Today when trying to fix some issue relevant with wkhtmltopdf on my AWS server, I uninstalled postgresql accidentally. That is the dumbest thing I've ever done. Uninstall PSQL mean there is no db on my server anymore. WTF??? You know, when yourself in a hole, you can not think about anything, just copy and paste :((
Fortunately, I’ve just created an AMI (Amazon Machine Image) last night. Thank God, everything seems easy from now.
So, How did I do to fix my stupid?
Backup (Create an AMI)
Right click on your running instance: Image > Create Image
Please pay attendant on Snapshot and Size.
When you create an AMI, it will be create a snapshot of your virtual disk as well. You can choose size >= current virtual disk. That's all, we finish the backup. Very simple, right?
AWS is very awesome. It support 2 ways to restore instance. Duplicating and Mounting.
Duplicating
Instances > Launch Instance > Select My AMIs > Click “Select”
All next steps, you can follow this tut, for simple, when aws ask you to create new key pairs, you should reuse the old one which was used for current instance.
Mounting
ELASTIC BLOCK STORE > Snapshots
You can see the snapshot which was created in “Create AMI” step above. Right Click > Create Volume
You must select same Availability Zone with current instance (important)
Click on create, you will see new volume at ELASTIC BLOCK STORE > Volumes.
Now you have many choices:
Replace old virtual disk
Detach old one
Attach new one
Instance: Select instance you detach disk in prev step.
Device: must be “/dev/sda1”
Mount Virtual Disk
Attach new one to current instance
ELASTIC BLOCK STORE > Volumes > Right Click > Attach
Instance: Select instance you detach disk in prev step.
Device: should be “/dev/sdg”
Mount
# lsblk
# mkdir /mnt/recovery
# mount /dev/xvdg /mnt/recovery
Copy any files you want to the old volume.
Unmount
# cd /
# umount /mnt/recovery/
Hope this help.
