rear restore issue

[ChickenTim99]

ReaR version ("/usr/sbin/rear -V"):
Relax-and-Recover 2.6

OS version ("cat /etc/os-release" or "lsb_release -a" or "cat /etc/rear/os.conf"):
"SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4"

It got error when I try to restore the LPAR by command "rear -D -d restore " .

Error message:

RESCUE tsm:~ # rear -D -d restore
Relax-and-Recover 2.6 / 2020-06-17
Running rear restore (PID 2955)
Using log file: /var/log/rear/rear-tsm.log
ERROR: The workflow restore is not supported in the ReaR rescue/recovery system
Some latest log messages since the last called script 050_check_rear_recover_mod                       e.sh:
  2023-06-01 17:35:20.958052396 Including init/default/050_check_rear_recover_mo                       de.sh
  2023-06-01 17:35:20.958948583 Entering debugscript mode via 'set -x'.
Aborting due to an error, check /var/log/rear/rear-tsm.log for details
Exiting rear restore (PID 2955) and its descendant processes ...
Running exit tasks
Terminated
RESCUE tsm:~ #

[pcahyna]

"restore" means restoring files from backup, not the full recovery of the machine (including recreation of storage layout). If you want the latter, use rear recover. If you really want to only restore the files from backup, use rear restoreonly.

[pcahyna]

I have never used the latter though, so I don't know how exactly it is used.

[jsmeix]

The primary intent of "restoreonly" is to restore
several backups (together with "recover"), cf.
https://github.com/rear/rear/blob/master/doc/user-guide/11-multiple-backups.adoc

But "restoreonly" could be also used for other use cases
provided the user understands the prerequirements
so that "restoreonly" can succeed.
For example
#2553 (comment)
shows a specific use case how "restoreonly" is used
(together with "mountonly") to only restore the backup
to recover from a so called "soft error".

[jsmeix]

@ChickenTim99

only FYI to be on the safe side because you use SLES12:

By default SUSE uses a rather sophisticated btrfs structure
that accordingly requires matching special setup in ReaR.

See the SLES12 documentation
https://documentation.suse.com/sle-ha/12-SP4/html/SLE-HA-all/cha-ha-rear.html
therein in particular the parts about
"Limitations with Btrfs" and
"Your SLE12 System Needs Matching ReaR Configuration"
i.e. use when you use SUSE's btrfs structure use
usr/share/rear/conf/examples/SLE12-SP2-btrfs-example.conf
as template.

In general see
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Disaster_Recovery
therein in particular the sections
"Disaster recovery with Relax-and-Recover (ReaR)" and
"SUSE support for Relax-and-Recover"