On Thu, 12 May 2005, Alex at Avantel wrote: > I'm trying to figure out how to set up a new "development" server that will > have the same configuration as an already existing and working "production" > server. Doing a straight "bare-matel" restore to a different box won't work What makes you say that? Linux handles bare metal installs to different hardware very well. tar, cpio, dump and xfsdump are all viable options (the last 2 for specific filesystems). If you use tar then use -X tar.exclude with the file tar.exclude having at least: /cdrom /floppy /mnt /proc /tmp There are a few things to worry about: 1. NICs will probably be detected in a different order (afterall the interrupts and even the drivers may be completely different). 2. Custom kernels may not be right for the new cpu(s). If necessary, use the kernel which came with the distro and build a new custom kernel for the new cpu type. Rob -- Robert Brockway B.Sc. Senior Technical Consultant, OpenTrend Solutions Ltd. Phone: +1-416-669-3073 Email: rbrockway [ at ] opentrend [ dot ] net http://www.opentrend.net OpenTrend Solutions: Reliable, secure solutions to real world problems. Contributing Member of Software in the Public Interest (http://www.spi-inc.org)