This topic discusses different Linux® recovery options.
In the case where a Linux server fails to start, there are options that allow you to boot from external media and potentially recover the server. These Linux recovery functions include:
The Rescue diskette and Recovery mode CD-ROM functions are intended to provide you with a means of recovering a Linux server that fails to start. While it can be possible to use either of these techniques to recover an integrated Linux server, they are designed for standalone servers. Note that you could only use these techniques with an Integrated xSeries® Adapter-attached xSeries server because the xSeries can boot directly from the diskette and CD-ROM drives. An Integrated xSeries Server card does not have its own diskette or CD-ROM drives and therefore cannot boot from the Rescue diskette or Recovery mode CD-ROM.
If you are unable to recover a failed standalone Linux server then your only other alternative is to rebuild it. In the case of an integrated Linux server, you should rarely, if ever, need to either use the Linux recovery options or rebuild the server because you can save a complete image of the server using i5/OS™ storage space backup. In this case, all you need to do to recover a failed server is to restore a previously saved copy of the server’s drives (storage spaces) and then restart it. Note that you might need to also restore volatile files from your file-level backup to make sure that the data is up-to-date.
You can effectively use these techniques to eliminate the need for the Rescue diskette and Recovery mode CD-ROM options that are available to recover a standalone Linux server.