Backup/Restore Redhat Linux OS

[kevin leong]

Dear All ,
May I know how to backup the Linux OS ?Mean any backup/recovery OS solution can run redhat ?As i know HP-UX bundle the ignite-ux to backup/recovery OS ,so any party software having a same feature to backup and recovery redhat linux OS?

Or just tar (backup) "/" every thing to the tape 1st ,after fresh install OS then restore from tape to "/"

Thanks
LeongKO

[Steven E. Protter]

http://www.mondorescue.org

Though a small operation, they seem to provide tools for doing Ignite style OS backups and restore.

A tar backup will not include certain types of files such as soft links and will probably not be usable.

SEP

[Rick Garland]

mondo is the tool most referenced for this task.

Good stuff

[Ivan Ferreira]

Mondo is a great tool, it makes bootable recovery CDs.

But you must know that recovering from a tar backup is tedious.

So, install and use dump/restore to make backups. This is a preferred tool for making backups, and you can restore the system from the backup without reinstalling it.

[kevin leong]

Dear All ,
Any software else ?Refering the web site only supporrt on AS2.1 and Redhat 9.0 .My Redhat linux is AS 3.0 with emt64 .
The mondo isn't work on this OS version ?

Thanks
LeongKO

[Huc_1]

Hi LeongKO

You can use rsync which has options to preserve links ou can also use this passing it to ssh to make it secure.

You can have a bootable cd live like knoppix to boot from in case of disaster, check that this live CD (zillions of them out there) has the tolls for partition creation and a compatible version of rsync to the one you use to backup the system to be used at restore time.

http://www.knoppix.org/

and have a look at man rsync, see if it fits you needs.

Jean-Pierre Huc

[morganelan]

Hi Kevin,

Try this System Backup Administrator for Linux from Storix

[Vitaly Karasik_1]

Ghost works well for linux.

[Anthony_141]

We use Microlite BackupEdge and are able to make recovery CD's as well as "clone" a new Redhat server from a "master" (so we can get a new server up and running in about 45 minutes).

[Tvs]

hey

1. make a linux bootable floppy
2. boot the system with win98 bootable floppy or cd
3. use norton ghost to make the image file
4. write the image file to a the writable cd


if you want to restore,

boot with a win98 bootabl floppy or cd run norton ghost and convert the image to hdd.
and make the disk bootable

it should work

[Ivan Ferreira]

In my last post, I was wrong (very wrong).

Talking about command line utilities to make backups, dump/restore should not be used (shame). I though that will be as good as vdump/vrestore (tru64).

See:

http://lwn.net/2001/0503/a/lt-dump.php3

www.naspa.com/PDF/2002/1102%20PDF/T0211003.pdf

The star (unique standard tape archiver) command, should be used, because it supports extended headers, for backup acl and files in SELinux enabled systems.

Better late than never.

Cheers.