Re: need floppy based disk imaging tool for Red Hat 9

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Date: 17 Jan 2004 09:20:20 +1300

In comp.os.linux.admin luther <lothario@email.com> wrote:
> Have Red Hat 9 with ext3 and linux-swap partitions.
> Looking for a disk-imaging tool (something like Symantec's Ghost).
>
> Would like to:
> a. Boot off a floppy.

Yes, or a CD, or from the Network. Or, you can reinstall from lilo.

> b. Use the imaging tool (on the floppy) to make a hard disk image.

Hmmm, not usually.

> c. Store the image on another PC via FTP, SMB, etc. (Networking
> support.)

Certainly, but you access it via rsync, optionally protected via ssh.

> d. In case of a disaster, would like to use the image to recreate the
> system on a new hard disk.

Certainly.

> e. This disk-imaging tool should be open source or freeware.

Yup.

Have a look at System Imager (www.systemimager.org). Its supported by
HP, the documentation is good, updates are really easy (it uses rsync,
so the "image" is a non-compressed directory on a server. It can do
non-interactive autoinstalls, handle disks of different sizes fairly
easily, and supports overrides for each host.

Contrary to what the documentation says, you don't need to use
/etc/hosts, its quite happy using DNS.

If you're still not sure, check out the IRC channel #sisuite on
irc.systemimager.org. There aren't a lot of people in the channel
usually, but its still quite helpful. There's also a mailing list.

I use it in my lab to maintain 12 Debian machines. When an update comes
out, I just apt-get upgrade on my golden client, test it a bit, upload
the changes to the server (it doesn't take very long), then use dsh to
run updateclient on all of the clone machines. The re-sync doesn't take
long, but if you're doing them all at the same time, use a switch, not a
hub.

My machines aren't homogeneous either. They are all x86, but they have
different hardware (about three types, with a wider selection of video
cards). I deal with these differences myself, adding some startup
scripts of my own creation to install the right XF86Config, load the
right module for the NIC and Sound, etc. You could also do this using
discover (what Knoppix uses), or in the case of RedHat, Kudzu I guess.

Future versions of systemimager will support reliable multicast, so it
will be more efficient.

Two things to think about are host SSH keys (these could be managed
using an override (a host-specific patch if you like, to the image).
The other item is logs. This should be easy enough to manage, just don't
write /var/log/ when you run updateclient.

-- 
Cameron Kerr
cameron.kerr@paradise.net.nz : http://nzgeeks.org/cameron/
Empowered by Perl!

• Previous message: Michael W. Cocke: "Re: Problem with my hard drive (help !)"
• In reply to: luther: "need floppy based disk imaging tool for Red Hat 9"
• Next in thread: Kevin D. Snodgrass: "Re: need floppy based disk imaging tool for Red Hat 9"
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