How to clone RHEL 4 OS disk to a different server

[Beer Grill]

Hi all

I need to move a RHEL V4 OS from a DL380 G4 that has 3.5inch SCSI disks, to a DL380 G5 that has 2.5inch SAS disks. Both the servers have 2 x 36.4GB disks in a RAID 1 array, with a single logical disk.

I would like to be able to clone the logical disk on the G4 to the G5 server to avoid reinstallation.

Which tool would be best for the job?

Thanks

BG

[Matti_Kurkela]

If we're talking about free tools, I might use Mondo (mondorescue.org) to create an image of the server to a removable USB disk or a remote NFS server: in both cases Mondo creates a set of .iso images that can be burned onto CD or DVD later, or used as-is for USB or network-based recovery.

I might then burn the first .iso to have a physical boot media for the new server, or maybe use the Mindi component of Mondo on some G5 server to create a dedicated rescue boot media for the G5 (as it might require different drivers than the G4).

Then boot the G5 with the Mondo rescue boot CD/DVD, and restore from the image.

After restoring, you might have to boot the system once using RHEL installation media in rescue mode to edit the /etc/modprobe.conf of the cloned installation to change the scsi_hostadapter driver aliases to match the new hardware, and to re-create the initrd. This would be necessary if the G4 and G5 use different storage drivers.

If money is no object, I've seen people in another department doing migrations like this using PlateSpin:

https://www.netiq.com/products/migrate/
...but it might be a massive overkill for a one-time task.

[Beer Grill]

Hi Matti

Thanks for your reply.

I will download Mondo as suggested and give it a try.