| | $Id: Imaging-SUSE-Linux-With-tbku.txt,v 1.101 2008/03/11 17:26:06 tundra Exp $ |
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| | How To Image SUSE Linux Systems Using ``tbku`` |
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| | ============================================== |
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| | This document describes how to use the TundraWare Inc. ``tbku`` |
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| | utility to "image" or "clone" SUSE Linux systems. |
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| | .. Note:: |
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| | Most/Much of this will also be relevant to other Linux distributions, |
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| | though some of the fine points may be different. |
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| | |
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| | Why Bother Imaging? |
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| | =================== |
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| | |
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| | Suppose we need to build a new instance of a ``SUSE Linux`` system. |
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| | Perhaps we need to replace one that just had a hard drive failure. |
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| | Maybe we want to build a new server that is based on our "standard" |
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| | system configuration. In other words, we want to go from "bare |
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| | metal" hardware to a fully running *and configured* system as quickly |
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| | as possible. |
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| | |
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| | There are a number of commercial and open source solutions to this |
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| | problem, but they all have one thing in common: We want to minimize |
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| | the amount of manual labor needed to install, configure, and otherwise |
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| | customize the final system. This is especially important in large |
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| | data centers where it is impractical to manually (re)install each and |
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| | every server, its applications, and its customization information. |
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| | |
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| | "Imaging" or "Cloning" allows us to keep a copy of the entire OS *as |
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| | configured* - that means with all its applications and configuration |
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| | options set up as desired. We then load a new hard drive with this |
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| | image and *voila'*, "instant" running system. |
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| | |
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| | |
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| | What Is ``tbku``? |
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| | ================= |
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| | |
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| | ``tbku`` is a shell script that makes it easy to create tarballs |
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| | of some of all of your filesystems. If you've never used it before, |
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| | take a moment to download it and read the documentation. You'll |
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| | find the latest copy at: |
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| | http://www.tundraware.com/Software/tbku |
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| | |
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| | There is no fee for using ``tbku`` in any context, personal or |
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| | commercial. However, there are some licensing terms you have to abide |
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| | by to use it, so take a moment to read the license in the distribution |
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| | tarball. |
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| | |
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| | .. Note:: |
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| | You don't *have* to use ``tbku`` to create your backup image. |
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| | The description below should work fine so long as you have a |
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| | backup of all the relevant files that preserves all the |
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| | appropriate file information such as ownership and permissions. |
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| | ``tbku`` just makes it easy to automate the creation of such |
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| | backups. |
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| | |
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| | |
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| | The Big Picture |
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| | =============== |
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| | |
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| | Before diving into the details, it's good to get a sense of the |
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| | overall process. Imaging a system requires the following steps: |
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| | 1) Create the "master" image |
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| | |
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| | - Create a baseline system configured as you want it. |
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| | - Take an "image" of it. (That's where ``tbku`` is helpful.) |
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| | - Save the image somewhere (DVD, USB drive, network drive ...). |
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| | you can get at when you need it to (re)install a system. |
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| | |
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| | 2) Use the master image to (re)provision a machine |
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| | |
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| | - Prepare the target hard disk to receive the image. |
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| | - Dump the image onto the hard disk. |
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| | - Adjust the configuration if/as needed for the new hardware. |
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| | Creating The Master Image |
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| | ========================= |
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| | |
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| | Unlike other approaches that make an image of *the disk*, ``tbku`` |
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| | creates an image of *files* on the disk. This means that your new |
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| | target disk does not have to be physically the same as the one on |
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| | which the master image (sometimes called a "snapshot") was made. You |
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| | can clone systems back and forth between SCSI, IDE, and SATA. You can |
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| | clone from smaller disks to larger ones or go the other way. |
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| | |
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| | .. Note:: |
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| | The whole point of doing imaging is to avoid having to do custom |
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| | configuration for each new installation. However, some small |
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| | amount may be necessary when the target hardware is different |
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| | than the hardware on which the master image was created. This is |
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| | discussed a bit more below in the `Gotchas`_ section. |
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| | Provisioning A Machine With The Master Image |
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| | ============================================ |
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| | |
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| | Now that we have a "snapshot" or master image, we can use it |
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| | to (re)provision other machines. |
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| | Gotchas |
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| | ======= |
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| | |
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| | There are some circumstances where you cannot avoid doing some |
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| | small amount of configuration on the newly provisioned machine. |
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| | Author |
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| | ====== |
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| | Tim Daneliuk - tbku@tundraware.com |
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| | Comments and/or improvements welcome! |
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| | Document Revision Information |
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| | ============================= |
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| | |
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| | ``$Id: Imaging-SUSE-Linux-With-tbku.txt,v 1.102 2008/03/11 23:09:34 tundra Exp $`` |
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tundra
authored
on 11 Mar 2008