Every system administrator, infrastructure manager and experienced user knows the importance of having current backups available... just in case!  The security of knowing you have an up-to-date version of the configuration can be worth it's weight in gold when it is needed - be it a machine failure, unexpected issues following system change or even a full blown disaster recovery scenario - when time is of the essence, a lot of stress can be removed by having your configuration available and it will also reduce the downtime of your environment significantly.

So the decision on which method is best for you and your Loadbalancer.org appliance... to be honest it's very simple; a copy of the Loadbalancer.org install image, SSL certificates and your support download archive* - done!

The support download archive gathers all the relevant configuration and log files from the appliance before compressing them into an archive file format. If you use SSL offloading with Pound or Stunnel then it's important to ensure you have copies of your SSL certificates, also if you have added any custom scripts or manual configurations to your appliance then you would need to make sure you have them available too (although this would not be critical to getting the appliance back online).

To create the Technical Support Download archive using the Web User Interface (WebUI):

  1. In a web browser, open the WebUI of the Loadbalancer.org appliance (i.e http://192.168.2.10:9080) http://192.168.2.10:9080
  2. Navigate to the 'Support -> Technical Support Download' page
  3. Select the 'Generate Archive' button and save the file somewhere safe.

To create the Technical Support Download archive using the Command Line Interface (CLI):

  1. Connect to the Loadbalancer CLI either via SSH or directly at the console and run the following command:
php /var/www/html/lbadmin/maint/support.php
  1. The output of this command will show a location where the Support Download Archive has been generated such as:
/tmp/master_2015-05-29_12_07_30+0000.tar.bz2

However this is relative to the Loadbalancer.org application webpage, so if you wish to access or copy this elsewhere the real location would be:

/var/www/html/tmp/master_2015-05-29_12_07_30+0000.tar.bz2

To reinstall you would need to use the installation image**, the lb_config.xml file contained in support download archive and the restore function from the web user interface (WebUI):

  1. Install the Loadbalancer.org software
  2. Run the setup process as prompted when the system boots, assigning an IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and nameserver(s).
  3. In a web browser, open the WebUI (i.e. http://192.168.2.10:9080), navigate to the 'Maintenance -> Backup & Restore' page and select to restore the 'lb_config.xml' file from the Technical Support Download archive.

*Technical Support Download archive is a feature of v7.1 or above, if you're running an older release we recommend you consider upgrading.
**Our 24/7 support team can provide the required installation image and instructions. If you're operating a business critical service then it would be advisable to obtain the install image now and keep it for when it is needed. This will minimise the downtime and recovery time.

References