[NMLUG] Disk-to-disk copying and booting

[moegold2001 at yahoo.com (Moses Gold)]

send a copy of your /etc/fstab to the list, if you want.  

Also, here's the "Multi Disk System Tuning" HOWTO by Stein Gjoen
http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?coll=linux&db=HOWTO&fname=/usr/HOWTO/Multi%2dDisk%2dHOWTO.html&srch=fstab

 

--- Matthew McCleary <matthew.mccleary@gmail.com> wrote:

> No; in fact, if I'm absent-minded I tend to forget to remove the
> backup drive from the server after the backup is completed. If someone
> else reboots the machine (this is a development server, and multiple
> people tend to use it and reboot it), I don't want the partitions on
> the backup drive to be mounted.
> 
> So we're thinking I should edit the /etc/fstab?
> 
> Matthew
> 
> 
> On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 19:55:50 -0700 (PDT), Moses Gold
> <moegold2001@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > 
> > is there any reason that partitions on /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc need to be
> mounted?
> > 
> > 
> > --- Ed Brown <ebrown@lanl.gov> wrote:
> > 
> > > The problem may actually be duplicate device "labels", rather than
> > > duplicate partitions.  If your /etc/fstab uses "LABEL=" syntax in the
> > > first column, try changing those to actual device names, i.e.,
> > > /dev/sda1, etc.
> > >
> > > -Ed
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mon, 2004-09-20 at 09:32, Matthew McCleary wrote:
> > > > Hello,
> > > >
> > > > I am trying to implement a disk-to-disk backup scheme on a server.
> > > > It's not the ideal method (I would have chosen a tape backup myself),
> > > > but it's what I have to deal with.
> > > >
> > > > I've got three 146 GB ultra-320 SCSI disks. They are installed in a
> > > > removable drive frame, though I do not think they are hot-swappable;
> > > > thus, when I install or remove one, I have to first take the machine
> > > > down.
> > > >
> > > > One drive has a complete Red Hat 9.0 system installed on it, which is
> > > > essentially one large partition minus a small /boot partition and a 2
> > > > GB swap partition. The disk is designated /dev/sda.
> > > >
> > > > I've been using dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=1024k (and dd
> > > > if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdc bs=1024k) to make a carbon-copy of sda onto
> > > > sdb (or sdc). I'm supposed to do a periodic backup of sda -- something
> > > > like once a month, rotating the two backup drives monthly. Thus we
> > > > would lose at most a month's worth of work, worst-case.
> > > >
> > > > Here, I come to the problem. To make a new backup, I just run the "dd"
> > > > command again -- it doesn't care what's on the drive currently, and it
> > > > will even overwrite the partition map. Quite nice. The problem,
> > > > though, happens when next month rolls around and I want to make a new
> > > > backup.
> > > >
> > > > If I take the server down and install one of the backup drives in the
> > > > frame, alongside the main drive, and boot it up, Linux freaks. It sees
> > > > duplicate /boot partitions (and actually, it would see duplicates of
> > > > all filesystems) and refuses to mount anything it sees a duplicate of.
> > > > I *think* it actually boots, but it does not mount all filesystems,
> > > > which of course will cause problems.
> > > >
> > > > The only way I can think to get around it is to first delete the
> > > > entire partition map on the backup drive (essentially, destroy the
> > > > backup) and then install the blank backup disk in the frame, and then
> > > > boot. That seems to be the only way I can get Linux to boot normally.
> > > >
> > > > Problem is, I don't have another server that I can install these
> > > > drives into -- and so the only way I can destroy the partition map is
> > > > by installing the drives in the very server I'm trying to back up -- a
> > > > "chicken and the egg" problem.
> > > >
> > > > So, I'm appealing to you: what advice would you have for me to go
> > > > about solving this problem? A tape backup is (unfortunately) not an
> > > > option; due to policy I must do disk-to-disk backups.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Matthew
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > NMLUG@nmlug.org
> > > http://www.nmlug.org/mailman/listinfo/nmlug
> > >
> > 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> <-- .\\ -->
> Matthew S. McCleary, MCP
> matthew dot mccleary at gmail dot com
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