[CentOS] cloning a server

Thu Jan 20 21:06:51 UTC 2011
Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com>

On 1/20/2011 2:47 PM, PA wrote:
> Hi, I have a centos 5 (current) mail server that I have compiled
> dovecot/postfix and installed some packages like mysql etc. These
> packages have been configured and changed to my liking. How can I now
> save all this and install it on another server without having to do all
> the work of compiling installing and configuring the same applications.
> Is it possible to burn this server image into multiple DVD’s make it
> bootable and then install on another server.
>
> Basically I want to clone this server and make it easy to install on
> another similar hardware server without having to install centos and
> then manually installing/configuring dovecot/postfix/mysql etc. Not sure
> if I can create a bootable ISO that will install on new servers or what
> my options are. I would appreciate any suggestions.

First, for anything you compile yourself you need to be prepared to 
rebuild and re-install at the drop of a hat as bug and security updates 
are available for the upstream source.  And installing anything from 
packages should be a trivial matter of 'yum install packagelist' 
followed by adding your local edits to a few config files that you 
should have documented.

But, if the target hardware is identical, you can clone the setup with 
any means that will do an image copy of the whole hard drive.  The 
easiest way is probably to download/burn a 'clonezilla-live' CD, boot 
from it and let it do it for you.  You can either connect the disks to 
the same machine for the clone, copy to an external USB, etc., or save 
the image on a network share (nfs, smb, or ssh) from one machine, and 
load it from the other.  When the clone machine comes up, you'll have to 
reconfigure the IP addresses and host name.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com