This page will help you fix your Bytemark host using the Recovery Console. The guide assumes that your server is running a Linux-based OS.
Things you’ll need
- If you have a dedicated or cloud server, you will need to follow the instructions on how to boot your server over the network first.
- If you have a legacy VM, you will need to boot your legacy VM in rescue mode first.
Mount your drives
Dedicated Servers
If you have a Dedicated Server, the first thing you will want to do is type:
mount /dev/md1 /target
mount /dev/md0 /target/boot
(For premium machines with hardware RAID, or some non-standard software RAID configurations the device names will differ. Contact support if you are unsure.)
Your filesystem should now be accessible in /target.
Cloud Servers
For Cloud Servers, you can mount your drives by entering the following commands:
mkdir /target
mount /dev/vda2 /target
mount /dev/vda1 /target/boot
Your filesystem should now be accessible in /target.
Legacy Virtual Machines
For legacy virtual machines, please type:
mount / -o rw,remount
to be able to change files as normal.
Once you have mounted your filesystem, you are free to edit any files, which may be all you need to do to fix your problem. If that’s all you need, just type reboot when you’re done and wait for your system to boot up normally.
Copying files on and off
If you need to copy files on or off your Dedicated Server or Cloud Server, you will need to set a root password for the recovery mode, then install then start an SSH server:
passwd
apk add openssh
echo PermitRootLogin yes >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config
service sshd start/etc/init.d/ssh start
Note that you will probably be presented with a host-key warning when you connect.
If you are using a Legacy VM, then you will need to start the network interface, but can then simply start the existing SSH server:
ifup eth0
/etc/init.d/sshd start
You can then use SCP or SFTP to copy files on and off the server as root – the server should have its normal IP address.
Jumping into your system
This step isn’t necessary for Legacy Virtual Machine customers.
On a Dedicated Server or Cloud Server, if you need to run programs on your real file system, type:
chroot /target
This will leave you at a prompt “inside” your normal system. You can use this to re-run lilo or grub. When you’re finished, you will probably need to type exit before you can issue the reboot command.
Changing your root password
Probably the most common operation that you can do is resetting your root password. While inside the system you can run:
passwd
and set yourself a new root password.
We have further guides which provide more information on resetting the root password:
- For a dedicated server
- For a cloud server
- For a legacy virtual machine