If you have SMB support in your kernel at the moment, its reasonably
simple to make your own boot disk. If you feel up to it, I'd be happy to
help you out with the creation of it.

luther 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.
> b. Use the imaging tool (on the floppy) to make a hard disk image.
> c. Store the image on another PC via FTP, SMB, etc. (Networking
> support.)
> d. In case of a disaster, would like to use the image to recreate the
> system on a new hard disk.
> e. This disk-imaging tool should be open source or freeware.
>
> Appreciate your suggestions.

In comp.os.linux.admin luther 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!

luther 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.

Find Busybox, will seriously cut down on the file size of
utilities. Build your own kernel with the absolute minimum
hardware support for your machine. (Ex: You don't need USB
support for this unless your keyboard is USB.)

Or you can use a Knoppix bootable CD.

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

That's what they are used for...

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

Check. Easiest (MHO) is NFS. Not sure about doing this
with FTP, you have to store the image file someplace before
uploading to FTP server...

If you do the floppy approach when you build the custom
kernel make sure you include your network card as a built
it. (I wouldn't use loadable modules on a floppy boot,
takes more space and is more work to get going)

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

That's the general idea..

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

man dd

dd if=/dev/hda|gzip>/mnt/nfsmountpoint/image

Note the use of gzip.

When I did this a couple years ago I wrote a little C
program to write huge files of 0x00 first. When you delete
a file all the bits on the disk that make up the file are
left, i.e. a mix of 1s and 0s, the rm command just removes
the entry from the directory and marks the inodes as free.
gzip will compress blocks of 0s much better than blocks of
mixed 1s and 0s.

--
Kevin D. Snodgrass
Help our soldiers in the field:
http://www.operationac.org/
Help our soldiers in the hospital:
http://www.woundedwarriorhospitalfund.org/

lothario@email.com (luther) wrote in message news:...
> 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.
> b. Use the imaging tool (on the floppy) to make a hard disk image.

Where do you propose to write this hd image? Can you write it to a
second, local hd till you transfer it to the server?

> c. Store the image on another PC via FTP, SMB, etc. (Networking
> support.)
> d. In case of a disaster, would like to use the image to recreate the
> system on a new hard disk.

Note that you will need physical access to the restored box, boot it
from floppy ( grub floppy would be handy) and set up the boot loader
properly in the MBR just in case. (Not aware of a tool that handles
this with 100% reliability across a network connection). Assume
you're trying to avoid doing an install process.

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

My question above relates to my limited use of disk imaging tools
other than S. Ghost. However, I do know and have good experience with
the "drive copy" tools that come with new hard drives. These
utilities are specific to each manufacturer but are available for free
download. They boot from floppy, are wholly self-contained, are very
fast, can verify media reliability, but will not copy to a network
location (I believe, need to double check). Good for making back-up
hard drives.

From Google I did find the usual suspects (many folks use a script
driving dd) and these utilities:
Search: linux file utilities ghost
http://www.partimage.org/ >>> gets my vote from limited personal use
http://kennethhunt.com/archives/000393.html
http://www.desktop-linux.net/backups.htm

hth,
prg
email above disabled