Knoppix saves my company money!

Stonent · 01-09-2003, 03:09 AM

Because of the simplicity of it and the netboot option, we are able to use Knoppix to clone computers without having to purchase a Norton Ghost license for each system. Here is how I use Knoppix on a daily basis.

We have several computers that are configured identically for the product that we sell. So I start one "set" up. One acts as the knoppix boot server and the others net boot off of it. Then I connect a long ethernet cable to a "fresh" set that has not had the OS or our special software loaded yet and net boot them off of the knoppix server.

Then one by one I execute a command like this to clone them.
On the machine I want to copy from:
1. Open 2 root windows
2. start xload on one of them
3. cat /dev/hda | gzip -9 | nc -l -p 5030

On the machine I copy to:

1. nc 192.168.0.1 5030 | gunzip > /dev/hda (192.168.0.1 is the ip of whatever machine I am cloning)

When the xload drops down to zero, then I know it is done. I can typically start about 2 or 3 clients to copy them.

For Windows 9x systems. I do a format c: /s from dos and then untar a tarred backup that I made using knoppix.

Since Knoppix auto configures the hardware, I don't have to mess with making boot floppies or keeping track of them.

**aay** · 01-09-2003, 08:28 AM

Very cool!

tiddler · 01-09-2003, 10:36 AM

Does this just work with fat32 partitions? Or would this work with any winXP or win2K? NTFS

I think it would, but I just want to check...

**Dave_Bechtel** · 01-09-2003, 09:58 PM

--If you're doing a low-level data dump (dd) - it should work with ANYTHING. But with NTFS you never know. Try it on a spare HD and post results...

Originally Posted by tiddler

Does this just work with fat32 partitions? Or would this work with any winXP or win2K? NTFS

I think it would, but I just want to check...

**Dave_Bechtel** · 01-09-2003, 10:02 PM

--That is WayCool. I love hearing about stuff like this... netcat is way more advanced than stuff I would normally attempt. I prolly would have used tar or something.

Originally Posted by Stonent

Because of the simplicity of it and the netboot option, we are able to use Knoppix to clone computers without having to purchase a Norton Ghost license for each system. Here is how I use Knoppix on a daily basis.

We have several computers that are configured identically for the product that we sell. So I start one "set" up. One acts as the knoppix boot server and the others net boot off of it. Then I connect a long ethernet cable to a "fresh" set that has not had the OS or our special software loaded yet and net boot them off of the knoppix server.

Then one by one I execute a command like this to clone them.
On the machine I want to copy from:
1. Open 2 root windows
2. start xload on one of them
3. cat /dev/hda | gzip -9 | nc -l -p 5030

On the machine I copy to:

1. nc 192.168.0.1 5030 | gunzip > /dev/hda (192.168.0.1 is the ip of whatever machine I am cloning)

When the xload drops down to zero, then I know it is done. I can typically start about 2 or 3 clients to copy them.

For Windows 9x systems. I do a format c: /s from dos and then untar a tarred backup that I made using knoppix.

Since Knoppix auto configures the hardware, I don't have to mess with making boot floppies or keeping track of them.

**stonent** · 01-10-2003, 02:32 AM

You can do the cat /dev/hda thing with ntfs, but you can't untar because Knoppix can't write to windows 2000 drives.

For some reason, copying an EXT2 drive with knoppix takes much longer. For that I type mount and read the pid of the auto mounter and kill -9 it. Then umount everything that is /dev/hdsomething or /dev/sdasomething

Also this will make the drives with identcal partitions so if you are going from a 20gb to a 40gb you'll have to make another partition or resize it using fips or something like that.

If you want to make a compressed image of the drive you'd first want to dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda the source drive before loading anything on it so that the unused space will compress very well. Then remote mount a file system (samba or nfs) and
cat /dev/hda | gzip -9 > /mnt/remotefs/blah.img.gz (something like that, the > may not be necessary)

If you already have a full drive that you want to duplicate do something like dd if=/dev/zero of=/junkfile.tmp that will fill the empty space with zeros and then delete the junkfile.tmp after it dies from a full filesystem.

**hamatoma** · 01-10-2003, 11:34 AM

I have copied your very interessting info into http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.ph...ationUeberNetz
and make the translation into German.

I hope you like it.
Hamatoma

**Dave_Bechtel** · 01-10-2003, 06:15 PM

>> If you want to make a compressed image of the drive you'd first want to dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda the drive so that the unused space will compress very well. Then remote mount a file system...

--Do you realize what you just said there? That ***wipes out the entire drive,*** making it pointless to back up...

Originally Posted by stonent

You can do the cat /dev/hda thing with ntfs, but you can't untar because Knoppix can't write to windows 2000 drives.

For some reason, copying an EXT2 drive with knoppix takes much longer. For that I type mount and read the pid of the auto mounter and kill -9 it. Then umount everything that is /dev/hdsomething or /dev/sdasomething

Also this will make the drives with identcal partitions so if you are going from a 20gb to a 40gb you'll have to make another partition or resize it using fips or something like that.

If you want to make a compressed image of the drive you'd first want to dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda the drive so that the unused space will compress very well. Then remote mount a file system (samba or nfs) and
cat /dev/hda | gzip -9 > /mnt/remotefs/blah.img.gz (something like that, the > may not be necessary)

If you already have a full drive that you want to duplicate do something like dd if=/dev/zero of=/junkfile.tmp that will fill the empty space with zeros and then delete the junkfile.tmp after it dies from a full filesystem.

**stonent** · 01-10-2003, 06:34 PM

I should clarify. I meant to say do that before putting anything on the drive. Otherwise you'll have to zero out the other space using the other method i mentioned.

Originally Posted by Dave_Bechtel

>> If you want to make a compressed image of the drive you'd first want to dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda the drive so that the unused space will compress very well. Then remote mount a file system...

--Do you realize what you just said there? That ***wipes out the entire drive,*** making it pointless to back up...

Originally Posted by stonent

You can do the cat /dev/hda thing with ntfs, but you can't untar because Knoppix can't write to windows 2000 drives.

For some reason, copying an EXT2 drive with knoppix takes much longer. For that I type mount and read the pid of the auto mounter and kill -9 it. Then umount everything that is /dev/hdsomething or /dev/sdasomething

Also this will make the drives with identcal partitions so if you are going from a 20gb to a 40gb you'll have to make another partition or resize it using fips or something like that.

If you want to make a compressed image of the drive you'd first want to dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda the drive so that the unused space will compress very well. Then remote mount a file system (samba or nfs) and
cat /dev/hda | gzip -9 > /mnt/remotefs/blah.img.gz (something like that, the > may not be necessary)

If you already have a full drive that you want to duplicate do something like dd if=/dev/zero of=/junkfile.tmp that will fill the empty space with zeros and then delete the junkfile.tmp after it dies from a full filesystem.