Imaging Software/Hardware for use with Redhat WS Version 3

[Ed Wilts]

On Fri, Jan 21, 2005 at 02:43:36PM +0000, Andrew.Bridgeman at corusgroup.com wrote:
> I have now built a standard Redhat WS version 3 machine  that runs all of
> our cae and cad software. I need to put the same image of this machine on
> to over 20 more new machines that are arriving Monday. I have a copy of
> Norton Ghost 2003 and Version 9 but i am not sure how well it will image
> Redhat.
> Can anyone recommend a way of imaging my machines that they have used in
> the past whether it is software or hardware imaging, any help is much
> appreciated.

The recommended approach is to build the systems with Kickstart.  That
guarantees that you'll get the right kernel and other packages (e.g.
glibc) for the right architecture over time - for example, if you image
an P4-based system to an Athlon-based system, you probably won't even
boot (I had the same issue with a Ghost image on my Windows desktop at
work - a hyperthreading-enabled image wouldn't boot on my P3).  If a
vendor throws a different Ethernet adapter at you, you'll still work
with a Kickstart'ed system.  If you image and the adapter changes - and
vendors have been known to change Ethernet adapters even within the same
product line - your network may not start.  Ditto with graphics cards.

Kickstarts can be done fairly quickly over the network and can include a
mix of vendor-provided and your own packages.  You have total control
over what the target systems look like.

If you really want to image the systems, you can look at Mondo Rescue -
it can make an exact copy of your system that can then be restored to
another system, even if the disk sizes are different.  However, it won't
do anything about fixing up the hardware inconsistencies, network
addressing, etc.  http://www.mondorescue.org

Setting up a Kickstart-ready environment is a bit of work up front but
it will last you through many more hardware generations than a
disk-image environment will.  

        .../Ed

-- 
Ed Wilts, RHCE
Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:ewilts at ewilts.org
Member #1, Red Hat Community Ambassador Program