Restoring using LightsOut Restore

You must install a fully licensed version of Norton Ghost before you can perform a restore using the LightsOut capability. There is no trial or evaluation period for this feature.

The Norton Ghost LightsOut Restore feature enables administrators to restore a computer from a remote location, regardless of the state the computer is currently in, so long as its file system is intact. This option provides a way to boot the Symantec recovery environment from a folder on the operating system partition. This option has been developed around the concepts of pcAnywhere, the Windows boot menu, and hardware devices such as RILO and DRAC, which allow an administrator to remotely control a system during the boot process (including the selection of items from a Windows boot menu). Depending on your hardware configuration, you can use LightsOut Restore to complete a system restoration on a remote server via a Web browser, using your server's remote connection capabilities, and the Symantec recovery environment. By using this option, you save the time it takes to physically visit the computer to perform the restore.

When LightsOut Restore is set up, it installs a Symantec recovery environment directly to the file system on the system partition, and places a Symantec recovery environment boot option within the Windows boot menu. Whenever this boot menu option is selected, the system will boot directly to the Symantec recovery environment using the files installed on the system partition.

Note:

The LightsOut feature requires at least 1 gigabyte of memory to run.

Once LightsOut Restore has been set up and the boot menu option has been added, you can use a hardware device to remotely connect to the system. When you are connected, you can power on or reboot the system and select the recovery environment from the boot menu. The system then boots to the recovery environment.

By default, when the recovery environment boots as part of LightsOut Restore, it automatically starts a pcAnywhere thin host (this can be changed through the LightsOut Restore wizard). You can then use pcAnywhere to connect to the thin host and remotely use the recovery environment to restore files or entire partitions.