Failsafe mode utilizes the /failsafe mount point and filesystem. The failsafe filesystem contains a working Linux installation which, for LMI versions prior to 5.0.0, can be used to boot a system if there is a problem with the main /loglogic file system. Consider it to be similar to the Windows ‘safe mode’ option. Typical use would be to boot an appliance so that the appliance can be recovered if an upgrade fails. Essentially it is an alternative boot environment that can be selected at boot time in the boot manager menu (Grub is the boot loader) and used to debug a system that doesn’t boot because of some issues on the actual root file system.

The /failsafe mount point is also utilized by LMI upgrades to boot a Linux OS while upgrading the files located on /. After the files on / have been updated then the system reboots and will boot from / instead of /failsafe. This occurs for every LMI upgrade.

Note that, although the /failsafe mount point is still available in LMI versions in 5.0 and higher, the availability of Failsafe as a boot option has been removed starting with 5.0.0. Starting with 5.0.0 the use of Failsafe mode is only for LMI upgrades rather than being able to boot from it as a means of rescuing a LogLogic LMI instance. If you need to rescue an LMI appliance that is at least LMI 5.5.1 then you can follow article 000039672.

This article describes the use of failsafe mode in LogLogic LMI.