Disk Image

I think you are seeing this backwards. I want to create the image of a hard drive that is on the network to my linux box.

Sample

Micro$oft Machine - Redhat Machine

Create an image of the Microsoft machines "c" drive and store that image on the redhat machine.

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Petrowski [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 3:57 PM
To: Paul Kraus
Subject: RE: Disk Image

dd if=/dev/hda of=/mnt/directory/disk1.img

should create the image on your network. The image will contain all drive information including partition tables. You could also use

dd if=/dev/hda3 of=/mnt/directory/disk1.img

if you wanted to make an image of just a certain patition like partition number 3 (/dev/hda3). You can look in /etc/fstab to see which partitions you have setup.

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Paul -- You need to clarify this still a bit more.

1. "Drive" is ambiguous. In the Linux world, a "drive" is a physical device (e.g., IDE primary, accessed as /dev/hda). A drive contains partitions that in turn contain filesystems. Windows people seem to use "drive" to refer both to a physical device and to a filesystem in a partition on a drive. In Linux/Unix terminology, your example -- "Microsoft machines "c" drive" -- probably refers to creating an image of a *filesystem*, not a *drive*. Is that what you really mean?

2. I assume you want to run something on the Linux server that does this job. So ... how is the filesystem visible to Linux on the server? It is an NFS mount? An SMB mount? Something else?

3. With boot drives, there are special considerations, involving the boot sector and possibly some files that need to be in known locations (this is true for LILO, at least; I'm not expert enough in Windows to know what might matter there). Does this backup-to-image solution need to address any restrictions that are, in this sense, outside the structure of the filesystem?

4. How much flexibility does the corresponding restore function need? Does it need only to restore to the same physical drive (or another that is physically identical), or do you want to be able to put a copy of the filesystem on a another drive with different geometry (and perhaps even a different partition structure)?

A general suggestion ... coming from a Windows background, you may assume that Windows is s good starting reference point for capabilities. This isn't true for all of us here; though I use Windows on my desktop, there are many things I know how to do with Linux that I can't begin to guess how to do with Windows. So, in this case, your reference to "ghost" does not help me understand your needs. I'm sure I'm not the only one here with this particular combination of knowledge and ignorance ... you might get better responses if you didn't rely on Windows examples to clarify your needs.

Since I don't know how ghost works, let me ask this ... would a solution be to run ghost on the Windows host, them simply transfer (in any of the usual ways) the image it creates to the Linux server?

--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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So, can you envision a way to "reverse" the idea he gave you to solve your problem?

* * *

It's non-trivial in the sense that you can't just use the administrative share, samba-mount the windows partition and copy it - there are files in use that Windows won't let you copy while you're running Windows. If you need an image that you can restore, I can think of methods using Linux, it would certainly be fairly easy if the box that runs windows dual boots with Linux, because then you can boot into linux and dd the drive, directing the output to a file on a remote-mounted partition (either NFS or ?). But then, we don't actually know what you want to accomplish. If you want to do the same thing for tens of machines, why not get ghost and image each box? It works, afterall.

Otherwise, fashion some way of booting into Linux (via a CD rescue disk perhaps), nfs- or samba-mount a remote partition, and dd the drive image to a file remotely. THen if you need to restore it, just reverse that process.

Have fun,

.brian

Brian Bilbrey && [email protected] && http://www.orbdesigns.com/
	The guy has a reality distortion field generator 
	the size of the state of Rhode Island. 
                                 - Daniel Gray

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Answers below
--------
1. "Drive" is ambiguous. In the Linux world, a "drive" is a physical device
(e.g., IDE primary, accessed as /dev/hda). A drive contains partitions that
in turn contain filesystems. Windows people seem to use "drive" to refer

both to a physical device and to a filesystem in a partition on a drive. In
Linux/Unix terminology, your example -- "Microsoft machines "c" drive"

probably refers to creating an image of a *filesystem*, not a *drive*.
Is 
that what you really mean?
-=-=-=-=--=-=
I can see the confusion. It would be a Partition (with a windows file
system) on 
A physical drive attached to a windows machine.

2. I assume you want to run something on the Linux server that does this

job. So ... how is the filesystem visible to Linux on the server? It is
an 
NFS mount? An SMB mount? Something else?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I can mount the file system using SMB. Cp and tar are not viable options

As they can not do anything with locked files. Which is why I was hoping

For something similar to Norton Ghost which does a byte by Byte image.

3. With boot drives, there are special considerations, involving the
boot 
sector and possibly some files that need to be in known locations (this
is 
true for LILO, at least; I'm not expert enough in Windows to know what 
might matter there). Does this backup-to-image solution need to address
any 
restrictions that are, in this sense, outside the structure of the
filesystem?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
No it does not. There are a couple machines (The CEO and VP) that I
would like to 
Be able to do a full system restore without having to load any apps or
windows itself.
To minimize downtime and to return there systems to the exact state of
when the backup 
Occurred.

4. How much flexibility does the corresponding restore function need?
Does 
it need only to restore to the same physical drive (or another that is 
physically identical), or do you want to be able to put a copy of the 
filesystem on a another drive with different geometry (and perhaps even
a 
different partition structure)?
-=-=-=-=-=
In the event that the hard drive was physically broken I may need to
install
A new hard drive that would have a different geometry. The same
partition
Size would be acceptable but I would prefer to be able to restore the
image to
A larger partition.

A general suggestion ... coming from a Windows background, you may
assume 
that Windows is s good starting reference point for capabilities. This 
isn't true for all of us here; though I use Windows on my desktop, there

are many things I know how to do with Linux that I can't begin to guess
how 
to do with Windows. So, in this case, your reference to "ghost" does not

help me understand your needs. I'm sure I'm not the only one here with
this 
particular combination of knowledge and ignorance ... you might get
better 
responses if you didn't rely on Windows examples to  clarify your needs.
-=-=-=-==
Linux is by far a better OS every day I keep looking at my windows
desktop and 
Wanting to install LINUX. I use windows examples assuming (falsely) that
everyone
Has some knowledge of it and its apps so I try to use an app I think is
familiar 
To try portray my needs. I will refrain from this in the future.

Since I don't know how ghost works, let me ask this ... would a solution
be 
to run ghost on the Windows host, them simply transfer (in any of the
usual 
ways) the image it creates to the Linux server?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This would be a solution but then I require a 3rd machine in order to do
the restore.
1. the workstation that is to be imaged, 2. the Linux server that is
holding that image, 3. the windows machine that can run ghost.
I am trying to replace all the things I do with windows with Linux. I am
using this as a way to become familiar with Linux as well as a way to
become independent of Microsoft.


--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the
odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski					-- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA			  [email protected]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------

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Your disk image question is really going to need some software that can run from a floppy so no files on the partitions you want to copy are in use. It also needs to connect the workstation your takeing the image from to the network so the large image can be copied to the server.

We use some software from PowerQuest. I forget the name of it. Deploy something or other. Anyway, all I use of it is the part that builds the boot floppies. When creating the floppies, I tell it what server and share I want to connect to to store the image. Actually, several different connections can be used.
I suppose if someone were clever, A boot floppy could be created that had just enough software on it to provide a console, connect to a NIC, mount a HD partition, mount a place on a Linux server and then, I suppose use dd to copy the partition to the server.

You mentioned ghost needing another server to run. I have only used ghost once but it worked just like the stuff we got from PowerQuest. It just ran from a floppy. I think it would do what you want but you will need to go to the workstation and boot it from the floppy.

Same floppy is used to restore the image.

Brett
___
Linux linuxDBA 2.4.18-4GB #1 Wed Mar 27 13:57:05 UTC 2002 i686 unknown
8:57pm up 20 min, 1 user, load average: 0.02, 0.02, 0.00

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All you really need is tomsrtbt (a one-floppy Linux). It includes dd, mount and networking for PLIP, SLIP and several popular ethernet cards. Don't leave home without it.

Cheers,
Steven

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