Linux Ignite? (better than partimage/Mondo/etc.)

[Kevin_31]

Hello folks, I'm trying out different ways to backup, and more importantly clone and easily recover an entire linux server.

It looks like most solutions (RedHat KickStart as well as SuSe's equivalent) want you to just re-run the installation as if from CD (follow all the installation questions like language, software packages, etc).

I am very happy with Ignite and want something as similar as possible (i.e. boot new or trashed server over network, point to BuildServer, run a few commands or click a few mouse buttons and watch it rebuild with no more useraction required).

Partimage (and to some degree BackBurner)look okay. I don't mind that because it works on an entire partition, it doesn't do things like change hostname/ip address, etc. But I don't want to have to shutdown the server in order to make an image of it's partition.

From what I've seen of Mondo, it should be able to backup the data even while it's mounted (mentions running via cron), and must work on a file basis rather than blocks since it can do incremental....
But I don't think the restore (or build-server) process is any better than the rest.

I really like the way Ignite can control the restore process from the Ignite server. Maybe I'm asking for too much, wanting a Linux equivalent to Ignite, but since ILO is so slow on our network, I really don't want to do any more than needed from the console of the box that's being built/rebuilt.

So, briefly, I'm looking for a program that I can load on my linux box which will make a file-backup of all of it's files/partitions (even the mounted partitions). It (or another program) should boot (PXBoot/tftpboot?) an identical box, point to the image, and install everything from the image on identical_box so that it will boot and run with no or minimal interaction.

points/thanks for suggestions
-Kevin

[Steven E. Protter]

Linux Ignite does not exist. If you want it as I do, contact HP and ask them to port the product.

From what I can see of Mondo its a good product, but its a small operation, run by a few people. Thats great for them but problematic for us because its not like HP which is a company can be reliable and expected to be there no matter what.

To image Linux boxes I use Symantec Norton Ghost.

I have Intel NIC cards in my Linux boxes and a special boot cd with Intel NIC drivers on it. I boot off the cd image the box to a shared stoage place. Then I boot the next box with the same cd write the image to this machine. When it boots, I take it off the network, console boot it and then change the hostname and ip configuration. Then its ready to go live.

SEP

[xyko_1]

Hi Kevin,

I use partimage to do the job but here are some links to commercial products that seem to do what you need.

http://www.storix.com/product.html
http://www.arkeia.com/products/dr/
http://www.network-backup.com/datasheets/overview.html
http://www.crossculture.com.hk/e-linux-serverbackup.htm

Good luck
Xyko

[Ryan Frank]

I have been using PXE boot (Network boot) and Kickstart with the KS.CFG file to build my machines... takes about 12 minutes to get the OS installed... Works great! Very much like Ignite or Jumpstart... Check this site...

http://www.stanford.edu/~alfw/PXE-Kickstart/PXE-Kickstart-3.html

I used it as a reference to get mine done.

-Ryan

[Craig Gilmore]

Kevin,

Take a look at:

http://sisuite.sourceforge.net/

SystemImager is the tool that will create a "golden image" and allow it to be moved to another system.

Happy installing!