How to Use Rescue Mode
This guide explains how to boot your server into Rescue Mode from the Client Area.
Rescue Mode is useful when you need to repair the system, mount disks, recover data, reset a password or troubleshoot boot problems.
Rescue Mode is a one-time boot. After you reboot the server again, it will boot back into the normal operating system.
Enable Rescue Mode
To boot your server into Rescue Mode:
- Log in to the Client Area.
- Go to My Services.
- Open the service you want to manage.
- On the service details page, choose the Rescue option.
From the Rescue Mode menu, choose the rescue image you want to use, for example:
- GRML Linux Rescue Image
- FreeBSD Rescue Image
Then click the Rescue button.
Booting into Rescue Mode
After Rescue Mode is started, the server will reboot and boot into the selected rescue image.
This usually takes a few minutes and should normally not take longer than 10–15 minutes.
When the server has booted into Rescue Mode, the rescue root password will be updated in the Client Area.
After decoding the root password in the Client Area, use the new rescue root password to log in to the server via SSH.
If the server does not boot into Rescue Mode within 10–15 minutes, please open a support ticket. This usually means that the server did not boot into Rescue Mode correctly or the boot process is taking too long.
Log in to Rescue Mode
After the rescue password is updated, connect to the server via SSH as root:
ssh root@server.hostname
Replace server.hostname with your server hostname or IP address.
Use the rescue root password shown in the Client Area.
Return to Normal Boot
To leave Rescue Mode and boot the server back into the normal operating system, simply reboot the server.
You can reboot it from the Client Area or directly from SSH while logged in to Rescue Mode:
reboot
After the reboot, the server will boot from its normal system again.
Verification
If you can log in via SSH using the rescue root password, the server has booted into Rescue Mode successfully.
Any changes made in Rescue Mode should be done carefully. Mounting or modifying the wrong partition may affect the installed operating system.
