APU102 Auto-Recovery Quick Start Guide (LPMTX)

The auto-recovery software is designed to automatically detect and recover a corrupted file system. This functionality is possible by installing a mirror image of the boot drive into a hidden storage area on the CF card.  When corruption is detected, the boot drive is automatically re-imaged based upon the hidden “mirror” backup image.

The mirror image is created manually using “Shell IBackup” command, which can be run from the APU102 supervisory menu. Everything is saved, including parameters, settings, and all loaded software. This also includes the entire operating system. This document details the procedure.

Requirements:

The auto-recovery software requires the boot ROM version 5.4 or greater PLUS a CF card formatted to include the mirror storage area. The auto-recovery feature detailed here is for the LPM-TX CPU board with the Ethernet stack configuration.

Mirror Operations

Once you have the software configured for a site and all parameters are set the way you want, the parameter backup (BP command) and the mirror should be updated.  Once the mirror is created, the software will automatically restore the disk exactly as you set it up in the event a system corruption occurs.

Creating or updating the backup mirror image:

To update (or create) the mirror, issue the command “SHELL IBACKUP” from the APU102’s supervisory menu. The following screen will be seen.

APU102XP:Change 1>shell ibackup IBACKUP < y.dat > dosshell.txt ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING! READ THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- An IMAGE BACKUP operation is ready to start. This will create a "Mirror Image" of your existing C drive. . To start, reboot (use the 'R' command). This will start image backup operation. Unit will reboot to ROMSHELL to carry out this operation. This will take up to 20 minutes to complete. During that time, the unit will be inaccessible. The 'SYS' LED will flash rapidly during the operation. When complete, verify the image restore succeeded by issuing the command "type c:\mirror.txt". . To cancel this operation, delete the "mirror.me" file. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Once you reboot the unit (using the “R” command, NOT the “R,F” command!) the unit will begin creating the mirror. During the mirror operation, the unit will not be accessible. The process will take up to 20 minutes to complete. During the mirror operation, the “SYS” LED on the front panel of the APU will flash rapidly. When the mirror operation is complete, the unit will automatically reboot itself and you will be able to log back in.

Checking the mirror status using “C:\Mirror.txt”:

Every time the software boots, the 5.4 boot ROM creates a file in the root of the C drive named “C:\Mirror.txt.”. It contains the information regarding the state of the mirror including the date and time of the backup operation, the date and time of any verification operations executed, and how many auto-recovery operations have been executed by the system.

To view this information, simply type “TYPE C:\MIRROR.TXT” from the supervisory menu.

MIRROR INFORMATION: -------------------------------- BACKUP INFO (/BACKUP option)   Data Block Length.................... 231000000   Data Block CRC....................... 0x65B1   Timestamp............................ 11/25/08 18:06:13 VALIDATE INFO (/VALIDATE option)   Count................................ 1   Timestamp of last operation.......... 11/25/08 18:12:04   Status of mirror at last operation... OK. RESTORE INFO (/RESTORE option)   Count................................ 0   Max Restore Count.................... 100   Timestamp of last operation..........   Status of mirror at last operation... OTHER INFO   General Disk Errors.................. 0   Read Errors.......................... 0   Write Errors......................... 0

Optionally Verifying the state of the Mirror:

To be sure the mirror is intact and ready to be used to restore the system a verify operation can optionally be performed. This is done by issuing the command “SHELL IVERIFY” from the APU102 supervisory command prompt. Just like the backup operation, the command will instruct you to reboot the unit and wait as long as 20 minutes for the verify operation to complete. When complete, the unit will automatically reboot and the status of the verify operation can be reviewed by inspecting the C:\Mirror.txt file (described above).

Performing a manual restore:

If a valid mirror exists, it is possible to manually restore the C: drive with the data from the mirror. This is done using the “SHELL IRESTORE” command. Just like the backup operation, the command will instruct you to reboot the unit and wait as long as 20 minutes for the restore operation to complete. When complete, the unit will automatically reboot and the status of the restore operation can be reviewed by inspecting the C:\Mirror.txt file (described above).