feature request ABR10 Linux

Hello Martin,

Thank you for posting your question, I will be happy to help.

To get the access to the command line please log in to your account and download the appropriate ISOLINUX file (the serial number should be registered). Go to the Registered products and downloads section -> Bootable media. Download the file.

You can find the information on how to download the appropriate ISOLINUX file in this article.  Please see this article on how to burn an ISO file to a CD disk. 

Boot the system from this CD and select  the second boot option. Wait until /# appears. You can use  /bin/trueimagecmd to perform the backup and restore operations. If you need to manage this machine remotely you need to set the network and start SSH server:

# asamba dhcp -n

# /bin/sshd

You will be to connect to this computer by SSH protocol using IP address obtained from DHCP server.

The list of Linux commands and utilities available in Linux-based bootable media is available in  User Guide for Acronis Backup&Recovery 10 Server for Linux (chapter 10.4.7).

I will request this option to be added to the standard boot parameters. 

Please let us know the results, we should be sure that the program runs flawlessly. If the provided information is not clear or if you have any other question do not hesitate to post them and we will be glad to answer.

Thank you.

Hi Oleg,

thanks for your reply. I donwloaded what you said already and gave it a try ages before you posted this message.
And because I have allready tested it I wrote the feature request. Because it is NOT working the way you describe.

Again, your superb Boot images boot ALL with GUI!!!

AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

In a serial console connection of rootservers there is not a single GUI feature possible. Therefore your superb boot option dialog does NOT appear to select the second option you mentioned. And even if I could select it, after this dialog, guess what, a GUI basedmode starts.

And booting from CD is also not possible because a rootserver has no CD drive in most cases and customers in the most cases cannot insert one because they have no physical access.
But also for that I had as olution and extracted your kernel images from your boot CD and confgured grub manually.

But again, like after selecting your second optinb, it starts a GUI based application.

So now, all you need to do is to develope one, because there is none.

Dear Martin,

Thank you for the detailed message, it clarified the situation greatly. Your comments are very important foк us, so I will be glad to forward it to our Product Management and Development team.

I would also suggest you to try a workaround to see whether it suits you: I'm going to forward you our multi-parameter bootable media in *.iso format and would appreciate if you could kindly boot from it. At the very beginning you receive several options to boot with, please use the second option - it should boot you directly to the command prompt - and let us know whether this solution is suitable for you.

I must say I entirely understand your concern regarding booting from the CD, and though we have an option to create the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media onto the USB stick, it doesn't have an option to boot directly to the command prompt, so we need to work on it.

I would also appreciate if you could kindly specify us the details of scenario of booting the machine to which customers do not have physical access, so that we could forward this information to the product management and develop the needed solution for you.

Thank you in advance!

Dear Jana,

well thanks for your reply.
But if anybody would really work and test what they give as support reply at Acronis you would have realized that also this mulitparam version has no textbased mode and starts with a GUI. Therefore it does not help or solve anything.

Again I have wasted my time that Acronis should spend in their departements. Does anybody at Acronis-Support actually really know the products?
Acronis is scooping from the glory of past times.

I will contact Acronis of how I can sell Acronis and transfer the license. I have enough of no-support and bad products.

Dear Martin,

Thank you for the feedback provided, it is really important for us, so be sure I will forward it our Management team.

It is highly upsetting to hear that suggested solution didn't suit you as a temporary workaround. Please accept my apologies for the misunderstanding caused.

I have just contacted Experts' Team and they gathered the *.iso that boots directly into the command line, so we would appreciate if you could kindly test it and see whether it suits you. I would like to assure you that all you need to do is boot from it and wait for several seconds to get into the prompt directly without choosing any parameters.

Also we would highly appreciate if you could kindly provide us with additional details regarding the scenario with remote booting of the machine, so that we could provide you with the best solution.

I would like to apologies once again for the misunderstanding and confusion you have faced.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

>I have just contacted Experts' Team and they gathered the *.iso that boots directly into the command line
Is this *.iso avalible for download?
Thank you

Hello Alex Vaserfirer!

Welcome to Acronis Forum and thank you for finding time to post a request here!

This *.iso is definitely still available. I have just sent it to you via PM and would appreciate if you could kindly test it and let me know whether it is exactly what you need.

Should it fail to suit your needs - let us know, we will find the way to build the one that will/

Thank you!

Yana,
what is the default password for the SSH on this .iso?

I see that the software make an attempt to detect video hardware and all works fine if there is a video controller. But I' need to use this bootable media to backup&restore servers on network that are headless. I usaly have to redirect output to ttyS0:
boot: linux text console=ttyS0,115200n8
Any way you can offer this option on this ISO?
Spasibo.

OK, I see Acronis has no interest to make bootable media that support headless operation. This will keep the application in boundaries of Home and IT use.

Just to let you know that this limitation is preventing Acronis to be used in ATCA industry and by the way Heavy Reading is predicting the ATCA market will reach $7.2 billion by 2012.
http://www.lightreading.com/blog.asp?blog_sectionid=388&doc_id=153338

I tend to agree with Martin T. That Acronis is scooping from the glory of past times....

Dear Alex!

I'm very sorry for pracrastination with the reply, accept my apologies.

I entirely understand your concern and be sure your comments will be forwarded to the Management and Development team, so that they could improve the situation.

Meanwhile I will be glad to provide you with all necessary answers.
Unfortunately there is no way offer this option in the ISO, but we have a workaround. You need to boot with other options:

kernel.dat initrd=ramdisk.dat

In order to start SSH server please use /bin/sshd command, for obtaining IP address you will need asamba dhcp -n.

Let us know if something's confusing you. We will be glad to clarify!

Thank you.

Yana,
here is how I changed the syslinux.cfg for this particular headless system.
________
DEFAULT TrueImage text console=ttyS0,115200n8
LABEL TrueImage
KERNEL kernel.dat
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.dat
________
And I can see that the output been routed to the ttyS0, but than vgastate.ko been loaded and output to ttyS0 Stops.
here is last few line of the log....

PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:PS2K,PNP0f03:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12
serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
input: PC Speaker as /class/input/input0
cpuidle: using governor ladder
TCP cubic registered
Using IPI Shortcut mode
BIOS EDD facility v0.16 2004-Jun-25, 0 devices found
EDD information not available.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 316k freed
init started: BChecking for graphic mode...
usyBox v1.13.4 (Using /lib/modules/vgastate.ko
2010-01-26 16:50Using /lib/modules/vga16fb.ko
:01 MSK)
vga16fb: mapped to 0xc00a0000
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 80x30
fb0: VGA16 VGA frame buffer device
Using /lib/modules/mousedev.ko

Yana, you were sorry for for pracrastination with the reply and apologies are accepted.
Recomendantion for work around you posted on Apr 20 does not work.
You can see changes and log file I posted almost twoo weeks ago...

Hello Alex Vaserfirer,

Thank you for getting back to us. I am terribly sorry for the delay. Please accept my sincerest apologies.

I apologize, but it is not clear at the moment, why this issue is occurring.

I would really appreciate, if you can kindly submit a support request with the following report attached from your bootable media.

I am confident, that we will be able to resolve this issue.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you.