cross-platform bare metal remote restore system?
Howdie people! Got a client that needs a test environment where the disk on one specific server (maybe more in the future?) are wiped clean once in a while (so the performance tests always start at the same state). They want the same machine to be at alternate times installed with one of several images, Windows and Linux. Naturally I prefer to skip proprietary solutions and go to open. One of the requiremnets is that the data is only wiped on one of the two disks in the machine, or preferably just a single partition (the OS). Stored images can go to the other disk, or a remote server. Naturally I prefer a remote server because then I'll be able to use it for other one-shot installs as well (such as virtual machines, or just future bare-metals) On the short list are: * OpenQRM (an overkill, and I think avoiding full wipe is not easy) * G4L (I know nothing about it) * Partimage/PING (donno it, and it seems unmaintained) * Clonezilla (seems like the best candidate ATM) * FOG (aka freeghost - seems pretty good as well) So... before I sink my teeth in, I'd love any recommendations or warnings that will save me time. If you have interesting horror stories that go with the warnings, that's even better :-) Thanks, Ira. -- Dumb as they come Ira Abramov http://ira.abramov.org/email/ ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
Re: cross-platform bare metal remote restore system?
When my parent's windows machine occasionally became too slow (as most undermaintained windows machine does). I tried to ease the situation like so: I divided the windows into a minimal C:\ partition which contained the windows directory, a d:\ which contained the rest of the data (program files, documents and settings, etc), a hidden parition /dev/hda3 which contained copy of the c:\ partition, and finally a small linux partition. I hacked up a script that would once every X boots up the linux partition that would recover the c:\ partition from the hidden partition. That way, every once in a while the users would "feel" as if their windows was reinstalled (a known cure for many windows diseases. This didn't work out eventually, since some windows program assumed Program Files is on C:\, without checking the registry, and behaved strangely. I used partimage for this job, and was generally content. I don't recall a single data corruption. Of course this is highly inaccurate estimation, so use with caution. On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 3:11 PM, Ira Abramov wrote: > Howdie people! > > Got a client that needs a test environment where the disk on one > specific server (maybe more in the future?) are wiped clean once in a > while (so the performance tests always start at the same state). They > want the same machine to be at alternate times installed with one of > several images, Windows and Linux. Naturally I prefer to skip > proprietary solutions and go to open. > > One of the requiremnets is that the data is only wiped on one of the two > disks in the machine, or preferably just a single partition (the OS). > > Stored images can go to the other disk, or a remote server. Naturally I > prefer a remote server because then I'll be able to use it for other > one-shot installs as well (such as virtual machines, or just future > bare-metals) > > On the short list are: > * OpenQRM (an overkill, and I think avoiding full wipe is not easy) > * G4L (I know nothing about it) > * Partimage/PING (donno it, and it seems unmaintained) > * Clonezilla (seems like the best candidate ATM) > * FOG (aka freeghost - seems pretty good as well) > > So... before I sink my teeth in, I'd love any recommendations or > warnings that will save me time. If you have interesting horror stories > that go with the warnings, that's even better :-) > > Thanks, > Ira. > > -- > Dumb as they come > Ira Abramov > http://ira.abramov.org/email/ > > ___ > Linux-il mailing list > Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il > http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il > ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
Re: cross-platform bare metal remote restore system?
On 11 March 2010 00:11, Ira Abramov wrote: > On the short list are: > * OpenQRM (an overkill, and I think avoiding full wipe is not easy) > * G4L (I know nothing about it) > * Partimage/PING (donno it, and it seems unmaintained) > * Clonezilla (seems like the best candidate ATM) > * FOG (aka freeghost - seems pretty good as well) I haven't tried all the options in the list but as far as my experience goes: 1. G4L wasn't very useable back when we tried it 2. Clonezilla rocks We use Clonezilla to backup legacy windows servers for rainy days. --Amos ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
Re: cross-platform bare metal remote restore system?
Probably too late, but will write my opinion anyway: I would set up netboot environment that each server is configured to boot from automatically (falling back to harddisk boot). The DHCP configuration is defined to include netboot configuration for servers that are scheduled for reinstallation. Netboot system will automatically reinstall the server using specified image, notify DHCP on success and reboot. -- Arie On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 02:41, Amos Shapira wrote: > On 11 March 2010 00:11, Ira Abramov > wrote: > > On the short list are: > > * OpenQRM (an overkill, and I think avoiding full wipe is not easy) > > * G4L (I know nothing about it) > > * Partimage/PING (donno it, and it seems unmaintained) > > * Clonezilla (seems like the best candidate ATM) > > * FOG (aka freeghost - seems pretty good as well) > > I haven't tried all the options in the list but as far as my experience > goes: > 1. G4L wasn't very useable back when we tried it > 2. Clonezilla rocks > > We use Clonezilla to backup legacy windows servers for rainy days. > > --Amos > > ___ > Linux-il mailing list > Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il > http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il > ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
Re: cross-platform bare metal remote restore system?
2010/4/7 Arie Skliarouk > Probably too late, but will write my opinion anyway: > > I would set up netboot environment that each server is configured to boot > from automatically (falling back to harddisk boot). The DHCP configuration > is defined to include netboot configuration for servers that are scheduled > for reinstallation. > > Netboot system will automatically reinstall the server using specified > image, notify DHCP on success and reboot. > What was the question, again? > > -- > Arie > > > > On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 02:41, Amos Shapira wrote: > >> On 11 March 2010 00:11, Ira Abramov >> wrote: >> > On the short list are: >> > * OpenQRM (an overkill, and I think avoiding full wipe is not easy) >> > * G4L (I know nothing about it) >> > * Partimage/PING (donno it, and it seems unmaintained) >> > * Clonezilla (seems like the best candidate ATM) >> > * FOG (aka freeghost - seems pretty good as well) >> >> I haven't tried all the options in the list but as far as my experience >> goes: >> 1. G4L wasn't very useable back when we tried it >> 2. Clonezilla rocks >> >> We use Clonezilla to backup legacy windows servers for rainy days. >> >> --Amos >> >> ___ >> Linux-il mailing list >> Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il >> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il >> > > > ___ > Linux-il mailing list > Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il > http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il > > ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
