Full Backup/Restore minor bug?

Hello,

I think I have found some minor bugs int he backup/restore, but I wanted to ask before doing a bug report.

When going to tools/backup I click on full backup and it barks that it can't mount the removable media. I then went out and bought a SD card and tried it again and it did not mount this correctly either. I then switched to the network backup option and it intially did not work and was complaining about mounting to /media/shared. /media existed, but was empty so I created /media/shared and it seemed to create my backup tar file from there OK. I don't know if I have an older filesystem install or what? This machine I was backing up is almost straight from the factory (new kernel and ppmac "firmware" .deb files for Feb 2011, and set to use DHCP).

Just wanted to report that this was an issue for me and to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid (always a possibility).

Thanks,

KEJR

Ken -

For a full backup you can also try:

If you need to image your ppmac drive:

1) Go to:

http://www.winimage.com/download.htm

and download the correct version of the program (30 day trial)

2) Pull ppmac out of the rack and pull the mezzanine board off of the ppmac

3) Connect to the micro usb on the mezzanine board

4) Wait for the drive to appear in My Computer, and note which drive it is (in my case it was drive E:)

5) Make sure that you can read the ppmac drive first with explorer and open WinImage

6) Go to the Disk menu item and choose the drive letter which was added (in my case E:)

7) Go to the Disk menu item and pick Creating a Virtual Hard Disk image from physical drive

8) Check the Include non removable hard disks box and the Create Fixed Size Virtual Hard Disk radio button

9) Pick the disk which matches your ppmac memory size (~1 GB on mine (988,xxx KB)) and click the OK button

10) Pick the directory on your pc hard drive and name the file and click the OK button

11) When finished you can choose the partition to view.

To restore:

Note that most mezzanine cards have a write protect switch which by default is set to protect (switch toward the nearest edge). To restore you need to unprotect the system by setting the switch into the other position then connecting the USB cable.

1) if not already done download WinImage

2) Pull ppmac out of the rack and pull the mezzanine board off of the ppmac

3) Connect to the micro usb on the mezzanine board

4) Wait for the drive to appear in My Computer, and note which drive it is (in my case it was drive E:)

5) Make sure that you can read the ppmac drive first with explorer and open WinImage (if already open got to the File menu item and choose New - choose the standard 1.44 MB option)

6) Go to the Disk menu item and choose the drive letter which was added (in my case E:)

7) Go to the Disk menu item and pick Restore a Virtual Hard Disk image from physical drive

8) Check the Include non removable hard disks box and the Create Fixed Size Virtual Hard Disk radio button

9) Pick the disk which matches your ppmac memory size (1 GB on mine) and click the OK button

10) Pick the directory on your pc hard drive and name the file and click the OK button

If you need to change the IP address the hard way:

1) Pull ppmac out of the rack and pull the mezzanine board off of the ppmac

2) Connect to the micro usb on the mezzanine board

3) Wait for the drive to appear in My Computer, and note which drive it is (in my case it was drive E:)

4) Go to the drive's \etc\network directory in Explorer

5) Open the Interfaces file with notepad

6) edit the staticaddress IP address to what you need

7) edit the gateway IP address to what you need (including matching the staticaddress if you do not have a gateway)

8) save the file

If you need to go back to an earlier configuration:

1) Pull ppmac out of the rack and pull the mezzanine board off of the ppmac

2) Connect to the micro usb on the mezzanine board

3) Wait for the drive to appear in My Computer, and note which drive it is (in my case it was drive E:)

4) Go to the drive's \ppmac directory in Explorer

5) MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A DIRECTORY usrflash.x (where x is the value of the config number you want to go back to )!!!!!!

6) rename the file usrflash (no .x) to usrflash.x1

7) rename usrflash.x (where x is the value of the config number you want to go back to ) to usrflash

8) rename the file usrflash.x1 to usrflash.x

When finished put the mezzanine board back on, the ppmac back in the rack, and power up. You should be able to ping and talk to the ppmac.

Ken -

 

For a full backup you can also try:

 

....

 

Davis,

Thanks for the follow up. I did in fact use this method to restore to factory image and I like it much better. I don't think we will run into this much, but in early development things can get messed up if you are customizing the OS. That is one of the great things about this controller though .... the ability to customize it and write your own code the way you want to, or to use the pre-packaged approach if you aren't comfortable with C or modifying the OS. Despite our hiccups on our first application I can see this platform quickly paying dividends, especially on [but not limited to] the more complex machines that we do.

Thanks,

KEJR