Using the make_[tapenet]_recovery method

The make_[tapenet]_recovery tools are designed to reproduce a system exactly the way it was at the time the snapshot was taken. These tools try to accommodate cloning in various ways:

•You can change hostname and networking information.

•You can make changes to disks and file systems during the recovery.

•You can detect hardware model changes and rebuild the kernel. However, their attempt to reproduce a system exactly may be undesirable:

•The disk layout is saved "as-is" from the original system and does not have flexible logic to accommodate disks of varying sizes or locations.

•Hardware instance numbers for devices that exist at the same paths between systems have the instance numbers preserved from the original system. This can cause non-contiguous assignments in instance numbers, which is usually only a cosmetic problem.

•Many files that are specific to the system the recovery image was taken from are preserved. This includes many log files, etc.

•When the kernel is rebuilt (in the "cloning" situation), drivers may be added as needed by the hardware, but unused drivers will not be removed.

Cloning a System Using make_net_recovery

The recovery configurations and archives created by make_net_recovery are stored in a separate directory on the Ignite-UX server for each client. Using the configuration and archive created by make_net_recovery on one system to install a different system involves manually copying some configuration files and allowing NFS access to the source system’s archive.

A system recovery tape created using make_tape_recovery can also be used to clone systems. The system you are installing by cloning must have a local tape drive so you can boot from the system recovery tape.

The following example illustrates how to clone a system:

1.Use make_net_recovery or Ignite-UX to create a system recovery image of the source system.

2.On the Ignite-UX server, if the client to be installed does not currently have a directory in /var/opt/ignite/clients but is up and running, use the Ignite-UX GUI to create that directory using Add New Client for Recovery from the Actions menu. For more information, see “Adding Clients for Recovery ” (page 206).

If the client is not running, you will either need to boot it from the Ignite-UX server or from media in order for this directory to be created.

3.Copy the CINDEX and recovery directory from a source client to the target client directory. If the target client has previously used make_net_recovery, it will already have a CINDEX file. If the CINDEX file for the client exists, you might want to save a copy and then edit the file to add the desired entries from the source client. The following commands copy the required files. You may specify src_client and target_client using either the MAC address or the client’s hostname, which is a symbolic link to the MAC address:

#cd /var/opt/ignite/clients/src_client

#find CINDEX recovery cpio -pdvma ../target_client

4.Give the target client NFS access to the recovery image of the source system. Typically each target client has its own directory on the source system for storing the recovery images and

System Recovery 215