VEEAM Recovery Media ISO GRUB boot

[maatohewetbi]

Is it possible to boot VEEAM recovery iso during start of VM. I've just made a copy using VEEAM Linux Agent and now I want to simulate a disaster and have bare metal recovery. As You know, I can't burn media into CD/DVD/USB. I have to use *.iso filem. So I wanted to boot Recovery Media using Grub, but I can't find any examples in network how to create boot file. I used Debian bases custom file in Grub, but it hadn't worked. Can You give any example? Or it might not work on cloud based VMs?

[nikolaj]

Hi Marcin,

>Is it possible to boot VEEAM recovery iso during start of VM.
Yes, it is possible. All you have to do is make sure your VM has a connected virtual cd drive device.
You should look up your virtualization software manual for details on this step.

>As You know, I can't burn media into CD/DVD/USB.
Sorry, I didn't get this part. You mentioned a VM previously, so why would you want to burn a CD?

>So I wanted to boot Recovery Media using Grub, but I can't find any examples in network how to create boot file.
Again, it depends on your hypervisor. What kind of virtualization suite are you using?

[PTide]

Hi,

You can try following this guide.

Or you can create your own livecd with Recovery Media installed onto it (please see this post for details) and then write it into your HDD.

Thanks!

[maatohewetbi]

Hi Marcin,

>Is it possible to boot VEEAM recovery iso during start of VM.
Yes, it is possible. All you have to do is make sure your VM has a connected virtual cd drive device.
You should look up your virtualization software manual for details on this step.

>As You know, I can't burn media into CD/DVD/USB.
Sorry, I didn't get this part. You mentioned a VM previously, so why would you want to burn a CD?

>So I wanted to boot Recovery Media using Grub, but I can't find any examples in network how to create boot file.
Again, it depends on your hypervisor. What kind of virtualization suite are you using?

I'm not able to mount virtual CD/DVD/USB. I only have ability to burn from iso which is on external hdd/ssd.
I mentioned about CD, to explain it easily, but it seems it wasn't;-)
My hypervisor is unknown - company where I store my VM's didn't give any chance to find out what hypervisor is in. Only thing I know, they replied - I'm not able to mount visual CD/DVD.
So as I wrote, the only chance to boot is from external HDD with recovery iso inside.

[nikolaj]

Ok, a bit clearer now:)

In this case, in order to boot directly from an HDD, you should create a custom boot entry.
Try following these instructions.

[maatohewetbi]

Do You think I can use Ubuntu boot entry?

[nikolaj]

Well, it depends on what you are ultimately trying to do.

If you want to boot directly from an ISO (Veeam Recovery in our case), then yes, you should have some sort of a Linux distro installed on the machine in order to be able to use grub loader (to create the aforementioned boot entry). Ubuntu will do just fine here. Unfortunately, Windows boot loader will not be suitable for this task.

Thanks.

[maatohewetbi]

I've installed Debian, and want to use VEEAM iso to boot and import a copy of my server. Unfortunately I still have problems with right Boot menu entry. I can't find one which can use my iso. Every time I boot, I get some troubles just like VEEAM iso couldn't be loaded. I will send You examples later.

[maatohewetbi]

I'm still having problem with booting iso from VEEAM. I managed to make boot entry for Ubuntu. Every Iso is on the same disk and partition as VEEAM. Ubuntu works great, boots fast with no errors. But I can't make VEEAM boot entry to get it work, even though I use almost same entry. The only difference is that Ubuntu has different folders (eg. casper...) and I had to write boot=casper in Ubuntu menu entry. With Veeam I got error: No root device specified. Boot arguments must include a root= parameter.

It's my grub entry for VEEAM ISO:

menuentry "veeamISO" {
set isofile="/veeam.iso"
loopback loop (hd1,1)$isofile
linux (loop)/vmlinuz root=/dev/vdb1 iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
initrd (loop)/initrd.img
}
I was trying to replace root=UUID=...still no luck. I added set root=(hd1,1) - nothing. I removed root= - still nothing. I don't have any other option to boot VEEAM, because my provider didn't give me any.

Look at list of files inside VEEAM iso:

dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 Feb 3 2021 boot
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 206242 Feb 3 2021 config-4.19.0-14-amd64
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 234587 Feb 3 2021 config-5.9.0-0.bpo.5-amd64
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 Feb 3 2021 EFI
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 425984 Feb 3 2021 efi.img
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 424767488 Feb 3 2021 filesystem.squashfs
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 26 Feb 3 2021 initrd.img -> initrd.img-4.19.0-14-amd64
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 30181446 Feb 3 2021 initrd.img-4.19.0-14-amd64
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 31783994 Feb 3 2021 initrd.img-5.9.0-0.bpo.5-amd64
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 30 Feb 3 2021 initrd.img.old -> initrd.img-5.9.0-0.bpo.5-amd64
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 Feb 3 2021 isolinux
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 3420599 Feb 3 2021 System.map-4.19.0-14-amd64
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 83 Feb 3 2021 System.map-5.9.0-0.bpo.5-amd64
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 23 Feb 3 2021 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-4.19.0-14-amd64
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 5278960 Feb 3 2021 vmlinuz-4.19.0-14-amd64
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 5709136 Feb 3 2021 vmlinuz-5.9.0-0.bpo.5-amd64
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 27 Feb 3 2021 vmlinuz.old -> vmlinuz-5.9.0-0.bpo.5-amd64

What am I doing wrong?

[PTide]

Let me check with dev team if we have some "special sauce" in there, and I'll get back to you once I have some news.

Thanks!

[maatohewetbi]

Thanks PTIde.

[furyflash]

Hi.

Working for Veeam agent for Linux 4 and Centos 7.


#!/bin/bash

#Create directory for image
yum install wget -y

mkdir /VeeamBootISO

cd /tmp

#Download iso image
wget http://repository.veeam.com/backup/linu ... -4.0.0.iso
mv /tmp/veeam-recovery-media* /VeeamBootISO/veeam-recovery-media.iso

#Create custom grub entry

cat >> /etc/grub.d/40_custom << 'EOF'
menuentry "Veeam Recovery Media" {
insmod ext2
set isofile="/VeeamBootISO/veeam-recovery-media.iso"
loopback loop (hd0,1)/$isofile
linux (loop)/isolinux/velinux iso-scan/filename=$isofile quiet noeject nopromt splash --
initrd (loop)/isolinux/initrd.img
}
EOF

#Make new grub menu
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

[limitless]

Hi,

I tried that code but failed.
error: file '/isolinux/vellinux' not found.
error: you need to load the kernel first.

My version is "veeam-recovery-amd64-5.0.0.iso".

So I little change.

menuentry "Veeam Recovery Media" {
insmod xfs
set isofile="/veeam/veeam.iso"
loopback loop (hd1,1)/$isofile
linux (loop)/vmlinuz-5.10.0-0.bpo.9-amd64 iso-scan/filename=$isofile quiet noeject nopromt splash --
initrd (loop)/initrd.img-5.10.0-0.bpo.9-amd64
}

But failed too.

Could you tell me what's wrong?

[MarcinCSK]

Hi,

Can anyone help what the correct entry in /etc/grub.d/40_custom should look like in order to properly boot from an iso file the Veeam Recovery media for Linux veeam-recovery-media-6.0.3.1221_x86_64.iso?
He tries the various examples available on the Internet, but each ends with an error.
The startup ends up with:

Mounting tmpfs point /run/veeam-live-medium for live fs
Scan local devices for the image
[ 5.388778] EXT4-fs (sda1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Quota mode: none.
[ 5.403488] EXT4-fs (sda1): unmounting filesystem.
Camnot find a medium containing a live file system

My sample configuration:

Code: Select all

menuentry "Veeam Recovery Media 6 krn.4" {
 insmod ext2
 set isofile="/VeeamBoodISO/veeam-recovery-media-6.0.3.1221_x86_64.iso"
 loopback loop (hd0,1)/$isofile
 linux (loop)/vmlinuz-4.19.0-24-amd64 usbcore.autosuspend=-1 vga=773 video=auto boot=veeam-live iso-scan/filename=$isof> 
 initrd (loop)/initrd.img-4.19.0-24-amd64
 }

Code: Select all

menuentry "Veeam Recovery Media 6 krn.6" {
insmod ext2
 set isofile="/VeeamBoodISO/veeam-recovery-media-6.0.3.1221_x86_64.iso"
 loopback loop (hd0,1)/$isofile
 linux (loop)/vmlinuz-6.1.0-13-amd64 usbcore.autosuspend=-1 vga=773 video=auto boot=veeam-live iso-scan/filename=$isofi> 
initrd (loop)/initrd.img-6.1.0-13-amd64
 }

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello @MarcinCSK ,

Can you tell us distro name and exact version where you do try these attempts?

Rovshan.

[MarcinCSK]

Hello @rovshan.pashayev,
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Linux xxx.xxxxx.xxx 6.1.0-13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.55-1 (2023-09-29) x86_64 GNU/Linux

I even created a new iso with the kernel of this server, the contents of the iso:

Code: Select all

config-4.19.0-24-amd64
initrd.img-4.19.0-24-amd64
System.map-5.10.0-0.deb10.16-amd64
config-5.10.0-0.deb10.16-amd64
initrd.img-5.10.0-0.deb10.16-amd64
vmlinuz-4.19.0-24-amd64
efi.img            
initrd.img-6.1.0-13-amd64 
vmlinuz-5.10.0-0.deb10.16-amd64
filesystem.squashfs     
System.map-4.19.0-24-amd64 
vmlinuz-6.1.0-13-amd64

ISO version veeam-recovery-media-4.0.0.iso on this server runs correctly, I have a problem with veeam-recovery-media-6.0.3.1221_x86_64.iso. After upgrading Debian to v. 12, only iso 6.0.3 can restore a copy.

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello,

ISO version veeam-recovery-media-4.0.0.iso on this server runs correctly

Does it mean that you managed to get ISO boot within OS itself, by adding into GRUB menu?

veeam-recovery-media-6.0.3.1221_x86_64.iso

Do you simple download it or using veeamconfig ui, where you can patch ISO and save it locally?

Rovshan

[MarcinCSK]

Hello,

Does it mean that you managed to get ISO boot within OS itself, by adding into GRUB menu?

Yes, the iso version veeam-recovery-media-4.0.0.iso runs correctly. For new versions of Agenat Veeam, it is no longer suitable.

Code: Select all

menuentry "Veeam Recovery Media 4" {
 insmod ext4
 set isofile="/VeeamBoodISO/veeam-recovery-media-4.0.0.iso"
 loopback loop (hd0,1)/$isofile
 linux (loop)/isolinux/velinux iso-scan/filename=$isofile quiet noeject nopromt splash --
 initrd (loop)/isolinux/initrd.img
 }

Do you simple download it or using veeamconfig ui, where you can patch ISO and save it locally?

I downloaded the ISO from the Veeam website, and used veeamconfig ui for the created patch ISO, no version of the ISO is booting from GRUB for me.

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello,

Thank you for detailed information.
We will look into to that.

Rovshan.

[PTide]

@maatohewetbi and other participant of this thread

Do your service providers allow you to import OVA images as VMs? Maybe having the recovery media in a shape of OVA would help? Or there is no way to import anything and you can only boot from local drive?

Thanks!

[MarcinCSK]

Hello,

My provider only provides me with the ability to power on, reboot and shut down the VPS server, I have no ability to plug in either ISO or OVA import. The only lifeline for me was the ability to boot the ISO from GRUB in case of an emergency.

[PTide]

Got it. Just a small clarification - you do have access to grub menu after reboot, right?

Thanks!

[MarcinCSK]

Hello,
Yes I have access to the console through the hosting panel.

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello Marcin,

As possible work around, you can try following, if your current environment allows it:

- Customise GRUB boot menu, by adding veeam-recovery-media-5.0.0.iso file. Example menu entry for /etc/grub.d/40_custom:

Code: Select all

menuentry "veeam-recovery-media-5.0.0.iso" {
insmod ext2
set isofile="/VeeamISO/veeam-recovery-media-5.0.0.iso"
loopback loop (hd0,1)/$isofile
linux (loop)/isolinux/velinux iso-scan/filename=$isofile quiet noeject nopromt splash --
initrd (loop)/isolinux/initrd.img
}

/VeeamISO/veeam-recovery-media-5.0.0.iso is example location where you can store ISO file.

- Store backups or backup copies into NFS/SMB share repository, example Entire Machine backup. Of course here you will use VAL v6+.
- Boot instance into VRM from newly created GRUB menu.
- Select "Add shared folder" as backup location, NFS/SMB where backup or backup copies are stored and locate it.
- Restore volumes or entire machine.

Please test it on non production environment before hand.

Rovshan.

[MarcinCSK]

Hello Rovshan,

Thank you for solving my problem, I checked on the test server to restore a copy with Veeam ProductVersion="6.1.0.1498". The restore was successful, the server started correctly.

I have one more question, the ISO media veeam-recovery-media-5.0.0.iso is, as I understand it correctly, 32bit and there is an entry in GRUB for this version.
What about the 64bit version? For the 64bit version there is a newer ISO file version 6 and it is 64bit only.

The version 5 ISO restores a copy from Veeam version 6.1 correctly, but what happens in the future when a newer version comes out and already the 5.0.0.0 ISO media cannot restore?

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello Marcin,

You can download x86 and x64 version VRMs from here: https://repository.veeam.com/backup/lin ... ery-media/

Regarding version compatibility, we are actively working on product improvement. Please stay tuned for future releases and updates.

Thanks,
Rovshan