#1375 Issue closed: REAR Suse 11 SP4 running on IBM Power8 ISO image not bootable¶
Labels: support / question, fixed / solved / done
ccjung opened issue at 2017-06-05 22:39:¶
Relax-and-Recover (ReaR) Issue Template¶
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(quick response is not guaranteed with free support):
-
rear version (/usr/sbin/rear -V):Relax-and-Recover 1.17.1 / Git
-
OS version (cat /etc/rear/os.conf or lsb_release -a):
OS_VENDOR=SUSE_LINUX
OS_VERSION=11 -
rear configuration files (cat /etc/rear/site.conf or cat /etc/rear/local.conf):
OUTPUT=ISO
BACKUP=NETFS
BACKUP_URL=file:///REAR_ISO/
ISO_MAX_SIZE=4500
ISO_DIR=/REAR_ISO
TMPDIR=/REAR_TEMP -
Are you using legacy BIOS or UEFI boot? BIOS boot
-
Brief description of the issue: Running REAR on IBM Power8 hardware. Created a bootable backup ISO file using the command "rear -v mkbackup". Tried to boot up the ISO image using the IBM HMC in SMS mode and saw error with no bootable file found. How do I get this ISO image to be bootable?
I tried to run the make rpm using the rear-master package to build the
2.00 version but I get errors saying :
== Building archive rear-2.00-git201706050000 ==
git checkout master
/bin/bash: git: command not found
make: *** [rear-2.00-git201706050000.tar.gz] Error 127
How do I get the latest already built rpm for REAR which runs on IBM Power8?
- Work-around, if any:
jsmeix commented at 2017-06-06 15:09:¶
I am not a IBM Power user so that I can only provide
some general info, e.g. see
https://github.com/rear/rear/issues/1368#issuecomment-302330619
that reads (excerpts):
Simply put: ReaR 1.17.1 is too old to be used on IBM Power. Recently there have been many adaptions and enhancements from @schabrolles regarding ReaR on Power (ppc64/ppc64le)
How to test the currently newest ReaR GitHub master code
(even independent of an already installed ReaR software):
Basically "git clone" it into a directory and then
configure and run it from within that directory like:
# git clone https://github.com/rear/rear.git # cd rear # vi etc/rear/local.conf # usr/sbin/rear -d -D mkbackup
(note the relative paths "etc/rear/" and "usr/sbin/").
This means you must have 'git' installed.
On my SLES11 x86 system I have the "git-core" RPM package installed.
I don't know whether or not 'git' (e.g. the "git-core" RPM)
is provided via official SLES11 repositories.
If you cannot get 'git' installed on your SLES11 IBM Power system
it may also work when you go to
https://github.com/rear/rear
there click on the "Clone or download" button
and then use "Download ZIP"
which gets you a "rear-master.zip"
that contains the current ReaR GitHub master code.
When you 'unzip rear-master.zip' into a separated directory
and therein do "cd rear-master" it should work to configure
and run it from within that directory in the same way
as described above for a "git clone".
At least for me (not on IBM Power) it worked this way.
ccjung commented at 2017-06-06 20:47:¶
@jsmeix,
Thank you for your response and suggestions!
SUSE SLES 11 SP4 on Power doesn't include git-core.
With the firewalls blocking outside access, I cannot run the git clone https://github.com/rear/rear.git.
I used your workaround and unzipped the rear-master.zip file into a directory ( /rear-master) and run REAR from that directory.
I imported the ISO file into the VIO server media repository and was able to boot up the ISO file using the IBM HMC in SMS mode but it doesn't have any data.
I am an AIX system admin trying to learn and use SUSE SLES 11 and 12 and ReaR so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Here are the files generated when I run "rear -d -D mkbackup"
total 1294128
drwxr-x--- 2 root root 4096 Jun 6 15:32 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jun 2 13:45 ..
-rw------- 1 root root 202 Jun 6 15:28 README
-rw------- 1 root root 270 Jun 6 15:28 VERSION
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12543360 Jun 6 15:32 backup.log
-rw------- 1 root root 1245151060 Jun 6 15:32 backup.tar.gz.00
-rw------- 1 root root 62615552 Jun 6 15:28 rear-suse.iso
-rw------- 1 root root 3413822 Jun 6 15:28 rear-suse.log
-rw------- 1 root root 130042 Jun 6 07:49 rear.log
I see separate backup.tar.gz.00 and ISO files.
Doesn't REAR combine the bootable image + data into one ISO file?
How do get it combined into 1 bootable ISO image with boot data and data?
I couldn't find any latest built rpm for SLES11SP4 and SLES12SP4 running on Power (ppc or ppcle).
Do you know where I can get the latest built rpm?
I tried to run "make rpm" to build the rpm but got errors.
== Building archive rear-2.00-git201706060000 ==
git checkout master
/bin/bash: git: command not found
make: *** [rear-2.00-git201706060000.tar.gz] Error 127
jsmeix commented at 2017-06-07 10:15:¶
ReaR can combine the bootable image + data into one ISO file,
see the example configs at usr/share/rear/conf/examples
in particular rescue-and-backup-on-same-ISO-image-example.conf
Right now I used in my local.conf (excerpt):
OUTPUT=ISO BACKUP=NETFS BACKUP_OPTIONS="nfsvers=3,nolock" BACKUP_URL=iso://backup OUTPUT_URL=nfs://10.160.4.244/nfs
and I got the backup in the ISO image:
# usr/sbin/rear -d -D mkbackup Relax-and-Recover 2.00 / Git ... Creating recovery/rescue system initramfs/initrd initrd.cgz with gzip default compression ... Creating tar archive '/tmp/rear.3nGa5SVAfztFvbF/tmp/isofs/backup/backup.tar.gz' ... Archived 1416 MiB in 143 seconds [avg 10140 KiB/sec] Making ISO image Wrote ISO image: /root/rear-master.zip/rear-master/var/lib/rear/output/rear-e205.iso (1.5G) Copying resulting files to nfs location
With a huge backup this could cause disk-space issues
because on the system where "rear mkbackup" is run
the ISO image needs to be created and stored
# ls -lh var/lib/rear/output/ total 1.5G -rw------- 1 root root 1.5G Jun 7 11:38 rear-e205.iso
and one needs all that space in ReaR's (temporary)
working area $TMPDIR/rear.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
where all the files exists wherefrom the ISO image
gets created.
This is what I get as final result on my NFS server:
# ls -lh e205/ total 1.6G -rw------- 1 nobody nogroup 202 Jun 7 11:39 README -rw------- 1 nobody nogroup 1.5G Jun 7 11:39 rear-e205.iso -rw------- 1 nobody nogroup 7.1M Jun 7 11:39 rear-e205.log -rw------- 1 nobody nogroup 262 Jun 7 11:39 VERSION
Booting the rear-e205.iso on another (replacement) machine
with same "hardware" ( I use QEMU/KVM virtual machines,
cf. "First steps with Relax-and-Recover" at
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Disaster_Recovery
)
boots the ReaR recovery system and therein "rear recover"
recreates the system with the backup "inside" the ISO
(at least for me this "just works").
Regarding a latest built rpm for current ReaR master code:
We are currently in the process to release ReaR version 2.1
and when ReaR version 2.1 is released you can get RPMs
from the "usual places" as described
in "Version upgrades with Relax-and-Recover"
and "First steps with Relax-and-Recover" in
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Disaster_Recovery
BUT:
I think only RPMs for x86 architecture are available for SLES11.
I think for IBM Power no RPMs are available for SLES11.
In the end the architecture does not really matter for ReaR
because ReaR is only bash scripts.
In general why we provide RPMs only for certain architectures
is described in the RPM spec file, see
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rear/rear/master/packaging/rpm/rear.spec
In general regarding IBM Power architecture see also
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rear/rear/master/doc/rear-release-notes.txt
that reads (excerpt)
Supported Architectures Rear-2.1 is supported on: o Intel x86 type of processors o AMD x86 type of processors Rear-2.1 may or may not fully work on: o Intel Itanium processors o PPC processors o PPC64 processors o PPC64LE processors Rear-2.1 does not support: o ARM type of processors o s390x type of processors
schabrolles commented at 2017-06-08 06:29:¶
@suseuser168,
git-coreis provided by the SLES11SP4-SDK DVD- If you need it, I can provide you rpm builded for ppc64 sles11, just tell me
- Regarding ISO with boot+backup, this option is currently not
available for POWER.
If you really need to have an ISO image with everything (boot+backup) I need to have a look on it.
I usually prefer to have an ISO included boot+tool and backup stored in a NFS server on the network (NETFS).
I put some example of this kind of configuration with rear on POWER in this presentation : https://www.slideshare.net/sebastienchabrolles/relax-and-recover-on-power-updated-052017
jsmeix commented at 2017-06-08 12:08:¶
@schabrolles
many thanks for your help with POWER specific issues!
I wonder why ISO with included backup is not possible for POWER.
I assume it is because of
https://github.com/rear/rear/issues/1142
Or is there another reason?
schlomo commented at 2017-06-08 12:17:¶
@schabrolles many thanks also from me and please also extend that to the other IBM colleagues who help with ReaR. I took the liberty to add your presentation to http://relax-and-recover.org/documentation/#external-links
schabrolles commented at 2017-06-09 06:31:¶
thanks @schlomo @jsmeix
Sure, I'll transmit your message to my to the IBM guys (@jayfurmanek and
@mmitsugi) who worked to make ReaR work on POWER.
@jsmeix regarding the ISO+backup issue, I think it is related to #697. I'll try to have a look on it on my free time to evaluate what have to be done to make it work on Power.
jsmeix commented at 2017-06-09 10:50:¶
@schabrolles
thanks now even I see it! ;-)
The '*_create_iso*' scripts are architecure dependant.
On x86 we have three scripts
output/ISO/Linux-i386/300_create_isolinux.sh output/ISO/Linux-i386/800_create_isofs.sh output/ISO/Linux-i386/820_create_iso_image.sh
while on other architectures we have only one for each architecture
output/ISO/Linux-ia64/800_create_isofs.sh output/ISO/Linux-ppc64/800_create_isofs.sh output/ISO/Linux-ppc64le/800_create_isofs.sh
It seems in output/ISO/Linux-i386/820_create_iso_image.sh
the whole $TMP_DIR/isofs content gets included in the ISO
(and via things like BACKUP_URL=iso://backup the backup
becomes stored in $TMP_DIR/isofs/backup)
while in contrast e.g.
in output/ISO/Linux-ppc64/800_create_isofs.sh
only the files in the ISO_FILES array get included in the ISO
which explains why in
https://github.com/rear/rear/issues/697
it helped to add $TMP_DIR/isofs to the ISO_FILES array.
Therefore on my first glance it seems all what is to do
is to adapt the ISO creation on the other architectures
to match how it is done on x86.
@schabrolles
it seems after you adapted and cleaned up the bootloader install
scripts (together with the whole 'finalize' stage) for POWER
it looks now as if also the ISO making scripts should
be adapted and cleaned up in a similar way...
jsmeix commented at 2017-06-09 11:03:¶
@suseuser168
according to your above
https://github.com/rear/rear/issues/1375#issuecomment-306612244
I used your workaround and unzipped the rear-master.zip file into a directory ( /rear-master) and run REAR from that directory. I imported the ISO file into the VIO server media repository and was able to boot up the ISO file using the IBM HMC in SMS mode ...
this particular issue here is solved so that I close it.
Regardless that it is closed one can still add furter comments
but I would prefer if for each separated topic a separated
GitHub issue is used to avoid that separated things get
mixed up into a huge incomprehensible mess.
jsmeix commented at 2017-06-20 12:19:¶
With
https://github.com/rear/rear/pull/1383
merged
this issuse should be fully fixed.
[Export of Github issue for rear/rear.]