Live ISO Backup and Restore?

Halfnote5 · #1 19th May 2012, 02:47 AM

Hi all!

I had asked the other day if anyone had used relinux with Fedora, and after some research I realize I may have asked the wrong question (since I've discovered that 0.3 HAS a backup option, but it appears to be on the "Will be deprecated" list).

What I want to do is create a full backup in the form of an ISO file from each of my client's (Fedora15/16) laptops, including ALL of the user data, all of the preferences and setting, and all of the downloaded content (pretty much a snapshot of the system in stasis the exact way they left it).

Then I want to be able to live-boot that ISO and/or install it on a different computer.

The computers in question get broken quickly and easily (machine shop environment) and I'd like to be able to throw a new machine in place and have it back to what it was yesterday and working (non-persistent is fine for the live image, as it can be used to operate the connected machinery temporarily until the install finishes).

I thought of using Remastersys, which would be perfect, but they use Fedora, and Remastersys is for Ubuntu. It seems there IS a way to do it with Relinux, but it seems sketchy at best, although in absence of any other options, I'll probably give it a whirl and see what happens.

However, if anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd be ever so grateful.

I don't really need a "Live CD builder" or "Spin maker" that generates a blank, custom distro, I need something that grabs user data and /home directory files, too. I basically need a "live-bootable backup".

TIA Everyone!

sea · #2 19th May 2012, 02:57 AM

I could think of a live minimal iso, which has a 2nd partition containing the tarballs of your backup.
hf

UndiFineD · #3 19th May 2012, 08:19 AM

I dont know how the live iso is built,
I would assume you could do something with casper,
perhaps have the installation files separate,
and simply backup the casper image differences

Halfnote5 · #4 19th May 2012, 01:57 PM

Both good suggestions, but the (admittedly, VERY unique) end goal is for whenever the metal dust kills the machine running the stamper/grinder/bender, we can throw a new machine in place and have it in exactly the same condition it was the day before in less than 5 minutes.

Hence the "live-boot with ALL user settings and files" option. That way it can be run live IMMEDIATELY, and then at the end of the day we can permanently install the liveOS, which is an image from the day before.

I REALLY don't wanna switch them to another distro - they've got it set up just perfectly, but lack of Remastersys is killing us at this location - no dust hoods, no ventilation systems. They kill computers faster than I kill cookies and eggnog at Christmastime. ; )

sea · #5 19th May 2012, 02:01 PM

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to..._use_a_Live_CD
These are tools from fedora for fedora, so youll keep your fedora live image, just like a snapshot of your system. (without personal data).
Its a 5 minute work, 30 min wait task

The 'problematic' part, is how to add your backupdata into that iso.

Halfnote5 · #6 19th May 2012, 02:21 PM

That's kinda the problem I'm running into with most live CD makers for Fedora - they seem to be geared toward making cutomized, but "fresh" versions of it (Sort of like going to a car dealership and picking out the features you do and do not want on your new car), rather than a backup of your exact, existing system. (Somewhat a stretch to the analogy, but in this instance, you're not going to get to keep your old seatbelts).

What remastersys does is use squashfs to create a replica image of your entire filesystem (minus, I belive /tmp and /dev and the like) and then uses a GRUB loader to fire the thing back up as a live system.

I wonder.... if I compress the whole filesystem on Fedora (every night) to a squashfs file, and then simply REPLACE one generated by Remastersys (say, on an Ubuntu system) while retaining the other files such as the loader, d'you think that might be a viable solution? Or are there caveats, such as needing to add special files directly TO the squashfs archive to enable functionality?

cazo · #7 19th May 2012, 06:23 PM

Have you considered using a "thin client" (like http://ltsp.org) for the throw-away machine & connecting it to a remote server (where the user files are safely stored)?

Halfnote5 · #8 19th May 2012, 08:07 PM

We do back up to a main server, (in fact, you've just described our current situation, except that the data has to be stored locally for the working copy) but since the serial data is accessed and stored in realtime, we can't put/use the main copy over the network, and a restore from the backup server takes about 30 minutes to copy the data when we want the previous night's copy on the machine.

It's a really good thought, but lag over the network would kill the precision of the machine, and restoring from the server takes longer than we'd like. Hence, my very unusual and particular method of wanting to do this. (Bear in mind, we can't plan when these machines are going to go out. They just kinda.... do. A little metal dust cakes on the mobo and.... >poof!< and it'd be nice to plug in a live image and go.)

Doug G · #9 20th May 2012, 12:58 AM

You could probably import the iso as a virtual machine in kvm and get the iso on the air pretty quickly. I've imported dd generated iso's of a disk as a vm, and it only took about 5 minutes to have the vm booting and running.

Any windows machines also can be imported as a vm, but the process is much more involved.

UndiFineD · #10 21st May 2012, 07:53 PM

how about something like this
http://www.ruggedusb.co.uk/rugged_us...ve_reviews.php

UndiFineD · #11 21st May 2012, 09:25 PM

double post

robertdaleweir · #12 21st May 2012, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfnote5

Both good suggestions, but the (admittedly, VERY unique) end goal is for whenever the metal dust kills the machine running the stamper/grinder/bender, we can throw a new machine in place and have it in exactly the same condition it was the day before in less than 5 minutes.

Hence the "live-boot with ALL user settings and files" option. That way it can be run live IMMEDIATELY, and then at the end of the day we can permanently install the liveOS, which is an image from the day before.

I REALLY don't wanna switch them to another distro - they've got it set up just perfectly, but lack of Remastersys is killing us at this location - no dust hoods, no ventilation systems. They kill computers faster than I kill cookies and eggnog at Christmastime. ; )

Hi Halfnote5
Why do you not use an Imaging Software, such as Clonezilla. I have been backing up and restoring units for several years, and I find the results both robust and reliable. The software can be installed onto a (bootable)CD or a (bootable) USB stick. The interface fairly easy to follow.
If you want you can customize it for your own needs, as I have done. It can be used over a Network or to an External Hard Drive. I prefer the latter. YMMV. Cheers...