A Box may become completely defective, i.e. unable to connect to the network or local console after a restart. If this is the case, you must replace it according to the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) to ensure business continuity.

You can adopt one of the following procedures:

• Replace the existing Box with a new Box.  See the procedure
• Restore the last backup on a virtual machine.  See the procedure

Notes

• Customers can follow these procedures without the intervention of the EasyVista Support team.
• You do not need to make any modifications to the Web app when you replace a defective Box. No deletion or creation is required.
• If a Box becomes unstable but is still accessible, you can migrate it to a new Box using specific procedures.

Caution

• Each customer is in charge of the monitoring and maintenance of the Box.
• The new Box and the defective Box must share identical characteristics in terms of CPU, RAM and disk space.
• Certain configuration files are only found locally on the Box.  See the description
  You should perform a backup of these files on an external hard drive. You will need them for replacing a defective Box.
• You should perform regular backups of the virtual machine using the hypervisor or a backup solution. You will need them for restoring a defective Box quickly.

Best Practice

• To ensure greater responsiveness, you can anticipate by provisioning the Box.

Local configuration files

The entire configuration of the Box is stored on the central platform. However, certain configuration files are only found locally on the Box. You must perform a backup of these files on an external hard drive in the event you are required to replace the Box.

• iptables file: This contains the rules for the Box firewall.
  • You must back it up if you defined custom rules.
  • Location: /etc/init.d/iptables.sh

• freetds file: This contains the configuration for monitoring MSSQL databases.
  • Location: /etc/freetds.conf

• tnsnames file: This contains the configuration for monitoring Oracle databases.
  • Location: /usr/lib/oracle/12.2/client64/network/admin/tnsnames.ora  or  /usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/network/admin/tnsnames.ora

Procedures

How to replace a defective Box

Step 1: Stop the defective Box

1. Shut the defective Box down completely.
 

Step 2: Install and configure the new Box

Note: You do not need to make any modifications to the Web app. No Box deletion or creation is required.

1. Provision the new Box using the image available on the EV Observe FTP site.

2. Install and configure the new Box.

• Start the new Box.
• Log in to the machine.
• Switch to the root account.

• Run the script for installing the new Box.  See the procedure
  • In the Network configuration step, specify the same LAN IP address and host name as the defective Box.
  • In the Retrieve configuration step, generate a token and ID for the new Box.

The new Box will be configured. Its name, ID and VPN IP address are now identical to those of the defective Box.

3. Copy and paste the local configuration files to the new Box.

      See the description
 

Step 4: Reload the configuration of the new Box

1. Go to the Web app.

2. Reload the configuration of the new Box.

How to restore the last backup of a Box

Step 1: Stop the defective Box

1. Shut the defective Box down completely.
 

Step 2: Restore the last backup on the new Box

1. Deploy the last Box backup that is available on the hypervisor.

2. Start the new Box restored from the backup.

3. Run the command below to check that VPN tunnel has been correctly mounted.

4. Copy and paste the configuration files modified since the last backup to the new Box.

      See the description
 

Step 3: Reload the configuration of the new Box

1. Go to the Web app.

2. Reload the configuration of the new Box.

The monitoring of the new Box is now operational.