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Rescue Mode and Initial Access

Brief description: Access your Hetzner server in rescue mode to prepare for Proxmox installation.

What You'll Learn

  • How to activate rescue mode in Hetzner Robot
  • How to SSH into the rescue environment
  • How to identify NVMe storage devices

Prerequisites

  • [ ] Hetzner EX44 server ordered and delivered
  • [ ] Access to Hetzner Robot portal (https://robot.hetzner.com)
  • [ ] SSH client installed on your local machine
  • [ ] Server IP address from Hetzner

Estimated Time

30-45 minutes

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Access Hetzner Robot Portal

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Navigate to https://robot.hetzner.com
  3. Log in with your credentials
  4. Click on your server in the server list

Step 2: Activate Rescue Mode

  1. Click the "Rescue" tab in the server details
  2. Select "Linux 64-bit" from the operating system dropdown
  3. Click "Activate rescue mode" button
  4. A root password will be displayed - copy this to a secure location
  5. Click "Send CTRL+ALT+DEL to reset" or power cycle the server
  6. Wait 2-3 minutes for the server to boot into rescue mode

Step 3: SSH into Rescue Mode

Open your terminal and connect:

ssh root@<your-server-ip>

When prompted for password, enter the rescue password from Step 2.

You should see output similar to: 

Rescue System 6.0.1
root@rescue ~ #

Step 4: Verify NVMe Devices

List available storage devices:

lsblk

Expected output: 

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
nvme0n1     259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk 
nvme1n1     259:1    0 476.9G  0 disk

Verify device details:

fdisk -l | grep nvme

Expected output: 

Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 476.94 GiB, 512110190592 bytes, 1000215216 sectors
Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 476.94 GiB, 512110190592 bytes, 1000215216 sectors

Device Verification

Ensure you see exactly two NVMe devices (/dev/nvme0n1 and /dev/nvme1n1) before proceeding. If you see different devices, stop and verify your server configuration.

Step 5: Update Rescue System

Update package lists:

apt update

Install essential tools:

apt install -y wget curl vim

Verification

  • [ ] Successfully accessed Hetzner Robot portal
  • [ ] Rescue mode activated successfully
  • [ ] SSH connection established to rescue environment
  • [ ] Both NVMe devices identified (/dev/nvme0n1 and /dev/nvme1n1)
  • [ ] Rescue system updated

Next Steps

Proceed to ZFS Setup to create your storage pool.