Re: Backup + Recovey on CDR

[jbardin@imagelinks.com]

Vagn Scott wrote:

> jbardin@imagelinks.com wrote:
> >  is there anyway i can make a bottable cdrom weekly with the
> > system archived on it...
>
> Funny you should mention that.  I've been thinking along those lines,
> too.
> I think it would be great if there was a standard way to do it.  Then,
> if
> I was on vacation, my lovely systems would be safe from disaster because
> it is not hard to find a sysadmin who knows about the standard way to
> do things on Linux systems. :-).  OK, here goes...
>
> =============================
>
> Cool projects are made even cooler by a cool name.
> I think I will dub this the "Millenium Chainsaw"(tm)
> since it cuts down the problem space like a Vorlon Battle Cruiser(sm)
> slices through warm butter.  And I have working code, sort of :-).
> Well, working for me.  If it breaks your system you keep the pieces,
> as usual.
>
> Here are the cool things I've got so far:
>
> 1. A little script that packs away my filesystems in .tgz format.
>    Compression is on the order of 2:1.
>
> 2. A little script that
>         - sticks the MBR in the right place
>         - partitions the disk,
>         - makes file systems
>         - builds the filesystem hierarchy
>         - loads the .tgz archives back in the right places
>         - runs lilo, making the system ready for its one and
>           only reboot.
>
> 3. A bootable CD recipe, stolen outright from Debian. (Thanks Debian!)
>
> 4. A recipe for recreating the system should it disappear:
>         - hardware for the system
>         - BIOS settings
>         - how the original OS was installed (not that I will
>           ever do that again)
>         - a simple procedure for recovery -- about 10 minutes
>           unless you decide to check the disk as you make the
>           filesystems, in which case it takes a lot longer.
>
> Here are the cool things I want to do:
>
> 5. move to dump/restore instead of tar.
>
> 6. keep incremental dumps somewhere on the net so I can get everything
>    back to the last cron-driven-non-media-eating backup point.
>
> 7. Steal outright the cool hardware detection code used by the
>    desktop wannabe distros like Suse, Caldera, and Redhat.
>    This should give a measure of hardware independence.  Right
>    now I'm counting on hardware being fairly much the same between
>    the original system and the recovery system.
>
> 8. Create some "Here, boot this" CDs that install a configured
> (everything
>    off) Debian system on any hardware in under 10 minutes without
>    asking anybody anything.  It boots, slicks the disk, and installs.
>    The only interaction is "remove CD then press enter to reboot".
>    This should make Debian a little more popular at the installfests.
>
> 9. Maybe poke around in the registry for things like monitor
> capabilities
>    and network environment clues.  Then again, why trust *anything*
>    found on a contaminated system?
>
> 10. A list of tips for getting the services that are off configured
>     and turned on.  The key point is that the system should be basically
>     usable before we start asking intimidating questions like "what is
>     your netmask?".  Real users do not know WTF a netmask is, and should
>     have the opportunity to browse the docs for a week or two before
>     guessing wrong, guessing wrong again, and then maybe getting it
> right
>     or asking the neighbor's kid.
>
> > p.s. i dont know why i would ever need to recover a crashed a linux
> > system anyways ;).
>
> Because you (yes you) might say "rm -rf foo /*" one day.
> Because some genius plugs a data cable into a wall socket.
> Because thieves break in and steal.  Because water runs downhill.
> Because a tornado can bury your lovely system in the heart of an oak.
> Because this list has no end.
>
> =============================
>
> So I will clean things up a little, add (minimal) documentation,
> and post this on a web page somewhere.  Stay tuned.
>
> --
>          _~|__
>    >@   (vagn(     /
>     \`-ooooooooo-'/
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Sweet i will get back to you after i have look over some other options...
and i acutally did something similar to rm -Rf /* in y early days... "cp
something.txt /dev/hda" man did that fsck it up bad.

-Jon

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