Re: [Clonezilla-live] Create an image of the disk without rebooting the server

[Bill G. <gu...@io...>]

G. Massera wrote:
> Hello everybody,
> first of all,
> Thank you for Clonezilla... it's a fantastic system for cloning machines :-)
> 
> I need to create images of a server hard-disk... but I cannot restart 
> and boot the clonezilla-live for create the image.
> So, It would be fantastic if there is a way to run a command (script) 
> that create the image without rebooting the server machine.
> 
> There is a way to extract the command from clonezilla-live CD and 
> install into my Linux Server and run it with a crontab ???
> 

I love clonezilla!  And I use it almost every day.

But, long before clonezilla, I was using a different open source tool 
for situations like you describe, and that is Mondo Rescue:

http://www.mondorescue.org/

It will backup a live filesystem, and will create iso files that can be 
used to create bootable restore CD's.  I've been using this for years on 
my servers that stay up all the time.  It uses a curses menu system 
(similar to clonezilla), but also supports command line capability.  I 
have a script in a weekly cron that backs up the running system, but 
excludes the user space, which is backed up nightly using rsync.

I use external usb disks, which I rotate, so the iso's are stored there.

Here is an example script in cron.weekly:

#!/bin/sh
#
# This is a script to run the "Mondo Rescue" program in archive mode
# to backup the system, with certain excludes.  This will create
# ISO images which can be used to restore the system.
#
#
# 'man mondoarchive' shows all of the switch options.
#
#
# First, let's test to see if the USB drive is mounted,
# then proceed.
if (mount|egrep '/mnt/usbdisk' > /dev/null)
then
echo 'USB disk is mounted; Running the Mondo backup...'
# Delete the old iso files...
rm -f /mnt/usbdisk/Mondo/Atom*
sleep 2
mondoarchive -Oi -d /mnt/usbdisk/Mondo -E "/mnt/usbdisk" -p Atom -9 -s 
660m -F
else
   echo The USB disk IS NOT mounted.
fi


So far, I have not had a catastrophe where I have needed to use these 
ISO's!  But I have done test restores.  It can get messy, if your 
situation has any complications, such as LVM.  But if you take the time 
to learn about Mondo, this can be a very useful tool, as is clonezilla 
as well.


-Bill-

---------------------------------
  Bill Gurley, Technical Director
  Department of Chemistry
  Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville
  865-974-3145