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Re: [OCLUG-Tech] Copy of Server

On May 12, 2005 10:45 pm, Milan Budimirovic wrote:
> 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 (of course) but trying to figure out what files
> > should be copied over and which should not is proving to be a tedious
> > task.  The system is Fedora Core 3 and the two boxes will be on different
> > LAN segments and have different ip address, different cpu & disk drive
> > configurations, etc.  Any suggestions on how to do this (more or less
> > simply) would be appreciated.
> >
> >Here's my idea so far (after installing FC3 on the other box);
> >
> >1) let rpm tell me which files I've changed on the production system
> >	- (rpm -V --all)
> >	- edit this list to remove files obviously not needed
> >2) get a list of "all files" and delete those known by rpm (rpm -qf $file)
> >	- again edit this list to get rid of those obviously not needed
> >3) combine the two lists and create a tarball of those files
> >4) Extract that tarball to a box where the identical copy of Fedora has
> >already been installed.
> >
> >Anyone have a better idea / experience ?  I have this uneasy feeling I'm
> >missing a much easier way to do this . . .
> >
> >TIA
> >
> >Alex
> >====
>
> I did something like this a couple of months ago. Old server was losing
> a hard drive, and I just wanted to clone it on newer hardware. It was
> just a matter of:
>
> 1. Wipe the hard drive(s) of the clone to make sure you're starting fresh.
> 2. Build an updated kernel that supports all the hardware on the new
> server, using the existing config file from the /boot directory of the
> original server.

OK, I took the "easy" route and did a minimal install of FC3 - achieves the 
same result, right?

> 3. Use a Knoppix or Ubuntu boot cd to boot up the clone, then rsync over
> all the files from the original.

Hmmm - perhaps not all and that's what I'm trying to figure out

> 4. Install the new kernel package you built in Step 2.
> 5. Run lilo or grub to install the boot loader.
> 6. Make any desired networking changes.

I guess I'm trying to avoid these steps - I want to be able to make this 
easily repeatable so I'm trying to hone down the file list to only those 
files that will make the system perform the same tasks (web and mail with 
lots of supporting apps)

> 7. Reboot.
>
> Basically you end up with a clone with a slightly modified kernel, and a
> few networking changes.

OK, maybe that's a better route, but I'm not convinced it's easy enough to be 
readily (and automatically?) repeatable.  I guess I'm looking for a list of 
files (mostly config) which were user-modified/configured and then excluding 
those files that are related to the hardware (cpu, disks, network cards, etc) 
so that when the rsynch, tar, cpio, etc is done - the clone is ready to go.

Should be possible, right?

Alex
====

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