Cloning a running Linux OS

Lennart Sorensen lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org
Thu Sep 11 13:15:14 UTC 2008


On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 09:17:49PM -0400, John Miles wrote:
> I would like to do it on an operating OS.
> Essentially, I've put off creating an Autoyast file for a group of shared
> development servers we use - 71 of them - and, one had a slew of updates
> applied, getting it out of sync with the rest. These machines are so heavily
> used, and the negotiated down time this weekend is barely enough time to
> perform the maintenance they all need, let alone install a new one.
> So.... I was thinking of experimenting with the concept of grabbing a clone
> image from a running system.
> 
> I am thinking that rsync might just do it, then I can dd the mbr to a file
> and copy that over.

rsync won't place the files in the same place, so the MBR is of no use.
Reinstall the boot loader after the rsync on the target.

Of course databases (if any) will most likely not be in a sane state
after an rsync if they are open.  You might get lucky, but most likely
you won't.

Of course with a few rsync runs in a row, and hopefully not too active a
set of changes, you might actually end up with something relatively
sane.  And make sure it is rsync 3.x, since it is much faster for large
sets of files than rsync 2.x was.

> However, after all is said and done, I probably will just have to rely on
> creating a reference Autoyast file from one of the machines, and then strip
> out the stuff that does not travel well.
> 
> Clonezilla though, is pretty darn cool looking.
> We are presently implementing a solution that the Borg, has created,
> therefore the Borg inisist us to use - namely (ready for this lovely product
> name...) Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Operating System Deployment.
> 
> I am really starting to think that most open source tools that stick to
> common standards really just need a good web and scripting developer to
> piece them together - creating the ultimate solution - one that works
> exactly the way you need it to.
> 
> I, however, can't script myself out a wet paper bag.

-- 
Len Sorensen
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