source: MondoRescue/branches/3.2/mondo-doc/mondorescue-howto.sgml@ 3225

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1<!DOCTYPE BOOK PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN" [
2<!ENTITY curdate "PBDATE">
3<!ENTITY curver "PBVER-rPBREV">
4
5<!ENTITY WWWB "http://www.mondorescue.org/">
6<!ENTITY WWW '<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org">MondoRescue</ulink>'>
7<!ENTITY ML '<ulink url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mondo-devel">mondorescue mailing list</ulink>'>
8<!ENTITY gfdl SYSTEM "fdl.sgml">
9]>
10
11<book>
12
13<bookinfo>
14<title>MondoRescue HOWTO</title>
15<subtitle>
16Utilisation and Configuration of Mondo and Mindi under Linux (Version &curver;)
17</subtitle>
18<graphic fileref="images/protected-by-mondo" align="center">
19
20<pubdate>
21in its latest version the
22&curdate;
23</pubdate>
24
25<abstract>
26<para>
27This 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.
28The goals are to offer a general view of the functions and their best usages.
29Mondo Rescue is a Disaster Recovery Solution which allows you
30to effortlessly backup and interactively restore Linux, Windows and
31other supported filesystem partitions to/from CD/DVD-+R/RW media, tape,
32NFS, ... and Mindi Linux provides the bootable emergency restore
33media which Mondo uses at boot-time.
34</para>
35</abstract>
36
37<author>
38<firstname>Bruno</firstname>
39<surname>Cornec</surname>
40<affiliation>
41<orgname>MondoRescue Project</orgname>
42<address><email>bruno@mondorescue.org</email></address>
43</affiliation>
44</author>
45<author>
46<firstname>Conor</firstname>
47<surname>Daly</surname>
48<affiliation>
49<orgname>MondoRescue Project</orgname>
50<address><email>conor.daly_at_met.ie</email></address>
51</affiliation>
52</author>
53<!--
54Hugo Rabson
55Mikael Hultgren
56Stan Benoit
57Randy Delfs
58Cafeole
59Bryan J. Smith
60-->
61
62<copyright>
63<year>2000-2006</year>
64<holder role="mailto:bruno@mondorescue.org">Bruno Cornec</holder>
65</copyright>
66
67<legalnotice>
68<title>License</title>
69<para>
70</para>
71<para>
72This HOWTO is a free documentation. you may copy, redistribute and/or modify it under the terms of the
73<Link LinkEnd="gfdl">
74GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
75</link>.</para>
76<para>
77or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant 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 already copyrighted is released under the GPL.
78</para>
79</legalnotice>
80
81<revhistory>
82<revision>
83 <revnumber>2.0.7</revnumber>
84 <date>2006-05-16</date>
85 <authorinitials>Bruno Cornec</authorinitials>
86 <revdescription>
87 <para>
88 Integration of a chapter on HOWTO run mondo interactively using cron written by Conor Daly
89 </para>
90 </revdescription>
91</revision>
92<revision>
93 <revnumber>2.06</revnumber>
94 <date>2006-01-16</date>
95 <authorinitials>Bruno Cornec</authorinitials>
96 <revdescription>
97 <para>
98 First SGML version publically available, remade from the HTML docs of the project.
99 </para>
100 </revdescription>
101</revision>
102</revhistory>
103</bookinfo>
104
105<toc></toc>
106<lot></lot>
107
108
109<chapter id="intro">
110<title>About this Guide</title>
111
112<sect1 id="intro-purpose">
113<title>Purpose / Scope of this Guide</title>
114
115<para>
116This HOWTO serves to help people get started with using
117mondo/mindi as way to backup/restore their system. This is a work
118constantly evolving. It was started by Hugo Rabson and has
119since been worked upon by a number of people. See the
120'<ulink url="&WWWB;about.shtml#devteam">About</ulink>' web
121page for a list of members of the development team.</para>
122
123<para>There are many ways to contribute to the Linux movement
124without actually writing code. One of the most important is writing
125documentation, allowing each person to share their knowledge with
126thousands of others around the world. This HOWTO is designed to
127help you get familiar with how Mondo/Mindi works.</para>
128
129<para>
130Opinions expressed here are those of the authors.
131Informations are provided in the aim to be useful to the readers.
132However, there can't be, through this document, any warranty of any kind
133on the way it works on your systems, nor the author could be responsible for any problem caused by the use of these informations.
134However, software editors don't garantee you a lot either (re-read the contracts).
135</para>
136</sect1>
137
138<sect1 id="intro-newversion"><title>New versions of this document</title>
139
140<para>The newest version of this document can always be found on
141MondoRescue's homepage &WWW;.</para>
142<para>
143If you make a translation of this document into another language, please let meknow so that I can include a reference to it here.
144</para>
145</sect1>
146
147<sect1><title>Suggestions / Feedback</title>
148<para>
149I 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.
150If you have any suggestions, corrections, recommandations or congratulations :-) don't hesitate to send them to me
151<email>bruno@mondorescue.org</email>,
152and I will try to incorporate them in a next revision or to the &ML;;
153e-mail the list at
154<ulink url="mailto:mondo-devel@lists.sourceforge.net">mondo-devel@lists.sourceforge.net</ulink>;
155tell us what is wrong and how it should be fixed.
156Include the section title and recommended changes. Whenever possible, include
157the exact, spell-checked, grammar-checked text that you think would
158improve the document.
159</para>
160<para>See Mondo's
161 <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/support.shtml">Support</ulink> page for
162more information.
163</para>
164<para>
165Please note that we do our best to help everyone but it is
166difficult for us to help you if you do not attach a log file to
167your e-mail. Let me say that again - attach your log file to your
168e-mail! Thank you. Without it we can't offer
169any tangible help because you aren't either. That's what the log
170file is for. It is located at <filename>/var/log/mondoarchive.log</filename>; and <filename>/var/log/mindi.log</filename> (if called alone) or at <filename>/var/log/mondorestore.log</filename>
171</para>
172<para>
173This document was originaly written by native english speakers, but is maintained by a non-native english speaker so help me correct mistaques (sic) instead of rumbling that I've done one :-)
174</para>
175<para>
176I am also willing to answer general questions on MondoRescue, the best I can.
177Before 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 :-].
178</para>
179<para>
180If 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,
181Guylhem AZNAR <email>guylhem@rrremovethis.oeil.qc.ca</email>.
182</para>
183</sect1>
184
185<sect1 id=intro-thanks><title>Aknowledgements</title>
186
187<para>Thanks goes to these people for helping and adding to this
188HOWTO.</para>
189
190<para>Document maintainer:</para>
191<itemizedlist mark="bullet" spacing="Compact">
192<listitem>
193<para>Bruno Cornec</para>
194</listitem>
195</itemizedlist>
196<para>Original Design Assistance by:</para>
197<itemizedlist>
198<listitem>
199<para>Xion Network.com</para>
200</listitem>
201</itemizedlist>
202<para>Original Document Assistance by:</para>
203<itemizedlist>
204<listitem>
205<para>Cafeole</para>
206</listitem>
207<listitem>
208<para>Troff</para>
209</listitem>
210<listitem>
211<para>Randy Delfs</para>
212</listitem>
213<listitem>
214<para>Mikael Hultgren</para>
215</listitem>
216</itemizedlist>
217<para>Original LinuxDoc and LaTeX Reformat by:</para>
218<itemizedlist>
219<listitem>
220<para>Bryan J. Smith</para>
221</listitem>
222</itemizedlist>
223<para>Original DocBook Reformat by:</para>
224<itemizedlist>
225<listitem>
226<para>Mikael Hultgren</para>
227</listitem>
228</itemizedlist>
229<para>Original author; 1.6x material:</para>
230<itemizedlist>
231<listitem>
232<para>Hugo Rabson</para>
233</listitem>
234</itemizedlist>
235
236</sect1>
237</chapter>
238
239<chapter id="quickstart"><title>QuickStart</title>
240<itemizedlist mark="bullet" spacing="Compact">
241<listitem>
242<para>We recommend that you read this complete
243HOWTO. However, if you are too busy or impatient, then
244please use this QuickStart guide to stay out of trouble.</para>
245</listitem>
246<listitem>
247<para>Install the tarball, RPM, or DEB mindi and mondo
248packages. (see <link linkend="installation">Installation</link>
249for more details)</para>
250</listitem>
251<listitem>
252<para>Execute as root (type 'su -' to become root if you are not
253logged in as root)</para>
254<para></para>
255
256<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
257<row>
258<entry>
259
260bash# mondoarchive
261
262</entry>
263</row>
264</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
265
266</listitem>
267</itemizedlist>
268<para></para>
269
270<informaltable><tgroup cols="2"><tbody>
271<row>
272<entry>
273<ulink url="images/mamain.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
274<imagedata fileref="images/mamain-mini">
275</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
276</ulink>
277</entry>
278<entry>
279Choose from the list of supported backup media types. The media you
280will use most often are CD/DVD-+R, CD/DVD-+RW, tape, NFS and hard disk. If
281you want to backup/restore over a network, choose 'NFS'. If you
282want to backup/restore to/from a local partition or if you simply
283want to store the ISO images in a local directory until you have
284time or facilities to burn them to CD's, choose 'hard disk'. If you
285choose 'CD/DVD-+R[W]' or 'tape' then in general your hardware will be
286detected and configured for you.
287</entry>
288</row>
289<row>
290<entry>
291<ulink url="images/maburnproof.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
292<imagedata fileref="images/maburnproof-mini">
293</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
294</ulink>
295</entry>
296<entry>
297 If you are backing up to CD/DVD-+R[W] then Mondo will ask you if your CD
298burner has BurnProof technology, is inside a laptop, or is
299otherwise eccentric. If you are backing up to a tape streamer then
300you will not see this message.
301</entry>
302</row>
303<row>
304<entry>
305<ulink url="images/macompression.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
306<imagedata fileref="images/macompression-mini">
307</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
308</ulink>
309</entry>
310<entry>
311How much compression do you want? None, if your tape streamer has
312built-in hardware compression. Maximum, if your CPU is blazingly
313fast. Average should do just fine for most situations.
314</entry>
315</row>
316<row>
317<entry>
318<ulink url="images/mainclude.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
319<imagedata fileref="images/mainclude-mini">
320</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
321</ulink>
322</entry>
323<entry>
324 If you want to backup the whole computer (excluding /sys, /run and /proc,
325 naturally as well as /tmp) then leave this as / which is the default. Otherwise,
326specify subsets, (e.g. /usr/local|/home ) being sure to put a pipe
327in between each path.
328</entry>
329</row>
330<row>
331<entry>
332<ulink url="images/maexclude.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
333<imagedata fileref="images/maexclude-mini">
334</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
335</ulink>
336</entry>
337<entry>
338If you are backing up your whole computer then you might want to
339exclude certain directories, e.g. /shared/MP3. Please specify them
340in the 'exclude directories' dialog box. Please put a pipe in
341between each path, e.g. /shared/private|/scratch|/nfs|/windows
342</entry>
343</row>
344<row>
345</row>
346<row>
347<entry>
348<ulink url="images/maverifyq.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
349<imagedata fileref="images/maverifyq-mini">
350</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
351</ulink>
352</entry>
353<entry>
354If you want to verify the archives after writing them to media, say
355'yes' here. If you have absolute faith in your hardware and your
356Linux distribution, say 'no'... and a little prayer.
357</entry>
358</row>
359<row>
360<entry>
361<ulink url="images/maproceedq.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
362<imagedata fileref="images/maproceedq-mini">
363</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
364</ulink>
365</entry>
366<entry>
367If you are sure you want to go ahead, say 'yes' and find something
368else to do while Mondo backs up your computer. If you say 'no' then
369you will be unceremoniously dumped at the shell prompt. :-)
370</entry>
371</row>
372<row>
373<entry>
374<ulink url="images/1.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
375<imagedata fileref="images/1-mini">
376</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
377</ulink>
378</entry>
379<entry>
380The backup process will now commence. There are some pre-backup
381tasks to be carried out first but the backup is essentially
382underway. To simplify the backup process, you were asked a series
383of questions. Next time, if you like, you could call mondoarchive
384with various command-line switches to control its behavior, instead
385of answering a series of questions. See the man page for details.
386</entry>
387</row>
388<row>
389<entry>
390<ulink url="images/3.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
391<imagedata fileref="images/3-mini">
392</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
393</ulink>
394</entry>
395<entry>
396Mondo will make a catalog of all files to be backed up. This may
397take up to five minutes. The list of files will be divided into
398sets, approximately 4 MB (before compression) of files per set.
399This typically takes one minute.
400</entry>
401</row>
402<row>
403<entry>
404<ulink url="images/4.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
405<imagedata fileref="images/1-mini">
406</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
407</ulink>
408</entry>
409<entry>
410Mondo calls Mindi. Mindi generates bootable media image and
411auxiliary data disk images which are based on your existing Linux
412distribution and filesystem. That way, you can be sure Mondo's
413tools will be compatible with your existing filesystems and
414binaries: Mondo's tools are your tools. Mindi takes up to five
415minutes to run.
416</entry>
417</row>
418<row>
419<entry>
420<ulink url="images/5tape.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
421<imagedata fileref="images/5tape-mini">
422</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
423</ulink>
424</entry>
425<entry>
426Finally, Mondo begins backing up your computer. This process may
427take a few minutes or a few hours, depending on how much data you
428are archiving, how fast your CPU is, how much RAM you have, and so
429on. It will backup your regular files and then your large files
430(files larger than approximately 32MB). If you have opted to verify
431your backups, Mondo will do that too.
432</entry>
433</row>
434</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
435
436<itemizedlist>
437<listitem>
438<para>Try to boot from the first media of the backup.
439Choose 'Compare Mode' by typing compare at the boot screen.
440</para>
441</listitem>
442<listitem>
443<para>If you can boot, fine. If not, make a Mindi "Test" CD to
444checkout the compatibility of your system. (see
445<link linkend="test-mindi">Testing Mindi</link> for more
446details). Remove the media; boot your computer as usual;
447execute as root</para>
448<para></para>
449<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
450<row>
451<entry>
452
453 bash# mindi
454</entry>
455</row>
456<row>
457<entry>
458 bash# cd /var/cache/mindi
459
460</entry>
461</row>
462</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
463
464<para>(for CD-R)</para>
465<para></para>
466<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
467<row>
468<entry>
469bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v mindi.iso
470</entry>
471</row>
472<row>
473<entry>
474bash# wodim dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v mindi.iso
475</entry>
476</row>
477</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
478
479<para>(for CD-RW)</para>
480<para></para>
481<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
482<row>
483<entry>
484bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 blank=fast -eject -v mindi.iso
485</entry>
486</row>
487<row>
488<entry>
489bash# wodim dev=0,0,0 speed=4 blank=fast -eject -v mindi.iso
490</entry>
491</row>
492</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
493
494<para>Reboot your system with the created Mindi CD, with the BIOS
495set to boot from CD. If the result is a command line in 'Expert'
496mode, your system checks out. Remove the CD and reboot your
497system.</para>
498</listitem>
499<listitem>
500<para>If you still cannot boot from Mindi's CD then please e-mail
501the &ML; for help.
502</para>
503</listitem>
504</itemizedlist>
505<para>When making a backup on a live system, there will always be
506processes running that will write out data on the system after you
507have made the backup and before you have made the compare, this
508will result in difference showing up when comparing your backup.
509For a full explanation and what can be done to avoid this, please
510read this section.</para>
511<itemizedlist>
512
513 <listitem>
514<para>This QuickStart covers the ideal case. Upon receiving any
515system feedback/errors, read each related HOWTO section.</para>
516<para>Example 2-1. A test backup of your /home directory to CD-Rs
517using the command line</para>
518<para></para>
519<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
520<row>
521<entry>
522
523bash# mondoarchive -OVc 4 -I /home -gF
524
525</entry>
526</row>
527</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
528
529<para>The 'c' means you must be writing to CD-Rs, not CD-RWs (the
530latter would require 'w' instead of 'c'). The '4' is the speed of
531your CD writer. The string after -I is the path to be backed up.
532The '-gF' means you are going to see the pretty yellow-on-blue
533screen instead of the boring white-on-black screen. :) It also
534means Mondo will not offer to create physical boot media for
535you. It is assumed that you are able to boot from the CD which
536Mondo has generated.</para>
537<para>Example 2-2. A backup of your whole filesystem to NFS using
538the command line</para>
539<para></para>
540<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
541<row>
542<entry>
543
544 bash# mkdir -p /mnt/nfs
545</entry>
546</row>
547<row>
548<entry>
549 bash# mount nfs://192.168.1.28:/home/nfs /mnt/nfs
550 </entry>
551</row>
552<row>
553<entry>
554 bash# mondoarchive -OVn nfs://192.168.1.28:/home/nfs -gF[...]
555 </entry>
556</row>
557<row>
558<entry>
559bash# umount /mnt/nfs
560 </entry>
561</row>
562<row>
563<entry>
564 bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v /var/cache/mindi/mindi.iso
565</entry>
566</row>
567</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
568
569<para>Note that you have to mount the NFS partition, backup to it,
570unmount it, and create a boot CD to allow you to restore from
571scratch if necessary. To reassure yourself that you will be able to
572restore from the NFS share even if your PC is wiped, please boot
573from the Mindi CD and type 'compare'. The on-screen instructions
574from that point on should be sufficient.</para>
575<para>Example 2-3. A backup of your whole
576filesystem to tape using the command line</para>
577<para></para>
578<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
579<row>
580<entry>
581
582bash# mondoarchive -OVt -d /dev/st0 -9 -L -g
583
584</entry>
585</row>
586</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
587
588<para>In this case, we assume Syslinux is incompatible with your
589boot media. For some reason, some BIOSes just don't like Syslinux.
590If you find this to be the case for your computer, please use '-L'
591to force Mondo to use LILO instead of Syslinux as the boot loader
592for its media. (NB: This has nothing to do with which boot
593loader your hard drive uses.) Also, it is a good habit to specify
594your tape streamer with '-d &lt;device&gt;'. You don't usually need
595to but it's good to be on the safe side. Some computers call your
596tape streamer /dev/osst0, some call it /dev/ftape, ...
597Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
598in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
599recognize the drive.</para>
600</listitem>
601</itemizedlist>
602
603</chapter>
604
605<chapter id="overview"><title>Overview</title>
606
607<sect1 id="overview-mondorescue">
608<title>Mondo Rescue</title>
609<para>Mondo Rescue backs up your file system to CD, tape, NFS
610(archives stored remotely) or ISO's (archives stored locally).
611Mondo uses afio as the backup engine; afio is a well-respected
612replacement for tar. In the event of catastrophic data loss, you
613may restore some or all of your system, even if your hard drives
614are now blank. Mondo Rescue can do a lot of other cool
615things:</para>
616<itemizedlist>
617<listitem>
618<para>You can use Mondo to clone an installation of Linux. Just
619backup the crucial stuff and exclude /home, /var/log, etc.</para>
620</listitem>
621<listitem>
622<para>You can backup a non-RAID file system and restore it as RAID
623including the root partition (if your kernel supports that).</para>
624</listitem>
625<listitem>
626<para>You can backup a system running on one format and restore as
627another format.</para>
628</listitem>
629<listitem>
630<para>You can restructure your partitions, e.g. shrink/enlarge,
631reassign devices, add hard drives, etc, before you partition and
632format your drives. Mondo will restore your data and amend
633/etc/lilo.conf and /etc/fstab accordingly.</para>
634</listitem>
635<listitem>
636<para>You can backup Linux/Windows systems, including the boot
637sectors. Mondo will make everything right at restore-time.
638(However, do run "Scandisk" when you first boot into Windows, just
639in case.)</para>
640</listitem>
641<listitem>
642<para>You can use your Mondo backup CD to verify the integrity of
643your computer.</para>
644</listitem>
645</itemizedlist>
646<para>Mondo's principal virtue is that it protects you from the
647problems that can arise when you reinstall completely from scratch.
648If you want to wipe and restore your system every year just as a
649matter of 'good practice', Mondo is not for you. However, if you
650want to get up and running again in a hurry after someone breaks
651into your computer and wipes it (or if you accidentally wipe it
652yourself) then Mondo is definitely for you. It will permit you to
653roll back to a known-good installation in a very short period of
654time, sometimes as little as twenty minutes. Even if you backup
655large amounts of data to tape daily and do not want to add yet
656another backup regime, please consider backing up the core
657filesystem (i.e. everything but the directories containing your
658huge database and your prizewinning novel) every month or so, just
659in case. You will be glad you did.</para>
660<para>What is Mondo not?</para>
661<para>Mondo is not an everyday backup program. It is not designed
662to replace tar, afio, kbackup, etc. Mondo is designed to make it
663possible to recover from scratch if necessary. Tar and afio offer a
664quick, convenient way to backup small sets of files, sometimes to
665removable media.</para>
666</sect1>
667
668<sect1 id="overview-mindi">
669<title>Mindi</title>
670<para>
671Mindi Linux creates a set of boot/root media images
672that will let you perform basic system maintenance on your Linux
673distro. The principal virtues of Mindi's boot disks are the fact
674that they contain your kernel, modules, tools and libraries. You
675can ask for additional binaries (or other files) to be included on
676the kit. The libraries will be added for you.
677</para>
678<para>Whichever modules were loaded at backup-time, they are
679reloaded at boot-time. So, in theory, you will boot into almost the
680same environment as you were in when you backed up. If you want to
681add files to your Mindi boot disks, edit '&lt;INSTALLPATH OF
682MINDI&gt;/mindi/deplist.txt' and add the files to that list. The
683added files and dependencies, will be spread across the data disks
684at run-time.
685</para>
686<para>Mindi makes sure that Mondo has all the tools it needs at
687boot-time. Mondo uses fdisk, mkfs, cat, less, more, afio, gzip,
688bzip2, your keyboard configuration, your glibc libraries, your
689other libraries, your kernel, your modules, ... which is a lot of tools!
690Mindi takes care of all that, so that Mondo can get on with the job of backing
691up or restoring your data.
692</para>
693<para>Mindi is also handy for making boot CDs/disks which stand on
694their own. You do not need Mondo. Indeed, if you like, you could
695use another backup/restore program with Mindi. Just add it to
696Mindi's dependency list (type 'locate deplist.txt' to find it).
697Mindi will include your software on its boot CD/disks the next time
698you run mindi.
699</para>
700</sect1>
701
702
703<sect1 id="overview-linuxbackup">
704<title>Linux Backup</title>
705<para>Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux are used primarily as Linux
706backup and cloning tools. The fall in prices of CD-RW drives and
707writable discs will allow current users to keep good backups and
708future users to leverage the cloning capability.</para>
709<para>Tape drives are more likely to suit your needs if you run a
710larger installation (or have lots of MP3's). Warning! OnStream
711drives do not play well with Mondo. I do not know why. It is, in my
712opinion, something which OnStream should look into. Mondo uses
713fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() to interact with tape
714drives. That works for most drives but some drives just don't like
715that.
716Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
717in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
718recognize the drive.</para>
719<para>Mondo Rescue has been tested thousands of times on various computers.
720It has worked for them.
721Thousands of users testify to Mondo's stability and its ease of
722use. However, please test it on your own system before you rely on
723it. In fact, do not rely on any software until you have tested it
724to see if it performs as expected.</para>
725<para>To establish that Mondo will behave well in an emergency,
726please be prepared. Run a test backup as follows:-</para>
727<itemizedlist>
728<listitem>
729<para>Run mondoarchive without any command-line options.</para>
730</listitem>
731<listitem>
732 <para>Backup a subset of files - e.g. /usr/local - to CD or
733 tape. Say 'yes' when asked if you want to verify them.</para>
734</listitem>
735<listitem>
736 <para>If you are not backing up to CD, please create boot
737 media when prompted.</para>
738</listitem>
739</itemizedlist>
740<para>Next, restore archives to your live filesystem.</para>
741<itemizedlist>
742<listitem>
743<para>When mondoarchive terminates, run mondorestore without any
744command-line options.</para>
745</listitem>
746<listitem><para>Insert the media when prompted.
747 Press &lt;Enter&gt;. Wait a moment.</para></listitem>
748<listitem><para>Select a subset of files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man
749 and /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.</para></listitem>
750<listitem><para>Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something
751 similar.</para></listitem>
752<listitem><para>When mondorestore terminates, compare the restored files
753 to the originals using cmp or diff.</para></listitem>
754</itemizedlist>
755<para>Finally, simulate an emergency restore.</para>
756<itemizedlist>
757<listitem>
758<para>Boot from media.</para>
759</listitem>
760<listitem><para>Select 'Interactive Mode' at boot-time. (Type
761 'interactive' and hit &lt;Enter&gt;.)</para></listitem>
762<listitem><para>Hit OK when shown the mountlist. Say 'yes' when asked if
763 you accept the mountlist.</para></listitem>
764<listitem><para>Select files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man and
765 /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.</para></listitem>
766<listitem><para>Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something
767 similar.</para></listitem>
768<listitem><para>When mondorestore terminates, please reboot and compare
769 the restored files to the originals.</para></listitem>
770</itemizedlist>
771<para>FYI, the subroutines to repartition and reformat your drives
772are very stable. If you are a RAID or LVM user, you
773might&nbsp;encounter some difficulties when wiping and restoring
774from scratch because of the sheer range of filesystem layouts and
775the impossibility of testing Mondo on every single one. If you have
776trouble, just drop to the command-line and partition/format
777manually. Then, call mondorestore, select Interactive Mode, and say
778'no' when asked if you want Mondo to partition or format your
779drives for you.</para>
780<para>You see, even if you have trouble, you still have two hands
781and most of the tools you need - lvchange, pvcreate, fdisk, mkraid,
782etc. - to do it manually. After you have prepped and formatted your
783drives manually (if you have to), just run mondorestore again and
784say 'no' when asked if you want to prep or format your drives. What
785could be easier?</para>
786</sect1>
787
788<sect1 id="overview-winbackup">
789<title>Windows Backup</title>
790<para>Backing up windows partitions.</para>
791<sect2 id="overview-winbackup-win95"><title>Windows ME/95/98</title>
792<para>Verify that the partition is listed in /etc/fstab and is
793mounted (e.g. /dev/hda1). Mondo will take care of everything else.
794The files will be archived just like all other files in the live
795file system. At restore-time, Mondo will take care of the boot
796sector of /dev/hda1 prior to the restore.</para>
797<para>Note: if Windows ME/95/98 is not located on /dev/hda1 or
798/dev/sda1, then Mondo will not take care of the boot sector of
799/dev/hda1. The user will have to boot from a DOS floppy and run SYS
800C: to correct the Windows boot sector.</para>
801</sect2>
802<sect2 id="overview-winbackup-winnt"><title>Windows NT4/2K/XP</title>
803<para>Windows NT4/2K/XP typically use the NTFS file system, not
804VFAT.. The user should use '-x /dev/hda1' (or whichever device the
805Windows partition resides). Mondo will treat the partition as a
806biggiefile. Mondo will also add an entry to the mountlist to
807reflect the size and type of the partition. The user may not edit
808that partition's size at restore-time (for obvious reasons).</para>
809<para>Please bear in mind that Mondo was written for Linux users.
810If Mondo does not backup or restore your Windows system well, you
811might want to consider reporting it to the &ML;
812</para>
813</sect2>
814</sect1>
815
816<sect1 id="overview-history">
817<title>Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux
818History</title>
819<para>Mondo Rescue was created in December 1999 by Hugo Rabson as a utility to
820clone Linux/Windows installations. Norton Ghost would not do the
821job, and his boss wanted to jump on the Linux bandwagon. So, he wrote
822a few scripts and shoehorned them into the latest Linux-Mandrake
823CD. Since that time, Mondo grew into a disaster recovery suite for
824Linux and Windows. Mondo forced him to learn about the kernel, its
825initrd initial ramdisk, modules, library dependencies, disk
826partitioning, and the myriad differences between the Top 10 Linux
827distributions.</para>
828<para>The first formal release was made on February 18th, 2000.
829Mondo is currently one of the top five Linux backup/restore
830programs. Mondo has been compared favorably to ArcServe, Arkeia and
831BRU. Although Mondo lacks the more advanced, enterprise-level
832features of ArcServe and Arkeia, for workstations and small- to
833medium-size servers it is ideal because it is small, fast,
834efficient, stable, comes with source code, and is being actively
835developed and supported.</para>
836<para>
837 Since November 2005, Hugo Rabson has tranfered the maintenance
838 of the Mondo Rescue suite to Andree Leidenfrost and Bruno Cornec,
839 both previous developers and packagers of the tool since nearly
840 the begining.
841</para>
842</sect1>
843
844<sect1 id="overview-sysreq">
845<title>System Requirements</title>
846<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-hwreq">
847<title>Hardware Requirements</title>
848
849<para>Your computer must have:</para>
850<itemizedlist>
851<listitem>
852 <para>Intel(R)-compatible CPU (ia32, x86_64/amd64 or ia64)</para>
853</listitem>
854<listitem>
855<para>64MB of RAM (128MB recommended)</para>
856</listitem>
857<listitem>
858<para>800MB of hard disk space free</para>
859</listitem>
860<listitem>
861<para>CD writer, tape streamer, NFS share or some way to backup the
862backups :)</para>
863</listitem>
864</itemizedlist>
865<para>It is recommended that your computer have very good airflow.
866The backup with Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux will utilize your CPU,
867CD drive and fixed disk(s) like very few other applications. With a
868few hours of system backup activity, computers without sufficient
869airflow may show symptoms such as not burning full CD discs. The
870solution is a $20 or less additional fan at your local electronics
871discount store.</para>
872</sect2>
873
874<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">
875<title>Kernel Requirements</title>
876
877<para>Your kernel must have:</para>
878<itemizedlist>
879<listitem>
880<para>stable loopfs support, which means it really needs to be
8812.2.19 or 2.4.7 (or later)</para>
882</listitem>
883<listitem>
884<para>CD-ROM device support</para>
885</listitem>
886<listitem>
887<para>ISO9660 file system support</para>
888</listitem>
889<listitem>
890<para>initrd ramdisk support (built-in)</para>
891</listitem>
892<listitem>
893<para>Virtual memory file system support (built-in)</para>
894</listitem>
895<listitem>
896<para>ext2 file system support (built-in)</para>
897</listitem>
898<listitem>
899<para>Support for the backup media (Tape, CD-RW, NFS, Hard
900disk)</para>
901</listitem>
902<listitem>
903<para>If the backup media is CD-RW then you need SCSI emulation
904also</para>
905<para>vfat support in the active kernel - mindi needs this when creating
906syslinux boot media</para>
907</listitem>
908</itemizedlist>
909<para>Please note that the stock kernels of Red Hat/RHEL/Fedora,
910 Mandrake/Mandriva, SuSE/SLES/OpenSuSE, Debian and Slackware
911 all meet Mondo's requirements. If your kernel does not meet Mondo's
912 requirements then there is something wrong with it. Mondo's demands
913 are not unreasonable.</para>
914<para>Mondo (specifically Mindi) does not require any specific
915module. It does require that your kernel support the initrd
916initial ramdisk facility. Typically this is supported by the Linux
917kernel. Modules used are needed to support the CD,
918hard disks, etc. If the support is modular, then the modules will
919be incorporated in a boot disk by Mindi. If the support is built-in
920(static), then it will be available at boot-time by default.</para>
921</sect2>
922<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-swreq">
923<title>Software Requirements</title>
924<para>See Mondo's <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml">Download
925page</ulink> for details.</para>
926<para>Mondo requires afio, bzip2, cdrtools/cdrecord/growisofs (may be part of the dvd+rw-tools package), ncurses, newt,
927 isolinux/syslinux, lzo (optional), lzop (optional), mkisofs/genisoimage, slang,
928and a few other packages.</para>
929<para>Good Linux distributions provide all these packages. If yours
930does not then please go to the aforementioned Download page or surf
931the Net, preferably the website of the distribution you are
932using.</para>
933<para>Mondo's expectations are not unreasonable, either of your
934Linux distribution or of your kernel. However, if your distribution
935fails to meet its expectations and you cannot find out how to
936resolve them, please feel free to e-mail the &ML;
937</para>
938</sect2>
939</sect1>
940</chapter>
941
942<chapter id="installation">
943<title>Installation</title>
944
945<sect1 id="installation-mindi">
946<title>Mindi Installation</title>
947<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
948you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
949<para></para>
950<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
951<row>
952<entry>
953
954 bash# cd /tmp
955</entry>
956</row>
957<row>
958<entry>
959 bash# tar -zxvf mindi-1.x.tgz
960 </entry>
961</row>
962<row>
963<entry>
964bash# cd mindi-1.x
965</entry>
966</row>
967<row>
968<entry>
969 bash# ./install.sh
970
971</entry>
972</row>
973</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
974
975<para>This installs mindi additional files into /usr/local/lib/mindi and
976the program into /usr/local/sbin</para>
977<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to
978wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
979<para></para>
980<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
981<row>
982<entry>
983
984bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mindi-1.x-x.i386.rpm
985</entry>
986</row>
987<row>
988<entry>
989
990or
991</entry>
992</row>
993<row>
994<entry>
995
996bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mindi-1.x-x.deb
997
998</entry>
999</row>
1000</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1001
1002<para>This installs mindi additional files into /usr/lib/mindi and
1003the program into /usr/sbin.
1004</para>
1005</sect1>
1006
1007<sect1 id="installation-mindi-busybox">
1008<title>Mindi Busybox Installation</title>
1009<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
1010you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1011<para></para>
1012<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1013<row>
1014<entry>
1015
1016 bash# cd /tmp
1017</entry>
1018</row>
1019<row>
1020 <entry>
1021 bash# tar -zxvf mindi-busybox-1.x.tgz
1022 </entry>
1023</row>
1024<row>
1025 <entry>
1026 bash# cd mindi-busybox-1.x
1027 </entry>
1028</row>
1029<row>
1030 <entry>
1031 bash# make oldconfig
1032 </entry>
1033</row>
1034<row>
1035 <entry>
1036 bash# make busybox
1037 </entry>
1038</row>
1039<row>
1040 <entry>
1041 bash# make install
1042 </entry>
1043</row>
1044</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1045<para>This installs busybox files and symlinks into /usr/local/lib/mindi/rootfs
1046</para>
1047<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to
1048wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1049<para></para>
1050<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1051<row>
1052<entry>
1053
1054bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mindi-busybox-1.x-x.i386.rpm
1055</entry>
1056</row>
1057<row>
1058<entry>
1059
1060or
1061</entry>
1062</row>
1063<row>
1064<entry>
1065
1066bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mindi-busybox-1.x-x.deb
1067
1068</entry>
1069</row>
1070</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1071
1072<para>This installs busybix files and symlinks into /usr/lib/mindi/rootfs
1073</para>
1074</sect1>
1075
1076<sect1 id="installation-mondo">
1077<title>Mondo Installation</title>
1078<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
1079you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1080<para></para>
1081<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1082<row>
1083<entry>
1084
1085 bash# cd /tmp
1086</entry>
1087</row>
1088<row>
1089<entry>
1090 bash# tar -zxvf mondo-2.xx.tgz
1091 </entry>
1092</row>
1093<row>
1094<entry>
1095bash# cd mondo-2.xx
1096 </entry>
1097</row>
1098<row>
1099<entry>
1100 bash# ./configure
1101 </entry>
1102</row>
1103<row>
1104<entry>
1105bash# make &amp;&amp; make install
1106
1107</entry>
1108</row>
1109</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1110
1111<para>This installs mondo into /usr/local/lib/mondo and installs
1112the programs into /usr/local/sbin</para>
1113<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to copy it
1114to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and
1115type:</para>
1116<para></para>
1117<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1118<row>
1119<entry>
1120
1121bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mondo-2.x-x.i386.rpm
1122</entry>
1123</row>
1124<row>
1125<entry>
1126
1127or
1128</entry>
1129</row>
1130<row>
1131<entry>
1132
1133bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mondo-2.x-x.deb
1134
1135</entry>
1136</row>
1137</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1138
1139<para>This installs mondo into /usr/lib/mondo and installs
1140the programs into /usr/sbin</para>
1141</sect1>
1142
1143<sect1 id=rpm-verif>
1144 <title>RPM verifications</title>
1145 <para>For RPM based distributions (Fedora, OpenSuSE, Mandriva, ...), you may want to do this post-install in order to check the validity of your installation:</para>
1146<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1147<row>
1148 <entry>
1149 bash# rpm -Va mindi mondo mindi-busybox
1150 </entry>
1151</row>
1152</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1153<para>
1154 This gives some truly obtuse output. Basically it will list all files that do NOT pass the verify tests (done on size, MD5 signature, etc). Please read rpm man page to discover the meaning of the output.
1155 </para>
1156</sect1>
1157</chapter>
1158
1159<chapter id="test">
1160<title>Tests</title>
1161
1162<sect1 id="test-mindi">
1163<title>Testing Mindi</title>
1164
1165<para>Mindi is a vital part of the backup procedure. If you have
1166used Mondo before or if you are in a hurry, skip steps 6.2 and 6.3;
1167go straight to QuickStart.</para>
1168<para>However, if you have time or if you have been having trouble
1169getting Mondo to work, I would recommend trying out Mindi directly
1170(rather than via Mondo) to see if it can produce a bootable CD on
1171your system.</para>
1172<para>Make sure you are root while doing this, otherwise mindi will
1173fail, now do this.</para>
1174<para>If you have any problems, please:-</para>
1175<itemizedlist>
1176<listitem>
1177<para>less /var/log/mindi.log</para>
1178</listitem>
1179<listitem><para>feel free to edit mindi (it's a shell script, btw) to try
1180 to fix the problem yourself</para></listitem>
1181<listitem><para>contact the &ML; if you get stuck.</para></listitem>
1182</itemizedlist>
1183<para>Type:-</para>
1184<para></para>
1185<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1186<row>
1187<entry>
1188
1189bash# mindi
1190
1191</entry>
1192</row>
1193</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1194
1195<para>Example screen output, selecting to use your own kernel, to
1196create boot disks, and to create a bootable CD image:</para>
1197<para></para>
1198<screen>
1199
1200# mindi
1201Mindi Linux mini-distro generator v1.09-r762
1202
1203Latest Mindi is available from http://www.mondorescueg
1204
1205BusyBox sources are available from http://www.busybox.net
1206
1207------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1208Do you want to use your own kernel to build the boot disk (y/n) ?y
1209Would you like to use LILO (instead of syslinux)
1210for your boot media (y/n) ?n
1211Analyzing dependency requirements Done.
1212Making complete dependency list Done.
1213Analyzing your keyboard's configuration.
1214
1215Adding the following keyboard mapping tables: us-latin1 Done.
1216Assembling dependency files................................................................... Done.
1217The files have been subdivided into 5 directories. Your mountlist will look like this:-
1218 Finding all volume groups
1219 No volume groups found
1220 No volume groups found
1221 No volume groups found
1222 No volume groups found
1223 DEVICE MOUNTPOINT FORMAT SIZE (MB)
1224 /dev/hda1 / ext3 399
1225 /dev/hda9 /home ext3 48478
1226 /dev/hda6 /usr ext3 4999
1227 /dev/hda7 /var ext3 1000
1228 /dev/hda5 swap swap 349
1229 /dev/hda8 swap swap 2003
1230 Finding all volume groups
1231 No volume groups found
1232 No volume groups found
1233 No volume groups found
1234 No volume groups found
1235Tarring and zipping the groups.................. Done.
1236Creating data disk #1...#2...#3...#4...#5... Done.
1237Making 1722KB boot disk...........................1440+0 enregistrements lus.
12381440+0 enregistrements écrits.
1239mke2fs 1.38 (30-Jun-2005)
1240Failed to copy /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-15mdk-i686-up-4GB to ramdisk
1241
1242Making 2880KB boot disk...........................mkfs.vfat 2.10 (22 Sep 2003)
1243... 2880 KB boot disks were created OK Done.
1244In the directory '/var/cache/mindi' you will find the images:-
1245 mindi-data-1.img mindi-data-2.img mindi-data-3.img mindi-data-4.img mindi-data-5.img mindi-root.1440.img
1246Shall I make a bootable CD image? (y/n) y
1247NB: Mindi's bootable CD always uses isolinux.
1248
1249For a bootable CD w/LILO, please use Mondo.
1250
1251Finished.
1252
1253Boot and data disk images were created.
1254
1255#
1256
1257</screen>
1258
1259<para>If your kernel is too large (more than about 900KB) then you
1260cannot make boot media, although you can still make a bootable
1261CD image. The easiest way to test Mindi in either case is to say
1262'n' to its first question and 'y' to its second, then use the
1263separate application cdrecord or wodim to make a bootable CD-R or
1264CD-RW.</para>
1265<para>Use the cdrecord or wodim application to write the CD image:</para>
1266<para></para>
1267<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1268<row>
1269<entry>
1270 bash# cd /var/cache/mindi
1271</entry>
1272</row>
1273<row>
1274 <entry>
1275 bash# cdrecord -scanbus
1276</entry>
1277</row>
1278<row>
1279 <entry>
1280 bash# wodim --devices
1281</entry>
1282</row>
1283</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1284
1285<para>The output of the above call will tell you your
1286CD writer's node. It is usually '0,0,0'. Choose one of the
1287following calls to write the CD, depending on whether the disk in
1288the drive is a CD-R or a CD-RW. Please replace 'x,x,x' with your
1289writer's node. For further information, type 'man cdrecord" from a
1290Linux command line.</para>
1291<para>If writing to a CD-RW Drive/Disc:</para>
1292<para></para>
1293<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1294<row>
1295<entry>
1296bash# cdrecord -v blank=fast dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-RW)
1297</entry>
1298</row>
1299<row>
1300<entry>
1301 bash# wodim -v blank=fast dev=/dev/xxx speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-RW)
1302</entry>
1303</row>
1304</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1305
1306<para>If writing to a CD-R Drive/Disc:</para>
1307<para></para>
1308<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1309<row>
1310<entry>
1311bash# cdrecord -v dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-R)
1312</entry>
1313</row>
1314<row>
1315<entry>
1316 bash# wodim -v dev=/dev/xxx speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-R)
1317</entry>
1318</row>
1319</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1320</sect1>
1321
1322<!--
1323<sect1 id="test-mondo">
1324<title>Testing Mondo</title>
1325</sect1>
1326-->
1327</chapter>
1328
1329<chapter id="backup">
1330<title>Backup</title>
1331
1332<sect1 id="backup-recommandations">
1333<title>Recommendations</title>
1334<itemizedlist>
1335<listitem>
1336<para>Shut down all possible applications (this minimizes any
1337 compare differences following the backup). Especially shutdown
1338 properly any running database on your system, as the recovery
1339 may lead to corrupted data. Or if applicable, boot to single user mode.</para>
1340</listitem>
1341<listitem>
1342<para>Type:</para>
1343</listitem>
1344</itemizedlist>
1345<para></para>
1346<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1347<row>
1348<entry>
1349
1350bash# mondoarchive
1351
1352</entry>
1353</row>
1354</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1355
1356<para>For most users, that should be enough. :-) Mondoarchive will
1357usually autodetect your hardware and configure it for you.</para>
1358<para>If you are a power user (or you like to control every detail
1359of how Mondo runs) then you may want to look at the command-line
1360switches. For example:-</para>
1361<para></para>
1362<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1363<row>
1364<entry>
1365
1366bash# mondoarchive -Ow9 -gF -I /home
1367
1368</entry>
1369</row>
1370</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1371
1372<para>cdrecord or wodim will tell you where your CD recorder lives, in SCSI
1373terms, which looks like '0,0,0'. The previous call to mondoarchive tells
1374Mondo to backup everything to a 4x CD-RW drive that has
1375a CD-RW disk in it. (Use -Oc instead of -Ow if you are using
1376CD-R.)</para>
1377<para>Please put the first CD-R(W) in the drive now. You will be
1378prompted to insert CD #2 but you will not be prompted to insert the
1379first disk. However, if you forget, do not worry: if Mondo fails to
1380write the first (or any) disk, it will offer to retry, abort or
1381fail.</para>
1382<para>Find the speed/compression
1383compromise that best suits your needs. Here maximum (-9) compression level is used.</para>
1384<para>If you are using cron then please consult the chapter that Conor Daly has dedicated to that <link linkend="backup-cron">topic</link>
1385</para>
1386</sect1>
1387
1388<sect1 id="backup-cmd">
1389<title>Backup Commands and Options</title>
1390
1391<para>Backup Command:</para>
1392<para></para>
1393<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1394<row>
1395<entry>
1396
1397mondoarchive &lt;-option1&gt; &lt;-option2&gt; ... &lt;-optionN&gt;
1398
1399</entry>
1400</row>
1401</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1402
1403<para>E.g.,</para>
1404<para></para>
1405<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1406<row>
1407<entry>
1408
1409bash# mondoarchive -E "/mnt/dos|/mnt/cdrom" -9 -Oc 8
1410
1411</entry>
1412</row>
1413</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1414
1415<para>Would create backup CD to a CD-R disc at the highest
1416compression level, writing at speed 8 and ignoring the /mnt/dos and
1417/mnt/cdrom directories.</para>
1418<para>To see a detailed list of switches and their meaning, see the
1419<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/docs/mondoarchive.8.html">HTML
1420man page</ulink> on the website or type 'man mondoarchive' at the
1421console.</para>
1422<sect2 id="backup-cmd-cdr">
1423<title>Standard Example With CD-R</title>
1424<para></para>
1425<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1426<row>
1427<entry>
1428
1429bash# mondoarchive -Oc 2 -g
1430
1431</entry>
1432</row>
1433</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1434
1435<para>Replace '2' in '-Oc 2' with the writer's speed. If
1436mondoarchive cannot find your CD-R then please add '-d 0,0,0' (or
1437whatever your CD writer's SCSI node is; usually, it is 0,0,0) to
1438the call.</para>
1439<para>Please insert the first disk in the writer while the PC is
1440chugging away. If Mondo needs additional CD-R(W) then it will ask
1441for them.</para>
1442</sect2>
1443<sect2 id="backup-cmd-cdrw">
1444<title>Standard Example With CD-RW</title>
1445<para></para>
1446<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1447<row>
1448<entry>
1449
1450bash# mondoarchive -Ow 2 -g
1451
1452</entry>
1453</row>
1454</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1455
1456<para>Replace '2' in '-Ow 2' with the writer's speed.</para>
1457</sect2>
1458<sect2 id="backup-cmd-tape">
1459 <title>Standard Example With Tape</title>
1460<para></para>
1461<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1462<row>
1463<entry>
1464
1465bash# mondoarchive -Ot -d /dev/st0 -g
1466
1467</entry>
1468</row>
1469</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1470
1471</sect2>
1472<sect2 id="backup-cmd-failsafe">
1473 <title>Standard Example With Failsafe kernel</title>
1474<para></para>
1475<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1476<row>
1477<entry>
1478
1479bash# mondoarchive -k FAILSAFE -Ow 2
1480
1481</entry>
1482</row>
1483</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1484
1485<para>If you have problems during the restore phase, due to your kernel
1486 (which may be the case on some distributions), you may want to explore the Failsafe
1487 approach, In order for this option to work you'll have to get
1488 the mindi-kernel tarball or package for your distribution.</para>
1489</sect2>
1490<sect2 id="backup-cmd-network">
1491 <title>Standard Example With Network Backup</title>
1492<para></para>
1493<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1494<row>
1495<entry>
1496
1497 bash# mount nfs://192.168.1.3:/home/nfs -t nfs /mnt/nfs
1498</entry>
1499</row>
1500<row>
1501 <entry>
1502 bash# mondoarchive -OVn nfs://192.168.1.3:/home/nfs -g -s 200m
1503</entry>
1504</row>
1505<row>
1506 <entry>
1507 bash# umount /mnt/nfs
1508
1509</entry>
1510</row>
1511</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1512
1513<para>The resultant ISO's can be burned to CD's if you want (which
1514isn't a good idea unless you're a Mondo expert because they'll try
1515to restore over a network by default, which is silly because the
1516archives are on the CD's). Or, you can boot from the Mindi media
1517(or mondorescue.iso) and hit ENTER a few times to restore.</para>
1518<para>Those ISO images can also be used for a PXE restore. For this
1519 to work, please refer to the file README.pxe provided with
1520 your mindi package.
1521</para>
1522</sect2>
1523</sect1>
1524</chapter>
1525
1526<chapter id="backup-cron">
1527<title>HOWTO run mondo interactively using cron</title>
1528
1529<sect1 id="backup-cron-overview">
1530<title>Overview</title>
1531
1532<para>
1533 Mondoarchive is designed to run interactively (at least where
1534 media changes are necessary). Cron does not allow user interaction
1535 with a job. This section addresses the problem by using screen as a
1536 wrapper for mondo.
1537</para>
1538<para>
1539 This section is Copyright 2003 Conor Daly.
1540</para>
1541</sect1>
1542<sect1 id="backup-cron-intro">
1543 <title>Introduction</title>
1544
1545<para>
1546Mondoarchive is designed to run interactively. That's not strictly
1547 true, if you run mondoarchive without the '-g' switch, it will just
1548 run. However, there is a problem where media changes are necessary.
1549 The user must change the media and tell mondoarchive that the change
1550 has been done. The problem lies in the fact that cron does not allow
1551 user interaction with a job. If you schedule a mondoarchive job via
1552 cron, you better be sure it needs only one media. In practical terms,
1553 this means using tapes or ISOs (if CD-R(W) is your backup medium).
1554 However, for tape users, there's always the possibility that the
1555 backup will overflow the tape while for CD-R(W) users, there is the
1556 added hassle of burning the ISOs in the morning. If your CD_R(W)
1557 backup routinely occupies more than one media, this is not for you
1558 (use the ISO option and burn the CDs in the morning). This HOWTO
1559 addresses the problem by using screen as a wrapper for mondo.
1560</para>
1561</sect1>
1562<sect1 id="backup-cron-who">
1563 <title>Who should read this?</title>
1564<sect2><title>Insurance</title>
1565<para>
1566Mondo users who wish to automate the backup and whose backups
1567 routinely occupy close to one media are the best audience. If you
1568 backup to tape, the occasion will arise when the backup will overflow
1569 your tape. In this instance, mondoarchive will ask for another tape.
1570 If you're using cron to start the backup, you won't be able to tell
1571 mondo that the new tape is mounted and the backup will fail. If you
1572 backup to CD-R(W), the same situation will arise but sooner.
1573 </para>
1574 </sect2>
1575 <sect2><title>Efficiency</title>
1576<para>
1577If your backup already occupies two media, this method will allow
1578 as much of the backup as possible to proceed during quiet periods.
1579 Time the backup to start with enough time to complete the first media
1580 shortly before the operator arrives for work. The next media can
1581 be mounted and the backup completed asap and minimises the time for
1582 which users are inconvenienced by the backup (eg. database locked...).
1583 </para>
1584 </sect2>
1585 </sect1>
1586 <sect1 id="backup-cron-problem">
1587 <title>The Problem</title>
1588<sect2><title>Cron's environment</title>
1589<para>
1590When a user submits a job with cron, their environment is not
1591 preserved. This is reasonable since cron jobs are typically ongoing
1592 and may be adversely affected if the user's environment changes subsequent
1593 to the cron submission. Thus, a cron job should call a script that
1594 set's up the correct environment before starting the user's desired
1595 program. The 'at' command does this nicely.
1596 </para>
1597 </sect2>
1598 <sect2><title>Interactivity</title>
1599<para>
1600When a job is started with cron, it runs as a background process.
1601 No interaction with the program is possible (unless it is capable
1602 of interacting via a FIFO or some such) except termination via its
1603 pid. The only program that I know of that allows such interaction
1604 and serves as a wrapper for other processes is 'screen'
1605 </para>
1606 </sect2>
1607 <sect2><title>Screen</title>
1608<para>
1609There's one little problem with screen though. It expects to
1610 attach to a terminal when it first starts. This won't happen under
1611 cron so screen will fail. Fortunately, screen comes with a "start
1612 detached" (-d) option.
1613 </para>
1614 </sect2>
1615 </sect1>
1616 <sect1 id="backup-cron-solution">
1617 <title>The Solution</title>
1618<sect2><title>Briefly</title>
1619<para>
1620<itemizedlist>
1621<listitem>
1622 <para>Use 'at' to run your usual mondoarchive command</para>
1623</listitem>
1624<listitem>
1625 <para>Grab the script generated by 'at' and make a copy of it</para>
1626 </listitem>
1627<listitem>
1628 <para>Edit that script to use 'screen -m -d &lt;your mondoarchive command&gt;'</para>
1629 </listitem>
1630<listitem>
1631 <para>Run that script from your crontab</para>
1632 </listitem>
1633<listitem>
1634 <para>Use 'screen -r' to attach to the mondo screen to change CDs</para>
1635 </listitem>
1636<listitem>
1637 <para>Use '&lt;CTRL&gt;-a d' to detach the screen again</para>
1638</listitem>
1639</itemizedlist>
1640</para>
1641</sect2>
1642<sect2><title>In Detail</title>
1643 <sect3><title>at</title>
1644<para>
1645Use the 'at' command to submit your usual mondoarchive command.
1646My mondoarchive command is:
1647</para>
1648<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1649<row>
1650<entry>
1651
1652 # mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g \
1653 -E "/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K|/home/mondo" -9
1654
1655</entry>
1656</row>
1657</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1658<para>
1659 To submit the mondoarchive command with 'at' do:
1660</para>
1661<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1662<row>
1663<entry>
1664
1665 # at now + 5 min
1666mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g \
1667-E "/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K|/home/mondo" -9
1668&lt;CTRL&gt;-d
1669</entry>
1670</row>
1671</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1672<para>
1673
1674This generates a script in /var/spool/at/ which sets up your
1675 environment and runs your command. Grab this script to become your
1676 cron job.
1677 </para>
1678 </sect3>
1679 <sect3><title>Grab the 'at' script</title>
1680<para>
1681 Make a copy of the script generated by the 'at' command to use
1682 as the basis for your cron job.
1683 </para>
1684<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1685<row>
1686<entry>
1687
1688grep mondo /var/spool/at/*
1689</entry>
1690</row>
1691<row>
1692 <entry>
1693cp /var/spool/at/&lt;file-from-grep&gt; /root/mondo-cronscript
1694</entry>
1695</row>
1696</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1697<para>
1698
1699 You'll need to edit this.
1700</para>
1701 </sect3>
1702<sect3><title>Edit mondo-cronscript</title>
1703<para>
1704To use screen, you'll need to edit the cronscript and add the
1705 screen command. My mondo-cronscript looks like:
1706</para>
1707<screen>
1708
1709#!/bin/sh
1710# atrun uid=0 gid=0
1711# mail cdaly 0 umask 22
1712PWD=/root; export PWD
1713XAUTHORITY=/root/.xauthyOrD4f; export XAUTHORITY
1714HOSTNAME=bofh.irmet.ie; export HOSTNAME
1715PVM_RSH=/usr/bin/rsh; export PVM_RSH
1716QTDIR=/usr/lib/qt-2.3.1; export QTDIR
1717LESSOPEN=\|/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh\ %s; export LESSOPEN
1718XPVM_ROOT=/usr/share/pvm3/xpvm; export XPVM_ROOT
1719KDEDIR=/usr; export KDEDIR
1720USER=root; export USER
1721LS_COLORS=no=00:fi=00:di=01\;34:ln=01\;36:pi=40\;33:so=01\;35:bd=40\;33\;01:cd=40\;33\;01:or=01\;05\;37\;41:mi=01\;05\;37\;41:ex=01\;32:\*.cmd=01\;32:\*.exe=01\;32:\*.com=01\;32:\*.btm=01\;32:\*.bat=01\;32:\*.sh=01\;32:\*.csh=01\;32:\*.tar=01\;31:\*.tgz=01\;31:\*.arj=01\;31:\*.taz=01\;31:\*.lzh=01\;31:\*.zip=01\;31:\*.z=01\;31:\*.Z=01\;31:\*.gz=01\;31:\*.bz2=01\;31:\*.bz=01\;31:\*.tz=01\;31:\*.rpm=01\;31:\*.cpio=01\;31:\*.jpg=01\;35:\*.gif=01\;35:\*.bmp=01\;35:\*.xbm=01\;35:\*.xpm=01\;35:\*.png=01\;35:\*.tif=01\;35:; export LS_COLORS
1722MACHTYPE=i386-redhat-linux-gnu; export MACHTYPE
1723MAIL=/var/spool/mail/root; export MAIL
1724INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc; export INPUTRC
1725BASH_ENV=/root/.bashrc; export BASH_ENV
1726LANG=en_US; export LANG
1727LOGNAME=root; export LOGNAME
1728SHLVL=1; export SHLVL
1729II_SYSTEM=/usr/local/ingres; export II_SYSTEM
1730USERNAME=root; export USERNAME
1731HOSTTYPE=i386; export HOSTTYPE
1732OSTYPE=linux-gnu; export OSTYPE
1733HISTSIZE=1000; export HISTSIZE
1734LAMHELPFILE=/etc/lam/lam-helpfile; export LAMHELPFILE
1735PVM_ROOT=/usr/share/pvm3; export PVM_ROOT
1736HOME=/root; export HOME
1737SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/libexec/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass;
1738export SSH_ASKPASS
1739PATH=/usr/local/ingres/ingres/bin:/usr/local/ingres/ingres/utility:/usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/root/bin; export PATH
1740cd /root || {
1741echo 'Execution directory inaccessible' >&2
1742exit 1
1743}
1744screen -m -d mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ \
1745-T /home/mondo/ -g -E "/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K|/home/mondo" -9
1746#done
1747
1748</screen>
1749<para>
1750 The crucial line is this one:
1751</para>
1752<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1753<row>
1754<entry>
1755 screen -m -d mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g -E "/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K|/home/mondo" -9
1756</entry>
1757</row>
1758</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1759<para>
1760This uses 'screen -m -d' to <quote>-m -d Start screen in "detached" mode. This creates a new session
1761 but doesn't attach to it. This is useful for system startup scripts.
1762 (From 'man screen')
1763</quote>
1764</para>
1765<para>
1766 When screen starts, it will be in the background and "detached".
1767</para>
1768</sect3>
1769<sect3><title>Run the thing with cron</title>
1770<para>
1771 To get the whole thing running, do:
1772</para>
1773<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1774<row>
1775<entry>
1776 crontab -e
1777 </entry>
1778</row>
1779</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1780<para>
1781and add the following lines:
1782</para>
1783<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1784<row>
1785<entry>
1786&num; run mondoarchive at 23:59 weekdays
1787</entry>
1788</row>
1789<row>
1790 <entry>
179159 23 * * 1-5 /root/mondo-cronscript
1792</entry>
1793</row>
1794</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1795<para>
1796 Your mondoarchive job will run at 23:59 monday-friday.
1797</para>
1798<para>
1799DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE TAPES!
1800</para>
1801</sect3>
1802<sect3><title>Getting at it...</title>
1803<para>
1804Once your cron job is running regularly, you'll want to get to
1805 it to change tapes and check status etc.
1806</para>
1807<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1808<row>
1809<entry>
1810screen -r
1811</entry>
1812</row>
1813</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1814<para>
1815attaches to the running screen where you can change CDs etc
1816</para>
1817<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1818<row>
1819<entry>
1820&lt;CTRL&gt;-a d
1821</entry>
1822</row>
1823</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1824<para>
1825detaches the running screen again.
1826</para>
1827</sect3>
1828<sect3><title>Caveat</title>
1829<para>
1830The script generated by 'at' is unique to the user/machine combination.
1831 You MUST regenerate it on each machine where it will be used. Using
1832 the one above will NOT work for you. MAKE YOUR OWN!
1833</para>
1834</sect3>
1835</sect2>
1836</sect1>
1837</chapter>
1838
1839<chapter id="compare">
1840<title>Compare</title>
1841<para>Before you trust your backup CD, make sure your BIOS can boot
1842CD (and that it is configured to do so).</para>
1843<itemizedlist>
1844<listitem>
1845<para>Boot from the first CD.</para>
1846</listitem>
1847<listitem>
1848<para>Type:</para>
1849</listitem>
1850</itemizedlist>
1851<para></para>
1852<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1853<row>
1854<entry>
1855
1856LILO: compare
1857
1858</entry>
1859</row>
1860</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1861
1862<para>Follow the on-screen instructions. This will compare your
1863backup against your original file system.</para>
1864<para>FYI, no bad archives have been created since May 2000. Having
1865said that, I would still encourage you to run Compare before
1866trusting the backups.</para>
1867<para>To view the file differences, look at the file
1868'/tmp/changed.txt'. Normal differences include logs and other
1869dynamic system files that changed during the time of the backup
1870process. If only a few files differ - e.g. files in /var, files
1871ending in '&amp;#732;', logs, temporary files, /etc/mtab,
1872/etc/adjtimex - then you know the archives are good. Your logs will
1873change over time, too. Bear in mind that a difference between the
1874backup and the live copy does not&nbsp;indicate a flaw in Mondo. It
1875indicates that you or your filesystem changed the files, so the
1876backup is no longer 100% up to date. However, that is inevitable,
1877as your filesystem changes from moment to moment (which is why you
1878back it up regularly).</para>
1879
1880</chapter>
1881
1882<chapter id="restore">
1883<title>Restore</title>
1884
1885<sect1 id="restore-overview">
1886<title>Overview</title>
1887
1888<para>I hope you don't have to restore from scratch very often.
1889It's nerve-wracking until you realize that Mondo's restore engine
1890is very reliable.
1891</para>
1892<para>If you find that you cannot make your PC boot from the CD,
1893take heart: the first backup media of each set contains disk
1894images to give you the same functionality as this media (minus the
1895archives, of course) on other boot media. Remember, your Mondo CD is a
1896fully functional CD-based mini-distribution as well as a recovery
1897CD.</para>
1898<para>You can choose from the following modes:</para>
1899
1900<variablelist>
1901<varlistentry><term>Interactive</term>
1902<listitem><para>Restore step-by-step, or restore a subset of the
1903archives. This is the method you should mainly use for your
1904recovery needs.</para>
1905</listitem></varlistentry>
1906<varlistentry><term>Nuke</term>
1907<listitem><para>Wipe your drives and restore everything,
1908automatically and unattended. Warning: This does exactly what is
1909says, so be careful using it.</para>
1910</listitem></varlistentry>
1911<varlistentry><term>Expert</term>
1912<listitem><para>Boot to a shell prompt. If you want to do anything
1913creative, you should boot into Expert Mode. It's called expert, I
1914think that says it all.</para>
1915</listitem>
1916</varlistentry>
1917</variablelist>
1918
1919<para>If the CD is not found during the initial restore CD boot
1920attempt, reboot the PC a second time prior to reporting failure.
1921Occasional timing errors and hardware/software/system conflicts do
1922occur.</para>
1923</sect1>
1924
1925<sect1 id="restore-tips">
1926<title>Tips and Tricks</title>
1927
1928<para>Ideally, restore your system to a spare hard drive to test
1929the integrity and reliability of your disks. To do that, either
1930edit your mountlist to make the devices point to your spare hard
1931drive, or swap your hard drive cables between boots.</para>
1932<para>At a bare minimum, compare your CD against your file system
1933before you decide whether to trust them.</para>
1934<para>To test Mondo's ability to handle your LILO or GRUB boot
1935loader and accompanying configuration file:</para>
1936<itemizedlist>
1937<listitem>
1938<para>Boot from the backup CD into Expert Mode</para>
1939</listitem>
1940<listitem>
1941<para>Type:</para>
1942</listitem>
1943</itemizedlist>
1944<para></para>
1945<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1946<row>
1947<entry>
1948
1949bash# mondorestore -Z mbr
1950
1951</entry>
1952</row>
1953</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1954
1955<itemizedlist>
1956<listitem>
1957<para>To fix any mess it made (not that it should) type:</para>
1958</listitem>
1959</itemizedlist>
1960<para></para>
1961<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1962<row>
1963<entry>
1964 bash# mount-me
1965</entry>
1966</row>
1967<row>
1968<entry>
1969 bash# chroot /mnt/RESTORING
1970 </entry>
1971</row>
1972<row>
1973<entry>
1974 </entry>
1975</row>
1976<row>
1977<entry>
1978bash# lilo OR grub-install '(hd0)'
1979 </entry>
1980</row>
1981<row>
1982<entry>
1983bash# exit
1984</entry>
1985</row>
1986<row>
1987<entry>
1988 bash# unmount-me
1989
1990</entry>
1991</row>
1992</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1993
1994<itemizedlist>
1995<listitem>
1996<para>If it did not work then please copy /tmp/mondorestore.log to
1997to your hard disk, USB key, ..., gzip it and e-mail it to the
1998&ML;.</para>
1999</listitem>
2000</itemizedlist>
2001
2002<sect2>
2003 <title>Barebones (Nuke) Restore</title>
2004<para>Imagine that your hard drives happen to be wiped,
2005deliberately or accidentally. Or, imagine that you want to clone
2006your existing operating system. In either case, you want to run in
2007Nuke Mode.</para>
2008<para>If you want to wipe everything and restore your whole system
2009from CD, please:</para>
2010<itemizedlist>
2011<listitem>
2012<para>Use the -H option when invoking mondoarchive</para>
2013</listitem>
2014<listitem>
2015<para>Boot from the first Mondo CD</para>
2016</listitem>
2017<listitem>
2018<para>Press RESTORE&lt;enter&gt;</para>
2019</listitem>
2020<listitem>
2021<para>Insert the subsequent CD when asked</para>
2022</listitem>
2023<listitem>
2024<para>Watch the screen for errors</para>
2025</listitem>
2026</itemizedlist>
2027<para>That's it. The restoration process for tape or NFS users is
2028similarly easy: just boot, answer the on-screen prompts, and
2029wait.</para>
2030<para>Now, should something go wrong, you will be able to examine
2031/tmp/mondorestore.log to see what happened. All is not lost. You
2032can fdisk and format the partitions yourself, using the tools that
2033come with the CD. You can then run mondorestore in Interactive Mode
2034and say 'no' when asked if you want Mondo to partition/format your
2035drives.</para>
2036<para>If you want to see exactly what Mondo is doing while it is
2037restoring, press &lt;Alt&gt;&lt;left cursor&gt; to view its
2038logfile, in a virtual console, scrolling past.</para>
2039</sect2>
2040<sect2>
2041<title>Interactive Restore</title>
2042<para>Interactive Mode is for people who have lost a subset of data
2043from their live file system, or perhaps who have lost some data
2044from their latest backup and want to restore a subset of data from
2045an earlier backup. If you want to restore only some files or if you
2046do not want to prep/format your drives, then you should boot into
2047Interactive Mode. The interactive mode will provide an 'Editing
2048mountlist screen' that allows you to setup a different disk
2049geometry.</para>
2050<para>To move up and down between partitions in the 'Editing
2051mountlist screen', use the Up and Down arrows. To move between the
2052main window and the buttons at the bottom, use the Left and Right
2053cursor keys. TAB shifts focus from one screen item to the other in
2054a haphazard fashion, owing to the complexities of the Newt
2055library.</para>
2056<para>If you want to restore selectively, just press &lt;enter&gt;
2057and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be asked to say
2058yes/no to a range of questions.</para>
2059<para>If you are planning to modify your partition table, you would
2060do well to read up on the partition layout and the use of fdisk, it
2061gives you some pointers on how to best lay out partitions.
2062You can find a good guide at the
2063<ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/index.html">Partition HOWTO</ulink>
2064</para>
2065<para>If you want to restore a subset of the backup then:</para>
2066<itemizedlist>
2067<listitem>
2068<para>Boot from the CD</para>
2069</listitem>
2070<listitem>
2071<para>Type:</para>
2072</listitem>
2073</itemizedlist>
2074<para></para>
2075<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2076<row>
2077<entry>
2078
2079bash# interactive
2080
2081</entry>
2082</row>
2083</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2084
2085<itemizedlist>
2086<listitem>
2087<para>Then, after booting, answer the questions as follows:</para>
2088</listitem>
2089</itemizedlist>
2090<para></para>
2091<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2092<row>
2093<entry>
2094
2095 Do you want to partition your devices? no
2096 </entry>
2097</row>
2098<row>
2099<entry>
2100Do you want to format them? no
2101 </entry>
2102</row>
2103<row>
2104<entry>
2105Do you want to restore everything? no
2106 </entry>
2107</row>
2108<row>
2109<entry>
2110Do you want to restore something? yes
2111 </entry>
2112</row>
2113<row>
2114<entry>
2115Which path do you want to restore? /mydata [e.g.]
2116 </entry>
2117</row>
2118<row>
2119<entry>
2120Do you want to run LILO to setup your boot sectors? Yes
2121
2122</entry>
2123</row>
2124</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2125
2126</sect2>
2127
2128<sect2>
2129<title>Expert Restore</title>
2130<para>If you are planning to modify your partition table, you would
2131do well to read up on the partition layout and the use of fdisk, it
2132gives you some could pointers on how to best lay out partitions.
2133You can find good a guide at the
2134<ulink url="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Partition/index.html">Partition HOWTO</ulink></para>
2135<para>To restore manually, please:</para>
2136<itemizedlist>
2137<listitem>
2138<para>Boot from the first CD, then type:</para>
2139</listitem>
2140</itemizedlist>
2141<para></para>
2142<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2143<row>
2144<entry>
2145
2146bash# expert
2147
2148</entry>
2149
2150</row>
2151</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2152
2153<itemizedlist>
2154<listitem>
2155<para>Then do whatever you like. :) You may type the following, of
2156course:</para>
2157</listitem>
2158</itemizedlist>
2159<para></para>
2160<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2161<row>
2162<entry>
2163
2164bash# mondorestore
2165
2166</entry>
2167</row>
2168</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2169</sect2>
2170
2171<sect2>
2172<title>Modified partitions - Restore to a different disk geometry</title>
2173<para>One of the nice things about Mondo is that it lets you wipe
2174your existing system and restore it in any layout you like (within
2175reason). You can move from non-RAID to RAID,install and utilize
2176additional drives, move from ext2 to ReiserFS, etc., all without
2177risking the loss of data.</para>
2178<para>If the user excluded a particular partition from backup and
2179specifically excluded it from the mountlist itself using -E then
2180Mondo will insert a small (32MB) partition at restore-time, in
2181order to avoid having to re-jig fstab, the partition table,
2182etc.</para>
2183<para>To do this:</para>
2184<itemizedlist>
2185<listitem>
2186<para>Boot into Expert Mode, then type:</para>
2187</listitem>
2188</itemizedlist>
2189<para></para>
2190<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2191<row>
2192<entry>
2193
2194bash# mondorestore
2195
2196</entry>
2197</row>
2198</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2199
2200<itemizedlist>
2201<listitem>
2202<para>(edit the mountlist using the on-screen editor)</para>
2203</listitem>
2204</itemizedlist>
2205<para>If you want to move from ext2 to ReiserFS, you can do it here
2206(so long as your kernel supports ReiserFS). Ditto for XFS, JFS or
2207ext3, ext4.</para>
2208<para>Mondorestore will try to modify your /etc/fstab to reflect
2209changes you have made to the mountlist. If you are not using LILO,
2210you can still create your own /mnt/RESTORING/etc/lilo.conf and run
2211lilo -r /mnt/RESTORING to configure your boot sectors and Master
2212Boot Record.</para>
2213<para>Mondo (technically, Mindi on behalf of Mondo) creates a file
2214called a mountlist. This can be found on the ramdisk at
2215/tmp/mountlist.txt; it looks something like this:</para>
2216<para></para>
2217<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2218<row>
2219<entry>
2220
2221 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 4096000
2222</entry>
2223</row>
2224<row>
2225<entry>
2226 /dev/hda5 / reiserfs 6023000
2227</entry>
2228</row>
2229<row>
2230<entry>
2231 /dev/hda6 /tmp xfs 955000
2232</entry>
2233</row>
2234<row>
2235<entry>
2236 /dev/hda7 /usr ext3 4096000
2237
2238</entry>
2239</row>
2240</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2241
2242<para>It is fairly easy to understand the list. Each line refers to
2243a single device/partition. The line format is:</para>
2244<para></para>
2245<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2246<row>
2247<entry>
2248
2249&lt;device&gt; &lt;partition&gt; &lt;format&gt; &lt;Kilobytes&gt;
2250
2251</entry>
2252</row>
2253</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2254
2255<para>If you have added a hard drive and want to take advantage of
2256the additional space, you could amend the above mountlist to
2257read:</para>
2258<para></para>
2259<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2260<row>
2261<entry>
2262
2263 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 6096000
2264</entry>
2265</row>
2266<row>
2267<entry>
2268 /dev/hda5 / reiserfs 9123000
2269</entry>
2270</row>
2271<row>
2272<entry>
2273 /dev/hda6 /tmp xfs 955000
2274</entry>
2275</row>
2276<row>
2277<entry>
2278 /dev/hdb1 /usr ext3 8192000
2279</entry>
2280</row>
2281<row>
2282<entry>
2283 /dev/hdb2 /home xfs 8192000
2284
2285</entry>
2286</row>
2287</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2288
2289<para>This assumes that your old hard drive is /dev/hda and the new
2290hard drive is /dev/hdb.</para>
2291<para>Or, if you want to add RAID support, create a new
2292/etc/raidtab on the ramdisk (which is beyond the scope of this
2293HOWTO) and then write a mountlist like this:</para>
2294<para></para>
2295<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2296<row>
2297<entry>
2298
2299 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 6096000
2300</entry>
2301</row>
2302<row>
2303<entry>
2304 /dev/md0 / reiserfs 9123000
2305</entry>
2306</row>
2307<row>
2308<entry>
2309 /dev/md1 /tmp xfs 955000
2310</entry>
2311</row>
2312<row>
2313<entry>
2314 /dev/md2 /usr ext3 8192000
2315</entry>
2316</row>
2317<row>
2318<entry>
2319 /dev/md3 /home xfs 8192000
2320
2321</entry>
2322</row>
2323</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2324
2325<para>So long as your /etc/raidtab file is sane, Mondo can
2326automatically partition and format your disks for you, including
2327the RAID devices.</para>
2328<para>Once you have finished editing /tmp/mountlist.txt using
2329mondorestore's built-in editor then you may choose 'OK'. Please
2330note that this will not write anything to your hard disk. You will
2331only reformat or repartition your disks if you say 'Yes' when asked
2332if you want to do those things.</para>
2333</sect2>
2334
2335<sect2>
2336<title>Advanced</title>
2337<para>It is now possible to restore to a live filesystem using
2338Mondo. In other words, you do not have to boot your PC from your
2339media in order to restore files. Mondo was originally designed
2340for disaster recovery - situations in which you cannot boot your
2341PC. If you can boot your PC, it is not really a disaster, is it? :)
2342Well, if you have wiped out your priceless collection of "MTV's
2343Bjork Unplugged" MP3's, perhaps it is. Anyway, just type this as
2344root</para>
2345<para></para>
2346<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2347<row>
2348<entry>
2349
2350bash# mondorestore
2351
2352</entry>
2353</row>
2354</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2355
2356<para></para>
2357<informaltable><tgroup cols="2"><tbody>
2358<row>
2359<entry>
2360<ulink url="images/rest1.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2361<imagedata fileref="images/rest1-mini">
2362</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2363</ulink>
2364</entry>
2365<entry>
2366Choose your type of backup media. The live restoration process is
2367very similar to what you'll experience if you type mondorestore
2368with no parameters after booting from a Mondo media.
2369</entry>
2370</row>
2371<row>
2372<entry>
2373<ulink url="images/rest2.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2374<imagedata fileref="images/rest2-mini">
2375</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2376</ulink>
2377</entry>
2378<entry>
2379Hit 'OK' when you have inserted the tape/CD. If you generated a
2380tape backup, the tape itself should be enough. If you generated a
2381CD backup, the first CD should be enough. Otherwise, you may need
2382the boot media.
2383</entry>
2384</row>
2385<row>
2386<entry>
2387<ulink url="images/rest3.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2388<imagedata fileref="images/rest3-mini">
2389</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2390</ulink>
2391</entry>
2392<entry>
2393Flag the files and directories you wish to restore. Use the 'More'
2394and 'Less' buttons to open and close subdirectories.
2395</entry>
2396</row>
2397<row>
2398<entry>
2399<ulink url="images/rest4.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2400<imagedata fileref="images/rest4-mini">
2401</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2402</ulink>
2403</entry>
2404<entry>
2405Specify the location to restore the files to. In general, '/' is
2406appropriate. If you do not want to overwrite newer versions of the
2407files you are restoring then specify /tmp/BKP or similar as the
2408restore path.
2409</entry>
2410</row>
2411<row>
2412<entry>
2413<ulink url="images/rest5.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2414<imagedata fileref="images/rest5-mini">
2415</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2416</ulink>
2417</entry>
2418<entry>
2419Mondorestore will retrieve configuration information from the
2420media. (The sample screen is for tape users. CD users will see
2421something different.)
2422</entry>
2423</row>
2424<row>
2425<entry>
2426<ulink url="images/rest6.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2427<imagedata fileref="images/rest6-mini">
2428</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2429</ulink>
2430</entry>
2431<entry>
2432Data will be restored to the hard disk - first the regular files,
2433then any big (32MB or greater) files in the restore set.
2434</entry>
2435</row>
2436</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2437
2438<para>I hope this manual was useful for you.</para>
2439</sect2>
2440</sect1>
2441
2442</chapter>
2443
2444<chapter id="faq">
2445<title>FAQ</title>
2446
2447<sect1 id="faq-overview">
2448<title>Overview</title>
2449<para>Are the errors from Mindi or Mondo? Look at
2450 /var/log/mondoarchive.log or /var/log/mindi.log (if run alone). Pipe
2451screen errors which relate to the creation of boot disk(s) and or
2452data disk(s) to a text file.</para>
2453<para>See the &WWW; for details. If you are going to e-mail
2454&ML; then
2455please attach that text file (zipped!) and give :</para>
2456<itemizedlist>
2457<listitem>
2458<para>Your kernel version (uname -a)</para>
2459</listitem>
2460<listitem>
2461 <para>Your Linux distro's name and version (/etc/distro-release)</para>
2462</listitem>
2463<listitem>
2464 <para>Whether your kernel supports initrd and loopfs; it should! (grep -E '^CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP|^CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD' /usr/src/linux/.config </para>
2465</listitem>
2466<listitem>
2467<para>What sort of PC you are using, including hard disk configurations (results of dmidecode, lshw, fdisk -l are useful here)</para>
2468</listitem>
2469</itemizedlist>
2470<para>Mondo is freely available under the GPL and you are given it for no charge.
2471When you e-mail the &ML;, please bear that in mind.</para>
2472</sect1>
2473<sect1 id="faq-general">
2474<title>General Questions</title>
2475
2476<qandaset>
2477<qandaentry>
2478 <question><para>Q: What is "Mindi"?</para></question>
2479 <answer>
2480<para>A: Mindi, a.k.a. Mindi-Linux, makes a mini-distribution from
2481your kernel, modules, modules, tools and libraries. It can also
2482generate an El Torito 2.88/5.76MB boot disk image. Mondo uses Mindi to
2483create a mini-distro, then boots from it and runs on it.</para>
2484</answer>
2485</qandaentry>
2486<qandaentry>
2487 <question><para>Q: Why is it called "Mondo"?</para></question>
2488 <answer>
2489<para>A: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles described cool things as
2490'mondo'. Hugo Rabson wasn't sure what to call this project. 'Faust' was one
2491idea he had, partly as a dig at his former boss who practically owned
2492him because of his legal status at the time. In the end, he chose
2493something short and distinctive.</para>
2494</answer>
2495</qandaentry>
2496<qandaentry>
2497<question><para>Q: Mondo does not work on my system. It
2498 keels over and dies. What's wrong?</para></question>
2499<answer>
2500 <para>A: It works on Red Hat 7.x/8/9, RHEL 2.1/3/4, Mandrakelinux 8.x/9.x/10.x/200x, Fedora 4/5/6, Debian 3.x, most flavors
2501 of SuSE/SLES, some flavors of Slackware, etc.
2502The more distributions we support, the more moving targets we have to
2503hit. Please bear this in mind when e-mailing the list. :) If you
2504would like to help us by beta-testing Mondo (or Mindi) on your PC
2505then we would be very interested in working with you to work around
2506the eccentricities of your Linux distro. However, rest assured, 90%
2507of the bugs reported are actually symptoms of FooLinux X.Y's
2508unique way of doing things.</para>
2509<para>Please send a copy of <filename>/var/log/mondoarchive.log</filename> to the &ML;
2510along with a description of your distro, your kernel, etc.
2511Oh, and before sending it, please try to read it.</para>
2512</answer>
2513</qandaentry>
2514<qandaentry>
2515 <question><para>Q: What if the error is in Mindi?</para></question>
2516 <answer>
2517 <para>A: Please send a copy of <filename>/var/log/mindi.log</filename> to the &ML;
2518along with a description of your distro, your kernel, etc.
2519Oh, and before sending it, please read it as it is much easier to understand it.</para>
2520</answer>
2521</qandaentry>
2522<qandaentry>
2523 <question><para>Q: Can I trust Mondo?</para></question>
2524 <answer>
2525<para>A: Mondo has generated reliable archives since May 2000.
2526Lost data occured by using bad CD-R disks and not verifying their
2527contents. Some users have not tried booting from their CD until
2528crunch time. Remember to boot into Compare Mode to verify the
2529backup before you trust it. If Mondo did not work, you would not be
2530reading this. If it does not work for you, your kernel is usually
2531the culprit. Check <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel
2532support</link> to see what your kernel should support. Please
2533e-mail the list if you need some help with this.</para>
2534</answer>
2535</qandaentry>
2536<qandaentry>
2537 <question><para>Q: How do I report a bug?</para></question>
2538 <answer>
2539 <para>A: E-mail the bug report (mondo.err.xxxxx.tgz) to the &ML;.
2540 Ok you've read it already but it's really important if you want help.
2541If you don't send a logfile then there isn't a lot that we can do for you, so
2542PLEASE include a logfile at the very least.</para>
2543</answer>
2544</qandaentry>
2545<qandaentry>
2546<question><para>Q: I think Mondo should (...insert
2547suggestion here...) and I have rewritten it accordingly. Would you
2548like to see my patch?</para></question>
2549<answer>
2550<para>A: Absolutely! :-) The best way for you to make Mondo do what
2551you want is to modify it and then send the patch. That way, we
2552can all benefit.</para>
2553</answer>
2554</qandaentry>
2555<qandaentry>
2556<question><para>Q: I think Mondo should (...insert
2557suggestion here...); will you incorporate this feature for me,
2558please?</para></question>
2559<answer>
2560<para>A: Please enter the suggestion in our feature system at &WWW;
2561</para>
2562</answer>
2563</qandaentry>
2564<qandaentry>
2565<question><para>Q: Mondo says, "XXX is missing," and
2566 then terminates. What's wrong?</para></question>
2567<answer>
2568<para>A: A good Linux distribution should contain XXX but the
2569designers, in their infinite wisdom, decided not to include that
2570particular tool. Check <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related
2571 Linux Packages</ulink> and install the missing package. If that
2572fails, contact the vendor/distributor/manufacturer/designer of your
2573distro.</para>
2574</answer>
2575</qandaentry>
2576<qandaentry>
2577<question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle multi-CD backups and
2578 restores?</para></question>
2579<answer>
2580<para>A: Yes, up to twenty CD per set. This 20-CD limit results
2581from laziness on mondorescue's part. I'll be removed in the future. However, if
2582your system occupies more than 20 CD, may it's time for another type of media ?
2583</para>
2584</answer>
2585</qandaentry>
2586<qandaentry>
2587<question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle Linux/Windows
2588 dual-boot systems?</para></question>
2589<answer>
2590<para>A: Yes. If your system currently boots into Linux or Windows
2591via LILO, you can backup and restore both OSes at the same time
2592using Mondo. If you are using NTFS then add the switch, '-x
2593&lt;device&gt;'.</para>
2594</answer>
2595</qandaentry>
2596<qandaentry>
2597<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup Windows-only
2598 systems?</para></question>
2599<answer>
2600<para>A: Not at the moment.
2601</para>
2602</answer>
2603</qandaentry>
2604<qandaentry>
2605 <question><para>Q: Does Mondo support LVM?</para></question>
2606 <answer>
2607<para>A: Mondo supports LVM v1 and v2. Mondo backs up and restores your
2608existing setup but it does not make it easy for you to change your
2609LVM configuration, at the moment. You have to edit <filename>/tmp/i-want-my-lvm</filename> at boot-time
2610to do that.</para>
2611</answer>
2612</qandaentry>
2613<qandaentry>
2614<question><para>Q: What if I don't use LILO? What if I
2615 use GRUB?</para></question>
2616<answer>
2617<para>A: GRUB is supported by Mondo.</para>
2618</answer>
2619</qandaentry>
2620<qandaentry>
2621<question><para>Q: I get the error, 'Cannot find
2622 /tmp/dev.0' or 'Cannot mount device 0x0701'; what do I do?</para></question>
2623<answer>
2624 <para>A: Please free up <filename>/dev/loop0</filename> using 'losetup /dev/loop0 -d' to
2625unmount that loop device. If your OS will not let you do that,
2626contact your local support group or Linux vendor.</para>
2627</answer>
2628</qandaentry>
2629<qandaentry>
2630<question><para>Q: Can I create a Mondo CD and then use
2631 it to create an archive of any OS on any PC?</para></question>
2632<answer>
2633<para>A: Not yet. You can use Mondo to backup Linux or
2634Linux/Windows dual boot. One day, Mondo will let you backup
2635partitions it can't read or write, by treating each partition as
2636one long file to be backed up. This file will be chopped,
2637compressed and archived like any other big file.</para>
2638</answer>
2639</qandaentry>
2640<qandaentry>
2641<question><para>Q: Why do you insist on putting media
2642disk images on Mondo CD? They waste space and I never use them. The
2643CD works just fine, so why keep the media disk images?</para>
2644</question>
2645<answer>
2646<para>A: Because. It helped us in the past. If you
2647really, truly want them gone then please submit a patch to make
2648them optional.</para>
2649</answer>
2650</qandaentry>
2651<qandaentry>
2652<question><para>Q: Why doesn't the Mondo project have a
2653cool-looking animal logo?</para></question>
2654<answer>
2655<para>A: Excellent question! Please submit graphics of candidate
2656 animal logos!</para>
2657 </answer>
2658</qandaentry>
2659<qandaentry>
2660<question><para>Q: Is there a Mondo user 'Code of
2661 Conduct?</para></question>
2662<answer>
2663<para>A: Yes. Read the HOWTO. Submit patches. Recommend realistic
2664improvements. Be courteous to other users on the discussion list.
2665Do not whine.</para>
2666</answer>
2667</qandaentry>
2668</qandaset>
2669</sect1>
2670
2671<sect1 id="faq-booting">
2672<title>Booting and Kernel related Questions</title>
2673<qandaset>
2674<qandaentry>
2675<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2676it says, "VFS: Unable to mount root fs." I am using an old Debian
2677distro. What do I do?</para></question>
2678<answer>
2679<para>A: Ask Debian's designers why they, unlike every other distro
2680I can find, have included cramfs and other 'goodies' with their
2681kernel. In the meantime, please use '-k FAILSAFE' in your command
2682line when calling Mondo.</para>
2683<para>A: From Sarge onwards, all stock Debian 2.6 kernels should work fine. If
2684you are still using stock Debian 2.4 kernels, FAILSAFE is the way to go.
2685Of course, if you have compiled your own kernel and experience problems,
2686FAILSAFE is the way to go as well, but this is not really
2687Debian-specific.</para>
2688</answer>
2689</qandaentry>
2690<qandaentry>
2691<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2692it says, "Cannot mount root fs - kernel panic," or something
2693similar. What do I do?</para></question>
2694<answer>
2695<para>A: Recompile your kernel (or use '-k FAILSAFE'). Take a look
2696at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to
2697see what your kernel must support.</para>
2698</answer>
2699</qandaentry>
2700<qandaentry>
2701<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2702 it says, "UPGRADE YOUR RAM". What does that mean?</para></question>
2703<answer>
2704<para>A: Recompile your kernel and add Virtual memory file system
2705support. Take a look at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux
2706Kernel support</link> to see what your kernel must support. (Of
2707course, if your PC has less than 64MB of RAM, you could always...
2708what's the phrase? I know, upgrade your RAM!)</para>
2709</answer>
2710</qandaentry>
2711<qandaentry>
2712<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2713it says something about not finding my CD-ROM drive and then it
2714blames the kernel. What does that mean?</para></question>
2715<answer>
2716 <para>A: Your kernel must support initrd, loopfs, IDE|SCSI|USB CD-ROM's, and
2717ramdisks. Take a look at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux
2718Kernel support</link> to see what your kernel must support. If
2719your kernel does not support these things, Mondo will not boot from
2720your CD. However, when running Mindi, you may choose to use _its_
2721kernel instead of your own.
2722</para>
2723</answer>
2724</qandaentry>
2725<qandaentry>
2726<question><para>Q: The LILO Mondo media takes ages to
2727 boot. How can I speed it up?</para></question>
2728<answer>
2729<para>A: Edit mindi (it's a shell script, btw) and change
2730LILO_OPTIONS="" to LILO_OPTIONS="-c". This enables map compaction
2731in lilo and speeds up booting, for more info see the lilo man
2732page.</para>
2733</answer>
2734</qandaentry>
2735<qandaentry>
2736<question><para>Q: I made a Mondo CD using the failsafe
2737kernel (i.e. I said 'no' when Mondo asked if I wanted to use my own
2738kernel). It still doesn't boot. Help!</para></question>
2739<answer>
2740<para>A: OK, now that is a bug. :-) I included a kernel with Mondo
2741(technically, with Mindi, which Mondo uses) to make sure that users
2742could use Mondo despite flaws in their own kernels. If you are
2743using Mondo/Mindi's kernel but still cannot boot from your Mondo CD
2744then please e-mail the &ML;.</para>
2745</answer>
2746</qandaentry>
2747<qandaentry>
2748<question><para>Q: Why won't Mondo boot from my CD?
2749It says my kernel is flawed/outdated/ whatever, and when I wrote to
2750the ML, they told me the same thing... but I still don't get it. I
2751mean, my kernel works for everything else. Why not Mondo?</para></question>
2752<answer>
2753<para>A: Because Mondo makes a boot disk using your kernel. I bet
2754your other software doesn't do that. Also, not all kernels are
2755suitable for boot disks. I'm sorry but that's Life. Upgrade your
2756kernel and/or recompile it. Take a look at
2757<link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to see
2758what your kernel must support.</para>
2759</answer>
2760</qandaentry>
2761<qandaentry>
2762<question><para>Q: Why do I only need a boot disk if I'm
2763 using a tape drive? Where are the data disks?</para></question>
2764<answer>
2765<para>A: On the tape. :-) The first 32MB of the tape will be set
2766aside for a large tarball containing the data disks, a list of all
2767files backed up, and other sundries. If Mondo and Mindi do their
2768respective jobs then you won't need additional media, just the
2769boot media and the tape(s).</para>
2770<para>As of 2.2.6 mondorescue does support OBDR for tapes.
2771 So if you have a tape supporting that protocol such as HP tape readers, you may directly boot from the tape as well.</para>
2772</answer>
2773</qandaentry>
2774<qandaentry>
2775<question><para>Q: Why does it say, "Process accounting
2776 FAILED" when I reboot?</para></question>
2777<answer>
2778<para>A: You were using Process Accounting. Red Hat (or whichever
2779distro you are using) does not provide a startup/shutdown script
2780yet. So, when you try to backup the process log, it just grows and
2781grows as Mondo tries to back it up. Mondo doesn't back it up
2782anymore and that's why. The unfortunate side-effect is... well,
2783what you see on your screen. Type 'touch /var/log/pacct' and then
2784'paccton' to fix the error message.</para>
2785</answer>
2786</qandaentry>
2787<qandaentry>
2788<question><para>Q: Why does it say,
2789&amp;#8220;request_module[block-major-1]: Root fs not mounted VFS:
2790Cannot open root device "100" or 01:00 Please append a correct
2791"root=" boot option kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
279201:00&amp;#8221; when i boot from the CD?</para></question>
2793<answer>
2794<para>A: Recompile your kernel and add initrd support. Take a look
2795at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to
2796see what your kernel must support.</para>
2797</answer>
2798</qandaentry>
2799
2800<qandaentry>
2801<question><para id="TAPENICE">Q: My tape drive
2802doesn't play nicely with Mondo at boot-time. What do I do?</para></question>
2803<answer><para>A: Play with the 'mt' command (package mt-st). Use its setblksize and
2804defblksize switches to reconfigure your tape drive if necessary.
2805Some tape drives just are painful. If yours is one of
2806them then God help you. Mondo can handle any tape drive whose drive
2807and firmware can handle fopen(), fwrite(), fread() and fclose().
2808Mondo uses standard C libraries to talk to your tape streamer. If
2809your tape streamer can't handle that then you had better call a
2810priest. Either that or ask for a refund.
2811</para>
2812</answer>
2813</qandaentry>
2814</qandaset>
2815</sect1>
2816
2817<sect1 id="faq-install">
2818<title>Installation related Questions</title>
2819<qandaset>
2820<qandaentry>
2821<question><para>Q: Why do I get, "newt.h not found," or
2822"popt.h not found," several times when I try to install
2823Mondo?</para></question>
2824<answer>
2825<para>A: You have not installed libnewt and/or libnewt-devel.
2826Please do so. Check <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related Linux
2827Packages</ulink> to see what Mondo requires and where you can get
2828tarballs and RPM's. Make sure you are using the right version of
2829newt/libnewt. Read the error messages carefully.</para>
2830</answer>
2831</qandaentry>
2832<qandaentry>
2833<question><para>Q: Newt won't compile when I try. What's
2834 the problem?</para></question>
2835<answer>
2836<para>A: You are probably missing popt.h, which newt needs to
2837compile, it can be found in the 'popt' package. Check your
2838distribution and see if they have popt, if not check
2839<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related Linux Packages</ulink> to
2840see where you can get it.</para>
2841</answer>
2842</qandaentry>
2843<qandaentry>
2844<question><para>Q: I've just used up 6 CD-R, only to
2845 find that Mondo won't boot!</para></question>
2846<answer>
2847<para>A: You should have used CD-RW. ;) In the HOWTO, it gives
2848instructions on how to create a test CD (one, not six).</para>
2849</answer>
2850</qandaentry>
2851<qandaentry>
2852<question>
2853<para id="PACKREQ">Q: Lots of packages,
2854required by Mondo, are missing from my system. What do I do?</para>
2855</question>
2856<answer>
2857<para>
2858A: Install them. :) If you are using RPM or deb
2859then you'll be told which packages you need. Mondo offers a lot of
2860those packages on its
2861<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml">Download</ulink>
2862web page.</para>
2863</answer>
2864</qandaentry>
2865</qandaset>
2866</sect1>
2867
2868<sect1 id="faq-hardware">
2869<title>Hardware related Questions</title>
2870<qandaset>
2871<qandaentry>
2872 <question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle CD-RW?</para></question>
2873 <answer>
2874<para>A: Yes. Use '-Ow &lt;speed&gt; &lt;device&gt;' to make it
2875work.</para>
2876</answer>
2877</qandaentry>
2878<qandaentry>
2879<question><para>Q: Does Mondo support tape
2880 drives?</para></question>
2881<answer>
2882 <para>A: Yes. See above.</para>
2883 <para>Of course, mondo will relay on the kernel to support your tape drive. So you should first check that your kernel found it correctly. Use for example one of the following commands:</para>
2884<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2885<row>
2886<entry>
2887 bash# dmesg | grep tape
2888</entry>
2889</row>
2890<row>
2891<entry>
2892 bash# cat /proc/scsi/scsi
2893</entry>
2894</row>
2895<row>
2896<entry>
2897 bash# mt -f /dev/st0 status
2898</entry>
2899</row>
2900</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2901
2902
2903</answer>
2904</qandaentry>
2905<qandaentry>
2906<question><para>Q: Does Mondo support my tape
2907 drive?</para></question>
2908<answer>
2909<para>A: If your tape drive and its firmware and the kernel-level
2910driver support fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() - standard C
2911library calls - then yes, Mondo should support it. If not, well,
2912you need a refund. :) Mondo plays nicely with any sane, sensible
2913drives. That's most of them, by the way. :) If your drive doesn't
2914play nicely with Mondo then you may try tinkering with setblksize
2915and defblksize using 'mt', or tweaking Mondo's block size by
2916recompiling it with make INTTAPE=4096 or INTTAPE=8192 or something.
2917Other than that, you need a priest or a refund.
2918Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
2919in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
2920recognize the drive.</para>
2921</answer>
2922</qandaentry>
2923<qandaentry>
2924<question><para>Q: Sometimes, my laptop won't mount
2925 Mondo CD properly, or something. Umm...</para></question>
2926<answer>
2927<para>A: Please insert the CD, close the CD-ROM tray, wait a few
2928seconds and then press Enter to acknowledge insertion of the next
2929CD. Your laptop is on crack and is sucking a little too hard on the
2930pipe.</para>
2931</answer>
2932</qandaentry>
2933<qandaentry>
2934 <question><para>Q: Does Mondo support Hardware RAID?</para></question>
2935 <answer>
2936<para>A: Yes. You may backup and restore RAID systems. You may also
2937backup a non-RAID system and restore as RAID (or vice versa) by
2938using the mountlist editor to edit your RAID and non-RAID
2939partitions and their settings. Mondo will do the partitioning and
2940formatting for you.</para>
2941<para>Tested Raid controllers includes all those showing only classical devices
2942 such as /dev/sdx, and SmartArray cciss controllers.</para>
2943</answer>
2944</qandaentry>
2945<qandaentry>
2946<question><para>Q: Where is my CD burner, in SCSI terms?</para></question>
2947<answer>
2948<para>A: Type:</para>
2949<para></para>
2950<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2951<row>
2952 <entry>
2953 bash# cdrecord -scanbus
2954 </entry>
2955</row>
2956<row>
2957 <entry>
2958 bash# wodim --devices
2959 </entry>
2960</row>
2961</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2962<para>or for ATAPI type of devices on older kernel versions:</para>
2963<para></para>
2964<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2965<row>
2966 <entry>
2967 bash# cdrecord -scanbus dev=ATAPI
2968 </entry>
2969</row>
2970</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2971<para>you may replace ATAPI by ATA in the previous line with certain cdrecord versions and hadrware configurations</para>
2972
2973
2974<para>Find your CD burner's device# (e.g. '0,0,0'). Call Mondo with
2975the switch '-Oc &lt;speed&gt;' -d '&lt;device&gt;'. Or, if you feel
2976lucky, just use '-Oc 2'; Mondo will (a) assume you want to write at
29774x to a CD-R and (b) will do its best to find your CD burner.</para>
2978</answer>
2979</qandaentry>
2980<qandaentry>
2981 <question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle SCSI devices?</para></question>
2982 <answer>
2983<para>A: Mondo should be able to handle almost any hardware. So
2984long as your kernel and modules support it, Mindi will support it
2985and therefore so will Mondo.</para>
2986</answer>
2987</qandaentry>
2988<qandaentry>
2989 <question><para>Q: Why doesn't cdrecord -scanbus work ?</para></question>
2990 <answer>
2991 <para>A: If you have a 2.4.x kernel (typical example are fedora legacy kernels for redhat 7.X/8/9) and an IDE CDRW device, and the drive is not
2992listed when you run
2993
2994<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2995<row>
2996<entry>
2997bash# cdrecord -scanbus
2998</entry>
2999</row>
3000</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
3001
3002try adding the following kernel option to your boot script to enable
3003SCSI emulation: hdx=ide-scsi, where "hdx" should be replaced with the
3004appropriate drive letter of the CDRW device, e.g., "hdc".
3005(Answer provided by Christopher Moriarity cdm7_at_cdc.gov)
3006</para>
3007</answer>
3008</qandaentry>
3009</qandaset>
3010</sect1>
3011
3012<sect1 id="faq-backup">
3013<title>Backup related Questions</title>
3014
3015<qandaset>
3016<qandaentry>
3017<question><para id="MMKM">Q: Mondo says, 'Cannot
3018 run mindi --makemountlist' and aborts. What do I do?</para></question>
3019<answer>
3020 <para>
3021 A: Look at <filename>/var/log/mindi.log</filename> and see what it
3022says. Also, try typing 'mindi --makemountlist /tmp/mountlist.txt'
3023to see what Mindi says. Send the log to the &ML; if you get stuck.
3024</para>
3025</answer>
3026</qandaentry>
3027<qandaentry>
3028<question><para>Q: Can Mondo burn CD as they are
3029 created?</para></question>
3030<answer>
3031<para>A: Yes. Use the '-Oc &lt;speed&gt;' switch. Use a negative
3032number for a dummy burn.</para>
3033</answer>
3034</qandaentry>
3035<qandaentry>
3036<question><para>Q: Mondo failed to burn my CD. It said
3037something like, "Error CDB A1 01 02 53 ..." and so on. What does
3038that mean?</para></question>
3039<answer>
3040<para>A: Cdrecord reported some serious errors while trying to burn
3041your CD. Check your CD burner, your CD-R and your kernel.</para>
3042</answer>
3043</qandaentry>
3044<qandaentry>
3045<question><para>Q: May I backup my system with one
3046 partition layout and restore with another?</para></question>
3047<answer>
3048<para>A: Yes. Boot in Interactive Mode and edit the mountlist using
3049the snazzy new mountlist editor. Mondo can now edit your RAID
3050partitions for you. Just open /dev/md0 (or whatever) and select
3051"RAID.." to start. Or, to add a RAID device:</para>
3052<itemizedlist>
3053<listitem>
3054<para>Add two or more partitions, of type and mountpoint
3055'raid'</para>
3056</listitem>
3057<listitem>
3058<para>Add device '/dev/md0' and click OK</para>
3059</listitem>
3060<listitem>
3061<para>Follow the prompts and your own common-sense :)</para>
3062</listitem>
3063</itemizedlist>
3064</answer>
3065</qandaentry>
3066<qandaentry>
3067<question><para>Q: Why does Mondo need so much free disk
3068 space?</para></question>
3069<answer>
3070 <para>A: Because it need space to create the archive files with afio, then
3071 again space to create the ISO images that you'll be able to burn.
3072</para>
3073</answer>
3074</qandaentry>
3075<qandaentry>
3076<question><para>Q: I am trying to do something clever,
3077e.g. write my ISO's to an NFS mount, and I get some weird error
3078messages. What do I do?</para></question>
3079<answer>
3080<para>A: Well, (a) use '-T /tmp' or '-T /home' or something in your
3081 call to Mondo. Oh, and (b) check the <filename>/etc/exports</filename> file on your NFS server
3082 and verify the exported filesystem is writable for the client, and relaunch exportfs -a.
3083</para>
3084</answer>
3085</qandaentry>
3086<qandaentry>
3087<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup to data files on
3088 another partition, e.g. an NFS mount?</para></question>
3089<answer>
3090<para>A: Yes. Just backup as usual but add '-d /mnt/nfs' or
3091wherever your partition is mounted; don't use '-Oc' or '-Ot' at
3092all; just '-Oi -d /root'. Then, after booting from the media
3093which Mondo generates, you need to type 'ISO' at the
3094console.</para>
3095</answer>
3096</qandaentry>
3097<qandaentry>
3098<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup _to_ an NFS
3099 partition, i.e. backup over a network? How about restoring?</para></question>
3100<answer>
3101<para>A: Yes. Use '-On &lt;mount&gt; &lt;directory&gt;'. Example:
3102</para>
3103<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
3104<row>
3105<entry>
3106
3107 bash# mondoarchive -On nfs://192.168.1.3:/home/nfs
3108
3109</entry>
3110</row>
3111</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
3112
3113</answer>
3114</qandaentry>
3115<qandaentry>
3116<question><para>Q: Does Mondo handle System or Hidden
3117 attributes when archiving Dos/Win files?</para></question>
3118<answer>
3119<para>A: No. It probably never will, either. Sorry.</para>
3120</answer>
3121</qandaentry>
3122</qandaset>
3123</sect1>
3124
3125<sect1 id="faq-compare">
3126<title>Compare related Questions</title>
3127
3128<qandaset>
3129<qandaentry>
3130<question><para>Q: When I compare my archives to my file
3131system, Mondo tells me there are differences or errors. Are the
3132archives bad?</para></question>
3133<answer>
3134 <para>A: Look at <filename>/tmp/changed.files</filename>; if the files are logfiles,
3135temp files or files which you think you may have changed recently
3136then the archives are simply out of date, albeit only by a few
3137minutes. Not a problem. However, if lots of files in /usr have
3138changed or if you get lots of errors then perhaps your CD, your
3139tapes or even your hardware could be to blame. Check your CD writer
3140or tape streamer.</para>
3141<para>Also, don't forget to review <filename>/var/log/mondoarchive.log</filename> for
3142more information.</para>
3143</answer>
3144</qandaentry>
3145</qandaset>
3146</sect1>
3147
3148<sect1 id="faq-restore">
3149<title>Restore related Questions</title>
3150<qandaset>
3151<qandaentry>
3152<question><para>Q: Can Mondo help me
3153 move/resize/re-allocate my partitions?</para></question>
3154<answer>
3155<para>A: Yes. Just backup your system in Interactive Mode using
3156Mondo. Edit the mountlist when prompted.</para>
3157</answer>
3158</qandaentry>
3159<qandaentry>
3160<question><para>Q: My zip drive is a SCSI drive. When I
3161restore, Mondo craps out, saying it can't mount the drive (because
3162there is no disk in it). What do I do?</para></question>
3163<answer>
3164<para>A: Restore in Interactive Mode. Delete the SCSI drive from
3165the mountlist before you restore. Then Mondo won't try to partition
3166or format it. Next time you backup, use -E /dev/sdd (or whatever
3167your zip drive is). The /dev entry will be excluded from the
3168mountlist but not from the filelist. So, when you restore, you
3169won't accidentally reformat your zip disk. However, after
3170restoring, you will find that /dev/sdd (the _file_) will still be
3171present in your /dev directory. Cool, eh?</para>
3172</answer>
3173</qandaentry>
3174<qandaentry>
3175<question><para>Q: I received a message like, 'Fileset
3176 NNN failed' during restore. What does it mean.</para></question>
3177<answer>
3178<para>A: It usually means either you had a very large (&gt;2GB)
3179file which was not archived owing to a flaw in your distro or your
3180filesystem has changed in relation to the backup.</para>
3181</answer>
3182</qandaentry>
3183<qandaentry>
3184<question><para>Q: Why does my ext3 partition have less
3185 space free than when I backed it up?</para></question>
3186<answer>
3187<para>A: Mondo creates a 10MB journal file area. Your journal was
3188probably smaller than that, hence the difference.</para>
3189</answer>
3190</qandaentry>
3191<qandaentry>
3192<question><para id="SEGF">Q: When I restore after
3193booting from the media, I sometimes get errors like, "Running
3194out of memory" or "Segmentation fault". What is going on?</para></question>
3195<answer><para>A: It sounds as if you are running out of disk
3196space, probably ram disk space. Type 'df -m' to see which
3197partitions are running low on space. Please send as much
3198information as you can to the &ML;. This problem is
3199believed to have been fixed in 1.63 and 1.71.</para>
3200</answer>
3201</qandaentry>
3202<qandaentry>
3203<question>
3204<para id="LVM">Q: I can't nuke-restore my LVM or RAID or
3205LVM-on-RAID setup. I have to do it manually. What now?</para></question>
3206<answer>
3207<para>A: You said it yourself. You have to do it manually. :) Sorry
3208but that's about it. At least you have all the tools to do it. I
3209assume you know how. If you don't, look at i-want-my-lvm (a script
3210on the ramdisk) if you're using LVM. It should give you a few
3211clues. RAID is harder but in general Mondo's RAID support is good.
3212After you've prepped and formatted your drives, run mondorestore
3213again but say 'no' when asked if you want Mondo to prep or format
3214your drives.</para>
3215</answer>
3216</qandaentry>
3217</qandaset>
3218</sect1>
3219</chapter>
3220
3221&gfdl;
3222
3223</book>
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