Slide Linux Agent¶
The Slide Linux Agent runs on supported distributions and uses the mooCBT kernel module (installed via DKMS) for change tracking. This page explains installation, lists validated distributions, supported file systems, and other notes.
Installation¶
To install the Slide Linux Agent, run the following command on any supported distribution and version.
Non-interactive installation¶
For non-interactive installation, pass -y to accept the script defaults without prompts (enable auto-updates):
You can also set the YES environment variable instead of -y.
Supported distributions and file systems¶
Distribution support¶
| Version | Supported |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu 20.04 |  |
| Ubuntu 22.04 | |
| Ubuntu 24.04 | |
| Debian 12 | |
| Debian 13 | |
File system support¶
| Version | Supported |
|---|---|
| ext2 | |
| ext3 | |
| ext4 | |
| XFS | |
| FAT32 | |
| NTFS |  |
| ZFS | |
| BTRFS | |
Note
NTFS support is planned, however there are no plans to support BTRFS or ZFS at this time.
Supported architectures¶
The Slide Linux Agent and the mooCBT kernel module are 64-bit and run on x86_64 architectures.
Linux Agent Known Limitations¶
Restore features¶
The first release of the Slide Linux Agent will only support file restores and image exports. Virtualization support will be added in a future release, and as a result there are no boot verifications. Additionally, push file restore and file search are not available yet.
When you create an image export, the image will not have the agent disabled in the exported image, as it does with the Slide Windows Agent. This means that if you restore the image to bare metal or a virtual machine and boot it, it will try to start taking backups as if it were the original agent. You must manually disable the agent or backup corruption in future backups of the original agent could occur. The simplest way to disable the agent is to uninstall it, see below.
Secure Boot¶
The Slide Linux Agent does not support Secure Boot. Secure Boot must be disabled to use the agent and kernel module.
Disk Encryption¶
Storage with disk encryption (dmcrypt, setupcrypt, LUKS) is not supported. Backups may succeed, but restores may not preserve the original encryption scheme. Please note that Slide backups are encrypted themselves, and consider User Managed Encryption Passphrases.
LVM¶
Simple LVM setups, such as a linear volume on one disk without mirroring, striping, or RAID-style LVM layers are supported.
Mirrored, striped, and RAIDed LVM layouts are not supported.
Public API pairing¶
Pairing the Slide Linux Agent through the Slide API is not available yet. The pairing process via the Slide Console is the supported method to pair the agent with your Slide Box.
Hardware requirements¶
The Slide Linux Agent requires the following hardware:
- x86_64 architecture
- 8 GB of RAM
Note: The mooCBT kernel module will use 10% of the volume's storage for its COW file during a backup for each volume in the backup requiring a minimum of 10MB per volume. This space is freed up after the backup completes and only uses a small fraction (about 0.2%) of the volume's storage to track incremental changes.
Uninstallation¶
To uninstall the Slide Linux Agent, run the following command.
This will remove the mooCBT kernel module and therefore the Slide Linux Agent which depends on it. Some Agent configuration will be left behind in case you want to reinstall and maintain the agent's association with your Slide account and Slide Box. This configuration and all traces of the Slide Linux agent can be completely removed with the following command.
Other notes¶
Major Distribution Upgrades¶
Major distribution upgrades, such as an upgrade from Ubuntu 22.04 (jammy) to 24.04 (noble), will require some intervention. Distro-provided tooling will not update the installed Slide Linux Agent package repository listing on a major distribution upgrade.
On a major distribution upgrade, please update /etc/apt/sources.list.d/slideagent.list to match the version codename string of the new version.
For example, if the original version was Ubuntu 22.04, codenamed "jammy":
deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/slide.gpg] https://update.slide.tech/agent/pkg/stable jammy main
and the machine was updated to 24.04, codenamed "noble", then change this to:
deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/slide.gpg] https://update.slide.tech/agent/pkg/stable noble main
To update agent packages for the new distribution version, please execute:
Indirect Branch Tracking (IBT)¶
Indirect Branch Tracking (IBT) is a hardware-assisted control-flow integrity feature. Using it requires all of the following:
- A CPU that implements IBT (part of Intel CET and the AMD equivalent).
- Linux kernel 5.18 or newer.
- A Linux distribution that has IBT enabled by default on the distribution's kernel.
Our mooCBT DKMS / build scripts check for this environment because it can not run on systems with IBT. If all the requirements are met, the mooCBT build fails so the driver is never loaded into a configuration where it could cause problems on the machine.
Processors that advertise IBT support include many recent Intel Core (from roughly 11th-generation “Tiger Lake” onward on many product lines) and AMD's Zen 3 architecture includes IBT support. View /proc/cpuinfo (look for ibt in flags on supported kernels) to confirm IBT support for a given host.
If you are unsure whether your system qualifies, rely on the mooCBT build checks: a failed build means the module was not installed because the environment was not considered safe for loading.