Rescue system
If your VM's system no longer starts or you have locked yourself out, start a small Linux from CD. From there you repair your system or download data.
The rescue system is in your VM's Rescue system tab. Containers have none: their console in the browser is always a root shell.
Starting it
Press Start rescue system and confirm by holding. The server is shut down; a system that does not shut down within a minute is switched off.
The VM boots a small Debian from CD. Your disk stays unchanged. The tab shows the phases until SSH is ready.
A root password for this session is shown once; your SSH keys work too. We do not store the password.
Getting in
Over SSH with the command the tab offers to copy, or through Open console: there you are signed in as root directly. Use scp and rsync to download data.
Switch into your own system with gf-chroot (it understands LVM, RAID and Btrfs) and back with exit. gf-chroot --mount only mounts it under /mnt/system. gf-help lists the commands.
gf-help
lsblk -f
gf-chroot
passwd root
exitThis is how you reset a forgotten root password, for example: switch into your system, passwd root, back with exit.
Ending it
End rescue system and confirm by holding. Unmount what you mounted first (umount or gf-chroot --umount): unwritten changes are lost otherwise. The VM then boots from its own disk again, and your system's password applies again.
Duration and limits
- The rescue system ends by itself after a few hours (4 by default); you get a notification 30 minutes before. Extend gives it 1 to 24 hours from now.
- While it runs, snapshots, reinstalling, changing the plan and changes to SSH keys and the root password are locked.
- UEFI boot works, Secure Boot does not.
- People you share the server with need the rescue system right for it.
Related articles
- Console in the browserA terminal of your VPS or container right in the browser. It works even when SSH cannot be reached, for example after a wrong firewall rule.
- Snapshots: keep a state and go back to itA snapshot keeps the state of your VPS or container's whole disk, for example before an update. If something goes wrong, you go back to it in a few clicks.
- First login to a VPS: SSH keys and root passwordHow to sign in to your VPS or container for the first time, with an SSH key or with the first root password, and how to change keys and password afterwards.
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