Rebuilding your VPS (Virtual Private Server) involves reinstalling its operating system or choosing a new one while retaining the same IP address. This process can help resolve issues, update the system, or start fresh with a new configuration. This guide will walk you through the steps of rebuilding your VPS, whether you want to keep your current OS, switch to a new OS, or start from scratch while carrying over existing data.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Retaining Your IP Address


When you rebuild a VPS (reinstall its operating system or change the operating system), its IP address is retained, unlike when cancelling and recreating it. It's important to note that IP addresses assigned to one VPS cannot be moved to another. If you cancel your VPS, the IP address assigned to it is released back into the pool of available IP addresses. 


Tip: For a flexible IP solution (similar to AWS Elastic IPs), consider using a load balancer to manage your servers. By using the IP address of the load balancer as the primary endpoint for your environment(s), you can easily add or remove servers as needed while maintaining a consistent IP address as your endpoint, even if the server(s) within the load balancer change their IP addresses. This feature is ideal as a pre-deployment solution.

The load balancer is available for an additional fee of $9.95 per month and is fully redundant and configurable through our control panel. For more information, please review our helpdesk article on the matter: Load Balancer | BinaryLane 


Rebuilding Your VPS and Retaining the Existing Operating System (Reinstall)

To rebuild your VPS and retain the existing operating system, you can perform a reinstallation:


  • Log into your BinaryLane account (https://www.binarylane.com.au/login)

  • Navigate to the VPS you would like to rebuild

  • Select the settings icon (⚙️) next to your VPSs name

  • Select the option `- Reinstall`

  • You will then be presented with the following page:


    You can review your current VPS's details from here, alongside pre-configure the server for reinstallation like defining a new hostname, enabling cloud-init deployment scripts and adding SSH keys.

  • Check the box `I have backed up all my files to another server` signifying you understand that this change will wipe your existing disk with no way to reverse or recover the files after the action has been performed

  • Select `Reinstall` once you're happy with the changes made.

    Linux-based OSs take a few minutes to install and configure where as it can take around ~10 minutes for Windows Server based installations.


Rebuilding Your VPS and Choosing Another Operating System


In the circumstance you'd like to use another operating system, you can choose a different one from within the Change Plan page. It's important to note that choosing another operating system will permanently delete all data on the disk:

  • Log into your BinaryLane account (https://www.binarylane.com.au/login)

  • Navigate to the VPS you would like to rebuild

  • Select the green `Change Plan` button at the top of the page

  • Deselect the option `Continue using...`

  • Check the box to ensure that you've backed up all relative files

  • Choose a different operating system from the list:

  • Once you've selected your desired operating system, scroll down to the bottom of the page, Check the boxes to agree to our Terms of Service and Refund Policy, then click `Change Plan` to finalise these changes.


Building a New VPS and Carrying Over Existing Data


You can choose to scrap the old VPS and start again; however, this method will not retain the IP address of the server. Here’s how you can proceed:


1. Create a temporary backup of your existing VPS:


  • Log into your BinaryLane account (https://www.binarylane.com.au/login)

  • Navigate to your VPS

  • Select the settings icon (⚙️) next to your VPSs name

  • Select `Snapshots, Backups & ISOs`

  • In the `Create Backup` section, change the `Backup Will:` selection drop-down to `Create new temporary image`

  • Select the `Create Backup Now` to create the temporary backup

2. Copy the Download URL of the backup:


  • Once your backup has been created, you should be sent back to the `Snapshots, Backups & ISO Management` page, if not, return to this page.

  • Change the tab to `Download`

  • Under the `Compressed† Download` table, right click the `SYSTEM: X GB` button, and click `Copy Link` (your browser may have a different option here, essentially, you're wanting to copy the direct-download URI of the backup file).


3. Upload Backup to New VPS:


Note: If you're rebuilding your VPS in the circumstance of disaster recovery, proceed with caution as restoring from a backup can carry over compromised scripts, executables, services, and files. Attaching the backup instead attaches the backup to your VPS as a read-only disk.


  • Navigate to your new VPS

  • Select the settings icon (⚙️) next to your VPSs name

  • Select `Snapshots, Backups & ISOs`

  • Change the tab to `Upload`

  • Change the `Upload will:` selection drop-down to `Create new temporary image` (or `Replace` if one already exists)

4. Attach / Restore from backup:


  • Once your backup has been uploaded, you should be you should be sent back to the `Snapshots, Backups & ISO Management` page, if not, return to this page.

  • You should already be on the `Manage` tab, if not, select the `Manage` tab to go there

  • Select the temporary backup you've just uploaded

    You have two options here, you may restore a backup to overwrite your entire Cloud Server disk with a previously created backup. In doing so you will lose any changes you have made since the backup was created, or, you can attach a backup if you need to retrieve files from a previous backup. This will add a second, read-only disk to your Cloud Server containing the data from the selected backup.

Note: Our compressed backups are compressed using qpress. Since the original site is down, you can download qpress from the following links for local decompression:


Windows: qpress64.exe

Linux: qpress-11-linux-x64.tar


For decompression methods and general use of qpress, please refer to this publicly rehosted documentation.


If you require assistance, feel free to submit a support ticket at our helpdesk here: Submit a ticket | BinaryLane