Creating an image of a Linux Computer

[potatohead]

I'm a Linux Administrator at a school. I would like to create an image of one Red Hat 6.1 Linux computer and to be able to duplicate more computer, using the image. I recently created an image of a Linux partition using Ghost, but it did not work when I tried putting it a computer. What I want is a image of the operating system, containing all the setting files and everything (a complete duplication of a computer). Anyone knows how to do that?

[Morph]

have a look at Redhat kickstart.

I have never used it but the system admin guy in our lab swears by it to set up and boot 50 LINUX boxes at the same time.

[godot]

Ghost 6 and Ghost 7 will both work with ext2 but you'll have to multicast it to a windows pc or use the CD-Burning feature

[miker]

and don't forget the old nutshell of cloning an image onto many machines with disparate array of hardware ... even 'friendly' Windows has problems when it finds itself on different hardware (not that it'll be a problem with WinXP ;-)

I've still yet to experience even the basic pleasures of adding an extra IDE device into an existing Linux box (thank God my laptop isn't upgradable ;-)

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by miker:
<STRONG>and don't forget the old nutshell of cloning an image onto many machines with disparate array of hardware ... </STRONG>

dude, i took a 2.5" laptop hard drive out and stuck it into a compaq desktop pc
loaded mandrake 8 onto the laptop drive, then stuck it back into the laptop (compaq armada E500) and turned it on and it came right up into gnome, working great no problems, even the nic worked! (of course the desktop had the same chipset nic as the laptop ;) )

but anyway i was surprised that mandrake / linux was so adaptable that i could load it onto a desktop and run it on a laptop with changing anything!! :)

[Craig McPherson]

Geez, people. You're overlooking the obvious. Just use dd. It's been a standard part of every UNIX system for over 20 years.

dd if=/dev/hda of=imagefile

dd if=imagefile of=/dev/hda

Or clone one drive directly to another...

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb

You can do individual partitions the same way.

C'mon people.

[FoBoT]

dd doesn't use any compression , does it?

if not, then perhaps, in some cases, a propriatetary prog like drive image pro/ghost would be useful, due to its ability to highly compress the image, but hey, dd is :cool: right? ;)

[Craig McPherson]

Bah.

Pipe through gzip.

Heck, if you're going to do that, don't even use dd.

cat /dev/hda | gzip &gt; imagefile

(Make sure your filesystem and kernel can handle &gt;2GB files)

[The King Ant]

dd will probably not copy devices over correctly. Nor will cat or tar (there might be an option for tar).

I'd stick with Ghost, as long as the school will pay for it. bru is good: http://www.estinc.com/bruinfo.php

Make CD-ROM Recovery looks good, but I haven't used it. http://mkcdrec.ota.be/

[Craig McPherson]

Originally posted by The King Ant:
<STRONG>dd will probably not copy devices over correctly.</STRONG>

Yes it will.

Where do you get your information? I ask because it's so blatantly wrong that I'd like to find out your source so that I can go and destroy it to prevent more lies from leaking into the world.

Nor will cat or tar (there might be an option for tar)

If that's honestly what you believe, then maybe you're not UNIX material.

I've cloned systems with dd or cat and tar more times than I can count on one hand (aka 6). Please do not spread such blatantly false ignorance.

[FoBoT]

this was cross-posted when originally posted, it has a mate with answers in general, so i am moving this to join it

off you go to general little thread, hehe :D

[bdl]

Originally posted by Craig McPherson:
<STRONG>
Where do you get your information? I ask because it's so blatantly wrong that I'd like to find out your source so that I can go and
destroy it to prevent more lies from leaking into the world.


If that's honestly what you believe, then maybe you're not UNIX material.

Please do not spread such blatantly false ignorance.</STRONG>


Little too much caffeine Craig?

[Craig McPherson]

I'm filled with WRATH and ANGER. When I SPEAK, I randomly CAPITALISE and bold certain words, AND SOMETIMES ENTIRE PHRASES. When I SPEAK, I make it clear the I am the ULTIMATE AUTHORITY ON ALL KNOWLEDGE, and anyone WHO disagrees with me is an ILLOGICAL FOOL! Sometimes, I completely make things up, and I always EXAGERATE to a large degree.

It's time to reveal my secret identity: I am Steve Gibson.

Or at least, I copy his writing style. :)

[bdl]

Originally posted by Craig McPherson:
<STRONG>I'm filled with WRATH and ANGER. </STRONG>

Well, DUH.