To reimage an appliance from the USB drive

1. Before you begin the reimage process, Cohesity recommends that you record the configuration information that you entered when you performed the initial configuration.
2. Create the USB drive. See the following article for instructions: How to create a Flex Appliance USB flash drive
3. Verify that the following ports are connected to the network:

   • The remote management (IPMI) port

     Used to connect to the Veritas Remote Management Interface

   • host0

     Used to connect to the Flex Appliance Console

4. Insert the USB drive into a USB port on the node that you want to reimage.
5. Use the following steps to access the Veritas Remote Management Interface:

   • Open a supported web browser on a system that has a network connection to the appliance. Flex Appliance supports the following browsers:

     • Google Chrome version 139 or later recommended (minimum version 105 or later)

     • Mozilla Firefox version 142 or later recommended (minimum version 140 or later)

   • Enter the IP address that is assigned to the remote management port of the node that you want to reimage.

   • Log in to the Veritas Remote Management Interface. If you have not previously logged in, use the following default credentials:

     • User Name: sysadmin

     • Password: P@ssw0rd

6. If you logged in with the default password, you must change the password before you can configure or recover the appliance after the reimage. Perform the following steps:

   • Navigate to Configuration > Users and select the sysadmin user.

   • Click Modify User.

   • Select the Change Password check box and enter a new password.

7. Do one of the following to launch the Flex Appliance Shell:

   • Navigate to Remote Control > Console Redirection and click Launch Console.

   • If available, navigate to Remote Control > iKVM over HTML5 and click Launch Console over HTML5.

   Note:

   Availability of the HTML5 option depends on the appliance firmware version. You can check the version from the System > System Information page. The BIOS ID must show version 00.01.0016 or later.

8. Return to the Veritas Remote Management interface and select Server Power Control on the left side of the Remote Control page.
9. On that page, do the following:

   • Select the Reset Server radial option.

   • Click Perform Action.

10. Return to the Flex Appliance Shell and wait for the system to turn on. When the splash screen appears, immediately press F6 to enter the boot menu.

    Note:

    You only get a window of a few seconds to perform this task. If you miss the window, the operating system loads, and you cannot access the boot menu.

11. When the boot menu appears, scroll down to the USB drive and press Enter.
12. The system begins to start from the USB drive. It then presents you with multiple options.

    If you have a 5x50 appliance, select Install Veritas Optimised OS and press Enter.

    If you have a 5x60 appliance, perform the following steps:

    • Select Install Veritas Optimised OS (RA Appliances Only!) and press e.

    • On the following screen, locate the following line:

      nst.ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg inst.xdriver=vesamodprobe.blacklist\t=qla2xxx,lpfc,ocs..fc..scst,ahci,isci,ast pcie_aspm=off

    • Replace this line with the following text:

      inst.stage2=hd:LABEL=VxOS inst.ks=hd:LABEL=VxOS:/ks.cfg inst.repo=hd:LABEL=VxOS:/

    • Enter Ctrl +X.

13. When the installation of the new appliance package is complete, you receive a Welcome message in the Flex Appliance Shell. The hostadmin user password resets to the default password (P@ssw0rd), so use the default password to log back in to the Flex Appliance Shell. Then run the following command to change the password:

    set user password

14. Restart the node with the system restart command.
15. Proceed to the next steps that are listed at the end of this topic.

To reimage an appliance from an ISO file

1. Before you begin the reimage process, Cohesity recommends that you record the configuration information that you entered when you performed the initial configuration.
2. Verify that the following ports are connected to the network:

   • The remote management (IPMI) port

     Used to connect to the Veritas Remote Management Interface

   • host0

     Used to connect to the Flex Appliance Console

3. From a computer within your appliance domain, download the appropriate ISO file from the Download Center on the Support website.
4. Save the ISO file to a local drive of the computer.
5. If a firewall exists between the appliance and the remote devices that manage the appliance, make sure that the following ports are open:

   • 627 RMM ISO/CD

   • 5902 RMM CLI

   Note:

   These ports are not required for reimages over HTML5. However, note that the performance of HTML5 is significantly slower, and the availability of the option depends on your appliance firmware version. You can check the version from the System > System Information page. To reimage over HTML5, the BIOS ID must show version 00.01.0016 or later.

6. Turn off the appliance.
7. Use the following steps to access the Veritas Remote Management Interface:

   • Open a supported web browser on a system that has a network connection to the appliance. Flex Appliance supports the following browsers:

     • Google Chrome version 139 or later recommended (minimum version 105 or later)

     • Mozilla Firefox version 142 or later recommended (minimum version 140 or later). Note that reimaging over HTML5 is not supported on Firefox.

   • Enter the IP address that is assigned to the remote management port of the node that you want to reimage.

   • Log in to the Veritas Remote Management Interface. If you have not previously logged in, use the following default credentials:

     • User Name: sysadmin

     • Password: P@ssw0rd

8. If you logged in with the default password, you must change the password before you can configure or recover the appliance after the reimage. Perform the following steps:

   • Navigate to Configuration > Users and select the sysadmin user.

   • Click Modify User.

   • Select the Change Password check box and enter a new password.

9. Do one of the following to launch the Flex Appliance Shell:

   • (Recommended) Navigate to Remote Control > Console Redirection and click Launch Console.

   • If you are using Google Chrome and the option is available, navigate to Remote Control > iKVM over HTML5 and click Launch Console over HTML5. Note that the performance of HTML5 is significantly slower.

10. If you clicked Launch Console, perform the following steps:

    • When the shell launches, click on the Device drop-down menu on the console and select Redirect ISO.

    • From the Open pop-up window that appears, choose the ISO file that you want to install and click Open.

11. If you clicked Launch Console over HTML5, perform the following steps:

    • Navigate to Virtual Media > Virtual Media over HTML5 and click Launch virtual media over HTML5.

    • In the pop-up window that appears, click Choose file and select the ISO file that you want to install, then click Open.

    • From the Virtual Media > Virtual Media over HTML5 page, click Mount.

12. Return to the Veritas Remote Management interface and select Server Power Control on the left side of the Remote Control page.
13. On that page, since the server is currently off, the only available option is Power ON Server.

    Click Perform Action.

14. Return to the Flex Appliance Shell and wait for the system to turn on. When the splash screen appears, immediately press F6 to enter the boot menu.

    Note:

    You only get a window of a few seconds to perform this task. If you miss the window, the operating system loads, and you cannot access the boot menu.

15. When the boot menu appears, scroll down to Virtual CDROM or UEFI USB Device and press Enter.
16. The system begins to start from the ISO file you selected earlier. It then presents you with the following options:

    • Boot from local drive

    • Install Veritas Optimised OS

    • Rescue a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system

    Select Install Veritas Optimised OS and press Enter.

    Note:

    The remote management ISO installation is sensitive to the quality of the network connection. If an installation failure occurs, try the installation again. If the problem persists, try to improve the quality of the remote management network connection. You can also burn the ISO file onto a DVD and install it with a USB DVD-ROM drive that you physically connect to the appliance.

17. When the installation of the new appliance package is complete, you receive a Welcome message in the Flex Appliance Shell. The hostadmin user password resets to the default password (P@ssw0rd), so use the default password to log back in to the Flex Appliance Shell. Then run the following command to change the password:

    set user password

18. Restart the node with the system restart command.
19. Proceed to the next steps that are listed at the end of this topic.