Linode.com Forum

[memset0x90]

I currently have one linode and would like to purchase a second. Given the work involved in setting up a box from scratch (compared to my level of laziness) it would be infinitely convenient to have the second linode cloned from the first (at a profile & disk image level) so I can simply console in and make a few tweaks (network info, etc) to the second. I wanted to confirm this would be possible before I went about adding the second linode (which has to be treated as an entirely separate account, right?)
Thanks in advance.

[anderiv]

I'm sure the Linode guys will be willing to do this for you on the server side, but if not, it would be a trivial process, using finnix, to download your disk image(s) and re-upload them to another linode. Many linode users do this semi-regularly for backup purposes.

-erik

[memset0x90]

Interesting, I've never used finnix. I take it this is similar to booting from a Live CD (or install disc in recovery mode.) How do the disk images appear to me? Do I dd them off from /dev/ubd's into a file or do I have access to the actual disk images in UML-native format that I can then sftp off to...somewhere (maybe even another linode booted into finnix?)
Thanks for the insight.

[anderiv]

You just need to create a new config profile - select "finnix" in the kernel option and then assign the disk images as you normally would. Then you can use a combination of dd and ssh to move the disk images around...something like this:
Code: $ dd if=/dev/ubda | ssh user@otherserver dd of=/path/to/disk.img

You'd probably want to throw some flags in there when you initiate ssh to turn down the encryption to "bluefish" or something a bit less CPU intensive or you'll find this process may take quite a while.

It's been a long time since I've done this, so there may be a better way, but this is the general idea.

[Ciaran]

If you use the Finnix kernel you'll also need to remember to select the Finnix initrd and the Finnix ISO image.

[Quik]

I recently faced a similar problem as the original poster and have posted a how-to on it here.

In this case it might be easier to set up a temporary small Debian installation on the new Linode to handle the incoming disk image.

[ArbitraryConstant]

Quik wrote: In this case it might be easier to set up a temporary small Debian installation on the new Linode to handle the incoming disk image. Yes, I don't think the rescue image will give you an sshd, and I wouldn't want to dump a disk image across the network without encrypting it.

[Xan]

You wouldn't need sshd on the rescue image; just plain ssh should suffice. It doesn't matter which is the client and which is the server; your ssh command can either "push" or "pull".

To modify the previous example:

Code: ssh user@originserver dd if=/dev/ubda | dd of=/path/to/disk.img