Anurag Jalan wrote:
I take regular backups ( Full .. about 2.0 GB ) to my HP SCSI dat drive ........ In this manner..*everything* except the contents of /tmp is backed up...
I would like to know... how best to restore my present system in case of a HD crash or something ........
That is a *very* good question and I will answer it, it is not so difficult, just cumbersome. But first let's change the point of view and replace the "I", "me" and "my" to "someone else". I know what I did to install my homesystem, but the new server I configured at work (50% of my time I am a sysadmin) last week, how long will I work there? I will be on holidays, business trips etc. Some hardware needs some extra tricks to get to work, this is very important! So I am writing a manual that contains all the steps I took and tricks I had to pull to configure the server for all it's hardware and install the most important software: the Backup software. This goes in a special box with all software, copy's of licenses etc. and will be labeld: RHC, Compaq ML370, "In deep shit survival kit" Together with a regular check of the backup log's and both this box and the backup tapes stored in a safe place you are ready for a rainy day. And be specially vigilant about the backup logs, I did a small audit of someone elses server farm two days ago (I was introducing the replacement's replacement sysadmin to some interconnection that exists) and found that from the 3 mission critical machines they have there one had not been backed up since May, one since March, and one since August '99!!! No one actually read the log files or made the effort to startup the management software and look in the reports database! But what could you do on your (home) system? First of all make a note of the kernel paramaters that are needed to run your hardware. What irq, io and other parameters are passed by LILO to the kernel to have it recognise your SCSI card. What are they for that fancy off bourd UDMA controller, etc. Also if you baked yourself a special kernel to make use of the most critical hardware, bake one with these parts *NOT* compiled as loadable modules but into the kernel and put that one on a disk so you can boot from it or copy it to /boot from the fresh and lean install of linux after the crash, run lilo with the right params/config (did you wright the down somewhere ;)) and reboot to get the stuff running. Well I think you can extrapolate from here to you own situation.
Oh yes.. i have the boot & rescue disks ready...
That's a good beginning :) BB, Arjen -- Sell what you use, use what you sell. -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/support/faq