Hi,
I've been playing with CentOS quite a bit lately (and I must say it's growing on me!! :) and I was now able to convince my boss that we could get a box and gradually start migrating our hosting from win2k3 to centos.
So anyway, I've got a new box at the colo ready up and running - P4 3Ghz w/HT 2Ghz RAM 2x70Gb HDD, running Centos4.4 fully up-to-date. Now my two questions are;
(1.) In terms of backup, I'd like to have a cron sending out an nightly incremental backup of user files. I'd also like to have HDA to be copied backed up entirely (maybe weekly) onto HDB (were're not going to use 140GB anyway!) so that is hda crashes, I`d swap both of the hdds and boot from the backup. Now for that second step, I was reading that dd was quite CPU intensive? Would there be other alternatives? Advices on doing backups?
(2.) I've got no physical access to the box, and the box has obviously no video or sound. Considering this, would it possible to remotely administer the box using VNC in a GUI environment? - I figured 2Ghz could probably handle me starting x sometimes...! So if possible.. How would I do it? I`m assuming there are no `yum install x`....
Anyway.. Thanks for any input you may have on the both topics!
Cheers,
Seb.
_____________________________________________________________________ This message and any attachments are confidential and are solely intended for the use of the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient please contact the sender by reply email. Please also disregard the contents of this email and delete and destroy any copies immediately. CMPMedica Australia Pty Ltd does not accept liability for the views expressed in this email or for the consequences of any computer viruses that may be transmitted with this email. Also subject to copyright, no part of this message should be reproduced or transmitted without written consent.
Hi Sebastien
(1.) In terms of backup, I'd like to have a cron sending out an nightly incremental backup of user files.
* In regards to nightly incremental backups, we simply use the rsync utility to pull the backups from a server onto the backup host also running linux
I'd also like to have HDA to be copied backed up entirely (maybe weekly) onto HDB (were're not going to use 140GB anyway!) so that is hda crashes, I`d swap both of the hdds and boot from the backup.
I would highly advise simply paying the money for a RAID Controller card to handle all of this for you. You mentioned that you do not have physical access to the server, so the Raid card can easily handle hdd failures and send you an email letting you know that you need to replace the other drive.
Now for that second step, I was reading that dd was quite CPU intensive? Would there be other alternatives? Advices on doing backups?
As above, we use the 3ware 8000 series raid cards because of its great track record (we always have and always will use 3ware) and freebsd / linux support.
(2.) I've got no physical access to the box, and the box has obviously no video or sound. Considering this, would it possible to remotely administer the box using VNC in a GUI environment? - I figured 2Ghz could probably handle me starting x sometimes...! So if possible.. How would I do it? I`m assuming there are no `yum install x`....
Never a good idea to run X when you dont need to. All Administration can be done via config files on the command-line and any system-config gui programs usually have a commandline replacement anyway. But if you really wanted X check out 'yum grouplist' and 'yum groupinstall "X Window System"'
Anyway.. Thanks for any input you may have on the both topics!
Cheers,
Seb.
Brad Falzon wrote:
Never a good idea to run X when you dont need to. All Administration can be done via config files on the command-line and any system-config gui programs usually have a commandline replacement anyway. But if you really wanted X check out 'yum grouplist' and 'yum groupinstall "X Window System"'
but it's possible, and you can run a secure connexion from elsewhere, either using a VPN (I use and recommend openvpn), or tunnelling VNC through ssh.
Here's an example of what I do to configure routers & printers remotely, using their web interfaces. I'm using this coz I think the port numbers are more obvious:-)
In a terminal window (eg Konsole) ssh -L8080:192.168.2.254:80 sysadmin.office.lan
Then I point Mozilla or something at http://127.0.0.1:8080/
Moz connects to port 8080 locally, ssh forwards the connexion to an (mine) admin computer at work & ssh there forwards it to the gateway box. Rather than going through my VPN, I could use the external name for my office as ssh still connects through to my desktop.
vnc, smtp and many other TCP protocols can be forwarded.
Sebastien Tremblay wrote:
(2.) I've got no physical access to the box, and the box has obviously no video or sound. Considering this, would it possible to remotely administer the box using VNC in a GUI environment? - I figured 2Ghz could probably handle me starting x sometimes...! So if possible.. How would I do it? I`m assuming there are no `yum install x`....
Well to answer this point, there is yum's "group install" feature.
You can see the available groups and their status with:
# yum grouplist | less
And to install X it would be something like:
# yum groupinstall "GNOME Desktop Environment"
done deal.
d
On Wed, 2006-09-13 at 20:02 -0700, dnk wrote:
Sebastien Tremblay wrote:
(2.) I've got no physical access to the box, and the box has obviously no video or sound. Considering this, would it possible to remotely administer the box using VNC in a GUI environment? - I figured 2Ghz could probably handle me starting x sometimes...! So if possible.. How would I do it? I`m assuming there are no `yum install x`....
Well to answer this point, there is yum's "group install" feature.
Wouldn't one of the text based browsers suffice? Lynx (still used for Samba?) or links or ...?
You can see the available groups and their status with:
# yum grouplist | less
And to install X it would be something like:
# yum groupinstall "GNOME Desktop Environment"
done deal.
d
<snip sig stuff>
-- Bill
Maybe someone can clear up the grub conf for me. Has anyone gotten this to work: two IDE/ATA drivers. Slave is a spare duplicate of the master. Goal is to be able to boot to Spare at any time and run it instead. What step am I missing? When I tried to duplicate a system I failed using this method due to the /boot configuration being specific to the disk layout in the box. That is, if I copied disk A to disk B and then wanted to boot to B I believe I would have to remove A and strap B as the master. Combined SCSI and ATA totally failed on GRUB knowing which disk is which. Ended up having to first install the target slave disk and then moved the disk. Copied everything except /boot. My impression is RAID is the only thing which would work. My goal was actually to create several systems based on the install of one master system. The other systems had random numbers of disks and such. The only way i got it to work was Ch1Master had to be the boot disk in all of them. I mucked around with /boot/grub/grub.conf and device.map to no avail.
Thanks, TimJowers
--- Sebastien Tremblay sebastien.tremblay@au.cmpmedica.com wrote:
Hi,
I've been playing with CentOS quite a bit lately (and I must say it's growing on me!! :) and I was now able to convince my boss that we could get a box and gradually start migrating our hosting from win2k3 to centos.
So anyway, I've got a new box at the colo ready up and running - P4 3Ghz w/HT 2Ghz RAM 2x70Gb HDD, running Centos4.4 fully up-to-date. Now my two questions are;
(1.) In terms of backup, I'd like to have a cron sending out an nightly incremental backup of user files. I'd also like to have HDA to be copied backed up entirely (maybe weekly) onto HDB (were're not going to use 140GB anyway!) so that is hda crashes, I`d swap both of the hdds and boot from the backup. Now for that second step, I was reading that dd was quite CPU intensive? Would there be other alternatives? Advices on doing backups?
(2.) I've got no physical access to the box, and the box has obviously no video or sound. Considering this, would it possible to remotely administer the box using VNC in a GUI environment? - I figured 2Ghz could probably handle me starting x sometimes...! So if possible.. How would I do it? I`m assuming there are no `yum install x`....
Anyway.. Thanks for any input you may have on the both topics!
Cheers,
Seb.
This message and any attachments are confidential and are solely intended for the use of the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient please contact the sender by reply email. Please also disregard the contents of this email and delete and destroy any copies immediately. CMPMedica Australia Pty Ltd does not accept liability for the views expressed in this email or for the consequences of any computer viruses that may be transmitted with this email. Also subject to copyright, no part of this message should be reproduced or transmitted without written consent. _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
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The known issue and manual setup of the MBR on the second drive during install that I described in my previous post works seamlessly for me. I do however usually setup GRUB in the boot partition, that is during install I check off advanced boot load options and change the GRUB location from /dev/hd? to /dev/hd?x (i.e., /dev/hda -> /dev/hda1). Presumably, this drops in a 'standard MBR' that just looks for the active partition and transfers control.
I've not had the issue you describe, when I've had a master drive has fail, my systems seamlessly boots off the second drive.
Brett
On 9/14/06, TimJowers@Yahoo.Com timjowers@yahoo.com wrote:
Maybe someone can clear up the grub conf for me. Has anyone gotten this to work: two IDE/ATA drivers. Slave is a spare duplicate of the master. Goal is to be able to boot to Spare at any time and run it instead. What step am I missing? When I tried to duplicate a system I failed using this method due to the /boot configuration being specific to the disk layout in the box. That is, if I copied disk A to disk B and then wanted to boot to B I believe I would have to remove A and strap B as the master. Combined SCSI and ATA totally failed on GRUB knowing which disk is which. Ended up having to first install the target slave disk and then moved the disk. Copied everything except /boot. My impression is RAID is the only thing which would work. My goal was actually to create several systems based on the install of one master system. The other systems had random numbers of disks and such. The only way i got it to work was Ch1Master had to be the boot disk in all of them. I mucked around with /boot/grub/grub.conf and device.map to no avail.
Thanks, TimJowers
--- Sebastien Tremblay sebastien.tremblay@au.cmpmedica.com wrote:
Hi,
I've been playing with CentOS quite a bit lately (and I must say it's growing on me!! :) and I was now able to convince my boss that we could get a box and gradually start migrating our hosting from win2k3 to centos.
So anyway, I've got a new box at the colo ready up and running - P4 3Ghz w/HT 2Ghz RAM 2x70Gb HDD, running Centos4.4 fully up-to-date. Now my two questions are;
(1.) In terms of backup, I'd like to have a cron sending out an nightly incremental backup of user files. I'd also like to have HDA to be copied backed up entirely (maybe weekly) onto HDB (were're not going to use 140GB anyway!) so that is hda crashes, I`d swap both of the hdds and boot from the backup. Now for that second step, I was reading that dd was quite CPU intensive? Would there be other alternatives? Advices on doing backups?
(2.) I've got no physical access to the box, and the box has obviously no video or sound. Considering this, would it possible to remotely administer the box using VNC in a GUI environment? - I figured 2Ghz could probably handle me starting x sometimes...! So if possible.. How would I do it? I`m assuming there are no `yum install x`....
Anyway.. Thanks for any input you may have on the both topics!
Cheers,
Seb.
This message and any attachments are confidential and are solely intended for the use of the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient please contact the sender by reply email. Please also disregard the contents of this email and delete and destroy any copies immediately. CMPMedica Australia Pty Ltd does not accept liability for the views expressed in this email or for the consequences of any computer viruses that may be transmitted with this email. Also subject to copyright, no part of this message should be reproduced or transmitted without written consent. _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On Thu, 2006-09-14 at 05:48 -0700, TimJowers@Yahoo.Com wrote:
Maybe someone can clear up the grub conf for me. Has anyone gotten this to work: two IDE/ATA drivers. Slave is a spare duplicate of the master. Goal is to be able to boot to Spare at any time and run it instead. What step am I missing?
Sweat, hard work, in-depth reading and testing? I had this implemented 95% (was adding routines to automatically skip compression of ISOs, .gz, ...) when the MOBO did a "belly up" on me. The stuff is laying around on different disks in different machines ATM.
When I get it reconstructed and finalized, I'll be glad to share with the list. For now, here's what I remember (I'm not looking at code, so you'll need to consider my memory was the second thing to go as I got older).
Here is a synopsis of my recollections. - Can't have two volume groups named the same. This has implications. - Set up fstab to mount /dev/root instead of VolGroup00/... or -L ... - Initrd has two "ignorelockingfailure" directives in the init script. Adjust one to include the new volgroup(s) you may define. - For carrying to new systems and installing (if not the boot disk?), use "export" and "import" commands. Life will be easier. - If you must carry data from a crashed system to an active one (you were not able to "export") you may need to do some "renames" and such on the receiving system. Can't have duplicate names (maj/minor node carried on pv?) in a system. - VG and LV names can be whatever you want. They don't have to be Vol*. This can make it easier to setup fall-back positions. My 2nd HD has VolGroupAA, ...AB, etc. LV names can be lvol0, lvol1, UsersHome or whatever. - The physical volume relates to a major/minor node number on the originating system. Apparently (not confirmed) the pv metadata has some record or relationship of this (so that the same vg/lv normally gets the same node. Conflicts are possible as HDs are moved into other systems, hence the need for "export" and "import" in normal conditions. - Using snapshot volumes, you can safely and effectively backup live data. "Nice" can control the impact on any active users ATM. - I did a "grub-install" on both disks and also set the grub config file on each disk to allow access and "rooting" on both hd0 and hd1. - If backup is current, this even allows for successful boot and operations even when HD has not failed, but file system corruption has made "production" version unusable. Just use the edit ability in the grub boot menu to respecify the root or go to run level {1,2,3} to adjust an fstab if the spoiled FS is, e.g. /home and then telinit to run level X. - I could test basic operations by changing boot sequence in BIOS. I do not know if this holds when a HD fails (haven't tested to see if BIOS still reassigns 0x81->0x80, 0x82->0x81, ... as it used to. This would affect what you put in grub's conf file.). IIRC, it *seems* that reassignment does *not* happen when the boot sequence is changed, but it used to occur, using LILO. Haven't investigated fully.
<snip>
HTH -- Bill
On Thu, 2006-09-14 at 11:15 -0400, William L. Maltby wrote:
On Thu, 2006-09-14 at 05:48 -0700, TimJowers@Yahoo.Com wrote:
Maybe someone can clear up the grub conf for me. Has anyone gotten this to work: two IDE/ATA drivers. Slave is a spare duplicate of the master. Goal is to be able to boot to Spare at any time and run it instead. What step am I missing?
Sweat, hard work, in-depth reading and testing? I had this implemented
<snip>
Golly! I just realized how that might appear! No slur on your efforts was meant. I was just recalling the number of "panics... failed to sync" type of messages as I learned this junk.
But I'm really here to say: I've not yet studied the new LVM stuff and have not considered how "mirroring" might help/hinder what we are trying to do.
But I'm strong on this "Poor Admin's Backup". At home, I've no $$ for 3Ware, etc. But commodity 100GB HDs at $40 after rebates fits right in my budget.
-- Bill
-
Brad Falzon -
Brett Serkez -
dnk -
John Summerfield -
Sebastien Tremblay -
TimJowers＠Yahoo.Com -
William L. Maltby