Udev support (except for some really ancient udev versions) which is the base for many new and important features:
System reconfiguration
Support backup software: Bacula, both locally attached tapes (with bextract) and network-based backups. Also, in combination with OBDR tapes.
Create OBDR tapes with method mkbackup and put the backup onto the tape
to have a single-tape bootable recovery solution
Label the OBDR tape with the method format to avoid accidental
overwrites with OBDR
Create bootable disk (eSATA, USB …) media with the backup included:
BACKUP_URL=usb:///dev/device
Together with OUTPUT=USB we have now a complete solution on hard disks
(booting of it and restoring data).
DHCP client support (IPv4 and IPv6). Dhcp client activation
can be forced via the variable USE_DHCLIENT=yes (define in /etc/rear/local.conf).
It is also possible to force DHCP at boot time with kernel option dhcp
USE_STATIC_NETWORKING=y, will cause statically configured network settings to be applied even when USE_DHCLIENT is in effect
Save layout and compare layouts for easy automation of making Relax-and-Recover snapshots (checklayout option)
The layout workflow is the default workflow instead of the deprecated dr workflow. The dr workflow kept all important system information into a directory structure where the new layout workflow use files to keep the information centralized. The dr workflow has been removed in rear v1.14!
External USB booting now uses extlinux instead of syslinux, and therefore, the USB disk must first be formatted with an ext2, ext3, ext4 or btrfs based file system
cron job to check changes in disk layout and trigger rear mkrescue if required
VLAN tagging support
Add timestamp of rear run with rc code to the syslog or messages file; sending mail report is also possible
NOTE: Features marked experimental are prone to change with future releases.
Fill in the ReaR poll so we can learn better the wishes of our customers and users. We hope we can implement or improve our work with this in the future. We need your input and/or feedback!
The first release of Relax-and-Recover, version 1.0, was posted to the web in July 2006. For each release, this chapter lists the new features and defect fixes. Note that all releases are cumulative, and that all releases of Relax-and-Recover are compatible with previous versions of Relax-and-Recover, unless otherwise noted.
The references pointing to fix #nr or issue #nr refer to our issues tracker
Several fixed required to the Debian packaging rules needed so it builds correctly on OBS
Fixed the NTP startup script (issue #641)
Fixed the vfat label issue (issue #647)
Improved the DUPLICITY method with finding all required libraries and python scripts
Added the /run directory to the list of recreating missing directories (issue #619)
Fix issue with USB disk and rsync as internal backup program (issue #645)
Fix rsync restore: –anchored invalid rsync option (issue #642)
A new variable was introduced NSR_POOLNAME (issue #640)
/tmp/ to $TMP_DIR/ (issue #607)
Related to security recommendations for Fedora and RHEL:
Move nfs-client from depends to recommends in Debian control file (issue #633)
In packaging/rpm/rear.spec replaced “BuildArch: noarch” with “ExclusiveArch: %ix86 x86_64 ppc ppc64” that should tell the user that rear is known to work only on %ix86 x86_64 ppc ppc64 and removed “Requires: yaboot” for ppc ppc64 because that is the default installed bootloader on ppc ppc64 (issues #629 and #631)
Support the Oracle Linux 6 ksplice module (issue #605)
In script 27_hpraid_layout.sh added the missing HPSSACLI_BIN_INSTALLATION_DIR variable to the COPY_AS_IS array (issue #630)
Modified the packaging Makefile and rules for debian to fix the failing OBS Debian builds (issue #604)
Syslinux version > 5.00 is now supported (ISO and USB output) - works on Debian 8, Ubuntu 15.04 (issue #624)
Bail out when syslinux/modules are not found in lib/bootloader-functions.sh (issues #467 and #596)
You could also define a variable SYSLINUX_MODULES_DIR if rear cannot find it automatically (should not be necessary)
Support was added for SLES11 on PPC64 hardware (issues #616 and #628)
Support was added for new hardware - PPC64LE - RHEL and Ubuntu (issue #627)
FIX the hashed password (SSH_ROOT_PASSWORD variable) and added a missing library libfreeblpriv3 (issue #560)
Insert a 3 seconds sleep after a volume group restauration to give udevd or systemd-udevd time to create needed devices (issue #608 and #617)
Variable MANUAL_INCLUDE=YES has been introduced to work with array BACKUP_PROG_INCLUDE (issue #597)
Add new variable NSR_DEFAULT_POOL_NAME (defaulting to Default) to use a different default pool name. Renamed the RETENTION_TIME variable to NSR_RETENTION_TIME (issue #640)
rear website shows the user guide which is part of the rear software (linked to GitHub)
new document 10-integrating-external-backup.adoc which explains the steps to take for a new backup integration into rear
Removed the plain password in the logs (and output) coming from BACKUP_PROG_CRYPT_KEY to avoid crib (issue #568)
Mount vfat file system without special mount options seems to work much better then with these options in recovery mode, therefore, we do not use these anymore (especially for /boot/efi) (issue #576)
Elilo support has been added for SLES (not fully tested yet) - issue #583
Grub2 rescue menu has been added (enable this feature with GRUB_RESCUE=y) - issue #589
splitted script 31_include_uefi_tools.sh in two pieces: 31_include_uefi_tools.sh: to grab the UEFI tools (as long as /boot/efi is mounted), and 32_include_uefi_env.sh: to dig deeper into the configuration when UEFI is active (related to issue #214)
This is necessary to have to UEFI tools on SLES 11/12 where we cannot create an UEFI bootable ISO image. We must boot in BIOS mode, and need the UEFI tools to make the system bootable over UEFI.
It is now possible to format an USB disk with a vfat and ext3 partition (for UEFI booting) - issue #593
rear -v format -- --efi /dev/<usbdevice>
However, UEFI booting from an USB disk has not been implemented yet (sponsoring?).
Simplified the code for ext* fs and added StopIfError calls to prevent divide by zero during recovery (issue #598)
Syslinux version >6 requires some special handling due to splitting up the package (Ubuntu 15.04) (issue #584)
Debian 8 support added with ISO booting with latest syslinux release as well (issues #596, #599 and #600)
Changed the behavior of SSH_ROOT_PASSWORD - now saved as MD5 hash password, but backwards compatibility is still respected (issue #560)
For EMC NetWorker server/client we added some exclude items to COPY_AS_IS_EXCLUDE_NSR (issue #571)
Removed the Warning message from main rear script as it was misleading (issues #563 and #564)
output/ISO/Linux-i386/80_create_isofs.sh: make sure ISO_FILES[@] are copied to isofs directory (issue #569)
rear 1.17 introduced a new stage directory (init) which is called before any workflow. Can be used for extra initialization code, custom configurations and other stuff that should happen each time that ReaR is used (was added especially for DRLM as plugin for their DRLM variables) (issue #557)
RHEL 5 could not mount NFS share as portmap daemon was not started yet. Reason was that script verify/NETFS/default/08_start_required_daemons.sh was executed after the mount test instead of before. (issue #547)
RHEL 6 on PPC64 architecture has problems with seclabel mount option. There was a fix which cuts the seclabel mount option (as rear is by default not using SELinux) (issue #545)
Disaster Recovery Linux Manager (DRLM) is a new Open Source project to centrally manage Disaster Recovery for Linux. ReaR 1.17 adds support for DRLM with a new configuration option DRLM_MANAGED=y (issue #522)
Adding /etc/crypto-policies/ when openssl is requested (prep/NETFS/default/09_check_encrypted_backup.sh) - required for https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1179239 (issue #523)
Introduced USING_UEFI_BOOTLOADER in default.conf file and modified all the involved scripts to follow the logic (issue #214)
Archicture PPC64 has been enhanced (partition recognition issue #536, console #537)
TSM restore filespace has been enhanced (issue #535)
Correct the usage of set -e and StopIfError function (issue #534, #541)
With BACKUP_TYPE=incremental disable variable NETFS_KEEP_OLD_BACKUP_COPY (mutual exclusive with this mode) (issue #143)
Increased to start variable from 32768 to 2097152 in script 10_include_partition_code.sh (issue #492)
Adding /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf (Ubuntu) to rear image when found (issue #520)
When using /etc/rear/mappings/ip_addresses IPADDR/cidr must be translated into IPADDR and NETMASK (for RHEL 5 and 6) (issue #460)
mdadm layout code was changed in RHEL 7; code to deal with it (issue #518)
Adding missing driver xhci_hcd to GNU/Linux.conf (issue #519)
Adding findmnt command to GNU/Linux.conf file; request from https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=908854
BTRFS code has been rewritten by J. Meixner/G. D’haese to get SuSe rear116 fork back into our master tree of rear. BTRFS is now properly recreated on Fedora 20 and 21 and on SLES 12 and OpenSuSe 13 (issue #233, #497, #538) See also https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=908854
Enhanced the systemd start-up of udev daemons which is different on Fedora 20 and 21 (issue #507, #531)
BACKUP_PROG_OPTIONS=”–anchored” became a default option in default.conf (issue #475)
Fixed an issue with auto-detection of the client name in BAREOS (issue #542)
Ubuntu 14.04 did not detect /dev/sda automatically - added upstart script 99-makedev.sh to create missing block devices like sda (issue #446)
New script usr/share/rear/layout/save/GNU/Linux/34_false_blacklisted.sh added as work-around. Sometimes we might see the HP Smart Storage Array disk listed as a multipath device. Most likely this device was not blacklisted in the blacklist section of the /etc/multipath.conf file (do not forget to rebuilt the initial ramdisk after this) e.g. falsempathdev=$( multipath -l | grep “HP,LOGICAL” | awk ‘{print $1}’ ) # mpatha
Added a systemd service script for SEP Sesam to start sesam client automatically (issue #498)
Disk Layout Generation with HP SmartArray with more than one Logical Drive correction introduced by issue #208 (issue #455)
OUTPUT_URL=null was added to avoid 2 ISO images on the local system (issue #501, #419)
Fix drbd restore code so it can handle multiple volumes in single resource (issue #495)
Function get_device_name was enhanced to properly translate /dev/vg/lv to /dev/mapper/vg-lv (issue #494)
Fixed the “lvm wait yes” problem (issue #493)
Device name conflict when grep disklayout file without proper space (issue #491)
Several fixes with mdadm code (issue #480, #489, #490, #508, #539)
Several fixes in the 10_include_partition_code.sh script (issue #487, #492)
Being a bit more careful when deleting the outputfs directory when rear finishes (issue #465)
Add a new config option USE_STATIC_NETWORKING (issue #488)
Resolving library search with duply (issue #482)
Improved the RPM package build for SLES, removed the lsb requirement (issue #479)
Integrated the patch skip_sysconfig_kernel_if_not_exist.diff from SuSe (issue #477)
Debian 7 reference to grub.conf was corrected (issue #473)
Debian packing was improved (issue #474, #484)
Commercial backup solution Galaxy 10 support added to rear (issue #471) Also, point in time recovery was implemented (issue #472)
Fixed the error “unary operator expected with BACKUP_TYPE” (issue #422)
lvm release 2.02.72 had already the knowledge of –norestorefile (issue #462)
Add prefix $OUTPUT_PREFIX to all PXE related files (issue #464)
55-migrate-network-devices.sh: fixed type with /sys/class/net (issue #459)
Removed Get_Start_Date function with Netbackup because (depending on backup strategy) it led to partial restore only (issue #456)
26_crypt_layout.sh: fixed issue when cypher contains : (issue #425)
55-migrate-network-devices.sh: rebuild the array instead of unset (issue #452)
skel/default/etc/scripts/system-setup : change uname -n by $HOSTNAME to avoid short/long hostname problems (issue #439)
Added a mkdir for $VAR_DIR/output if dir does not exist (issue #440)
95_check_missing_programs.sh to find REQUIRED_PROGS before proceeding (issue #418)
Added a fix for autorizing and recognizong the boot flag in the partition (issue #443)
udev showing error message during startup (issue #442)
Prevent “ntpd -q” from waiting forever if, for example, no network is available, by killing it after 10 seconds (issue #438)
Several improvements around duply and duplicity [Debian related] (issues #426, #478)
95_copy_result_files.sh uses now [*] instead of [@] with array (issue #431)
New variable introduced for TSM in default.conf file called LANG_RECOVER (issue #424)
Added Pre check script for removing older releases first during upgrade (RPM - issue #361)
Prevent udev rule rewrites if systemd-udevd is running - issue #405
Fix “Networker backup fails if pool name contains spaces” (issue #427 and #429)
Fix the “More than 128 partitions is not supported” problem (issue #373 and #428) during recreating the partition layout
A new configuration option, USE_STATIC_NETWORKING=y, will cause statically configured network settings to be applied even when USE_DHCLIENT is in effect (issue #447).
The validate rule for xarg bash -n changed into xarg -n bash -n so that rear is working correctly with older bash version 3 as well. Especially required for SLES 10, SLES 11 and EPEL 5 (issue #410).
Adding an updated rear man page and the correct release notes to the 1.16.1 sub-release. In rear 1.16.0 these were forgotten.
Code style improvements (issue #409).
Improvements around btrfs file system recognition and re-creation (issues #408 and #415).
Important fix for grub2 with OpenSuse 13 (changed LOADER into LOADER_TYPE).
Added example prep script to verify if extlinux is present (issue #250) - this type of script could be cloned for other important executables in various workflows.
As usual lots of bug fixes - see the issue tracker.
Network script now deals correctly with VLAN tagging as well
Added 2 new variables to default.conf for TSM: TSM_ARCHIVE_MGMT_CLASS which defines a backup class to use with TSM, and TSM_RM_ISOFILE which triggers (if set to y) to remove the original ISO files from local system once the ISO image has been transferred to TSM
Guessing the bootloader and saving this in a file in the $VAR_LIB/recovery/bootloader (will be picke dup during recovery to assist us in selecting the proper bootloader [ grub, grub2, uefi ])
Various corrections with BACKYP=RSYNC method (issue #200 and #366). In rear 1.16 the old and new style are still recognized, but we might drop the old style in later versions.
OLD STYLE:
BACKUP_URL=[USER@]HOST:PATH # using ssh (no rsh)
with rsync protocol PATH is a MODULE name defined in remote /etc/rsyncd.conf file
BACKUP_URL=[USER@]HOST::PATH # using rsync
NEW STYLE:
BACKUP_URL=rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/PATH # using ssh
BACKUP_URL=rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]::/PATH # using rsync
Checking the bootloader files during savelayout section - see issue #234
Backup method BACKUP=DUPLICITY has been fully tested and proven to work well (backup and recover). When using duply and automated recovery is possible. Several updates were made to make duplicity works as well with backup and recover
Variable SSH_ROOT_PASSWORD (see default.conf) allows to force a password with the rescue image (issue #362)
TSM version >=6.4 is now supported (issue #356), and point in time restore works better now (issue #358)
Fix the order of fs lines in checklayout.conf file when mor ethen 9 partitions are in use (issue #352)
Avoiding CD/DVD type devices to be added in the disklayout.conf file during savelayout (issue #257)
Removed mingetty executable from REQUIRED_PROGS list as RHEL 7 does not ship it anymore. agetty is getting more and more the standard now and rear will use this one automatically when mingetty is absent
New variable in default.conf file was defined BACKUP_TYPE= (empty is full or incremental; only works with the default BACKUP_PROG=tar)
Avoid stale NFS hangs with df command (issue #350)
For TSM a new variable was introduced in default.conf file: TSM_RESULT_SAVE (to disable the TSM saving; can be used when you saved the result via $ISO_URL, $OUTPUT_URL, $ISO_DIR or something else)
/etc/rear/local.conf is now empty by default and /etc/rear/site.conf now contains OUTPUT=ISO setting. This way we are sure that during an upgrade of rear we do not loose our original user settings (local.conf tends te be overwritten).
Fix for hpacucli where the order logicaldrive and array could be wrong (issue #208)
New variable TMPDIR allows to overrule the default /tmp temporary directory (handy when building big ISO images)
Added option -iso-level 3 to mkisofs command so we can create ISO image bigger then 4 GB (issue #323)
detecting ‘out of space’ errors while building huge ISO images
Add SEP Sesam external backup integration - issues #324 and #325
Add automatic recovery mode for Bareos - issue #311
Add incremental backup type with GNU tar with weekly backups, define in /etc/rear/local.conf the following (issue #294):
BACKUP=NETFS
BACKUP_TYPE=incremental
FULLBACKUPDAY="Mon"
Add support for Gentoo kernels - issue #312
The references pointing to fix #nr or issue #nr refer to our issues tracker
As usual lots of bug fixes - see the issue tracker.
Add EMC NetWorker (Legato) support for doing external backup
Add Bareos (Backup Archive REcovery Open Sourced) support for doing external backup (bareos is a fork of the open source backup suite Bacula)
Align the usage of KEEP_OLD_OUTPUT_COPY and NETFS_KEEP_OLD_BACKUP_COPY and make them behave sane. See also issue #192
Add the –selinux option to be safe with SELinux context restoration (with GNU tar)
Add an option to exclude modules on the rescue system
default.conf: EXCLUDE_MODULES=()
Add integrity check when BACKUP=NETFS and BACKUP_PROG=tar with the option BACKUP_INTEGRITY_CHECK
Add an option to define a root password to allow SSH connection whithout a public/private key pair (#272)
default.conf: SSH_ROOT_PASSWORD=
Implement the “splitted backup to iso” feature. To use that, BACKUP_URL has to use the iso://[subdirs] scheme but a different OUTPUT_URL has to be defined (issues #278 and #287). New parameter ISO_MAX_SIZE introduced.
Fix SELinux autorelabelling (issue #270 and #274)
Rear supports now more then 9 partitions (see issue #263)
systemd support added for Fedora 19/20 and OpenSuse 12.x/13.x
Automatic Recover feature on USB devices (label AUTOMATIC RECOVER in rear recover menu)
Add an option to copy all users and group. It is usefull in the case we want to restore ACL of all users. See default.conf:
CLONE_ALL_USERS_GROUPS=n
Example prep script to detect missing lftp (fix #247)
Using POSIX output format in df.txt (fix #248)
Recognize OracleServer as a Fedora derivate
Allow basic network configuration from the command line
Create directory $PXE_TFTP_LOCAL_PATH if it does not exist (fix #244, issue #244)
Support booting syslinux v5 (issue #238)
Fix installing grub when /boot is inside the root filesystem (issue #210)
Deal with BTRFS subvolumes correctly (issue #233 and #252)
Recognize OracleServer as a Fedora derivate
Added UEFI integration within rear (including booting ISO images)
Improved dataprotector GUI interaction (issue #189)
Secure backup was introduced (issue #196)
Add to /etc/rear/local.conf: BACKUP_PROG_CRYPT_ENABLED=1 BACKUP_PROG_CRYPT_KEY=”secretkey”
Added fixes recomended by RedHat Bugzilla report #882175
OUTPUT_URL scheme approvement (issue #37)
Netbackup improvement for xinetd (issue #180)
LOGFILE variable can be overruled now (issue #56)
Support for RBME restores over NFS
Packaging support introduced for Arch Linux
Added support for sshfs transport with BACKUP=NETFS (issue #171)
Re-introduced /dev/disk/by-id migration which was lost since release 1.7.22 (issue #22)
Updates required for systemd for fedora 18 and 19.
Check if ROOT_FS filesystem was mounted with ‘noexec’ attribute (issue #150)
The references pointing to fix#nr refer to our issues tracker
Lots of minor bugs were fixed, and not all of them are listed in current release notes. For a complete overview see the issue tracker.
Added duply/duplicity with one new backup method duplicity (Experimental)
Systemd supported on Fedora 17 and OpenSuse 12.2 (fix #115, #126)
Create correct yaboot dir on ppc (fix #109)
Add new RAMDISK output method. This writes the kernel and the initramfs to the location given in OUTPUT_URL.
Packaging - introduction of Makefile; cleanup dr workflow (fix #13, #49)
Make rear working from checkout of git, w.o.w. path is relocatable (fix #53)
Add bytes_per_inode information for ext* filesystem to layout.conf (fix #86)
Fixing ebuild to be Gentoo compliant (fix #93)
fix shutdown with upstart (fix #41)
multiarch support library support (fix #82)
Fix serial console on ubuntu 11.04 (fix #83)
Several fixes in layout file (fix #85)
Added fix for DAT320 tape drive (fix for #35)
Use generic grub code for all distributions (fix for #77)
list Xen paravirtualized disks in disklayout.conf (fixes #74 and SF3520992)
Support for multipathing was added
Several improvements and bug fixes to the layout code (especially with parted backwards compatibility).
Added support for ext4 file systems
The OUTPUT=USB with BACKUP=NETFS and BACKUP_PROG=rsync was corrected to avoid duplicate work
Fedora and RHEL will now rebuild the initial ramdisk if needed (on recovered system)
Fix for SF#3475480: datacompression on tape
Fix for SF#3481656: missing bacula-console executable for BACKUP=BACULA workflow
Fix for SF#3479570: /etc/passwd contains :x: without /etc/shadow
Added “migrate HWADDR after cloning” code
Improved the systemd code (parts required by Relax-and-Recover only) for Fedora 16/17
The DHCLIENT variables were moved from local.conf to rescue.conf. This is done automatically, so the end-user, shouldnot be aware of it.
At boot time more kernel options are recognized such as noip, dhcp,
debug. The noip will give you a rescue environment without any attempt to
start networking. The dhcp variable will try to start dhclient on any
network interface it finds activated. The debug variable (which is not new
by the way) will give you the chance to debug the code of our
Relax-and-Recover code.
Relax-and-Recover works again on IA64 architecture (at least with RHEL 5.x). Remember, RHEL 6 is not ported to IA64.
Multiple copies of Relax-and-Recover backups (of the same or different
systems) can be kept on a USB device (with OUTPUT=USB).
(NEW!) BACKUP=RSYNC workflow using rsync executable. Both ssh and rsync methods are supported. E.g.
BACKUP=RSYNC
OUTPUT=ISO
BACKUP_URL=rsync://username@hostname/path
BACKUP_PROG=/usr/local/bin/rsync #(instead of the default rsync)
EXCLUDE_ variables, better control over what is restored:
EXCLUDE_BACKUP excludes components from backupEXCLUDE_RECREATE excludes components from the recreate processEXCLUDE_RESTORE excludes components from the restore processThe layout workflow is now the default instead of the dr workflow. Under /var/lib/rear/layout all information of the system is kept in files.
Arch Linux is now supported with Relax-and-Recover.
The labeltape command has been superseded by the format command. This can be used with tapes and external (USB, eSATA) devices. Usage:
rear format [/dev/st0|/dev/sdx]
Replaced NETFS_URL and ISO_URL by BACKUP_URL and OUTPUT_URL. However, old references will still be recognized and used.
Fedora 16 is supported including GRUB 2, and systemd as init replacement.
Added the BACKUP_URL=file:///PATH with BACKUP=NETFS method (as described in configuration-examples.txt)
Improved multipath functionality
Optional automatic autofs exclusion
The mkobdr command has been removed. OBDR-enabled tapes can now be created using the mkrescue command and by defining the proper variables in /etc/rear/local.conf:
BACKUP=NETFS
OUTPUT=OBDR
BACKUP_URL=tape:///dev/nst0
The site configuration file /etc/rear/site.conf has been removed from the Relax-and-Recover package, but can still be used if end-users want. The purpose of this is to enable sites to distribute this file through RPM or DEB packages that do not have a file conflict with the Relax-and-Recover package. The distribution /etc/rear/local.conf file contains only configuration examples as comments in order to not interfere with configurations in site.conf.
The rear command is by default quiet, which means if you want the same
behavior as in previous versions you need to add the verbose option (-v)
with the rear command
The output workflow now runs before the mkbackup workflow especially done to make OBDR tape creation possible with the mkbackup workflow as the ISO image must be written first on an OBDR aware tape. Please note that this is a fundamental change with regard to previous versions of Relax-and-Recover. While utmost care has been taken that there would be no adverse side effects of this change. We cannot test all possible usage scenarios.
When using OUTPUT=USB then you have to make sure that the destination (USB)
disk is formatted as an ext2, ext3, ext4 or btrfs file-system. Extlinux is
now the only supported boot loader for bootable disks, syslinux is not
supported any more.
The Relax-and-Recover boot now shows a boot menu with options to choose from. The actual content of the menu depends on the available syslinux version and its modules (like menu.c32, hdt.c32, reboot.c32, poweroff.com).
Relax-and-Recover does properly recognize IPv6 addresses and uses these if configured.
NBU backup method now allows to restore to a point in time.
Support Fedora 15 (using systemd to boot-up) and RHEL6 and Scientific Linux 6.
Improved handling of HP SmartArray controllers.
Significantly improved error handling, especially when failing on subshells.
Autologin as root in the rescue media (for upstart and systemd based systems).
EXCLUDE_MOUNTPOINTS should work correctly now (fixed typo).
Support ext4 on RHEL5 and clones.
Ignore known errors when using EXTERNAL backup method (set
EXTERNAL_IGNORE_ERRORS to an array of return codes to ignore).
Use original filesystem mount options for recovery, support attr and facl tools.
Support XEN paravirtualized systems (tested only on RHEL5 so far).
Performance improvements (removed checksum calculation, PID-based locking).
Relax-and-Recover work space is now created with a random part to prevent potential security exploits.
Control exit tasks and subprocesses better. Kill subprocesses before exiting.
Support adding Relax-and-Recover boot files to local GRUB environment
(GRUB_RESCUE) and password protect rescue boot (GRUB_RESCUE_PASSWORD)
to avoid accidential recovery.
The default password is REAR.
(experimental!) Transfer ISO image to remote URL (ISO_URL). Please note
that this feature will be extended to cover all output methods. It has been
renamed to OUTPUT_URL.
Removed various warnings, e.g. about NETFS not being a professional backup method.
Partial support for Arch Linux has been added, more testing required.
(NEW!) shell workflow is now really usable.
Make 32/64 bit handling much more robust, especially on systems having /lib32.
NETFS backup and restore with rsync working now (BACKUP_PROG=rsync).
Support udev on RHEL4.
Development snapshot have now a version like 0.0.REV where REV is the SVN revision used to build the development snapshot.
Greatly reduced log clutter (lvm warnings about leaked file descriptors, which is a bash bug, various irrelevant error and verbose output).
checklayout can now also check arbitrary files (through an md5 checksum),
extend the CHECK_CONFIG_FILES array to use this feature.
An intermediate release only which fixed some hanging issues of version 1.9.0. Also, a RPM upgrade was fixed by this release from 1.7.25 to 1.9.0, which failed because of a wrongly CentOS symbolic link. See bugzilla#680664
With version 1.9.0 some new methods were added, such as:
rear mkobdr : to create an OBDR recovery tape (obsolete since 1.11.0)
rear labeltape : goes together with OBDR tapes. To avoid accidental
overwrites we force the creation of a label before rear mkbackup will
work. (obsolete since 1.11.0)
rear checklayout/savelayout : a new method to save the disk layout
and check if a new rear mkbackup or rear mkrescue is required.
New BACKUP methods were added, Bacula (BACKUP=BACULA) and bextract
(BACKUP=BEXTRACT), both are able to work in conjunction with
output=TAPE. See under the doc directory (or /usr/share/doc/rear-1.9.0/)
the configuration-examples.txt text file for beginners instructions.
OUTPUT=USB method has been extended with BACKUP=NETFS and
NETFS_URL=usb:///dev/<device> which makes it possible that the
complete archive is stored on the /dev/<device> and
Relax-and-Recover will make the USB stick (or disk) bootable too.
Udev support (except for some really ancient udev versions) which is the base for many new and important features, like kernel drivers for network cards and storage adapters are now loaded via udev, or deal with network persistent names in udev rules, and firmware loading.
DHCP client support (IPv4 and IPv6) has been added. Auto detection
is possible with new variable USE_DHCLIENT=yes (define in local.conf),
or one can hard-code your special DHCP client with the variables
DHCLIENT_BIN (for IPv4), and/or DHCLIENT6_BIN (for
IPv6).
Relax-and-Recover version 1.9.0 contain fixes for the following defects:
Missing support for Scientific Linux, LinuxMint
Sourceforge patch ID 2963804 - support for USBFS, but this patch has been
rewritten afterward to incorporate usb support into the NETFS backup method,
instead of having a separate USBFS backup method. Now, by using
NETFS_URL=usb:///dev/<device> and the NETFS backup method we achieve the
same result.
Sourceforge bug 3153027 : support for RHEV virtio device files
Novell bugzilla 581292 : cannot load NIC firmware because of missing udev support. Version 1.9 does have udev support, but firmware loading was broken. The rule in 00-rear.rules has been changed.
Relax-and-Recover version 1.7.26 fixed RedHat bugzilla defect 657174 : rescue image freezes during the boot while executing init. This was due the new upstart mechanism (replaced the sysv init procedure).
Relax-and-Recover version 1.7.25 fixed RedHat bugzilla defect 600217 : Fedora link missing in restore, pack and finalize sub-directories. This broke the proper image building on several Fedora versions.
Relax-and-Recover works on GNU/Linux kernel with version 2.6 and higher. For lower kernel versions Relax-and-Recover cannot be used, and for these systems, mkcdrec is still a good alternative.
As Relax-and-Recover has been solely written in the bash language we need the bash shell which is standard available on all GNU/Linux based systems. The default backup program Relax-and-Recover uses is GNU/tar which is also standard available.
Relax-and-Recover is known to work well on x86 and x86_64 based architectures.
Relax-and-Recover has also been ported to ia64 and ppc architectures, but
these are less tested. Use the ‘rear validate’ command after every
successful DR test please and mail us the results.
The default backup program with Relax-and-Recover is (BACKUP_PROG=tar)
GNU tar and the default compression used with tar is gzip. However, is
using gzip the best choice? We have done some tests and published the
results. See
Relax-and-Recover compression tests
Relax-and-Recover (rear) is an Open Source project under GPL v2 or higher license which means it is free to use and modify. However, the creators of rear have spend many, many hours in development and support. We will only give free of charge support in our free time (and when work/home balance allows it).
That does not mean we let our user basis in the cold as we do deliver support as a service (not free of charge).
Rear-1.17 is supported on the following Linux based operating systems:
Rear-1.17 dropped officially support for the following Linux based operating systems:
If you require support for unsupported Linux Operating System you must acquire a rear support contract (per system).
Requests to port rear to another Operating System (not Linux) can only be achieved with serious sponsoring.
Rear-1.17 is supported on:
Rear-1.17 may or may not fully work on:
Rear-1.17 does not support:
If you feel the need to get a fully functional rear working on one of the above mentioned type of processors please buy consultancy from one of our official developers.
Rear has a long history (since 2006) and we cannot supported all released versions anymore. If you have a problem we urge you to install the latest stable rear version or the development version (available on github) before submitting an issue.
However, we do understand that it is not always possible to install on hundreds of systems the latest and greatest version so we are willing to support previous versions of rear if you buy a support contract. Why do we change our policy? We cannot handle the big support requests anymore and we must give paid projects priority, therefore, we urge our customers to buy a support contract for one or more systems. You buy time with our core developers…
Issue Description: Debian 8 initramfs-tools: / on LVM gets mounted by initrd with kernel device name /dev/dm-X instead of /dev/mapper/XXX name
Issue #613 goes deeper into the problem with Debian 8 and LVM on /. The reporter created also a Debian Bug report #791754 for it.
See the fix mentioned in Debian Bug report #791754
Issue Description: BACKUP=NSR on RHEL 6 could break yum
Issue #387 describes a problem seen on RHEL 6 where when rear uses NSR and afterwards the link /lib64/libexpat.so.1 has been changed.
So far there is no workaround for this issue.
Issue Description: usage of an alternative configuration directory is different in mkbackup or recover mode
Using rear -v -c /etc/rear/mydir mkbackup works fine in production, but when you try (once booted from rescue image) rear -v -c /etc/rear/mydir recover it will fail.
The configuration files are copied to /etc/rear/ into the rescue image, so you simply need to type: rear -v recover
See issue #512
Issue Description: Is there a possibility to add btrfs subvolume to a rsync backup
At present (release 1.16.1) there is no workaround in place. If you happen to know how this could be fixed then add your ideas to issue #417
Issue Description: UEFI ISO booting does not work on OpenSuSe 12.x
At present (release 1.17.x) genisoimage cannot produce ISO images that can boot via UEFI on an OpenSuSe distribution (and also SLES).
Issue Description: TSM 7.1.0.0 cp writing dangling symlink libxmlutil-7.1.0.0.so on SLES SP3
To fix the error (you might see):
ERROR [LipCopyTo] Could not copy '/usr/lib64/../../opt/tivoli/tsm/client/api/bin64/libxmlutil-7.1.0.0.so' to '/tmp/rear.10455/rootfs/lib64'
See issue 476 for the resolution.
Issue Description: with RHEL 4 systems extended partitions are recognized as primary partitions
Error: Expecting a partition number
Full details can be read in issue #319.
However, you need to edit /var/lib/rear/layout/disklayout.conf file and change for
partition 4 “primary” to “extended”
Issue Description: System reconfiguration still has some weaknesses.
this has to be tested before relying on it, there are too many unknowns involved so that we cannot guarantee anything in this area. It has been developed mostly as a P2V tool to migrate HP servers to VMware Vms
hard disks need to be at least of the same size and amount as in the original system, ATM this is a simple 1:1 mapping of old to new disks, there is no removal of RAID groups or merging of smaller disks onto a bigger one or making stuff smaller.
any use of /dev/disk/by-path or /dev/disk/by-id is untested and will most likely not work. In some cases Relax-and-Recover will print a warning, but we are not able to detect all cases. Typically this leads to unbootable systems or bad /etc/fstab files
Issue Description: If SELinux is not disabled during backup (variable
BACKUP_SELINUX_DISABLE= in /etc/rear/local.conf) then we might see
errors in the rear-$(hostname).log file such as:
tar: var/cache/yum/i386/15/updates/packages: Cannot setfilecon: No such file or directory
Make sure the BACKUP_URL destination understands extended attributes
(CIFS is out of the question and NFS is problematic). When using local
disks (or external USB devices) make sure the proper mount options are
given in the BACKUP_OPTIONS variable, e.g.:
BACKUP_OPTIONS="rw,relatime,seclabel,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered"
(TIP) BACKUP_SELINUX_DISABLE=1 variable has been introduced in the
/usr/share/rear/conf/default.conf file to disable SELinux
while the backup is running (default setting).
Issue Description: Is incremental backup possible?
With our default settings (BACKUP=NETFS and BACKUP_PROG=tar) we support
incremental backups when we add the following extra variables:
BACKUP_TYPE=incremental
FULLBACKUPDAY="Mon"
Issue Description: ERROR: FindStorageDrivers called but STORAGE_DRIVERS is empty
Above error message might be seen after a fresh installation of the GNU/Linux kernel. Rear got confused between the running kernel version number and the actual fresh kernel available.
Reboot your server before using rear again, which is a good practice anyway after upgrading the GNU/Linux kernel.