The Sefthy Recovery ISO

The Sefthy Recovery ISO is what you use when a physical server has to be put back the way it was. The hardware is healthy again but empty, and you drive the restore from the Console instead of from the keyboard in front of the machine.

The five steps

1. You issue the code from the Console

On the DR page press Initiate DR, pick Local as the destination and confirm. The page shows a code in the form SFT-XXXX-XXXX, the link to download the Recovery ISO and the network the server used to have, when we know it. Copy or photograph the code, because that is what you carry to the machine room.

The code carries no characters that can be mistaken for one another, so you can also read it out over the phone to whoever is standing at the server.

2. You boot the server from the USB stick and type the code

Write the ISO to a USB stick and boot the server. It starts on BIOS and on UEFI, takes its network over DHCP and shows a single field. You type the code, and case and dashes do not matter. That is the only time you touch that machine.

If there is no DHCP on the network, the ISO asks for a static address before the code screen. You read the values from the Server network line in the Console, when we know it.

3. The Console sees the server connected

As soon as the code is accepted, the Console shows the server with its hostname, the detected disks with model and serial, and the content found on each one. You can tell immediately whether you are looking at the right machine.

4. You pick the snapshot and confirm the disk mapping

You select the recovery point and decide which backup disk goes onto which physical disk. The Console already proposes the pairing based on what it found. Up to this point not a single byte has been written.

5. The restore starts and you follow it from the Console

You confirm and the restore starts. Progress shows up in the Console as a percentage, so you do not have to stay in front of the server.

What happens next

When the restore ends the server boots from disk. The Sefthy Agent reconnects to the Console and closes the remaining steps on its own, whether you are coming back on premises after a cloud DR or running a local restore.

The first backup of the restored server starts right away, so you are not left uncovered in the hours that follow, and you get an email telling you the restore is done.

Operational notes

• The ISO writes nothing before your confirmation in the Console.
• The code is valid for 24 hours and can be used once. The plain code stays readable in the Console for 30 minutes after it is issued.
• Every code is tied to one specific operation, either the local restore or the return on premises. It is not a generic code.

When something goes wrong

• Code expired or already used. The server screen says so, and in the Console the New code button stays available until the server connects. A new code cancels the previous one.
• USB stick with an old ISO. The Console stops the session before anything touches the disk and gives you the link to download the required version. The code stays valid.
• The server stops answering. After a few minutes of silence the session is marked as lost on the DR page. You check the server, issue a new code and start again. No restore is left half done in silence.