April 12th, 2007

Rescue mode now live

Just turned on a new Slice feature – Rescue mode.

The rescue link, appearing next to your Slices in SliceManager, explains Rescue mode and includes an activation button. It will reboot your Slice into a temporary device running its base OS. A new password will be displayed and you can connect via SSH (same IP). Once in, you can mount your original Slice’s root partition as /dev/sda1.

How might this be used?
  • to correct a configuration file that is preventing your Slice from booting
  • change the filesystem and install an alternate distribution
  • repair a corrupt filesystem
Of note:
  • the Rescue Slice has a 1.5 GB filesystem
  • Rescue mode can last a maximum of 90 minutes
  • Only one Slice per server can be in Rescue mode at a time

This should be a handy feature for those times when you make a configuration mistake and can’t get into your Slice, even after a reboot. Enjoy!

Posted by matt Filed in slicehost

7 Comments

  1. March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM stubblechin

    Great stuff! I am positively breaking out in hives waiting for my Slice.

  2. March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Geoff

    Very cool! Along with the console terminal and snapshots you’re making it really hard for us to shoot ourselves in the foot. Thanks, guys!

  3. March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM PickledOnion

    nods to himself: very cool.

  4. March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Alan

    Thanks guys for enabling this, I didn’t think I’d need it when I made the suggestion, but it saved myself this morning

  5. March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Ben

    Another great feature, hopefully I won’t need to use it but, like the backups, it could just be a lifesaver!

  6. March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM Marko

    If you need more than 90 minutes and your fs is clean, you can simply rename your /sbin/init to /sbin/init.old using the rescue mode and boot normally. The boot will then stop giving you a shell on the initial ramdisk from which you can mount your filesystem and do your things.

  7. March 17th, 2008 at 10:00 PM A. Shaw

    This makes me feel better than ever about using my slices for production. From my perspective, you’ve filled in the biggest gap in your offering. Great work, guys.

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