I have a dedicated server that I cannot access anymore, for some reason, after a reboot. It refuses SSH connections. The machine had otherwise been running for a month without issues, and multiple reboots occurred meanwhile.
What I can do is restart it in rescue mode and SSH into it this way, at which point I can mount the hard drives (currently in SW RAID 1).
I would like to reinstall Ubuntu (14.04 as it is now, or possibly 16.04, no difference), while in rescue mode, and keeping the home folder intact. There is a lot of data in the home folder, making it a little difficult to backup. Losing this data would not be a big deal, but not losing it would be preferrable.
I have found this guide for installation over SSH: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/OverSSH but it is unclear to me how to keep the home folder and avoid deleting it.
Ideally, I would like to have the same partition scheme as now, with all partitions except 'home' formatted. I seem to have found only guides to either install via SSH, or to install keeping home partition intact, but not both.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
mke2fs -j /dev/hda1
part, since you already have partitions. Installation should overwrite your current OS but not delete anything. Just make sure you pick all the same mount points, same username and same password. – Dorian Jun 29 '16 at 16:38