Distribute Cloned Server Images

[Lambchopper]

I've got a working Ubuntu 9.04 server and I'm looking to image it to distribute it to other offices. I'm new to imaging on the Ubuntu plateform.

To start here's what I'm working with starting with the df output:

...@CHI-CAPPORTAL:~$ sudo df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/CHI--CAPPORTAL-root
71G 701M 67G 2% /
tmpfs 497M 0 497M 0% /lib/init/rw
varrun 497M 76K 497M 1% /var/run
varlock 497M 0 497M 0% /var/lock
udev 497M 136K 497M 1% /dev
tmpfs 497M 0 497M 0% /dev/shm
lrm 497M 2.4M 495M 1% /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-server/volatile
/dev/sda5 228M 14M 203M 7% /boot


And here's the partitions:

...@CHI-CAPPORTAL:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3b7cf071

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9695 77875056 8e Linux LVM
/dev/sda2 9696 9726 249007+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9696 9726 248976 83 Linux


If I use the dd if=/dev/sda of=<Some Image File> will that capture all the partions? Also will the target HDD need to be the exact same size?

I won't know the destination HDD size because the remote offices are providing their own gear. So my drive image needs to work regardless of the destination HDD size. So any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

[HermanAB]

Howdy,

Yes, you can do that, but it is not really a good way to replicate servers anymore - it is a 20th century solution and we are already almost a whole decade into the 21st century.

Your first problem is that your sever file systems should be encrypted and if they are encrypted, then the images won't compress, so the images will be enormous. The second problem is that Udev notes the MAC address of the serial port in the rules and that is unique to each server. So images do not work so hot.

If however, you install VMware Workstation or VMware ESX on each machine and install the server as a VM, then you can easily replicate them by simply making a tar ball of the VM directory. The trick with VMs is to keep the data OUTSIDE the VM on a NFS share. That way, you can keep the VM itself small.

[bear24rw]

I have no idea about imaging but maybe it would be easier to make a script to remove/install needed packages and then you can sync the config files?

[HermanAB]

Automated installs are done with Redhat Kickstart. There is a version available for Ubuntu as well. Some Googling will find it.

[Lambchopper]

Howdy,

Yes, you can do that, but it is not really a good way to replicate servers anymore - it is a 20th century solution and we are already almost a whole decade into the 21st century.

Your first problem is that your sever file systems should be encrypted and if they are encrypted, then the images won't compress, so the images will be enormous. The second problem is that Udev notes the MAC address of the serial port in the rules and that is unique to each server. So images do not work so hot.

If however, you install VMware Workstation or VMware ESX on each machine and install the server as a VM, then you can easily replicate them by simply making a tar ball of the VM directory. The trick with VMs is to keep the data OUTSIDE the VM on a NFS share. That way, you can keep the VM itself small.


Thanks. However, imaging will be the best solution in this case. The servers I'm deploying are Gateway devices for a Captive portal solution. They act as Routers and will be used in a corporate environmnet. VMWare isn't a solution because of a number of reasons, one of which is cost.

Encryption is also not an issue as I'm not encrypting the file system since proprietary data will not reside on these units. They are a low security risk. So compression shouldn't be an issue.

How can I go about getting Udev to redetect the MAC addresses that you mention?

For me to design scripts and Kickstart installations for what is essentially 7 Servers would take more time than to just install them manually.