Restart a Cloud VPS / Lite VPS (including safe mode)

This guide explains how to restart an Infomaniak VPS Cloud / VPS Lite and what you can do in case you no longer have access to the server.

Reboot VPS Cloud / VPS Lite

The classic mode allows you to restart your server normally. To access the VPS Cloud / VPS Lite:

Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
Click directly on the name assigned to the product concerned.
Click on the Manage button.
Click on Restart (classic mode):

Enable/disable safe mode

If you have lost your SSH key, or made a configuration error, etc.

You have the possibility to restart in rescue mode. This consists of restarting from a base image from which you can mount the partitions of your cloud. In this way, you will be able to modify/repair your configuration.

Warning: depending on the operating system installed, the system volume may be named /dev/sda, /dev/sda1 or /dev/vda; the same for the data volume /dev/sdb, /dev/sdb2 or /dev/vdb! It is therefore necessary to replace these indications with those corresponding to your situation.

To activate rescue mode:

Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
Click directly on the name assigned to the product concerned.
Click on the Manage button.
Click on Restart (safe mode):

Warning: Your data disk is not accessible when your VPS Cloud / VPS Lite is in safe mode. Only the system disk is accessible.

Perform operations

Once safe mode is active, access your Cloud via SSH, either with your ssh key, or with the temporary password available in the interface.

Once connected, do:

sudo -i

then list the available partitions (replace ov-abcdby your hostname):

[root@ov-abcd ~]# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
vda 253:0 0 8G 0 disk
└─vda1 253:1 0 8G 0 part /
vdb 253:16 0 20G 0 disk
└─vdb1 253:17 0 20G 0 part

vdb corresponds to your cloud disk.

To access it in write mode, you must mount it:

[root@ov-abcd ~]# mount /dev/vdb1 /mnt/

You can then modify the files:

[root@ov-abcd ~]# ls /mnt/
bin boot dev etc home initrd.img initrd.img.old lib lib64 lost+found media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var vmlinuz vmlinuz.old

Depending on the operating system of your cloud, you can also perform a chroot to reproduce your usual environment:

[root@ov-abcd ~]# chroot /mnt/
bash: ls: command not found
root@ov-abcd:/# export PATH="$PATH:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/bin"
root@ov-abcd:/# ls
bin boot dev etc home initrd.img initrd.img.old lib lib64 lost+found media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var vmlinuz vmlinuz.old

Once the necessary modifications have been made, disable safe mode to restart your cloud on the original disk.

Link to this FAQ:

Display all FAQs for this product