ericw@janis.UUCP (Eric Wedaa) (06/14/91)
I just received my 5100 with Ultrix 4.2 preinstalled with all of the
supported subsets. In the act of deleting some of the subsets I didn't
need or want for that machine, I managed to lock up the console! Silly
me, when that happens to me in single user mode I hit the halt button and
reboot. This time I managed to munge the system up totally so that it
wouldn't even reboot! The error message was something to the effect of
CPU 0: init failed
The system would not reboot with any of the three kernels on root (vmunix,
vmunix.old, or genvmunix)
MORAL: Just as a side note, (word to the wise and all that...) is that after
you get Ultrix (or any unix) up and running, IMMEDIATELY do a full backup.
No matter how slow a restore is, a full install is even slower!
--
=====================================================================
| These views are mine, and not those of my company or co-workers. |
=====================================================================slsw2@cc.usu.edu (06/14/91)
In article <123@janis.UUCP>, ericw@janis.UUCP (Eric Wedaa) writes: > This time I managed to munge the system up totally so that it > wouldn't even reboot! The error message was something to the effect of > > CPU 0: init failed > > The system would not reboot with any of the three kernels on root (vmunix, > vmunix.old, or genvmunix) > > MORAL: Just as a side note, (word to the wise and all that...) is that after > you get Ultrix (or any unix) up and running, IMMEDIATELY do a full backup. > No matter how slow a restore is, a full install is even slower! I've never figured out how to make a bootable backup. Without that, you would have to do an install in this situation anyway. Roger Ivie slsw2@cc.usu.edu
kepowers@mbunix.mitre.org (Powers) (06/15/91)
>> MORAL: Just as a side note, (word to the wise and all that...) is that after >> you get Ultrix (or any unix) up and running, IMMEDIATELY do a full backup. >> No matter how slow a restore is, a full install is even slower! > >I've never figured out how to make a bootable backup. Without that, you would >have to do an install in this situation anyway. No you wouldn't. You would need to boot from tape and then restore from backup. -- Kelly-Erin Powers The MITRE Corporation Unix Systems Group Burlington Road (617) 271-2143 Bedford, MA 01730 kepowers@mbunix.mitre.org your_neighborhood!linus!mbunix!kepowers
grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) (06/15/91)
In article <1991Jun14.092553.48104@cc.usu.edu> slsw2@cc.usu.edu writes: > In article <123@janis.UUCP>, ericw@janis.UUCP (Eric Wedaa) writes: > > > > MORAL: Just as a side note, (word to the wise and all that...) is that after > > you get Ultrix (or any unix) up and running, IMMEDIATELY do a full backup. > > No matter how slow a restore is, a full install is even slower! > > I've never figured out how to make a bootable backup. Without that, you would > have to do an install in this situation anyway. You don't need a bootable backup, just a level 0 dump of your root filesystem and backups of the rest in whatever formats you want. You can boot the installation media at any time, and either select the "maintenance option" or just abort the thing. Then you go to /dev, MAKEDEV the disk and tape devices you need, chpt the root parition (if non-standard) and restore your root. After that, you can boot single user and proceed with the rest of your recovery acts. Older Berkely/Ultrix versions did installation by loading a temporary filesystem into the "b" (swap) partition, Ultrix now uses a memory-based filesystem instead. I do a level 0 backup as the first file of my daily "incremental" backups, it's small and only takes a few minutes. If you have a farily volitle evironment, it can be really painful to reconstuct changes to the password file, hosts and similar files since the "last system backup". -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing: domain: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com Commodore, Engineering Department phone: 215-431-9349 (only by moonlite)
karrer@bernina.ethz.ch (Andreas Karrer) (06/16/91)
slsw2@cc.usu.edu writes: >I've never figured out how to make a bootable backup. Without that, you would >have to do an install in this situation anyway. well here's how it goes: boot from an installation tape or from a RIS server (don't have a cd drive, yet). At the time when the installation procedure asks you for 1) basic installation 2) advanced installation 3) system management select the third. You will find yourself in a worst-case mini-unix that is actually memory resident. They don't give you "ls", so use "echo *" etc. They DO give you MAKEDEV, restore, dd, rsh, chpt, mount and newfs, though. That's enough to recreate the root partition (you DID write down its size, didn't you) and to restore it from either a local tape or from a remote host on the same subnet, along the lines: cd /dev; ./MAKEDEV ra0 -- yeah, i have slow ra90's chpt -pa .... -- your partitioning here newfs /dev/rrz0a ra90 mkdir /zork mount /dev/rrz0a /zork cd /zork rsh exahost 'dd if=/dev/exabyte bs=..' | restore rf - If DEC put something like a "route add default" command into the mini-unix, one could even install thru multi-protocol routers. Needed some twiddling with bridging MOP thru the router, though. +----------- Andi Karrer, Communication Systems, ETH Zuerich, Switzerland karrer@bernina.ethz.ch - terible simplifieur