undo rm deleteing /etc very urgent

[Jeff Vian]

issa rabba' wrote:

>Dear:
>
>Thanks for you replay, I want to ask if I can copy /etc directory from
>another server has the same FC configuration and applications?
>
>Regards
>  
>
yes, the only things you would likely need different initally are the 
network config files.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: fedora-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:fedora-list-bounces at redhat.com]
>On Behalf Of Jeremy Brown
>Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2004 10:31 AM
>To: For users of Fedora Core releases
>Subject: Re: undo rm deleteing /etc very urgent
>
>issa rabba' wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Dear all:
>>
>>Please I need help, by mistake I delete /etc directory and I don't how can
>>    
>>
>I
>  
>
>>undo deleting /etc, I still has connection to the server, please if any one
>>can help me....
>>
>>Note: I don't have backup 4 /etc direcoty
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>I'll go ahead and respond to your post with my very generic and 
>unhelpful response, since you're probably on a time constraint and no 
>one else seems to be answering (probably most are asleep).
>
>My understanding is that when you delete files on most Linux 
>filesystems, they aren't actually deleted, just unlinked.  It's possible 
>to restore some or all of these files by restoring only the links (a 
>semi-trivial process, maybe).  But once you start writing data back to 
>the drive, there's probably little or no guarantee that you won't 
>overwrite some or all of the space that /etc occupied.  So my first 
>suggestion would be to try to find an undelete utility for whatever 
>filesystem /etc was stored on.  After a quick google I found this one 
>for ext2:
>
>http://twerner.debian.net/
>
>I make no claims as to whether or not this utility will work.  I've 
>never used it before.
>
>If you use reiserfs or some other filesystem, you'd need to google and 
>find a different utility (assuming one exists for your FS of choice).
>
>My other suggestion is to do what I did in the sole situation where I 
>clobbered the /etc directory of a major production machine (by 
>accidentally running "etc-update" on a Gentoo box I was supposed to help 
>administer).  And that is to grab the FC install CDs, and install and 
>configure as quickly as possible as you can on an alternative machine.  
>Most processes only read configuration files in /etc on startup, so your 
>machine with trashed /etc might even be able to stay alive while you get 
>another one together.  It's not a pretty solution, but it'll hopefully 
>minimize the damage done.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>Jeremy
>
>
>  
>