[CentOS] Help! i want to clone my Centos machine to another box..

[Nifty Cluster Mitch]

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 01:34:01PM +0200, RoLaNd RoLaNd wrote:
>    Hello,
> 
>    thanks for your prompt reply..
>    i was leaving that option as a last resort...
>    the problem is that this machine is a production machine
>    so if i rsync, i need to turn off the services in order to copy files or
>    else ill have permission denied errors...
> 
>    any other way?
> 
>    i;ll start the proccess of creating a fresh instalation today though i
>    dunno how to do the followign:
>    >
>    > On 10/22/2009 04:06 AM RoLaNd RoLaNd wrote:
>    > > Hello all,
>    > >
>    > > i've spent the last week trying to find something that will clone my
>    > > existing Centos server to a more powerful box.
>    > > i've used clonezilla though that resulted in a complete failure..
>    > >
...
>    >
>    > Since the destination machine is "more powerful", the hardware is likely
>    > different, so cloning per se isn't an option. Instead, you should do a
>    > fresh install of the same version on the new (destination) box, then
>    > copy the data over from the weaker to the destination machine.

Compare and contrast the two machines for us.
It may be possible to just move the disks and reboot.

HOWEVER
Since this is a production environment that might
be reckless.

Make sure you have a "LiveCD" or "LiveUSBstick"
for the new machine so you can fix things.  

I would start with a fresh install and migrate
services and data, perhaps one service at a time.
Plan on multiple reinstalls and clone data and
config files with a script.

With the fresh install in place you can see a
lot that will help in the compare, contrast 
and planning process.

Install; clone data;test
Install; clone data;test
...
Install; clone data;test
Install; clone data;test
switch