Backups

Well, I've done it again.

My /var partition went south today on my server. I couldn't find my backup media. It wasn't a full backup
anyway. For some reason that partition kept my system from booting. Not sure what's going on there, unless
I had a link from /usr to /var  (a very real possibility).

Anyway! I've just bought a DVD+RW writer for the server. The goal is to make a complete backup of the system
onto a DVD, that can be used to rebuild the system.

Question 1: Is it possible to 'dd' directly onto a DVD medium, so that it could be 'dd'ed back onto a new HD?

Question 2: How would one best copy the entire file structure onto a dvd to make it a bootable media, so that it
could be used as a boot device?

Answers must be suitable for a CLI only system as this is a server and has no X.

Thanks,
Brian JD

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Re: Backups

On 8/1/06, Jack <quiet_celt@...> wrote:
> Well, I've done it again.
>
> My /var partition went south today on my server. I couldn't find my backup media. It wasn't a full backup
anyway. For some reason that partition kept my system from booting. Not sure what's going on there, unless
I had a link from /usr to /var  (a very real possibility).
>
> Anyway! I've just bought a DVD+RW writer for the server. The goal is to make a complete backup of the system
onto a DVD, that can be used to rebuild the system.
>
> Question 1: Is it possible to 'dd' directly onto a DVD medium, so that it could be 'dd'ed back onto a new HD?

You could boot to a LiveCD and if you have a spare HD dd
if=/dev/device of=/dev/difdevice.iso, then burn to DVD or CD. You
could also tar the directorys you want to save and reinstall. I don't
know what OS you are using, but most all my changes on my OpenBSD
systems are in /etc, /home, and for the exception of my webserver
/var/www/. So for me I just tar /etc /home and /var and reinstall in
an event of a problem. Doesn't really take to long to have a fully
working server/workstation for me, you mileage may vary.

> Question 2: How would one best copy the entire file structure onto a dvd to make it a bootable media, so that
it could be used as a boot device?
>
> Answers must be suitable for a CLI only system as this is a server and has no X.
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Re: Backups

I've actually done this a few times, there are several tools available
to you depending on your exact needs.  Look into Mondoarchive
http://www.mondorescue.org, partimage http://www.partimage.org, and
clonesys
http://www.trickytools.com/php/clonesys.php

I personally used partimage, but it took a bit of fighting to get it
to deal with soft-raid and LVM, but I got it done.  Mondo used to work
well for me, but I fought with it for a week and got no where.  I of
course found clonesys after the fact, so I cant offer an opinion on
it.

Matt

On 8/1/06, djgoku <djgoku@...> wrote:
> On 8/1/06, Jack <quiet_celt@...> wrote:
> > Well, I've done it again.
> >
> > My /var partition went south today on my server. I couldn't find my backup media. It wasn't a full backup
anyway. For some reason that partition kept my system from booting. Not sure what's going on there, unless
I had a link from /usr to /var  (a very real possibility).
> >
> > Anyway! I've just bought a DVD+RW writer for the server. The goal is to make a complete backup of the system
onto a DVD, that can be used to rebuild the system.
> >
> > Question 1: Is it possible to 'dd' directly onto a DVD medium, so that it could be 'dd'ed back onto a new HD?
>
> You could boot to a LiveCD and if you have a spare HD dd
> if=/dev/device of=/dev/difdevice.iso, then burn to DVD or CD. You
> could also tar the directorys you want to save and reinstall. I don't

Re: Backups

I know there are several utilities whereby you could
actually mount the backup image as a complete drive. 
Can't say that I've used any of them as most of our
stuff is NTFS related (thus we use NTFSClone).  At any
rate, I know that several of the utilities mentioned
in crash3m's post stated the possibility of mounting
the backup image as a full 'drive'.  Hate to think of
the access speed on a DVD+R/W, but it might be
something to consider for immediate quick access.

Dave

--- crash3m <crash3m@...> wrote:

> I've actually done this a few times, there are
> several tools available
> to you depending on your exact needs.  Look into
> Mondoarchive
> http://www.mondorescue.org, partimage
> http://www.partimage.org, and
> clonesys
> http://www.trickytools.com/php/clonesys.php
> 
> I personally used partimage, but it took a bit of
> fighting to get it
> to deal with soft-raid and LVM, but I got it done. 
> Mondo used to work
> well for me, but I fought with it for a week and got
> no where.  I of
> course found clonesys after the fact, so I cant

linspire releases freespire release candidate; here's a review of it

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT3239087426.html

--

-- 
David L Nicol
"...although it may be / a pile of debris"
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Re: linspire releases freespire release candidate; here's a review of it

I must say that I like the business model that Freespire has. Download
the OS snapshot for free, then pay $20.00 / year for access to their
pre-compiled and configured software bank. For some reason, I really
don't mind paying a reasonable price for a company to do this work for
me. $20.00 / year is just easier to swallow for Linux as opposed to
paying $150.00 every 2 - 3 years for bloated MS code!

On 8/3/06, David Nicol <davidnicol@...> wrote:
> http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT3239087426.html
>
> --
> David L Nicol
> "...although it may be / a pile of debris"
> _______________________________________________
> Kclug mailing list
> Kclug@...
> http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
>

--

-- 
RtX...

Ty Unes - Overland Park, Ks.
riverty@...
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Re: Backups

Thanks Matt,

As usual you have excellent suggestions.

Mondo looks like it will be well suited for disaster recovery.
I like tht is shouldl allow restoring from the baremetal and that you can change
the disk geometry.

Can you tell me what it was that you fought with that made you switch?

Brian JD

----- Original Message ----
From: crash3m <crash3m@...>
To: kclug@...
Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2006 4:32:38 PM
Subject: Re: Backups

I've actually done this a few times, there are several tools available
to you depending on your exact needs.  Look into Mondoarchive
http://www.mondorescue.org, partimage http://www.partimage.org, and
clonesys
http://www.trickytools.com/php/clonesys.php

I personally used partimage, but it took a bit of fighting to get it
to deal with soft-raid and LVM, but I got it done.  Mondo used to work
well for me, but I fought with it for a week and got no where.  I of
course found clonesys after the fact, so I cant offer an opinion on
it.

Re: Backups

On Wed, 2006-08-02 at 08:01 -0700, David Spake wrote:
> I know there are several utilities whereby you could
> actually mount the backup image as a complete drive. 
> Can't say that I've used any of them as most of our
> stuff is NTFS related (thus we use NTFSClone).  At any
> rate, I know that several of the utilities mentioned
> in crash3m's post stated the possibility of mounting
> the backup image as a full 'drive'.  Hate to think of
> the access speed on a DVD+R/W, but it might be
> something to consider for immediate quick access.

Yes, squashfs implements this for Linux. However, since no file systems
available for any consumer-level operating systems implement large
multi-file atomic copy operations, a safe backup this way can only be
made from an initramfs or some other way of accessing the backup target
while it is mounted read-only.

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Re: Backups

I dont recall the exact problem unfortunatly.  I believe it may have
been mindi or kernel related thought.

Matt

On 8/2/06, Jack <quiet_celt@...> wrote:
> Thanks Matt,
>
> As usual you have excellent suggestions.
>
> Mondo looks like it will be well suited for disaster recovery.
> I like tht is shouldl allow restoring from the baremetal and that you can change
> the disk geometry.
>
> Can you tell me what it was that you fought with that made you switch?
>
> Brian JD
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: crash3m <crash3m@...>
> To: kclug@...
> Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2006 4:32:38 PM
> Subject: Re: Backups
>
> I've actually done this a few times, there are several tools available
> to you depending on your exact needs.  Look into Mondoarchive
> http://www.mondorescue.org, partimage http://www.partimage.org, and
> clonesys
> http://www.trickytools.com/php/clonesys.php
>

OT: load balancers

Does anyone have experience with load balancer/ssl accelerator appliances?
 We need 2 and I don't think I can them to spring for BigIPs.  We are
looking at Kemp Technologies and their 3620 with 1000 ssl tps.  The
problem is I don't know anything about the company or the appliance, or
any other products like it.

http://www.kemptechnologies.com/load-balancer-3620.shtml

Thanks,

Brad
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