SOLIDserver Deployment

on Amazon Web Services

Cloud Environment
Version 8.1
SOLIDserver Deployment on Amazon
Web Services Cloud Environment
SOLIDserver Deployment on Amazon Web Services Cloud Environment
Revision: #120167

Publication date May 23, 2022

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Table of Contents
Purpose of This Guide ....................................................................................................... v
1. SOLIDserver Deployment on AWS EC2 .......................................................................... 1
Prerequisites ............................................................................................................ 1
Limitations ................................................................................................................ 1
Uploading SOLIDserver Image .................................................................................. 2
Deploying SOLIDserver ............................................................................................. 3
Connecting to SOLIDserver ....................................................................................... 4
2. SOLIDserver Management on AWS EC2 ........................................................................ 6
Monitoring SOLIDserver with CloudWatch .................................................................. 6
Saving a Backup of SOLIDserver ............................................................................... 7
Troubleshooting SOLIDserver .................................................................................... 7
Upgrading SOLIDserver .......................................................................................... 13
Terminating an Instance Running SOLIDserver ......................................................... 13

iv
Purpose of This Guide
This document aims at describing EfficientIP operational guidelines for deploying SOLIDserver
on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud environment.

SOLIDserver can be hosted in any compliant virtual environment. However, in public cloud envir-
onments a few guidelines are to be considered since administrators do not have full control over
the infrastructure. For instance, they may not have access to the local console of the virtual ma-
chines and therefore can lose access to the system and be unable to execute troubleshooting
operations. In order to avoid such a situation, make sure to follow the recommendations of this
guide.

This guide includes the following chapters:

• SOLIDserver Deployment on AWS EC2 that details how to deploy SOLIDserver cloud image
in your AWS environment and connect to its interface.
• SOLIDserver Management on AWS EC2 that details how to manage SOLIDserver once de-
ployed in your environment.

If you want to get a first look at SOLIDserver initial configuration and setup, refer to the guide
SOLIDserver Quick Start.

v
Chapter 1. SOLIDserver Deployment on
AWS EC2
Running SOLIDserver to the full extent of its capabilities on AWS cloud implies:
• Meeting the prerequisites.
• Taking into account the limitations.
• Uploading SOLIDserver Image.
• Deploying SOLIDserver.
• Connecting to SOLIDserver.

Prerequisites
• An Internet connection and your credentials ready to connect to EfficientIP download portal.
If you do not have credentials yet, request them at www.efficientip.com/support-access.
• A SOLIDserver cloud image for AWS, it is available for download on our portal at
https://downloads.efficientip.com/support/downloads/cloud_images/aws/.
• An AWS account with sufficient rights. The import/export requirements are available at
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vm-import/latest/userguide/vmie_prereqs.html.
• Make sure the account has sufficient rights over S3 buckets and EC2 environment.
• Make sure the required vmimport service role is defined and associated with the proper S3
bucket in your IAM policy.
• A basic knowledge of AWS, especially AWS EC2, or access to its documentation at
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/get-set-up-for-amazon-ec2.html.
• Identify the instance type matching your performance needs and license.
• A windows or linux client with awscli, AWS Command Line Interface, installed. For more details,
go to https://aws.amazon.com/cli/.
• An SSH Key pair to access the SSH console with the account admin.
• At least one Security Group granting windows or linux client SSH and HTTPS access to the
relevant instances.
• Take into account SOLIDserver network flows, detailed in the appendix Matrices of Network
Flows of the Administrator Guide available at https://mirror2.efficientip.com/support/downloads/,
in the relevant version folder.

Limitations
• EC2 AMIs are registered region by region and not globally. You must copy the image in all
relevant regions during the deployment.
• Network performance depends on the chosen instance type. Keep in mind that AWS does not
indicate the supported packet rate which is limited but only the bandwidth. For more details,
refer to the table Processing capabilities per instance type.
• DHCP services are limited when running on AWS VPC. Only on-premise devices connected
to the VPC through VPN and/or Direct Connect can interact with a SOLIDserver DHCP service
running in AWS.
• CARP redundancy protocol is not supported on AWS.

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 SOLIDserver Deployment on AWS
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Uploading SOLIDserver Image

Once you met the prerequisites and taken into account the limitations, to run SOLIDserver on
AWS you must:
1. Download and decompress SOLIDserver image file.
2. Upload SOLIDserver image on S3.
3. Import SOLIDserver image from S3 as an EC2 snapshot.
4. Register the EC2 AMI.
5. Remove the image file from S3 bucket.

To upload SOLIDserver image on EC2

1. Download the latest image of SOLIDserver
a. Use your EfficientIP client account credentials to connect to the download portal at
https://downloads.efficientip.com/support/downloads/cloud_images/aws/.
b. Download the file solidserver-amd64-cloud-aws-<version>.vmdk.gz.
c. Decompress the file. All operations below involve the file *.vmdk, it is referred to as
<SOLIDserver_image_file>.
2. Upload SOLIDserver image on S3
Using awscli, upload SOLIDserver image to an existing AWS S3 Bucket using the command:
aws s3 cp <SOLIDserver_image_file>
s3://<Name-of-your-AWS-S3-Bucket>/<SOLIDserver_image_file>

3. Import SOLIDserver image file from S3 as an EC2 snapshot

a. Import the image from an S3 Bucket to EC2 using the command:
aws ec2 import-snapshot --description="Import SOLIDserver Snapshot"
--disk-container="Description=SOLIDserver, Format=vmdk,
UserBucket={S3Bucket=<Name-of-your-AWS-S3-Bucket>, S3Key=<SOLIDserver_image_file>}"

The command returns an ImportTaskId, that you need for the next step.
b. Monitor the import using the command:
aws ec2 describe-import-snapshot-tasks --import-task-ids <ImportTaskId>

The process can take a while, you can run the command several times.
Once the import is successfully completed, the command returns a SnapshotId that you
need for the next step.
4. Register the EC2 AMI
Use the SnapshotId to register the imported image as an AMI using the command below.
During the registration:
• You can name SOLIDserver image in place of <your_SOLIDserver_image_name>.
• You can enable the enhanced networking option --ena--support according to your needs.
aws ec2 register-image --name "<your_SOLIDserver_image_name>" --virtualization-type
"hvm" --architecture "x86_64" --root-device-name "/dev/sda1" --block-device-mappings

"DeviceName='/dev/sda1',Ebs={SnapshotId='<SnapshotId>',DeleteOnTermination=true,VolumeType='gp2'}"
[--ena-support]

Once the operation is complete your image is registered as an AMI and ready to use.

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5. Remove the image file from S3

If you want, you can remove the image of SOLIDserver from your AWS S3 bucket using the
command:
aws s3 rm s3://<Name-of-your-AWS-S3-Bucket>/<SOLIDserver_image_file>

Deploying SOLIDserver
Once SOLIDserver image is uploaded on EC2, you can deploy it.

To deploy SOLIDserver on AWS EC2

1. Connect to EC2 Management console
a. Connect to an AWS Management Console using the credentials of a user with sufficient
rights.
b. Select a region where the SOLIDserver AMI is registered.
2. Select the AMI to deploy
a. Go to EC2. The dashboard opens.
b. Click on Launch Instance. The next page opens.
c. In the left panel, select My AMIs. The page refreshes.
d. In the search field, specify the name of the SOLIDserver image you registered.
e. Next to the AMI that suits your needs, click on Select to deploy it. The next page opens.
3. Select an instance type
a. Select the proper instance type.

Table 1.1. SOLIDserver configuration minimal requirements on AWS EC2

SOLIDserver AWS EC2 Instance Storage Storage Network Per-
vCPUs vMEM
Model Type Type Size formance
50 t3.small GP2 >= 32 GB 1 2 GB Low
270 t3.medium GP2 >= 32 GB 2 4 GB Low
570 m4.large IO1 >= 32 GB 2 8 GB Moderate
1170 c5.xlarge IO1 >= 64 GB 4 8 GB High
2270 c5.2.xlarge IO1 >= 64 GB 8 16 GB High
3370 c5.4.xlarge IO1 >= 64 GB 16 32 GB High

b. Click on Next: Configure Instance Details. The next page opens.

c. Complete the instance configuration, keeping in mind that:
• Number of instances allows to launch several SOLIDserver appliances at once.
• Network allows to select the VPC where the instance(s) is deployed.
• Subnet allows to select a Subnet and Availability Zone where the instance is deployed.
• Auto-assign Public IP allows to specify your addressing preference for the instance(s),
publicly or not. If you need to configure a persistent IP address, prefer using an
1
Elastic IP .
• For production deployment, it is recommended to set the Shutdown behavior to Stop
and to enable the Termination protection.

1
For more details, refer to AWS documentation at https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/elastic-ip-addresses-eip.html.

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 SOLIDserver Deployment on AWS
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d. Click on Next: Add Storage. The next page opens.

4. Configure the instance storage
a. Configure the persistent storage of the instance according to your storage type and size
needs, as detailed in the table Processing capabilities per instance type.
You can activate the option Delete on termination to avoid excessive storage use on
your AWS account.
b. Click on Next: Add Tags. The next page opens.
5. Configure the instance tags
a. You can tag your instance, name it and configure it with properties, like an internal ref-
erence, to ease its management.
b. Click on Next: Configure Security Groups. The next page opens.
6. Configure the instance security groups
a. Set Security Groups with a minimal set of rules to control the inbound traffic as detailed
in the table below.

Table 1.2. Security Group rules

Rule Type Source Port Range
All traffic <ID_of_the_Security_Group> N/A
SSH <management_subnet>/<prefix> 22
HTTPS <management_subnet>/<prefix> 443
HTTPS <client_subnet>/<prefix> 443
DNS (TCP) <client_subnet>/<prefix> 53

The outbound traffic can be authorized by default (set to any).

No matter the inbound and outbound traffic rules you set, make sure to take into account
SOLIDserver network flows as suggested in the prerequisites.
b. Click on Review and Launch. The next page opens.
7. Launch the instance(s)
a. Review the instance settings.
b. Click on Launch. A pop up appears.
c. In the drop-down list Select a key pair, select the key pair used to connect to SOLID-
server with the account admin.
d. Tick the acknowledgment box.
e. Click on Launch Instances. The last page opens.

Once you launched the instance, you can access SOLIDserver from the IP address you configured,
as detailed in the next section.

If an error occurs during the deployment or if the instance has performance issues, refer to the
section Troubleshooting SOLIDserver.

To manage SOLIDserver from the EC2 instance, refer to the chapter SOLIDserver Management
on AWS EC2.

Connecting to SOLIDserver
From any browser, you can connect to SOLIDserver via the IP address you configured.

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To connect to SOLIDserver for the first time

1. Open your browser, in the URL field type in https://<SOLIDserver-configured-IP-address>.
2. Hit Enter. The browser displays a security warning because the default certificate is in use.
Your browser probably identified that the certificate is not from a trusted certifying authority
and that the hostname on the certificate is invalid or does not match the name of the site.
3. Accept the certificate. SOLIDserver login page appears.

ddi.mycorp.com

Login

Password

Figure 1.1. First connection to SOLIDserver

4. In the field Login, type in ipmadmin, the default superuser login.

5. In the field Password, type in admin, the default superuser password.
6. Hit Enter. The page Main dashboard opens, this is the homepage of SOLIDserver.

Once you are logged in, you must activate your license and make the appliance first configurations.
For more details, refer to the guide SOLIDserver_Quick_Start-x.x.pdf, available on our download
2
portal .

Keep in mind that SOLIDserver Administrator Guide is accessible from any page of the GUI in
the menu ? > Administrator Guide. The first configurations are detailed in the chapter Using
SOLIDserver for the First Time of the part Starting.

2
At https://downloads.efficientip.com/support/downloads/docs/, in the relevant version folder. Log in using your credentials. If you do
not have credentials yet, request them at www.efficientip.com/support-access.

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Chapter 2. SOLIDserver Management on
AWS EC2
Once deployed on EC2, you can take advantage of Cloud environment functionalities to manage
SOLIDserver:
• Monitoring SOLIDserver with CloudWatch.
• Saving a Backup of SOLIDserver.
• Upgrading SOLIDserver.
• Troubleshooting SOLIDserver.
• Terminating an Instance Running SOLIDserver.

Monitoring SOLIDserver with CloudWatch

You can monitor SOLIDserver from its GUI as detailed in the chapter Monitoring of the Adminis-
trator Guide, available in the GUI top bar, in the menu ? > Administrator Guide.

In addition, you can use AWS CloudWatch to specifically monitor your instances.

We strongly recommend configuring at least one alarm, triggered whenever a Status check
fails after 3 consecutive periods of 1 minute.

Figure 2.1. AWS CloudWatch alarm parameters

CloudWatch allows you to monitor the following metrics for better control:
Instance CPU Usage
If an instance is running low on Elastic Compute Units (ECUs), its CPU credit consumption
and performances are gradually lowered to the base performance level over a 15-minute
period. It does not experience a sharp performance drop-off when CPU credits are depleted.
When an instance uses all of its CPU credit balance, performances remain at the baseline
performance level. If an instance consistently uses all of its CPU credit balance, it is recom-
mended to upgrade to a larger instance type.

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There might be a discrepancy between the CPU usage reported by the OS and the compute
that EC2 is reporting as having actively provided. That discrepancy is lost CPU. In such case,
it is also recommended to upgrade to a larger instance type.
Instance Disk IO Usage
AWS Elastic Block Storage (EBS) provides Standard EBS Volumes and Provisioned IOPS
Volumes ranging from 100 IOPS to 10000 IOPS. We recommend monitoring the EBS volumes
VolumeQueueLength, ReadIOPS and WriteIOPS metrics to identify issues and adapt the
volume properties accordingly.
Network Usage
As described in the limitations, network performances depend on the instance type. It is im-
portant to monitor all the metrics relevant to your bandwidth and configure your network
configuration accordingly.

For more details, refer to AWS documentation at https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/.

Saving a Backup of SOLIDserver

You can save a back up of SOLIDserver from its GUI as detailed in the chapter Maintenance of
the Administrator Guide, available in the GUI top bar, in the menu ? > Administrator Guide.

In addition, you can create snapshots of the EBS volume, to have an additional backup of
SOLIDserver.

To create an AWS EC2 snapshot

1. Connect to the AWS EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2 using your IAM
user credentials.
2. Select a region where the SOLIDserver AMI is registered.
3. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
4. Tick the instance and click on the tab Description to copy and keep its Volume ID.
5. In the navigation panel, click on Snapshots.
6. Click on Create Snapshot. The page refreshes.
7. In the drop-down list Volume, select the volume of the instance you created.
8. Click on Create Snapshot. The page refreshes and the snapshot is listed.

Note that restoring a backup of SOLIDserver has to be done from its GUI, as detailed in the
chapter Maintenance of the Administrator Guide.

Troubleshooting SOLIDserver
If a functional GUI or SSH access is available, you can try to troubleshoot SOLIDserver, as detailed
in the chapter Maintenance of the Administrator Guide, available in the GUI top bar, in the menu
? > Administrator Guide.

Otherwise, you can troubleshoot your instances from AWS:

• Troubleshooting Performance Issues on an Instance.
• Checking the Instance Connectivity.
• Recovering a Crashed Instance of SOLIDserver.

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Troubleshooting Performance Issues on an Instance

Since AWS is a public, multi-tenant, shared environment, you might encounter performance issues
due to consuming neighbor instances.

You can try stopping the instance and then starting it again, this operation re-deploys the instance
on another physical host.

In the procedure below, you stop and start the instance from the AWS dashboard, but you can
also do it using awscli.

To stop an AWS EC2 instance running SOLIDserver and start it again

1. Connect to the AWS EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2 using your IAM
user credentials.
2. Select a region where the SOLIDserver AMI is registered.
3. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
4. In the column Instance state, make sure the instance hosting SOLIDserver is running.
5. Tick the instance(s) and click on Actions > Instance State > Stop. A pop up appears.
6. Click on Yes, Stop. Wait and refresh the page until the instance(s) state is marked stopped.
7. Tick the instance(s) and click on Actions > Instance State > Start. A pop up appears.
8. Click on Yes, Start. Wait and refresh the page until the instance(s) state is marked running.

Checking the Instance Connectivity

If the network has failed, administrators might not have direct access to SOLIDserver.

If you cannot establish a telnet connection on the TCP port 443 nor ping your instance, you must
check the instance connectivity.

To troubleshoot SOLIDserver instance connectivity

1. Connect to the AWS EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2 using your IAM
user credentials.
2. Select a region where the SOLIDserver AMI is registered.
3. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
4. Tick the instance to troubleshoot.
5. Check the instance state
a. In the column Instance State, make sure the instance hosting SOLIDserver is running.
If it is, go to step 6.
b. If any other state is returned, you must reboot. If the instance is still not running, go to
step 6.
6. Review the instance status checks
a. In the column Status Checks, make sure both status checks are passed. If no error is
returned, refer to the step 8.
b. If at least one of the checks has failed, go to step 7.
7. If the instance returns errors
If the instance status and/or state return red messages, follow the steps below, they may
return tips to troubleshoot the instance connectivity or startup issue.

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EC2

a. Click on Actions > Instance Settings > Get Instance Screenshot.The page refreshes
and displays a screenshot image of SOLIDserver console.
b. Click on Actions > Instance Settings > Get System Log. A pop up appears and dis-
plays the last 64 KB of logs. These can reveal kernel problems and service configuration
issues that could cause an instance to terminate or become unreachable before its SSH
daemon can be started. Note that:
• If the instance was terminated right after being deployed following the section Deploy-
ing SOLIDserver, you might need to visit the AWS support center at
https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/ to request higher limits on instances and
EBS volumes.
• Using awscli, you can display more information about an instance than from the AWS
Management Console by running the following command:
aws ec2 describe-instances--instance-id<the_id_of_your_instance>

8. If the instance does not return any error

The instance status checks were successful but you still cannot connect to SOLIDserver.
a. In the navigation panel, click on Security Groups. To check the Security Groups ac-
cesses.
b. Tick the security group(s) you created and click on Actions > Edit Inbound rules or
Actions > Edit Outbound rules. A pop up appears.
For more details, refer to the step Configure the instance security groups of the deploy-
ment procedure.

With all the elements you collected, refer to AWS proprietary documentation, available at
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-instance-troubleshoot.html, in the
section Troubleshooting instances.

Recovering a Crashed Instance of SOLIDserver

If you cannot access SOLIDserver GUI, its instance returned kernel or service configuration issues
in the system logs and/or SOLIDserver is unresponsive, you must:
1. Stop and start again the instance running SOLIDserver as detailed in the procedure To stop
an AWS EC2 instance running SOLIDserver and start it again.
2. If SOLIDserver is still unresponsive, you must recover the instance.

Recovering an instance, means replacing its volume. Indeed, you could terminate the instance
but that would revoke SOLIDserver license.

There are two ways of recovering a volume:

1. From an AWS EC2 snapshot, a backup of the instance running SOLIDserver.
2. From a new instance of EC2.

Recovering a Crashed Instance of SOLIDserver from an AWS EC2 snapshot

If you have an AWS EC2 snapshot, you can use it to replace the volume of your crashed instance
and keep your current SOLIDserver license.

To restore an instance volume with an AWS EC2 snapshot

1. Make sure you have a recent SOLIDserver backup file.

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2. Connect to the AWS EC2 console

a. Connect to the AWS EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2 using your
IAM user credentials.
b. Select a region where the SOLIDserver AMI is registered.
3. Stop the crashed instance
a. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
b. Tick the instance to troubleshoot and click on the tab Description to copy and keep its
Availability Zone, Instance ID, AMI ID, Volume type, Volume size and Volume ID.
c. Tick the instance(s) and click on Actions > Instance State > Stop. A pop up appears.
d. Click on Yes, Stop. Wait and refresh the page until the instance(s) state is marked
stopped.
4. Get a new volume for the crashed instance
a. In the navigation panel, click on Snapshots.
b. Tick the snapshot and click on Actions > Create Volume. A pop up appears.
c. Copy and keep the Snapshot ID and click on Create Volume. The page refreshes and
the new volume is listed.
5. Replace the old volume with the new one
a. In the navigation panel, click on Volumes.
b. Tick the volume of the crashed instance and click on Actions > Detach Volume. A pop
up appears.
c. Click on Yes, Detach. Wait and refresh the page until the volume state is marked
available.
d. Tick the new volume and click on Actions > Attach Volume. A pop up appears.
e. In the field Instance, specify the ID of the crashed instance.
f. In the field Device, type in /dev/sda1.
g. Click on Attach. Wait and refresh the page until the state of the new volume is marked
in-use.
6. Restart the crashed instance
a. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
b. Tick the crashed instance and click on Actions > Instance State > Start. A pop up
appears.
c. Click on Yes, Start. Wait and refresh the page until the instance(s) state is marked
running.
7. Restore SOLIDserver backup file
Once the new instance is launched, you must restore the backup file from SOLIDserver GUI:
a. Connect to your SOLIDserver appliance GUI using the credentials of a user the group
admin.
b. In the sidebar, click on Administration or Admin Home. The page Admin Home
opens.
c. In the section Maintenance, click on Backup & Restore. The page Backup & Restore
opens.
d. Under the menu, in the drop-down list SOLIDserver, make sure your local appliance is
selected.
It must be a Standalone appliance, you cannot restore a backup on an appliance con-
figured in High Availability.

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e. In the panel Local backup files, select the backup file you want to restore.
f. Click on RESTORE . The wizard Restore a backup file opens.
g. Tick the box Restore the system configuration to restore the system configuration of
the backup file. If you do not tick the box, the backup file data is restored but the current
system configuration of the appliance is kept.
Tick it if you are restoring a backup using an NSD or Unbound Hybrid server.
h. Tick the box Overwrite DNS records managed via a smart architecture to restore
the records database as saved during the backup. If you do not tick the box, the restored
zones keep the current version of the records they contain if they are managed via a
smart architecture.
In both cases, a restoration includes all and only the zones present in the backup file.
i. Click on OK to complete the operation.
For more details on backup restoration, refer to the Administrator Guide.
8. Delete the unused volume
a. In the navigation panel, click on Volumes.
b. Tick the former volume of the crashed instance and click on Actions > Delete Volume.
A pop up appears.
c. Click on Yes, Delete. The volume is no longer listed.

Recovering a Crashed Instance of SOLIDserver from a New Instance

If you do not have an AWS EC2 snapshot, you must create a temporary instance.

The new instance is only created to use its volume on your crashed instance. Note that, to avoid
invaliding the existing license, the new instance you use to replace the volume must:
• Use the original AMI or an AMI that matches the version running at the time of the crash.
• Use the same volume size.
• Enforce the same NICâ  s order and private IP configuration.
• Be reassociated with the same Elastic IP addresse(s).
• Be applied a new license.
• Be restored with a recent SOLIDserver backup file.

To restore an instance volume from a new instance

1. Make sure you have a recent SOLIDserver backup file.
2. Connect to the AWS EC2 console
a. Connect to the AWS EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2 using your
IAM user credentials.
b. Select a region where the SOLIDserver AMI is registered.
3. Stop the crashed instance
a. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
b. Tick the instance to troubleshoot and click on the tab Description to copy and keep its
Availability Zone, Instance ID, AMI ID, Volume type, Volume size and Volume ID.
c. Tick the instance(s) and click on Actions > Instance State > Stop. A pop up appears.
d. Click on Yes, Stop. Wait and refresh the page until the instance(s) state is marked
stopped.

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4. Get a new volume for the crashed instance

a. Launch a new SOLIDserver instance that matched the Availability Zone, Instance ID,
AMI ID, Volume type and Volume size of the instance that crashed.
b. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
c. Tick the new instance and click on the tab Description to copy and keep its Volume
ID.
d. Click on Actions > Instance State > Stop. A pop up appears.
e. Click on Yes, Stop. Wait and refresh the page until the instance state is marked stopped.
f. In the navigation panel, click on Volumes.
g. Tick the volume of the new instance using its Volume ID and click on Actions > Detach
Volume. A pop up appears.
h. Click on Yes, Detach. Wait and refresh the page until the state of the new volume is
marked available.
5. Replace the old volume with the new one
a. In the navigation panel, click on Volumes.
b. Tick the volume of the crashed instance and click on Actions > Detach Volume. A pop
up appears.
c. Click on Yes, Detach. Wait and refresh the page until the volume state is marked
available.
d. Tick the new volume and click on Actions > Attach Volume. A pop up appears.
e. In the field Instance, specify the ID of the crashed instance.
f. In the field Device, type in /dev/sda1.
g. Click on Attach. Wait and refresh the page until the state of the new volume is marked
in-use.
6. Restart the crashed instance
a. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
b. Tick the crashed instance and click on Actions > Instance State > Start. A pop up
appears.
c. Click on Yes, Start. Wait and refresh the page until the instance(s) state is marked
running.
7. Restore SOLIDserver backup file
Once the new instance is launched, you must restore the backup file from SOLIDserver GUI:
a. Connect to your SOLIDserver appliance GUI using the credentials of a user the group
admin.
b. In the sidebar, click on Administration or Admin Home. The page Admin Home
opens.
c. In the section Maintenance, click on Backup & Restore. The page Backup & Restore
opens.
d. Under the menu, in the drop-down list SOLIDserver, make sure your local appliance is
selected.
It must be a Standalone appliance, you cannot restore a backup on an appliance con-
figured in High Availability.
e. In the panel Local backup files, select the backup file you want to restore.
f. Click on RESTORE . The wizard Restore a backup file opens.

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g. Tick the box Restore the system configuration to restore the system configuration of
the backup file. If you do not tick the box, the backup file data is restored but the current
system configuration of the appliance is kept.
Tick it if you are restoring a backup using an NSD or Unbound Hybrid server.
h. Tick the box Overwrite DNS records managed via a smart architecture to restore
the records database as saved during the backup. If you do not tick the box, the restored
zones keep the current version of the records they contain if they are managed via a
smart architecture.
In both cases, a restoration includes all and only the zones present in the backup file.
i. Click on OK to complete the operation.
For more details on backup restoration, refer to the Administrator Guide.
8. Terminate the temporary instance
a. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.
b. Tick the instance created only to get its volume and click on Actions > Instance state
> Terminate. A pop up appears.
c. Click on Yes, Terminate. The list of instances is visible again. Wait and refresh the
page until the instance state is marked terminated.
9. Delete the unused volume
a. In the navigation panel, click on Volumes.
b. Tick the former volume of the crashed instance and click on Actions > Delete Volume.
A pop up appears.
c. Click on Yes, Delete. The volume is no longer listed.

Upgrading SOLIDserver
Even running on AWS, SOLIDserver can only be upgraded from its GUI, provided you have the
proper upgrade package.

For more details, refer to the chapter Upgrading of the Administrator Guide, available in the GUI
top bar, in the menu ? > Administrator Guide.

Terminating an Instance Running SOLIDserver

To remove SOLIDserver from EC2, you must terminate the instance that runs it.

Note that when terminating an instance:

• It cannot be restarted again.
• The license of SOLIDserver is revoked.
• If, as recommended, you ticked the box Delete on Termination when configuring the instance
storage, the associated volume is deleted.
• The Elastic IP address is dissociated.

To terminate an AWS EC2 instance running SOLIDserver

1. Connect to the AWS EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2 using your IAM
user credentials.
2. Select a region where the SOLIDserver AMI is registered.
3. In the navigation panel, click on Instances.

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4. Tick the instance(s) hosting SOLIDserver and click on Actions > Instance state > Terminate.
A pop up appears.
5. Click on Yes, Terminate. The list of instances is visible again. Wait and refresh the page
until the instance(s) state is marked terminated.

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