source: MondoRescue/branches/2.06/documentation/mondorescue-howto.sgml@ 328

<!DOCTYPE BOOK PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN" [
<!ENTITY curdate "DDD">
<!ENTITY curver "VVV">

<!ENTITY WWWB "http://www.mondorescue.org/">
<!ENTITY WWW '<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org">MondoRescue</ulink>'>
<!ENTITY gfdl SYSTEM "fdl.sgml">
]>

<book>

<bookinfo>
<title>MondoRescue HOWTO</title>
<subtitle>
Utilisation and Configuration of Mondo and Mindi under Linux (Version &curver;)
</subtitle>
<graphic fileref="images/protected-by-mondo.png" align="center">

<pubdate>
in its latest version the
&curdate;
</pubdate>

<abstract>
<para>
This document describes the use of mondo and mindi tools to realize disaster recovery backup of your systems. It provides information on installation, backup and restore modes, hardware and software requirements, and answers to some frequently asked questions.
The goals are to offer a general view of the functions and their best usages.
Mondo Rescue is a Disaster Recovery Solution which allows you
to effortlessly backup and interactively restore Linux, Windows and
other supported filesystem partitions to/from CD/DVD-+R/RW media, tape,
NFS, ... and Mindi Linux provides the bootable emergency restore
CD/floppy set which Mondo uses at boot-time.
</para>
</abstract>

<author>
<firstname>Bruno</firstname>
<surname>Cornec</surname>
<affiliation>
<orgname>MondoRescue Project</orgname>
<address><email>bcornec@users.berlios.de</email></address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<!--
Hugo Rabson
Mikael Hultgren
Stan Benoit
Randy Delfs
Cafeole
Bryan J. Smith
-->

<copyright>
<year>2000-2006</year>
<holder role="mailto:bcornec@users.berlios.de">Bruno Cornec</holder>
</copyright>

<legalnotice>
<title>License</title>
<para>
</para>
<para>
This HOWTO is a free documentation. you may copy, redistribute and/or modify it under the terms of the
<Link LinkEnd="gfdl">
GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
</link>.</para>
<para>
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invarian
t Sections, Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts. This document is distributed
hoping it will be useful, but <emphasis>without any guaranty</emphasis>; you're
completely responsible of its use, and coulnd't complain in case it doesn't work
, or even if it breaks the hardware. All the software included in it, if not alr
eady copyrighted is released under the GPL.
</para>
</legalnotice>

<revhistory>
<revision>
    <revnumber>2.06</revnumber>
    <date>2006-01-16</date>
    <authorinitials>Bruno Cornec</authorinitials>
    <revdescription>
    <para>
    First SGML version publically available, remade from the HTML docs of the project.
    </para>
    </revdescription>
</revision>
</revhistory>
</bookinfo>

<toc></toc>
<lot></lot>


<chapter id="about">
<title>About this Guide</title>

<sect1 id="purpose">
<title>Purpose / Scope of this Guide</title>

<para>
This HOWTO serves to help people get started with using
mondo/mindi as way to backup/restore their system. This is a work
constantly evolving. It was started by Hugo Rabson and has
since been worked upon by a number of people. See the
'<ulink url="&WWWB;about.html#devteam">About</ulink>' web
page for a list of members of the development team.</para>

<para>There are many ways to contribute to the Linux movement
without actually writing code. One of the most important is writing
documentation, allowing each person to share their knowledge with
thousands of others around the world. This HOWTO is designed to
help you get familiar with how Mondo/Mindi works.</para>

<para>
Opinions expressed here are those of the authors.
Informations are provided in the aim to be useful to the readers.
However, there can't be, through this document, any warranty of any kind
on the way it works on your systems, nor the author could be responsible for any problem caused by the use of these informations.
However, software editors don't garantee you a lot either (re-read the contracts).
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="newversion"><title>New versions of this document</title>

<para>The newest version of this document can always be found on
MondoRescue's homepage &WWW;.</para>
<para>
If you make a translation of this document into another language, please let meknow so that I can include a reference to it here.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1><title>Suggestions / Feedback</title>
<para>
I rely on you, the reader, to make this HOWTO useful. THis HOWTO is probably incomplete even if it tries to be accurate to the best of our knowledge. 
If you have any suggestions, corrections, recommandations or congratulations :-) don't hesitate to send them to me
<email>bcornec@users.berlios.de</email>,
and I will try to incorporate them in a next revision or to the mondorescue mailling list at <ulink url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mondo-devel">http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists
/listinfo/mondo-devel</ulink>;
e-mail the list at
<ulink url="mailto:mondo-devel@lists.sourceforge.net">mondo-devel@lists.sourceforge.net</ulink>;
tell us what is wrong and how it should be fixed.
Include the section title and recommended changes. Whenever possible, include
the exact, spell-checked, grammar-checked text that you think would
improve the document.
</para>
<para>See Mondo's
<ulink url="../../feedback/feedback.html">Feedback</ulink> page for
more information.
</para>
<para>
Please note that we do our best to help everyone but it is
difficult for us to help you if you do not attach a log file to
your e-mail. Let me say that again - attach your log file to your
e-mail! Thank you. Without it we can't offer
any tangible help because you aren't either. That's what the log
file is for. It is located at <filename>/var/log/mondo-archive.log</filename>; and <filename>/var/log/miindi.log</filename> or at <filename>/var/log/mondo-restore.log</filename>
</para>
<para>
This document was originaly written by native english speakers, but is maintained by a non-native english speaker so help me correct mistaques instead of rumbling that I've done one :-)
</para>
<para>
I am also willing to answer general questions on MondoRescue, the best I can.
Before doing so, please read all of the information in this HOWTO, and then send me detailed information about the problem, especially including the logs generated by the tools, or traces obtained (Did I say that already :-].
</para>
<para>
If you publish this document on a CD-ROM or in hardcopy form, a complimentary copy would be appreciated; mail me for my postal address. Also consider making a donation to the Linux Documentation Project to help support free documentation for Linux. Contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator,
Guylhem AZNAR <email>guylhem@rrremovethis.oeil.qc.ca</email>.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id=thanks><title>Aknowledgements</title>

<para>Thanks goes to these people for helping and adding to this
HOWTO.</para>

<para>Document maintainer:</para>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet" spacing="Compact">
<listitem>
<para>Bruno Cornec</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Original Design Assistance by:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Xion Network.com</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Original Document Assistance by:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Cafeole</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Troff</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Randy Delfs</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Mikael Hultgren</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Original LinuxDoc and LaTeX Reformat by:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Bryan J. Smith</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Original DocBook Reformat by:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Mikael Hultgren</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Original author; 1.6x material:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Hugo Rabson</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</sect1>
</chapter>

<chapter id="quickstart"><title>QuickStart</title>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet" spacing="Compact">
<listitem>
<para>We recommend that you read this complete 
HOWTO. However, if you are too busy or impatient, then
please use this QuickStart guide to stay out of trouble.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Install the tarball, RPM, or DEB mindi and mondo
packages. (see <link linkend="installation">Installation</link>
for more details)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Execute as root (type 'su -' to become root if you are not
logged in as root)</para>
<para></para>

<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para></para>

<informaltable><tgroup cols="2"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/mamain.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/mamain-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
Choose from the list of supported backup media types. The media you
will use most often are CD/DVD-+R, CD/DVD-+RW, tape, NFS and hard disk. If
you want to backup/restore over a network, choose 'NFS'. If you
want to backup/restore to/from a local partition or if you simply
want to store the ISO images in a local directory until you have
time or facilities to burn them to CD's, choose 'hard disk'. If you
choose 'CD/DVD-R[W]' or 'tape' then in general your hardware will be
detected and configured for you.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/maburnproof.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/maburnproof-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
        If you are backing up to CD/DVD-+R[W] then Mondo will ask you if your CD
burner has BurnProof technology, is inside a laptop, or is
otherwise eccentric. If you are backing up to a tape streamer then
you will not see this message.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/macompression.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/macompression-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
How much compression do you want? None, if your tape streamer has
built-in hardware compression. Maximum, if your CPU is blazingly
fast. Average should do just fine for most situations.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/mainclude.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/mainclude-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
If you want to backup the whole computer (excluding /tmp and /proc,
naturally) then leave this as / which is the default. Otherwise,
specify subsets, (e.g. /usr/local /home ) being sure to put a space
in between each path.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/maexclude.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/maexclude-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
If you are backing up your whole computer then you might want to
exclude certain directories, e.g. /shared/MP3. Please specify them
in the 'exclude directories' dialog box. Please put a space in
between each path, e.g. /shared/private /scratch /nfs /windows
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/makernel.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/makernel-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
Is your kernel sane? Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, Debian and Slackware users
should in general say 'yes' because these vendors are good at
producing reliable kernels. If you are using Gentoo or LFS
then your kernel might be non-standard, in which case say 'no' to
use Mondo's failsafe kernel.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/maverifyq.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/maverifyq-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
If you want to verify the archives after writing them to media, say
'yes' here. If you have absolute faith in your hardware and your
Linux distribution, say 'no'... and a little prayer.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/maproceedq.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/maproceedq-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
If you are sure you want to go ahead, say 'yes' and find something
else to do while Mondo backs up your computer. If you say 'no' then
you will be unceremoniously dumped at the shell prompt. :-)
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/1.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/1-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
The backup process will now commence. There are some pre-backup
tasks to be carried out first but the backup is essentially
underway. To simplify the backup process, you were asked a series
of questions. Next time, if you like, you could call mondoarchive
with various command-line switches to control its behavior, instead
of answering a series of questions. See the man page for details.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/3.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/3-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
Mondo will make a catalog of all files to be backed up. This may
take up to five minutes. The list of files will be divided into
sets, approximately 4 MB (before compression) of files per set.
This typically takes one minute.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/4.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/1-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
Mondo calls Mindi. Mindi generates bootable floppy disk images and
auxiliary data disk images which are based on your existing Linux
distribution and filesystem. That way, you can be sure Mondo's
tools will be compatible with your existing filesystems and
binaries: Mondo's tools are your tools. Mindi takes up to five
minutes to run.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/5tape.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/5tape-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
Finally, Mondo begins backing up your computer. This process may
take a few minutes or a few hours, depending on how much data you
are archiving, how fast your CPU is, how much RAM you have, and so
on. It will backup your regular files and then your large files
(files larger than approximately 32MB). If you have opted to verify
your backups, Mondo will do that too.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<ulink url="images/10cd.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/10cd-mini.png">
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
</ulink>
</entry>
<entry>
Do you want to create a boot floppy at the end? Yes, if you're a
tape or NFS user. No, if you are using CD/DVD-R[W]'s and your computer
supports bootable CD's. Tape users only need one floppy but other
users may need more. Mondo will advise accordingly.
</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Try to boot from the first CD of the backup (or the first
floppy, if you made floppies). Choose 'Compare Mode' by typing
compare at the boot screen.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>If you can boot, fine. If not, make a Mindi "Test" CD to
checkout the compatibility of your system. (see
<link linkend="testingmindi">Testing Mindi</link> for more
details). Remove the CD/floppy; boot your computer as usual;
execute as root</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

        bash# mindi
        bash# cd /root/images/mindi

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>(for CD-R)</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v mindi.iso

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>(for CD-RW)</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 blank=fast -eject -v mindi.iso

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>Reboot your system with the created Mindi CD, with the BIOS
set to boot from CD. If the result is a command line in 'Expert'
mode, your system checks out. Remove the CD and reboot your
system.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>If you still cannot boot from Mindi's CD then please e-mail
the <link linkend="feedback">mailing list</link> for help.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>When making a backup on a live system, there will always be
processes running that will write out data on the system after you
have made the backup and before you have made the compare, this
will result in difference showing up when comparing your backup.
For a full explanation and what can be done to avoid this, please
read this section.</para>
<itemizedlist>

        <listitem>
<para>This QuickStart covers the ideal case. Upon receiving any
system feedback/errors, read each related HOWTO section.</para>
<para>Example 2-1. A test backup of your /home directory to CD-Rs
using the command line</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive -OVc 4 -I /home -gF

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>The 'c' means you must be writing to CD-Rs, not CD-RWs (the
latter would require 'w' instead of 'c'). The '4' is the speed of
your CD writer. The string after -I is the path to be backed up.
The '-gF' means you are going to see the pretty yellow-on-blue
screen instead of the boring white-on-black screen. :) It also
means Mondo will not offer to create physical boot floppies for
you. It is assumed that you are able to boot from the CD which
Mondo has generated.</para>
<para>Example 2-2. A backup of your whole filesystem to NFS using
the command line</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

        bash# mkdir -p /mnt/nfs
        bash# mount 192.168.1.28:/home/nfs /mnt/nfs
        bash# mondoarchive -OVn 192.168.1.28:/home/nfs -gF[...]
        bash# umount /mnt/nfs
        bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v /root/images/mindi/mindi.iso

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>Note that you have to mount the NFS partition, backup to it,
unmount it, and create a boot CD to allow you to restore from
scratch if necessary. To reassure yourself that you will be able to
restore from the NFS share even if your PC is wiped, please boot
from the Mindi CD and type 'compare'. The on-screen instructions
from that point on should be sufficient.</para>
<para>Example 2-3. A backup of your whole
filesystem to tape using the command line</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive -OVt -d /dev/st0 -9 -L -g

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>In this case, we assume Syslinux is incompatible with your
boot media. For some reason, some BIOSes just don't like Syslinux.
If you find this to be the case for your computer, please use '-L'
to force Mondo to use LILO instead of Syslinux as the boot loader
for its CD/floppies. (NB: This has nothing to do with which boot
loader your hard drive uses.) Also, it is a good habit to specify
your tape streamer with '-d &lt;device&gt;'. You don't usually need
to but it's good to be on the safe side. Some computers call your
tape streamer /dev/osst0, some call it /dev/ftape, ...</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</chapter>

<chapter id="overview"><title>Overview</title>

<sect1 id="mondorescue">
<title>Mondo Rescue</title>
<para>Mondo Rescue backs up your file system to CD, tape, NFS
(archives stored remotely) or ISO's (archives stored locally).
Mondo uses afio as the backup engine; afio is a well-respected
replacement for tar. In the event of catastrophic data loss, you
may restore some or all of your system, even if your hard drives
are now blank. Mondo Rescue can do a lot of other cool
things:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>You can use Mondo to clone an installation of Linux. Just
backup the crucial stuff and exclude /home, /var/log, etc.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>You can backup a non-RAID file system and restore it as RAID
including the root partition (if your kernel supports that).</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>You can backup a system running on one format and restore as
another format.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>You can restructure your partitions, e.g. shrink/enlarge,
reassign devices, add hard drives, etc, before you partition and
format your drives. Mondo will restore your data and amend
/etc/lilo.conf and /etc/fstab accordingly.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>You can backup Linux/Windows systems, including the boot
sectors. Mondo will make everything right at restore-time.
(However, do run "Scandisk" when you first boot into Windows, just
in case.)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>You can use your Mondo backup CD to verify the integrity of
your computer.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Mondo's principal virtue is that it protects you from the
problems that can arise when you reinstall completely from scratch.
If you want to wipe and restore your system every year just as a
matter of 'good practice', Mondo is not for you. However, if you
want to get up and running again in a hurry after someone breaks
into your computer and wipes it (or if you accidentally wipe it
yourself) then Mondo is definitely for you. It will permit you to
roll back to a known-good installation in a very short period of
time, sometimes as little as twenty minutes. Even if you backup
large amounts of data to tape daily and do not want to add yet
another backup regime, please consider backing up the core
filesystem (i.e. everything but the directories containing your
huge database and your prizewinning novel) every month or so, just
in case. You will be glad you did.</para>
<para>What is Mondo not?</para>
<para>Mondo is not an everyday backup program. It is not designed
to replace tar, afio, kbackup, etc. Mondo is designed to make it
possible to recover from scratch if necessary. Tar and afio offer a
quick, convenient way to backup small sets of files, sometimes to
removable media.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="mindi">
<title>Mindi</title>
<para>
Mindi Linux creates a set of boot/root floppy disk images
that will let you perform basic system maintenance on your Linux
distro. The principal virtues of Mindi's boot disks are the fact
that they contain your kernel, modules, tools and libraries. You
can ask for additional binaries (or other files) to be included on
the kit. The libraries will be added for you.
</para>
<para>Whichever modules were loaded at backup-time, they are
reloaded at boot-time. So, in theory, you will boot into almost the
same environment as you were in when you backed up. If you want to
add files to your Mindi boot disks, edit '&lt;INSTALLPATH OF
MINDI&gt;/mindi/deplist.txt' and add the files to that list. The
added files and dependencies, will be spread across the data disks
at run-time.
</para>
<para>Mindi makes sure that Mondo has all the tools it needs at
boot-time. Mondo uses fdisk, mkfs, cat, less, more, afio, gzip,
bzip2, your keyboard configuration, your glibc libraries, your
other libraries, your kernel, your modules, ... a lot! Mindi takes
care of all that, so that Mondo can get on with the job of backing
up or restoring your data.
</para>
<para>Mindi is also handy for making boot CDs/disks which stand on
their own. You do not need Mondo. Indeed, if you like, you could
use another backup/restore program with Mindi. Just add it to
Mindi's dependency list (type 'locate deplist.txt' to find it).
Mindi will include your software on its boot CD/disks the next time
you run mindi.
</para>
</sect1>


<sect1 id="linuxbackup">
<title>Linux Backup</title>
<para>Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux are used primarily as Linux
backup and cloning tools. The fall in prices of CD-RW drives and
writable discs will allow current users to keep good backups and
future users to leverage the cloning capability.</para>
<para>Tape drives are more likely to suit your needs if you run a
larger installation (or have lots of MP3's). Warning! OnStream
drives do not play well with Mondo. I do not know why. It is, in my
opinion, something which OnStream should look into. Mondo uses
fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() to interact with tape
drives. That works for most drives but some drives just don't like
that.</para>
<para>I have tested it thousands of times on my own computer with
my own data and with no alternate backup regime. It worked for me.
Thousands of users testify to Mondo's stability and its ease of
use. However, please test it on your own system before you rely on
it. In fact, do not rely on any software until you have tested it
to see if it performs as expected.</para>
<para>To establish that Mondo will behave well in an emergency,
please be prepared. Run a test backup as follows:-</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Run mondoarchive without any command-line options.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>Backup a subset of files - e.g. /usr/local - to CD or
tape. Say 'yes' when asked if you want to verify them.</listitem>
<listitem>If you are not backing up to CD, please create boot
floppies when prompted.</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Next, restore archives to your live filesystem.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>When mondoarchive terminates, run mondorestore without any
command-line options.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>Insert the CD or the first boot floppy when prompted.
Press &lt;Enter&gt;. Wait a moment.</listitem>
<listitem>Select a subset of files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man
and /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.</listitem>
<listitem>Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something
similar.</listitem>
<listitem>When mondorestore terminates, compare the restored files
to the originals using cmp or diff.</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Finally, simulate an emergency restore.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Boot from CD/floppies.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>Select 'Interactive Mode' at boot-time. (Type
'interactive' and hit &lt;Enter&gt;.)</listitem>
<listitem>Hit OK when shown the mountlist. Say 'yes' when asked if
you accept the mountlist.</listitem>
<listitem>Select files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man and
/usr/local/bin. Hit OK.</listitem>
<listitem>Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something
similar.</listitem>
<listitem>When mondorestore terminates, please reboot and compare
the restored files to the originals.</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>FYI, the subroutines to repartition and reformat your drives
are very stable. If you are a RAID or LVM user, you
might&nbsp;encounter some difficulties when wiping and restoring
from scratch because of the sheer range of filesystem layouts and
the impossibility of testing Mondo on every single one. If you have
trouble, just drop to the command-line and partition/format
manually. Then, call mondorestore, select Interactive Mode, and say
'no' when asked if you want Mondo to partition or format your
drives for you.</para>
<para>You see, even if you have trouble, you still have two hands
and most of the tools you need - lvchange, pvcreate, fdisk, mkraid,
etc. - to do it manually. After you have prepped and formatted your
drives manually (if you have to), just run mondorestore again and
say 'no' when asked if you want to prep or format your drives. What
could be easier?</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="winbackup">
<title>Windows Backup</title>
<para>Backing up windows partitions.</para>
<sect2 id="win95"><title>Windows ME/95/98</title>
<para>Verify that the partition is listed in /etc/fstab and is
mounted (e.g. /dev/hda1). Mondo will take care of everything else.
The files will be archived just like all other files in the live
file system. At restore-time, Mondo will take care of the boot
sector of /dev/hda1 prior to the restore.</para>
<para>Note: if Windows ME/95/98 is not located on /dev/hda1 or
/dev/sda1, then Mondo will not take care of the boot sector of
/dev/hda1. The user will have to boot from a DOS floppy and run SYS
C: to correct the Windows boot sector.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="winnt"><title>Windows NT4/2K/XP</title>
<para>Windows NT4/2K/XP typically use the NTFS file system, not
VFAT.. The user should use '-x /dev/hda1' (or whichever device the
/dev/hda1. The user will have to boot from a DOS floppy and run SYS
C: to correct the Windows boot sector.</para>
</sect2><sect2 id="AEN13"><title>3.4.2. Windows NT4/2K/XP</title>
<para>Windows NT4/2K/XP typically use the NTFS file system, not
VFAT.. The user should use '-x /dev/hda1' (or whichever device the
Windows partition resides). Mondo will treat the partition as a
biggiefile. Mondo will also add an entry to the mountlist to
reflect the size and type of the partition. The user may not edit
that partition's size at restore-time (for obvious reasons).</para>
<para>Please bear in mind that Mondo was written for Linux users.
If Mondo does not backup or restore your Windows system well, you
might want to consider paying for 1-to-1 technical support.
Ironically, the only people to pay for 1-to-1 technical support
have been Linux users, whereas Windows users want a free ride. That
is one reason why the Linux community gives me warm fuzzies.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="history">
<title>Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux
History</title>
<para>Mondo Rescue was created in December 1999 as a utility to
clone Linux/Windows installations. Norton Ghost would not do the
job, and my boss wanted to jump on the Linux bandwagon. So, I wrote
a few scripts and shoehorned them into the latest Linux-Mandrake
CD. Since that time, Mondo grew into a disaster recovery suite for
Linux and Windows. Mondo forced me to learn about the kernel, its
initrd initial ramdisk, modules, library dependencies, disk
partitioning, and the myriad differences between the Top 10 Linux
distributions.</para>
a few scripts and shoehorned them into the latest Linux-Mandrake
CD. Since that time, Mondo grew into a disaster recovery suite for
Linux and Windows. Mondo forced me to learn about the kernel, its
initrd initial ramdisk, modules, library dependencies, disk
partitioning, and the myriad differences between the Top 10 Linux
distributions.</para>
<para>The first formal release was made on February 18th, 2000.
Mondo is currently one of the top five Linux backup/restore
programs. Mondo has been compared favorably to ArcServe, Arkeia and
BRU. Although Mondo lacks the more advanced, enterprise-level
features of ArcServe and Arkeia, for workstations and small- to
medium-size servers it is ideal because it is small, fast,
efficient, stable, comes with source code, and is being actively
developed and supported.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="sysreq">
<title>System
Requirements</title>
<sect2 id="hwreq">
<title>Hardware Requirements</title>

<para>Your computer must have:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Intel(R)-compatible CPU</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>64MB of RAM (128MB recommended)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>800MB of hard disk space free</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CD writer, tape streamer, NFS share or some way to backup the
backups :)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>It is recommended that your computer have very good airflow.
The backup with Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux will utilize your CPU,
CD drive and fixed disk(s) like very few other applications. With a
few hours of system backup activity, computers without sufficient
airflow may show symptoms such as not burning full CD discs. The
solution is a $20 or less additional fan at your local electronics
discount store.</para>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="kernelreq">
<title>Kernel Requirements</title>

<para>Your kernel must have:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>stable loopfs support, which means it really needs to be
2.2.19 or 2.4.7 (or later)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CD-ROM device support</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>ISO9660 file system support</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>initrd ramdisk support (built-in)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Virtual memory file system support (built-in)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>floppy disk support (built in)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>ext2 file system support (built-in)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Support for the backup media (Tape, CD-RW, NFS, Hard
disk)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>If the backup media is CD-RW then you need SCSI emulation
also</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Please note that the stock kernels of Red Hat 7.2, 7.3, 8.0,
Mandrake 8.2, 9.0, SuSE 7.x,, 8.x, and Slackware 8.x all meet
Mondo's requirements. If your kernel does not meet Mondo's
requirements then there is something wrong with it. Mondo's demands
are not unreasonable.</para>
<para>Mondo (specifically Mindi) does not require any specific
modules. It does require that your kernel support the initrd
initial ramdisk facility. Typically this is supported by the Linux
kernel. Modules used are needed to support the CD, floppy disks,
hard disks, etc. If the support is modular, then the modules will
be incorporated in a boot disk by Mindi. If the support is built-in
(static), then it will be available at boot-time by default.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="swreq">
<title>Software Requirements</title>
<para>See Mondo's <ulink url="../download.html">Download
page</ulink> for details.</para>
<para>Mondo requires afio, bzip2, cdrtools/cdrecord, ncurses, newt,
isolinux/syslinux, lzo (optional), lzop (optional), mkisofs, slang,
and a few other packages.</para>
<para>Good Linux distributions provide all these packages. If yours
does not then please go to the aforementioned Download page or surf
the Net, preferably the website of the distribution you are
using.</para>
<para>Mondo's expectations are not unreasonable, either of your
Linux distribution or of your kernel. However, if your distribution
fails to meet its expectations and you cannot find out how to
resolve them, please feel free to e-mail the
<ulink url="../../feedback/feedback.html">mailing
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>

<chapter id="installation">
<title>Installation</title>

<sect1 id="mindi-install">
<title>Mindi Installation</title>
<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cd /tmpbash# tar -zxvf mindi-0.7x.tgzbash# cd mindi-0.7xbash# ./install.sh

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>This installs mindi into /usr/local/share/mindi and installs
links to the programs into /usr/local/sbin</para>
<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM then copy it to
wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mindi-0.7x-x.i386.rpm

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>This installs mindi into /usr/share/mindi and installs links
to the programs into /usr/sbin. This may be /usr/local/share/mindi
and /usr/local/sbin, depending on the package you use. Different
Linux distributions put system files in different places. The funny
thing is, each distribution claims it is right and the others are
wrong. Oh, and they all agree that I mustn't have read the LFS!
:-)</para>
<para>Debian users may wish to first create a .deb file and then
use the debian package manager:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cd /tmpbash# alien mindi*.rpmbash# dpkg -i mindi*.deb

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>This installs mindi into /usr/share/mindi and installs links
to the programs into /usr/sbin</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="mondo-install">
<title>Mondo Installation</title>
<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cd /tmpbash# tar -zxvf mondo-1.xx.tgzbash# cd mondo-1.xxbash# make &amp;&amp; make install

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>This installs mondo into /usr/local/share/mondo and installs
links to the programs into /usr/local/bin</para>
<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM then copy it to copy it
to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and
type:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mondo-1.5x-x.i386.rpm

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>This installs mondo into /usr/share/mondo and installs links
to the programs into /usr/bin</para>
<para>Debian users may wish to first create a .deb file and then
use the debian package manager:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cd /tmpbash# alien mondo*.rpmbash# dpkg -i mondo*.deb

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>This installs mondo into /usr/share/mondo and installs links
to the programs into /usr/bin</para>
</sect1>
</chapter>

<chapter id="test">
<title>Tests</title>

<sect1 id="mindi-test">
<title>Testing Mindi</title>

<para>Mindi is a vital part of the backup procedure. If you have
used Mondo before or if you are in a hurry, skip steps 6.2 and 6.3;
go straight to QuickStart.</para>
<para>However, if you have time or if you have been having trouble
getting Mondo to work, I would recommend trying out Mindi directly
(rather than via Mondo) to see if it can produce a bootable CD on
your system.</para>
<para>Make sure you are root while doing this, otherwise mindi will
fail, now do this.</para>
<para>If you have any problems, please:-</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>read /var/log/mindi.log</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>feel free to edit mindi (it's a shell script, btw) to try
to fix the problem yourself</listitem>
<listitem>contact the mailing list if you get stuck.</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Type:-</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mindi

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>Example screen output, selecting to use your own kernel, to
create boot disks, and to create a bootable CD image:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

Mindi Linux mini-distro generator v0.72 by HRabson &lt;hugorabson@msn.com&gt;--------------------------
----------------------------------------------------Do you want to use your own kernel to build the boo
t disk (y/n) ? yYour kernel is /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.14-k6 (v2.4.14-k6)Generating list of dependency files.
....................... Done.Analyzing your keyboard's configuration.Adding the following keyboard mapp
ing tables:................... DoneDropping i686-optimized libraries if appropriate.............DoneAss
embling dependency files........ Done.The files have been subdivided into 2 directories.Your mountlist
will look like this:-DEVICE MOUNTPOINT FORMAT SIZE (MB)/dev/hda3 / ext2 996/dev/hda2 swap swap 127/dev/
hda4 /usr ext2 6189Tarring and zipping the groups......... Done.Creating data disk #1...#2... Done.1722
KB boot disk was created OK............................ Done.2880KB boot disk was created OK...........
................. Done.In the directory '/root/images/mindi' you will find the images:-mindi-boot.1722.
img mindi-boot.2880.img mindi-data-1.img mindi-data-2.imgWould you like to create boot+data floppy disk
s now (y/n) ?yWARNING! THIS WILL ERASE YOUR FLOPPY DISKS.About to write boot disk. Please press ENTER.W
riting boot disk.................................................. Done.About to write data disk #1. Pl
ease press ENTER.Writing data disk #1........................... Done.About to write data disk #2. Plea
se press ENTER.Writing data disk #2........................... Done.Shall I make a bootable CD image? (
y/n) yFinished.One 1.72MB boot disk, one 2.88MB boot disk and 2 data disks were created.

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>If your kernel is too large (more than about 900KB) then you
cannot make boot floppies, although you can still make a bootable
CD image. The easiest way to test Mindi in either case is to say
'n' to its first question and 'y' to its second, then use the
separate application cdrecord to make a bootable CD-R or
CD-RW.</para>
<para>Use the cdrecord application to write the CD image:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cd /root/images/mindibash# cdrecord -scanbus

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>The output of the above call to cdrecord will tell you your
CD writer's node. It is usually '0,0,0'. Choose one of the
following calls to write the CD, depending on whether the disk in
the drive is a CD-R or a CD-RW. Please replace 'x,x,x' with your
writer's node. For further information, type 'man cdrecord" from a
Linux command line.</para>
<para>If writing to a CD-RW Drive/Disc:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cdrecord -blank fast dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-RW)

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>If writing to a CD-R Drive/Disc:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# cdrecord dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-R)

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="mondo-test">
<title>Testing Mondo</title>

</sect1>
</chapter>

<chapter id="backup">
<title>Backup</title>

<sect1 id="backup-recommandations">
<title>Recommandations</title>
<para>Mama does Mondo? Papa does Mondo? Is that a Dean Martin song?
Well, anyway, here is how I backup my system:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Shut down all possible applications (this minimizes any
compare differences following the backup)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Type:</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>For most users, that should be enough. :-) Mondoarchive will
usually autodetect your hardware and configure it for you.</para>
<para>If you are a power user (or you like to control every detail
of how Mondo runs) then you may want to look at the command-line
switches. For example:-</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive -Ow4 -gF -I /home

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>Cdrecord will tell me where my CD recorder lives, in SCSI
terms, which in my case is '0,0,0'. The call to mondoarchive tells
Mondo that I want to backup everything to a 4x CD-RW drive that has
a CD-RW disk in it. (Use -Oc instead of -Ow if you are using
CD-R.)</para>
<para>Please put the first CD-R(W) in the drive now. You will be
prompted to insert CD #2 but you will not be prompted to insert the
first disk. However, if you forget, do not worry: if Mondo fails to
write the first (or any) disk, it will offer to retry, abort or
fail.</para>
<para>I run Mondo at the highest compression available ('-9) and
then go to work. I then walk home at lunch (I live right by my
workplace), change CD, eat lunch, and go back to work. When I get
home, it has all been done.</para>
<para>Your mileage may vary. Experiment. Find the speed/compression
compromise that best suits your needs.</para>
<para>If you are using cron then please use -F to make sure that
Mondo does not prompt you to create bootable floppy disks. Cron
does not handle user interaction well because it pipes stdin and
stdout specially. Please consult cron's manual for more
information. Jesse Keating has written a script for cron/Mondo
users. It is available on the
<ulink url="../../docs/docs.html">Documentation</ulink>
page.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="backup-commands">
<title>Backup Commands and Options</title>

<para>Backup Command:</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

mondoarchive &lt;-option1&gt; &lt;-option2&gt; ... &lt;-optionN&gt;

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>E.g.,</para>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive -E /mnt/dos /mnt/cdrom -9 -Oc 8

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>Would create backup CD to a CD-R disc at the highest
compression level, writing at speed 2 and ignoring the /mnt/dos and
/mnt/cdrom directories.</para>
<para>To see a detailed list of switches and their meaning, see the
<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/download/mondoarchive.1.html">HTML
man page</ulink> on the website or type 'man mondoarchive' at the
console.</para>
<sect2 id="backup-cdr">
<title>Standard Example With CD-R</title>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive -Oc 2 -g

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>Replace '2' in '-Oc2' with the writer's speed. If
mondoarchive cannot find your CD-R then please add '-d 0,0,0' (or
whatever your CD writer's SCSI node is; usually, it is 0,0,0) to
the call.</para>
<para>Please insert the first disk in the writer while the PC is
chugging away. If Mondo needs additional CD-R(W) then it will ask
for them.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="backup-cdrw">
<title>Standard Example With CD-RW</title>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive -Ow 2 -g

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>Replace '2' in '-Ow2' with the writer's speed.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="backup-tape">
        <title>Standard Example With Tape</title>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive -Ot -d /dev/st0 -g

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>With previous versions of Mondo, you needed to specify the
size of the tape. As of v1.51, that is no longer necessary.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="backup-failsafe">
        <title>Standard Example With Failsafe kernel</title>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mondoarchive -k FAILSAFE -Ow 2

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>Due to slight policy differences in the Debian distribution
approach, the '-k FAILSAFE' option is typically needed with
Debian.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="backup-network">
        <title>Standard Example With Network Backup</title>
<para></para>
<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
<row>
<entry>

bash# mount 192.168.1.3:/home/nfs -t nfs /mnt/nfsbash# mondoarchive -OVn 192.168.1.3:/home/nfs -g -s 20
0mbash# umount /mnt/nfs

</entry>
</row>
</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

<para>The resultant ISO's can be burned to CD's if you want (which
isn't a good idea unless you're a Mondo expert because they'll try
to restore over a network by default, which is silly cos the
archives are on the CD's). Or, you can boot from the Mindi floppies
(or mondorescue.iso) and hit ENTER a few times to restore.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>

&gfdl;

</book>