-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Martin Vuk wrote:
Isn't KIWI(http://en.opensuse.org/KIWI) supposed to be the tool for that purpose? It can be used to make Xen images, so I see no reason why it could not make normal disk images.
KIWI seems to be targeted at getting boot images on various removable media. To some extent XEN creates a similarly dynamic environment. This is not system cloning, but has very similar requirements. Binary disk images for system cloning are IMHO problematic in that the end product tends to be monolithic, to make a small change one has to rebuild the whole thing. A further weakness is that if a disk image gets damaged you can loose the whole thing, an installation rpm based approach means you have the option of repairing just the damaged component in a clean manner. (GHOST in particular suffers from this problem, 8 CDs into rebuild, sorry no 9 is corrupt ... no cigar ... but smoke will be seen :-)... )....
Anyway, I use autoyast for bootstraping the initial system and than use puppet(http://reductivelabs.com/projects/puppet/) for additional configuration. It takes a bit of learning, but it pays off after a while.
The first is the target for me, a base system build image. Combined with the regular backup of working data should allow rapid recovery from failure. If I add a new system component configuration can be deployed as either an additional custom rpm in (or separate from) the base image. puppet seems to do what Zenworks does. However, Zenworks was (and I expect still is), closely tied to NDS tools and functionality and does not really require learning a scripting language to deploy. Such tools are useful for the after care and day to day phase i.e. for distributing and maintaining applications dynamically. For my (and most people running small setups) this approach is probably overkill. For educational lab scenarios and medium to large businesses it is a worthwhile strategy. Online update (when functioning) is pretty effective in this role in the small environment... This is a useful contribution. System cloning, System Restore and backup are different but inter-related activities and disk cloning and dynamic system maintenance are useful technologies to support these activities. (One should not confuse the hammer with the house however :-) ).
Martin
<snipped for sanity, see original, top post mangled flow somewhat :-) > - -- ============================================================================== I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone. Bjarne Stroustrup ============================================================================== -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGj2USasN0sSnLmgIRAswcAKCaCRaGjpybtMxSMfmYnaRg6aNl7ACg0bRv 7Je8BqwXYOMgsB0ws1F5VRI= =9Udn -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org