5.12 Failback to Physical Machines

If the required target infrastructure for a failback operation is a physical machine, you must register it with PlateSpin Protect.

The registration of a physical machine is carried out by booting the target physical machine with the PlateSpin boot ISO image.

5.12.1 Downloading the PlateSpin Boot ISO Image

You can download a .zip file containing the PlateSpin boot ISO image (bootofx.x2.iso) from the PlateSpin Protect area of Novell Downloads by doing a search with the following parameters:

  • Product or Technology: PlateSpin Protect

  • Select Version: PlateSpin Protect 10.4

  • Date Range: All Dates

5.12.2 Injecting Additional Device Drivers into the Boot ISO Image

You can use a custom utility to package and inject additional Linux device drivers into the PlateSpin boot image before burning it on a CD:

  1. Obtain or compile *.ko driver files appropriate for the target hardware manufacturer.

    IMPORTANT:Make sure the drivers are valid for the kernel included with the ISO file (for x86 systems: 2.6.32.54-0.3-pae, for x64 systems: 2.6.32.54-0.3-default) and are appropriate for the target architecture. See also KB Article 7005990.

  2. Mount the image in any Linux machine (root credentials required). Use the following command syntax:

    mount –o loop <path-to-ISO> <mount_point>

  3. Copy the rebuildiso.sh script, located in the /tools subdirectory of the mounted ISO file, into a temporary working directory. When you have finished, unmount the ISO file (execute the command unmount <mount_point>).

  4. Create another working directory for the required driver files and save them in that directory.

  5. In the directory where you saved the rebuildiso.sh script, run the following command as root:

    ./rebuildiso.sh –i <ISO_file> -d <driver_dir> -m i586|x86_64

    On completion, the ISO file is updated with the additional drivers.

5.12.3 Registering Physical Machines as Failback Targets with PlateSpin Protect

  1. Burn the PlateSpin boot ISO image on a CD or save it to media from which your target can boot.

  2. Ensure that the network switch port connected to the target is set to Auto Full Duplex.

  3. Use the boot CD to boot the target physical machine, then wait for the command prompt window to open.

  4. (Linux only) For 64-bit systems, at the initial boot prompt, type the following:

    • ps64 (for systems with up to 512 MB RAM)

    • ps64_512m (for systems with more than 512 MB RAM)

  5. Press Enter.

  6. When you are prompted, enter the hostname or the IP address of your PlateSpin Server host.

  7. Provide your administrator-level credentials for the PlateSpin Server host, specifying an authority. For the user account, use this format:

    domain\username or hostname\username

    Available network cards are detected and displayed by their MAC addresses.

  8. If DHCP is available on the NIC to be used, press Enter to continue. If DHCP is not available, select the required NIC to configure with a static IP address.

  9. Enter a hostname for the physical machine or press the Enter key to accept the default values.

  10. When prompted to indicate whether to use HTTPS, enter Y if you have enabled SSL, and N if you have not.

After a few minutes, the physical machine should be available in the failback settings of the PlateSpin Protect Web Interface.