Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two

Hack #90. Rescue Me!

So you've tried all the standard tips and tricks to get your system to boot on its own, and nothing has worked. In that case, a bootable Linux system on a CD may be your new best friend.

Hardware failure, filesystem corruption, overzealous upgrades, and significant tweaking of your system's startup process are among the things that can cause your system to fail to boot successfully. Assuming you've gotten to this point and the suggestions in "Resolve Common Boot and Startup Problems" [Hack #89] didn't work out, your next good alternative is to download, burn, and boot from what is known as a "rescue disk."

Tip

It's always a good idea to keep a bootable rescue disk handy. Download and burn one before you have problems, so that you'll have one to use should you ever need it.

A rescue disk is a small Linux distribution that boots and runs from a CD and provides the kernel and operating system capabilities that you need to access your hardware, as well as the tools you need to resolve problems with the interaction between that hardware and the desktop or server system you're trying to boot. The things that a rescue disk must provide fall into four general categories:

• A kernel and drivers for the storage devices attached to your system and, preferably, at least one of the network interface(s) available on that system.

• Disk repair utilities for various types of filesystems, including logical volume management (LVM) utilities.

• System utilities such as mount that enable ...