Re: lilo removal in squeeze (or, "please test grub2")
>From now on I will post on this thread only to debian-user, since
it appears that the debian-devel and debian-boot lists are tired
of hearing about it.
On Fri, 28 May 2010 12:39:00 -0400 (EDT), Roger Leigh wrote:
> On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 06:11:20PM +0200, Josselin Mouette wrote:
>> On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 10:45AM -0400, Stephen Powell wrote::
>>> Unfortunately, logical backups of a Linux machine using the extlinux
>>> boot loader do not work with our backup/restore software. The master boot
>>> record and partition boot sector are restored correctly, but
>>> /boot/extlinux/extlinux.sys will probably not be restored to the exact
>>> same sectors from which it was backed up, and the restore software has no
>>> special logic to remedy that situation. Therefore, after restore, the
>>> machine will not boot. It *does* recognize lilo and has special logic
>>> to patch lilo after the restore so that the machine will boot.
>>
>> We have understood that your backup software is broken. It’s not the
>> only one. There’s nothing we can do to fix broken, proprietary backup
>> software.
>
I understand that.
>
> One obvious solution not already mentioned is to back up the bootloader
> *in Linux* as a normal file, so the backup software can then just back
> it up like any other file. It's a simple enough workaround to the
> deficiencies in your backup software.
>
> dd if=dev/hda of=/boot/bootsector-backup bs=512 count=nnn
>
> Stick it in as a daily cron job and you're done. When it comes to
> restoring, you can just dd it back and you're in business.
I think you're missing the point. Let's say that a hard drive fails
on a production server. A technician, who may not be Linux
literate, replaces the failed hard drive and then restores the server
from the saved backup image. Upon restoring from the backup, the server
will not boot. That's the problem. I can boot a rescue CD and repair
the damaged boot loader, but the goal is to have the restored system
boot with no subsequent intervention, just as it does for a Windows
server.
>
>> As a personal advice, I would recommend you to stop bothering with that
>> broken backup software, it doesn’t seem good for your health. Set up a
>> CIFS share on a backed-up Windows server, copy your data there using one
>> of the numerous solutions in Debian, and get done with it. Or just state
>> that you can’t backup modern Linux servers with it, and let them
>> struggle with Windows servers if they really decide to use this instead.
>
> Very true. The same software is likely also broken with GPT
> partition tables, BSD partition tables etc., so it's not like it's
> just grub at fault here! For the most part, grub is a vast
> improvement over LILO, and except for the odd corner cases which
> grub doesn't cover, grub is a much better choice if you have the
> choice.
We are aware of the deficiencies of our backup software and we are looking
at possible alternatives. Who knows, maybe I'll even have some input
into a possible replacement. (But I'm not holding my breath.) Until
that happens, however, I have to live withing its restrictions. On
my home computers, I can run whatever I want. But at work, I am
stuck with these restrictions for now.
--
.''`. Stephen Powell
: :' :
`. `'`
`-
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