Moving Server Data

[Kyle D. Harris]

Important question i have no experience whatsoever in...

We have a small server running RH 6.2 and we have a new server we just got that i'm building with RH 9.0 . The Goal is to move all the data on the 6.2 server to the bigger faster server running 9.0 . What complications could I have?

And also how the heck do you do that!??! Thanks in advance all.

[Mark Grant · Accepted solution]

Kyle,

If you are only talking about data as opposed to applications, the simple way would be to remove the hard disk from the first machine, put it in the new machine, and mount the filesystems there. This will give you everything you need and you probably wouldn't need to copy anything anywhere unless it is more practical to.

However, applications on 6.2 may well not work easily on 9.0 so you may find it simpler to install these applications again on the new box and then move the data in the manner suggested above.

[Olivier Drouin]

I agree with mark.

If you move only data you can put the harddisk on the new machine. You should then copy the data on the hd of the new machines (no point to give a second life to an old hd, moreso in a server). If you dont want the hassle to put the hd, in just use scp (part of openssh) and xfer over the notwork.

If you have applications to xfer then it is more complicated but it depends on the app.

[Kyle D. Harris]

I think all we have is data mainly. By applications you guys mean things like Media player or games, which we have none of. So i guess it's mainly data.

So basically, put in the old hard drive, copy it over to the new one, and then can remove the old hard drive?

[Kyle D. Harris]

Does RH 9.0 require any special attention when installing things such as java, oracle, or perl? Thanks.

[Steven E. Protter]

Perl is pretty well handled and compatible in your jump from 6.2 to 9.0

Oracle and java, not really. You'll have to meticulously make sure the right, compatible version of the gcc tools is installed, go out and get java and install it yourself and deal with any other complications in the oracle install manual.

If you were doing an upgrade in place and had all of these factors correct, you might get away with just relinking the binaries.

Its better to go through the oracle step by step available at http://metalink.oracle.com http://otn.oracle.com and http://technet.oracle.com

SEP

[Olivier Drouin]

1st question: yes, ( or copy over the network)

java and perl should be easy to copy. It would be harder if you run more than 1 version of each though.

For oracle it depends on the requirements of oracle, not redhat. Check the oracle's release note or readme for your version. Linux is now the preferred oracle's OS, so it should be easy too. glibc would be your main concern since it is not trivial to run 2 versions on a system.

[Paul Cross_1]

If I were doing this, (if we are talking about just data, nfs, or samba) I wouldn't swap the hard drive, old technology on a new server is asking for trouble. I would use rsync over the network. this can be done in parallel, while both machines are running. During your downtime, do one last sync and your downtime is minimal.