source: MondoRescue/branches/stable/mondo-doc/mondorescue-howto.sgml@ 1886

Last change on this file since 1886 was 1693, checked in by Bruno Cornec, 17 years ago
  • Remove useless copy from mindi to mondo at end of USB handling
  • Fix PB macro vs tools/*2build issue
  • make_usb_fs change of interface (doesn't need a parameter)
  • Fix USB support in mondo to avoid multiple copies of files
  • Use first partiion in mondo for USB device
  • Fixes for USB CLI for both mondo/mindi
  • Try to add USB support for mondoarchive with new functions
  • du => deb for similarity with other distro type under pbconf
  • migrate gento build files under pb
  • remove now obsolete rpm spec file and gentoo build files from distributions
  • Remove DOCDIR usage in mindi + various build fixes

(merge -r1680:1692 $SVN_M/branches/2.2.5)

File size: 100.4 KB
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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
33CD set 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, recommendations 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>
324If you want to backup the whole computer (excluding /sys and /proc,
325naturally) then leave this as / which is the default. Otherwise,
326specify subsets, (e.g. /usr/local /home ) being sure to put a space
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 space in
341between each path, e.g. /shared/private /scratch /nfs /windows
342</entry>
343</row>
344<row>
345<entry>
346<ulink url="images/makernel.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
347<imagedata fileref="images/makernel-mini">
348</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
349</ulink>
350</entry>
351<entry>
352Is your kernel sane? Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, Debian and Slackware users
353should in general say 'yes' because these vendors are good at
354producing reliable kernels. If you are using Gentoo or LFS
355then your kernel might be non-standard, in which case say 'no' to
356use Mondo's failsafe kernel (provided separately).
357</entry>
358</row>
359<row>
360<entry>
361<ulink url="images/maverifyq.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
362<imagedata fileref="images/maverifyq-mini">
363</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
364</ulink>
365</entry>
366<entry>
367If you want to verify the archives after writing them to media, say
368'yes' here. If you have absolute faith in your hardware and your
369Linux distribution, say 'no'... and a little prayer.
370</entry>
371</row>
372<row>
373<entry>
374<ulink url="images/maproceedq.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
375<imagedata fileref="images/maproceedq-mini">
376</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
377</ulink>
378</entry>
379<entry>
380If you are sure you want to go ahead, say 'yes' and find something
381else to do while Mondo backs up your computer. If you say 'no' then
382you will be unceremoniously dumped at the shell prompt. :-)
383</entry>
384</row>
385<row>
386<entry>
387<ulink url="images/1.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
388<imagedata fileref="images/1-mini">
389</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
390</ulink>
391</entry>
392<entry>
393The backup process will now commence. There are some pre-backup
394tasks to be carried out first but the backup is essentially
395underway. To simplify the backup process, you were asked a series
396of questions. Next time, if you like, you could call mondoarchive
397with various command-line switches to control its behavior, instead
398of answering a series of questions. See the man page for details.
399</entry>
400</row>
401<row>
402<entry>
403<ulink url="images/3.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
404<imagedata fileref="images/3-mini">
405</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
406</ulink>
407</entry>
408<entry>
409Mondo will make a catalog of all files to be backed up. This may
410take up to five minutes. The list of files will be divided into
411sets, approximately 4 MB (before compression) of files per set.
412This typically takes one minute.
413</entry>
414</row>
415<row>
416<entry>
417<ulink url="images/4.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
418<imagedata fileref="images/1-mini">
419</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
420</ulink>
421</entry>
422<entry>
423Mondo calls Mindi. Mindi generates bootable images and
424auxiliary data images which are based on your existing Linux
425distribution and filesystem. That way, you can be sure Mondo's
426tools will be compatible with your existing filesystems and
427binaries: Mondo's tools are your tools. Mindi takes up to five
428minutes to run.
429</entry>
430</row>
431<row>
432<entry>
433<ulink url="images/5tape.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
434<imagedata fileref="images/5tape-mini">
435</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
436</ulink>
437</entry>
438<entry>
439Finally, Mondo begins backing up your computer. This process may
440take a few minutes or a few hours, depending on how much data you
441are archiving, how fast your CPU is, how much RAM you have, and so
442on. It will backup your regular files and then your large files
443(files larger than approximately 32MB). If you have opted to verify
444your backups, Mondo will do that too.
445</entry>
446</row>
447<row>
448<entry>
449<ulink url="images/10cd.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
450<imagedata fileref="images/10cd-mini">
451</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
452</ulink>
453</entry>
454<entry>
455Do you want to create a boot image at the end? Yes, if you're a
456tape or NFS user. No, if you are using CD/DVD-R[W]'s and your computer
457supports bootable CD's or using PXE.
458</entry>
459</row>
460</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
461
462<itemizedlist>
463<listitem>
464<para>Try to boot from the first CD of the backup. Choose 'Compare Mode' by typing
465compare at the boot screen.</para>
466</listitem>
467<listitem>
468<para>If you can boot, fine. If not, make a Mindi "Test" CD to
469checkout the compatibility of your system. (see
470<link linkend="test-mindi">Testing Mindi</link> for more
471details). Remove the CD; boot your computer as usual;
472execute as root</para>
473<para></para>
474<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
475<row>
476<entry>
477
478 bash# mindi
479</entry>
480</row>
481<row>
482<entry>
483 bash# cd /var/cache/mindi
484
485</entry>
486</row>
487</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
488
489<para>(for CD-R)</para>
490<para></para>
491<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
492<row>
493<entry>
494
495bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v mindi.iso
496
497</entry>
498</row>
499</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
500
501<para>(for CD-RW)</para>
502<para></para>
503<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
504<row>
505<entry>
506
507bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 blank=fast -eject -v mindi.iso
508
509</entry>
510</row>
511</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
512
513<para>Reboot your system with the created Mindi CD, with the BIOS
514set to boot from CD. If the result is a command line in 'Expert'
515mode, your system checks out. Remove the CD and reboot your
516system.</para>
517</listitem>
518<listitem>
519<para>If you still cannot boot from Mindi's CD then please e-mail
520the &ML; for help.
521</para>
522</listitem>
523</itemizedlist>
524<para>When making a backup on a live system, there will always be
525processes running that will write out data on the system after you
526have made the backup and before you have made the compare, this
527will result in difference showing up when comparing your backup.
528For a full explanation and what can be done to avoid this, please
529read this section.</para>
530<itemizedlist>
531
532 <listitem>
533<para>This QuickStart covers the ideal case. Upon receiving any
534system feedback/errors, read each related HOWTO section.</para>
535<para>Example 2-1. A test backup of your /home directory to CD-Rs
536using the command line</para>
537<para></para>
538<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
539<row>
540<entry>
541
542bash# mondoarchive -OVc 4 -I /home -g
543
544</entry>
545</row>
546</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
547
548<para>The 'c' means you must be writing to CD-Rs, not CD-RWs (the
549latter would require 'w' instead of 'c'). The '4' is the speed of
550your CD writer. The string after -I is the path to be backed up.
551The '-g' means you are going to see the pretty yellow-on-blue
552screen instead of the boring white-on-black screen. :)
553</para>
554<para>Example 2-2. A backup of your whole filesystem to NFS using
555the command line</para>
556<para></para>
557<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
558<row>
559<entry>
560
561 bash# mkdir -p /mnt/nfs
562</entry>
563</row>
564<row>
565<entry>
566 bash# mount 192.168.1.28:/home/nfs /mnt/nfs
567 </entry>
568</row>
569<row>
570<entry>
571bash# mondoarchive -OVn 192.168.1.28:/home/nfs -gF[...]
572 </entry>
573</row>
574<row>
575<entry>
576bash# umount /mnt/nfs
577 </entry>
578</row>
579<row>
580<entry>
581 bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v /var/cache/mindi/mindi.iso
582
583</entry>
584</row>
585</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
586
587<para>Note that you have to mount the NFS partition, backup to it,
588unmount it, and create a boot CD to allow you to restore from
589scratch if necessary. To reassure yourself that you will be able to
590restore from the NFS share even if your PC is wiped, please boot
591from the Mindi CD and type 'compare'. The on-screen instructions
592from that point on should be sufficient.</para>
593<para>Example 2-3. A backup of your whole
594filesystem to tape using the command line</para>
595<para></para>
596<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
597<row>
598<entry>
599
600bash# mondoarchive -OVt -d /dev/st0 -9 -L -g
601
602</entry>
603</row>
604</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
605
606<para>In this case, we assume Syslinux is incompatible with your
607boot media. For some reason, some BIOSes just don't like Syslinux.
608If you find this to be the case for your computer, please use '-L'
609to force Mondo to use LILO instead of Syslinux as the boot loader
610for its CD. (NB: This has nothing to do with which boot
611loader your hard drive uses.) Also, it is a good habit to specify
612your tape streamer with '-d &lt;device&gt;'. You don't usually need
613to but it's good to be on the safe side. Some computers call your
614tape streamer /dev/osst0, some call it /dev/ftape, ...
615Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
616in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
617recognize the drive.</para>
618</listitem>
619</itemizedlist>
620
621</chapter>
622
623<chapter id="overview"><title>Overview</title>
624
625<sect1 id="overview-mondorescue">
626<title>Mondo Rescue</title>
627<para>Mondo Rescue backs up your file system to CD, tape, NFS
628(archives stored remotely) or ISO's (archives stored locally).
629Mondo uses afio as the backup engine; afio is a well-respected
630replacement for tar. In the event of catastrophic data loss, you
631may restore some or all of your system, even if your hard drives
632are now blank. Mondo Rescue can do a lot of other cool
633things:</para>
634<itemizedlist>
635<listitem>
636<para>You can use Mondo to clone an installation of Linux. Just
637backup the crucial stuff and exclude /home, /var/log, etc.</para>
638</listitem>
639<listitem>
640<para>You can backup a non-RAID file system and restore it as RAID
641including the root partition (if your kernel supports that).</para>
642</listitem>
643<listitem>
644<para>You can backup a system running on one format and restore as
645another format.</para>
646</listitem>
647<listitem>
648<para>You can restructure your partitions, e.g. shrink/enlarge,
649reassign devices, add hard drives, etc, before you partition and
650format your drives. Mondo will restore your data and amend
651/etc/lilo.conf and /etc/fstab accordingly.</para>
652</listitem>
653<listitem>
654<para>You can backup Linux/Windows systems, including the boot
655sectors. Mondo will make everything right at restore-time.
656(However, do run "Scandisk" when you first boot into Windows, just
657in case.)</para>
658</listitem>
659<listitem>
660<para>You can use your Mondo backup CD to verify the integrity of
661your computer.</para>
662</listitem>
663</itemizedlist>
664<para>Mondo's principal virtue is that it protects you from the
665problems that can arise when you reinstall completely from scratch.
666If you want to wipe and restore your system every year just as a
667matter of 'good practice', Mondo is not for you. However, if you
668want to get up and running again in a hurry after someone breaks
669into your computer and wipes it (or if you accidentally wipe it
670yourself) then Mondo is definitely for you. It will permit you to
671roll back to a known-good installation in a very short period of
672time, sometimes as little as twenty minutes. Even if you backup
673large amounts of data to tape daily and do not want to add yet
674another backup regime, please consider backing up the core
675filesystem (i.e. everything but the directories containing your
676huge database and your prizewinning novel) every month or so, just
677in case. You will be glad you did.</para>
678<para>What is Mondo not?</para>
679<para>Mondo is not an everyday backup program. It is not designed
680to replace tar, afio, kbackup, etc. Mondo is designed to make it
681possible to recover from scratch if necessary. Tar and afio offer a
682quick, convenient way to backup small sets of files, sometimes to
683removable media.</para>
684</sect1>
685
686<sect1 id="overview-mindi">
687<title>Mindi</title>
688<para>
689Mindi Linux creates a set of boot/root images
690that will let you perform basic system maintenance on your Linux
691distro. The principal virtues of Mindi's boot disks are the fact
692that they contain your kernel, modules, tools and libraries. You
693can ask for additional binaries (or other files) to be included on
694the kit. The libraries will be added for you.
695</para>
696<para>Whichever modules were loaded at backup-time, they are
697reloaded at boot-time. So, in theory, you will boot into almost the
698same environment as you were in when you backed up. If you want to
699add files to your Mindi boot disks, edit '&lt;INSTALLPATH OF
700MINDI&gt;/mindi/deplist.txt' and add the files to that list. The
701added files and dependencies, will be spread across the data disks
702at run-time.
703</para>
704<para>Mindi makes sure that Mondo has all the tools it needs at
705boot-time. Mondo uses fdisk, mkfs, cat, less, more, afio, gzip,
706bzip2, your keyboard configuration, your glibc libraries, your
707other libraries, your kernel, your modules, ... which is a lot of tools!
708Mindi takes care of all that, so that Mondo can get on with the job of backing
709up or restoring your data.
710</para>
711<para>Mindi is also handy for making boot CDs/disks which stand on
712their own. You do not need Mondo. Indeed, if you like, you could
713use another backup/restore program with Mindi. Just add it to
714Mindi's dependency list (type 'locate deplist.txt' to find it).
715Mindi will include your software on its boot CD/disks the next time
716you run mindi.
717</para>
718</sect1>
719
720
721<sect1 id="overview-linuxbackup">
722<title>Linux Backup</title>
723<para>Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux are used primarily as Linux
724backup and cloning tools. The fall in prices of CD-RW drives and
725writable discs will allow current users to keep good backups and
726future users to leverage the cloning capability.</para>
727<para>Tape drives are more likely to suit your needs if you run a
728larger installation (or have lots of MP3's). Warning! OnStream
729drives do not play well with Mondo. I do not know why. It is, in my
730opinion, something which OnStream should look into. Mondo uses
731fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() to interact with tape
732drives. That works for most drives but some drives just don't like
733that.
734Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
735in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
736recognize the drive.</para>
737<para>Mondo Rescue has been tested thousands of times on various computers.
738It has worked for them.
739Thousands of users testify to Mondo's stability and its ease of
740use. However, please test it on your own system before you rely on
741it. In fact, do not rely on any software until you have tested it
742to see if it performs as expected.</para>
743<para>To establish that Mondo will behave well in an emergency,
744please be prepared. Run a test backup as follows:-</para>
745<itemizedlist>
746<listitem>
747<para>Run mondoarchive without any command-line options.</para>
748</listitem>
749<listitem>
750 <para>Backup a subset of files - e.g. /usr/local - to CD or
751 tape. Say 'yes' when asked if you want to verify them.</para>
752</listitem>
753</itemizedlist>
754<para>Next, restore archives to your live filesystem.</para>
755<itemizedlist>
756<listitem>
757<para>When mondoarchive terminates, run mondorestore without any
758command-line options.</para>
759</listitem>
760<listitem><para>Insert the CD when prompted.
761 Press &lt;Enter&gt;. Wait a moment.</para></listitem>
762<listitem><para>Select a subset of files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man
763 and /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.</para></listitem>
764<listitem><para>Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something
765 similar.</para></listitem>
766<listitem><para>When mondorestore terminates, compare the restored files
767 to the originals using cmp or diff.</para></listitem>
768</itemizedlist>
769<para>Finally, simulate an emergency restore.</para>
770<itemizedlist>
771<listitem>
772<para>Boot from CD.</para>
773</listitem>
774<listitem><para>Select 'Interactive Mode' at boot-time. (Type
775 'interactive' and hit &lt;Enter&gt;.)</para></listitem>
776<listitem><para>Hit OK when shown the mountlist. Say 'yes' when asked if
777 you accept the mountlist.</para></listitem>
778<listitem><para>Select files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man and
779 /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.</para></listitem>
780<listitem><para>Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something
781 similar.</para></listitem>
782<listitem><para>When mondorestore terminates, please reboot and compare
783 the restored files to the originals.</para></listitem>
784</itemizedlist>
785<para>FYI, the subroutines to repartition and reformat your drives
786are very stable. If you are a RAID or LVM user, you
787might&nbsp;encounter some difficulties when wiping and restoring
788from scratch because of the sheer range of filesystem layouts and
789the impossibility of testing Mondo on every single one. If you have
790trouble, just drop to the command-line and partition/format
791manually. Then, call mondorestore, select Interactive Mode, and say
792'no' when asked if you want Mondo to partition or format your
793drives for you.</para>
794<para>You see, even if you have trouble, you still have two hands
795and most of the tools you need - lvchange, pvcreate, fdisk, mkraid,
796etc. - to do it manually. After you have prepped and formatted your
797drives manually (if you have to), just run mondorestore again and
798say 'no' when asked if you want to prep or format your drives. What
799could be easier?</para>
800</sect1>
801
802<sect1 id="overview-winbackup">
803<title>Windows Backup</title>
804<para>Backing up windows partitions.</para>
805<sect2 id="overview-winbackup-win95"><title>Windows ME/95/98</title>
806<para>Verify that the partition is listed in /etc/fstab and is
807mounted (e.g. /dev/hda1). Mondo will take care of everything else.
808The files will be archived just like all other files in the live
809file system. At restore-time, Mondo will take care of the boot
810sector of /dev/hda1 prior to the restore.</para>
811<para>Note: if Windows ME/95/98 is not located on /dev/hda1 or
812/dev/sda1, then Mondo will not take care of the boot sector of
813/dev/hda1. The user will have to boot from a DOS floppy and run SYS
814C: to correct the Windows boot sector.</para>
815</sect2>
816<sect2 id="overview-winbackup-winnt"><title>Windows NT4/2K/XP</title>
817<para>Windows NT4/2K/XP typically use the NTFS file system, not
818VFAT.. The user should use '-x /dev/hda1' (or whichever device the
819Windows partition resides). Mondo will treat the partition as a
820biggiefile. Mondo will also add an entry to the mountlist to
821reflect the size and type of the partition. The user may not edit
822that partition's size at restore-time (for obvious reasons).</para>
823<para>Please bear in mind that Mondo was written for Linux users.
824If Mondo does not backup or restore your Windows system well, you
825might want to consider reporting it to the &ML;
826</para>
827</sect2>
828</sect1>
829
830<sect1 id="overview-history">
831<title>Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux
832History</title>
833<para>Mondo Rescue was created in December 1999 by Hugo Rabson as a utility to
834clone Linux/Windows installations. Norton Ghost would not do the
835job, and his boss wanted to jump on the Linux bandwagon. So, he wrote
836a few scripts and shoehorned them into the latest Linux-Mandrake
837CD. Since that time, Mondo grew into a disaster recovery suite for
838Linux and Windows. Mondo forced him to learn about the kernel, its
839initrd initial ramdisk, modules, library dependencies, disk
840partitioning, and the myriad differences between the Top 10 Linux
841distributions.</para>
842<para>The first formal release was made on February 18th, 2000.
843Mondo is currently one of the top five Linux backup/restore
844programs. Mondo has been compared favorably to ArcServe, Arkeia and
845BRU. Although Mondo lacks the more advanced, enterprise-level
846features of ArcServe and Arkeia, for workstations and small- to
847medium-size servers it is ideal because it is small, fast,
848efficient, stable, comes with source code, and is being actively
849developed and supported.</para>
850<para>
851 Since November 2005, Hugo Rabson has tranfered the maintenance
852 of the Mondo Rescue suite to Andree Leidenfrost and Bruno Cornec,
853 both previous developers and packagers of the tool since nearly
854 the begining.
855</para>
856</sect1>
857
858<sect1 id="overview-sysreq">
859<title>System Requirements</title>
860<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-hwreq">
861<title>Hardware Requirements</title>
862
863<para>Your computer must have:</para>
864<itemizedlist>
865<listitem>
866 <para>Intel(R)-compatible CPU (ia32, x86_64/amd64 or ia64)</para>
867</listitem>
868<listitem>
869<para>64MB of RAM (128MB recommended)</para>
870</listitem>
871<listitem>
872<para>800MB of hard disk space free</para>
873</listitem>
874<listitem>
875<para>CD writer, tape streamer, NFS share or some way to backup the
876backups :)</para>
877</listitem>
878</itemizedlist>
879<para>It is recommended that your computer have very good airflow.
880The backup with Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux will utilize your CPU,
881CD drive and fixed disk(s) like very few other applications. With a
882few hours of system backup activity, computers without sufficient
883airflow may show symptoms such as not burning full CD discs. The
884solution is a $20 or less additional fan at your local electronics
885discount store.</para>
886</sect2>
887
888<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">
889<title>Kernel Requirements</title>
890
891<para>Your kernel must have:</para>
892<itemizedlist>
893<listitem>
894<para>stable loopfs support, which means it really needs to be
8952.2.19 or 2.4.7 (or later)</para>
896</listitem>
897<listitem>
898<para>CD-ROM device support</para>
899</listitem>
900<listitem>
901<para>ISO9660 file system support</para>
902</listitem>
903<listitem>
904<para>initrd ramdisk support (built-in)</para>
905</listitem>
906<listitem>
907<para>Virtual memory file system support (built-in)</para>
908</listitem>
909<listitem>
910<para>ext2 file system support (built-in)</para>
911</listitem>
912<listitem>
913<para>Support for the backup media (Tape, CD-RW, NFS, Hard
914disk)</para>
915</listitem>
916<listitem>
917<para>If the backup media is CD-RW then you need SCSI emulation
918also</para>
919<para>vfat support in the active kernel - mindi needs this when creating
920syslinux boot images</para>
921</listitem>
922</itemizedlist>
923<para>Please note that the stock kernels of Red Hat/RHEL/Fedora,
924 Mandrake/Mandriva, SuSE/SLES/OpenSuSE, Debian and Slackware
925 all meet Mondo's requirements. If your kernel does not meet Mondo's
926 requirements then there is something wrong with it. Mondo's demands
927 are not unreasonable.</para>
928<para>Mondo (specifically Mindi) does not require any specific
929module. It does require that your kernel support the initrd
930initial ramdisk facility. Typically this is supported by the Linux
931kernel. Modules used are needed to support the CD,
932hard disks, etc. If the support is modular, then the modules will
933be incorporated in a boot disk by Mindi. If the support is built-in
934(static), then it will be available at boot-time by default.</para>
935</sect2>
936<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-swreq">
937<title>Software Requirements</title>
938<para>See Mondo's <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml">Download
939page</ulink> for details.</para>
940<para>Mondo requires afio, bzip2, cdrtools/cdrecord/growisofs (may be part of the dvd+rw-tools package), ncurses, newt,
941isolinux/syslinux, lzo (optional), lzop (optional), mkisofs, slang,
942and a few other packages.</para>
943<para>Good Linux distributions provide all these packages. If yours
944does not then please go to the aforementioned Download page or surf
945the Net, preferably the website of the distribution you are
946using.</para>
947<para>Mondo's expectations are not unreasonable, either of your
948Linux distribution or of your kernel. However, if your distribution
949fails to meet its expectations and you cannot find out how to
950resolve them, please feel free to e-mail the &ML;
951</para>
952</sect2>
953</sect1>
954</chapter>
955
956<chapter id="installation">
957<title>Installation</title>
958
959<sect1 id="installation-mindi">
960<title>Mindi Installation</title>
961<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
962you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
963<para></para>
964<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
965<row>
966<entry>
967
968 bash# cd /tmp
969</entry>
970</row>
971<row>
972<entry>
973 bash# tar -zxvf mindi-1.x.tgz
974 </entry>
975</row>
976<row>
977<entry>
978bash# cd mindi-1.x
979</entry>
980</row>
981<row>
982<entry>
983 bash# ./install.sh
984
985</entry>
986</row>
987</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
988
989<para>This installs mindi additional files into /usr/local/lib/mindi and
990the program into /usr/local/sbin</para>
991<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to
992wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
993<para></para>
994<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
995<row>
996<entry>
997
998bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mindi-1.x-x.i386.rpm
999</entry>
1000</row>
1001<row>
1002<entry>
1003
1004or
1005</entry>
1006</row>
1007<row>
1008<entry>
1009
1010bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mindi-1.x-x.deb
1011
1012</entry>
1013</row>
1014</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1015
1016<para>This installs mindi additional files into /usr/lib/mindi and
1017the program into /usr/sbin.
1018</para>
1019</sect1>
1020
1021<sect1 id="installation-mindi-busybox">
1022<title>Mindi Busybox Installation</title>
1023<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
1024you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1025<para></para>
1026<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1027<row>
1028<entry>
1029
1030 bash# cd /tmp
1031</entry>
1032</row>
1033<row>
1034 <entry>
1035 bash# tar -zxvf mindi-busybox-1.x.tgz
1036 </entry>
1037</row>
1038<row>
1039 <entry>
1040 bash# cd mindi-busybox-1.x
1041 </entry>
1042</row>
1043<row>
1044 <entry>
1045 bash# make oldconfig
1046 </entry>
1047</row>
1048<row>
1049 <entry>
1050 bash# make busybox
1051 </entry>
1052</row>
1053<row>
1054 <entry>
1055 bash# make install
1056 </entry>
1057</row>
1058</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1059<para>This installs busybox files and symlinks into /usr/local/lib/mindi/rootfs
1060</para>
1061<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to
1062wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1063<para></para>
1064<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1065<row>
1066<entry>
1067
1068bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mindi-busybox-1.x-x.i386.rpm
1069</entry>
1070</row>
1071<row>
1072<entry>
1073
1074or
1075</entry>
1076</row>
1077<row>
1078<entry>
1079
1080bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mindi-busybox-1.x-x.deb
1081
1082</entry>
1083</row>
1084</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1085
1086<para>This installs busybix files and symlinks into /usr/lib/mindi/rootfs
1087</para>
1088</sect1>
1089
1090<sect1 id="installation-mondo">
1091<title>Mondo Installation</title>
1092<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
1093you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1094<para></para>
1095<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1096<row>
1097<entry>
1098
1099 bash# cd /tmp
1100</entry>
1101</row>
1102<row>
1103<entry>
1104 bash# tar -zxvf mondo-2.xx.tgz
1105 </entry>
1106</row>
1107<row>
1108<entry>
1109bash# cd mondo-2.xx
1110 </entry>
1111</row>
1112<row>
1113<entry>
1114 bash# ./configure
1115 </entry>
1116</row>
1117<row>
1118<entry>
1119bash# make &amp;&amp; make install
1120
1121</entry>
1122</row>
1123</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1124
1125<para>This installs mondo into /usr/local/lib/mondo and installs
1126the programs into /usr/local/sbin</para>
1127<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to copy it
1128to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and
1129type:</para>
1130<para></para>
1131<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1132<row>
1133<entry>
1134
1135bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mondo-2.x-x.i386.rpm
1136</entry>
1137</row>
1138<row>
1139<entry>
1140
1141or
1142</entry>
1143</row>
1144<row>
1145<entry>
1146
1147bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mondo-2.x-x.deb
1148
1149</entry>
1150</row>
1151</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1152
1153<para>This installs mondo into /usr/lib/mondo and installs
1154the programs into /usr/sbin</para>
1155</sect1>
1156
1157<sect1 id=rpm-verif>
1158 <title>RPM verifications</title>
1159 <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>
1160<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1161<row>
1162 <entry>
1163 bash# rpm -Va mindi mondo mindi-busybox
1164 </entry>
1165</row>
1166</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1167<para>
1168 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.
1169 </para>
1170</sect1>
1171</chapter>
1172
1173<chapter id="test">
1174<title>Tests</title>
1175
1176<sect1 id="test-mindi">
1177<title>Testing Mindi</title>
1178
1179<para>Mindi is a vital part of the backup procedure. If you have
1180used Mondo before or if you are in a hurry, skip steps 6.2 and 6.3;
1181go straight to QuickStart.</para>
1182<para>However, if you have time or if you have been having trouble
1183getting Mondo to work, I would recommend trying out Mindi directly
1184(rather than via Mondo) to see if it can produce a bootable CD on
1185your system.</para>
1186<para>Make sure you are root while doing this, otherwise mindi will
1187fail, now do this.</para>
1188<para>If you have any problems, please:-</para>
1189<itemizedlist>
1190<listitem>
1191<para>less /var/log/mindi.log</para>
1192</listitem>
1193<listitem><para>feel free to edit mindi (it's a shell script, btw) to try
1194 to fix the problem yourself</para></listitem>
1195<listitem><para>contact the &ML; if you get stuck.</para></listitem>
1196</itemizedlist>
1197<para>Type:-</para>
1198<para></para>
1199<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1200<row>
1201<entry>
1202
1203bash# mindi
1204
1205</entry>
1206</row>
1207</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1208
1209<para>Example screen output, selecting to use your own kernel, to
1210create boot disks, and to create a bootable CD image:</para>
1211<para></para>
1212<screen>
1213
1214# mindi
1215Mindi Linux mini-distro generator v1.2.4-r1532
1216
1217Latest Mindi is available from http://www.mondorescueg
1218
1219BusyBox sources are available from http://www.busybox.net
1220
1221------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1222Do you want to use your own kernel to build the boot disk (y/n) ?y
1223Would you like to use LILO (instead of syslinux)
1224for your boot CD (y/n) ?n
1225Analyzing dependency requirements Done.
1226Making complete dependency list Done.
1227Analyzing your keyboard's configuration.
1228
1229Adding the following keyboard mapping tables: us-latin1 Done.
1230Assembling dependency files................................................................... Done.
1231The files have been subdivided into 5 directories. Your mountlist will look like this:-
1232 Finding all volume groups
1233 No volume groups found
1234 No volume groups found
1235 No volume groups found
1236 No volume groups found
1237 DEVICE MOUNTPOINT FORMAT SIZE (MB)
1238 /dev/hda1 / ext3 399
1239 /dev/hda9 /home ext3 48478
1240 /dev/hda6 /usr ext3 4999
1241 /dev/hda7 /var ext3 1000
1242 /dev/hda5 swap swap 349
1243 /dev/hda8 swap swap 2003
1244 Finding all volume groups
1245 No volume groups found
1246 No volume groups found
1247 No volume groups found
1248 No volume groups found
1249Tarring and zipping the groups.................. Done.
1250Creating data disk #1...#2...#3...#4...#5... Done.
1251Making 2880KB boot disk...........................mkfs.vfat 2.10 (22 Sep 2003)
1252... 2880 KB boot disks were created OK Done.
1253In the directory '/var/cache/mindi' you will find the images:-
1254 mindi-data-1.img mindi-data-2.img mindi-data-3.img mindi-data-4.img mindi-data-5.img mindi-root.1440.img
1255Shall I make a bootable CD image? (y/n) y
1256NB: Mindi's bootable CD always uses isolinux.
1257
1258For a bootable CD w/LILO, please use Mondo.
1259
1260Finished.
1261
1262Boot and data disk images were created.
1263
1264#
1265
1266</screen>
1267
1268<para>
1269The easiest way to test Mindi is to say
1270'y' to the last question, then use the
1271separate application cdrecord to make a bootable CD-R or
1272CD-RW.</para>
1273<para>Use the cdrecord application to write the CD image:</para>
1274<para></para>
1275<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1276<row>
1277<entry>
1278
1279 bash# cd /var/cache/mindi
1280</entry>
1281</row>
1282<row>
1283 <entry>
1284 bash# cdrecord -scanbus
1285
1286</entry>
1287</row>
1288</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1289
1290<para>The output of the above call to cdrecord will tell you your
1291CD writer's node. It is usually '0,0,0'. Choose one of the
1292following calls to write the CD, depending on whether the disk in
1293the drive is a CD-R or a CD-RW. Please replace 'x,x,x' with your
1294writer's node. For further information, type 'man cdrecord" from a
1295Linux command line.</para>
1296<para>If writing to a CD-RW Drive/Disc:</para>
1297<para></para>
1298<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1299<row>
1300<entry>
1301
1302bash# cdrecord -v blank=fast dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-RW)
1303
1304</entry>
1305</row>
1306</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1307
1308<para>If writing to a CD-R Drive/Disc:</para>
1309<para></para>
1310<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1311<row>
1312<entry>
1313
1314bash# cdrecord -v dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-R)
1315
1316</entry>
1317</row>
1318</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1319</sect1>
1320
1321<!--
1322<sect1 id="test-mondo">
1323<title>Testing Mondo</title>
1324</sect1>
1325-->
1326</chapter>
1327
1328<chapter id="backup">
1329<title>Backup</title>
1330
1331<sect1 id="backup-recommendations">
1332<title>Recommendations</title>
1333<itemizedlist>
1334<listitem>
1335<para>Shut down all possible applications (this minimizes any
1336 compare differences following the backup). Especially shutdown
1337 properly any running database on your system, as the recovery
1338 may lead to corrupted data. Or if applicable, boot to single user mode.</para>
1339</listitem>
1340<listitem>
1341<para>Type:</para>
1342</listitem>
1343</itemizedlist>
1344<para></para>
1345<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1346<row>
1347<entry>
1348
1349bash# mondoarchive
1350
1351</entry>
1352</row>
1353</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1354
1355<para>For most users, that should be enough. :-) Mondoarchive will
1356usually autodetect your hardware and configure it for you.</para>
1357<para>If you are a power user (or you like to control every detail
1358of how Mondo runs) then you may want to look at the command-line
1359switches. For example:-</para>
1360<para></para>
1361<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1362<row>
1363<entry>
1364
1365bash# mondoarchive -Ow9 -gF -I /home
1366
1367</entry>
1368</row>
1369</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1370
1371<para>cdrecord will tell you where your CD recorder lives, in SCSI
1372terms, which looks like '0,0,0'. The previous call to mondoarchive tells
1373Mondo to backup everything to a 4x CD-RW drive that has
1374a CD-RW disk in it. (Use -Oc instead of -Ow if you are using
1375CD-R.)</para>
1376<para>Please put the first CD-R(W) in the drive now. You will be
1377prompted to insert CD #2 but you will not be prompted to insert the
1378first disk. However, if you forget, do not worry: if Mondo fails to
1379write the first (or any) disk, it will offer to retry, abort or
1380fail.</para>
1381<para>Find the speed/compression
1382compromise that best suits your needs. Here maximum (-9) compression level is used.</para>
1383<para>If you are using cron then please consult the chapter that Conor Daly has dedicated to that <link linkend="backup-cron">topic</link>
1384</para>
1385</sect1>
1386
1387<sect1 id="backup-cmd">
1388<title>Backup Commands and Options</title>
1389
1390<para>Backup Command:</para>
1391<para></para>
1392<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1393<row>
1394<entry>
1395
1396mondoarchive &lt;-option1&gt; &lt;-option2&gt; ... &lt;-optionN&gt;
1397
1398</entry>
1399</row>
1400</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1401
1402<para>E.g.,</para>
1403<para></para>
1404<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1405<row>
1406<entry>
1407
1408bash# mondoarchive -E "/mnt/dos /mnt/cdrom" -9 -Oc 8
1409
1410</entry>
1411</row>
1412</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1413
1414<para>Would create backup CD to a CD-R disc at the highest
1415compression level, writing at speed 8 and ignoring the /mnt/dos and
1416/mnt/cdrom directories.</para>
1417<para>To see a detailed list of switches and their meaning, see the
1418<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/docs/mondoarchive.8.html">HTML
1419man page</ulink> on the website or type 'man mondoarchive' at the
1420console.</para>
1421<sect2 id="backup-cmd-cdr">
1422<title>Standard Example With CD-R</title>
1423<para></para>
1424<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1425<row>
1426<entry>
1427
1428bash# mondoarchive -Oc 2 -g
1429
1430</entry>
1431</row>
1432</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1433
1434<para>Replace '2' in '-Oc 2' with the writer's speed. If
1435mondoarchive cannot find your CD-R then please add '-d 0,0,0' (or
1436whatever your CD writer's SCSI node is; usually, it is 0,0,0) to
1437the call.</para>
1438<para>Please insert the first disk in the writer while the PC is
1439chugging away. If Mondo needs additional CD-R(W) then it will ask
1440for them.</para>
1441</sect2>
1442<sect2 id="backup-cmd-cdrw">
1443<title>Standard Example With CD-RW</title>
1444<para></para>
1445<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1446<row>
1447<entry>
1448
1449bash# mondoarchive -Ow 2 -g
1450
1451</entry>
1452</row>
1453</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1454
1455<para>Replace '2' in '-Ow 2' with the writer's speed.</para>
1456</sect2>
1457<sect2 id="backup-cmd-tape">
1458 <title>Standard Example With Tape</title>
1459<para></para>
1460<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1461<row>
1462<entry>
1463
1464bash# mondoarchive -Ot -d /dev/st0 -g
1465
1466</entry>
1467</row>
1468</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1469
1470</sect2>
1471<sect2 id="backup-cmd-failsafe">
1472 <title>Standard Example With Failsafe kernel</title>
1473<para></para>
1474<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1475<row>
1476<entry>
1477
1478bash# mondoarchive -k FAILSAFE -Ow 2
1479
1480</entry>
1481</row>
1482</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1483
1484<para>If you have problems during the restore phase, due to your kernel
1485 (which may be the case on some distributions), you may want to explore the Failsafe
1486 approach, In order for this option to work you'll have to get
1487 the mindi-kernel tarball or package for your distribution.</para>
1488</sect2>
1489<sect2 id="backup-cmd-network">
1490 <title>Standard Example With Network Backup</title>
1491<para></para>
1492<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1493<row>
1494<entry>
1495
1496 bash# mount 192.168.1.3:/home/nfs -t nfs /mnt/nfs
1497</entry>
1498</row>
1499<row>
1500 <entry>
1501 bash# mondoarchive -OVn 192.168.1.3:/home/nfs -g -s 200m
1502</entry>
1503</row>
1504<row>
1505 <entry>
1506 bash# umount /mnt/nfs
1507
1508</entry>
1509</row>
1510</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1511
1512<para>The resultant ISO's can be burned to CD's if you want (which
1513isn't a good idea unless you're a Mondo expert because they'll try
1514to restore over a network by default, which is silly because the
1515archives are on the CD's). Or, you can boot from the Mindi
1516mondorescue.iso and hit ENTER a few times to restore.</para>
1517<para>Those ISO images can also be used for a PXE restore. For this
1518 to work, please refer to the file README.pxe provided with
1519 your mindi package.
1520</para>
1521</sect2>
1522</sect1>
1523</chapter>
1524
1525<chapter id="backup-cron">
1526<title>HOWTO run mondo interactively using cron</title>
1527
1528<sect1 id="backup-cron-overview">
1529<title>Overview</title>
1530
1531<para>
1532 Mondoarchive is designed to run interactively (at least where
1533 media changes are necessary). Cron does not allow user interaction
1534 with a job. This section addresses the problem by using screen as a
1535 wrapper for mondo.
1536</para>
1537<para>
1538 This section is Copyright 2003 Conor Daly.
1539</para>
1540</sect1>
1541<sect1 id="backup-cron-intro">
1542 <title>Introduction</title>
1543
1544<para>
1545Mondoarchive is designed to run interactively. That's not strictly
1546 true, if you run mondoarchive without the '-g' switch, it will just
1547 run. However, there is a problem where media changes are necessary.
1548 The user must change the media and tell mondoarchive that the change
1549 has been done. The problem lies in the fact that cron does not allow
1550 user interaction with a job. If you schedule a mondoarchive job via
1551 cron, you better be sure it needs only one media. In practical terms,
1552 this means using tapes or ISOs (if CD-R(W) is your backup medium).
1553 However, for tape users, there's always the possibility that the
1554 backup will overflow the tape while for CD-R(W) users, there is the
1555 added hassle of burning the ISOs in the morning. If your CD_R(W)
1556 backup routinely occupies more than one media, this is not for you
1557 (use the ISO option and burn the CDs in the morning). This HOWTO
1558 addresses the problem by using screen as a wrapper for mondo.
1559</para>
1560</sect1>
1561<sect1 id="backup-cron-who">
1562 <title>Who should read this?</title>
1563<sect2><title>Insurance</title>
1564<para>
1565Mondo users who wish to automate the backup and whose backups
1566 routinely occupy close to one media are the best audience. If you
1567 backup to tape, the occasion will arise when the backup will overflow
1568 your tape. In this instance, mondoarchive will ask for another tape.
1569 If you're using cron to start the backup, you won't be able to tell
1570 mondo that the new tape is mounted and the backup will fail. If you
1571 backup to CD-R(W), the same situation will arise but sooner.
1572 </para>
1573 </sect2>
1574 <sect2><title>Efficiency</title>
1575<para>
1576If your backup already occupies two media, this method will allow
1577 as much of the backup as possible to proceed during quiet periods.
1578 Time the backup to start with enough time to complete the first media
1579 shortly before the operator arrives for work. The next media can
1580 be mounted and the backup completed asap and minimises the time for
1581 which users are inconvenienced by the backup (eg. database locked...).
1582 </para>
1583 </sect2>
1584 </sect1>
1585 <sect1 id="backup-cron-problem">
1586 <title>The Problem</title>
1587<sect2><title>Cron's environment</title>
1588<para>
1589When a user submits a job with cron, their environment is not
1590 preserved. This is reasonable since cron jobs are typically ongoing
1591 and may be adversely affected if the user's environment changes subsequent
1592 to the cron submission. Thus, a cron job should call a script that
1593 set's up the correct environment before starting the user's desired
1594 program. The 'at' command does this nicely.
1595 </para>
1596 </sect2>
1597 <sect2><title>Interactivity</title>
1598<para>
1599When a job is started with cron, it runs as a background process.
1600 No interaction with the program is possible (unless it is capable
1601 of interacting via a FIFO or some such) except termination via its
1602 pid. The only program that I know of that allows such interaction
1603 and serves as a wrapper for other processes is 'screen'
1604 </para>
1605 </sect2>
1606 <sect2><title>Screen</title>
1607<para>
1608There's one little problem with screen though. It expects to
1609 attach to a terminal when it first starts. This won't happen under
1610 cron so screen will fail. Fortunately, screen comes with a "start
1611 detached" (-d) option.
1612 </para>
1613 </sect2>
1614 </sect1>
1615 <sect1 id="backup-cron-solution">
1616 <title>The Solution</title>
1617<sect2><title>Briefly</title>
1618<para>
1619<itemizedlist>
1620<listitem>
1621 <para>Use 'at' to run your usual mondoarchive command</para>
1622</listitem>
1623<listitem>
1624 <para>Grab the script generated by 'at' and make a copy of it</para>
1625 </listitem>
1626<listitem>
1627 <para>Edit that script to use 'screen -m -d &lt;your mondoarchive command&gt;'</para>
1628 </listitem>
1629<listitem>
1630 <para>Run that script from your crontab</para>
1631 </listitem>
1632<listitem>
1633 <para>Use 'screen -r' to attach to the mondo screen to change CDs</para>
1634 </listitem>
1635<listitem>
1636 <para>Use '&lt;CTRL&gt;-a d' to detach the screen again</para>
1637</listitem>
1638</itemizedlist>
1639</para>
1640</sect2>
1641<sect2><title>In Detail</title>
1642 <sect3><title>at</title>
1643<para>
1644Use the 'at' command to submit your usual mondoarchive command.
1645My mondoarchive command is:
1646</para>
1647<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1648<row>
1649<entry>
1650
1651 # mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g \
1652 -E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
1653
1654</entry>
1655</row>
1656</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1657<para>
1658 To submit the mondoarchive command with 'at' do:
1659</para>
1660<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1661<row>
1662<entry>
1663
1664 # at now + 5 min
1665mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g \
1666-E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
1667&lt;CTRL&gt;-d
1668</entry>
1669</row>
1670</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1671<para>
1672
1673This generates a script in /var/spool/at/ which sets up your
1674 environment and runs your command. Grab this script to become your
1675 cron job.
1676 </para>
1677 </sect3>
1678 <sect3><title>Grab the 'at' script</title>
1679<para>
1680 Make a copy of the script generated by the 'at' command to use
1681 as the basis for your cron job.
1682 </para>
1683<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1684<row>
1685<entry>
1686
1687grep mondo /var/spool/at/*
1688</entry>
1689</row>
1690<row>
1691 <entry>
1692cp /var/spool/at/&lt;file-from-grep&gt; /root/mondo-cronscript
1693</entry>
1694</row>
1695</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1696<para>
1697
1698 You'll need to edit this.
1699</para>
1700 </sect3>
1701<sect3><title>Edit mondo-cronscript</title>
1702<para>
1703To use screen, you'll need to edit the cronscript and add the
1704 screen command. My mondo-cronscript looks like:
1705</para>
1706<screen>
1707
1708#!/bin/sh
1709# atrun uid=0 gid=0
1710# mail cdaly 0 umask 22
1711PWD=/root; export PWD
1712XAUTHORITY=/root/.xauthyOrD4f; export XAUTHORITY
1713HOSTNAME=bofh.irmet.ie; export HOSTNAME
1714PVM_RSH=/usr/bin/rsh; export PVM_RSH
1715QTDIR=/usr/lib/qt-2.3.1; export QTDIR
1716LESSOPEN=\|/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh\ %s; export LESSOPEN
1717XPVM_ROOT=/usr/share/pvm3/xpvm; export XPVM_ROOT
1718KDEDIR=/usr; export KDEDIR
1719USER=root; export USER
1720LS_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
1721MACHTYPE=i386-redhat-linux-gnu; export MACHTYPE
1722MAIL=/var/spool/mail/root; export MAIL
1723INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc; export INPUTRC
1724BASH_ENV=/root/.bashrc; export BASH_ENV
1725LANG=en_US; export LANG
1726LOGNAME=root; export LOGNAME
1727SHLVL=1; export SHLVL
1728II_SYSTEM=/usr/local/ingres; export II_SYSTEM
1729USERNAME=root; export USERNAME
1730HOSTTYPE=i386; export HOSTTYPE
1731OSTYPE=linux-gnu; export OSTYPE
1732HISTSIZE=1000; export HISTSIZE
1733LAMHELPFILE=/etc/lam/lam-helpfile; export LAMHELPFILE
1734PVM_ROOT=/usr/share/pvm3; export PVM_ROOT
1735HOME=/root; export HOME
1736SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/libexec/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass;
1737export SSH_ASKPASS
1738PATH=/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
1739cd /root || {
1740echo 'Execution directory inaccessible' >&2
1741exit 1
1742}
1743screen -m -d mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ \
1744-T /home/mondo/ -g -E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
1745#done
1746
1747</screen>
1748<para>
1749 The crucial line is this one:
1750</para>
1751<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1752<row>
1753<entry>
1754 screen -m -d mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g -E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
1755</entry>
1756</row>
1757</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1758<para>
1759This uses 'screen -m -d' to <quote>-m -d Start screen in "detached" mode. This creates a new session
1760 but doesn't attach to it. This is useful for system startup scripts.
1761 (From 'man screen')
1762</quote>
1763</para>
1764<para>
1765 When screen starts, it will be in the background and "detached".
1766</para>
1767</sect3>
1768<sect3><title>Run the thing with cron</title>
1769<para>
1770 To get the whole thing running, do:
1771</para>
1772<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1773<row>
1774<entry>
1775 crontab -e
1776 </entry>
1777</row>
1778</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1779<para>
1780and add the following lines:
1781</para>
1782<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1783<row>
1784<entry>
1785&num; run mondoarchive at 23:59 weekdays
1786</entry>
1787</row>
1788<row>
1789 <entry>
179059 23 * * 1-5 /root/mondo-cronscript
1791</entry>
1792</row>
1793</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1794<para>
1795 Your mondoarchive job will run at 23:59 monday-friday.
1796</para>
1797<para>
1798DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE TAPES!
1799</para>
1800</sect3>
1801<sect3><title>Getting at it...</title>
1802<para>
1803Once your cron job is running regularly, you'll want to get to
1804 it to change tapes and check status etc.
1805</para>
1806<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1807<row>
1808<entry>
1809screen -r
1810</entry>
1811</row>
1812</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1813<para>
1814attaches to the running screen where you can change CDs etc
1815</para>
1816<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1817<row>
1818<entry>
1819&lt;CTRL&gt;-a d
1820</entry>
1821</row>
1822</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1823<para>
1824detaches the running screen again.
1825</para>
1826</sect3>
1827<sect3><title>Caveat</title>
1828<para>
1829The script generated by 'at' is unique to the user/machine combination.
1830 You MUST regenerate it on each machine where it will be used. Using
1831 the one above will NOT work for you. MAKE YOUR OWN!
1832</para>
1833</sect3>
1834</sect2>
1835</sect1>
1836</chapter>
1837
1838<chapter id="compare">
1839<title>Compare</title>
1840<para>Before you trust your backup CD, make sure your BIOS can boot
1841CD (and that it is configured to do so).</para>
1842<itemizedlist>
1843<listitem>
1844<para>Boot from the first CD.</para>
1845</listitem>
1846<listitem>
1847<para>Type:</para>
1848</listitem>
1849</itemizedlist>
1850<para></para>
1851<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1852<row>
1853<entry>
1854
1855LILO: compare
1856
1857</entry>
1858</row>
1859</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1860
1861<para>Follow the on-screen instructions. This will compare your
1862backup against your original file system.</para>
1863<para>FYI, no bad archives have been created since May 2000. Having
1864said that, I would still encourage you to run Compare before
1865trusting the backups.</para>
1866<para>To view the file differences, look at the file
1867'/tmp/changed.txt'. Normal differences include logs and other
1868dynamic system files that changed during the time of the backup
1869process. If only a few files differ - e.g. files in /var, files
1870ending in '&amp;#732;', logs, temporary files, /etc/mtab,
1871/etc/adjtimex - then you know the archives are good. Your logs will
1872change over time, too. Bear in mind that a difference between the
1873backup and the live copy does not&nbsp;indicate a flaw in Mondo. It
1874indicates that you or your filesystem changed the files, so the
1875backup is no longer 100% up to date. However, that is inevitable,
1876as your filesystem changes from moment to moment (which is why you
1877back it up regularly).</para>
1878
1879</chapter>
1880
1881<chapter id="restore">
1882<title>Restore</title>
1883
1884<sect1 id="restore-overview">
1885<title>Overview</title>
1886
1887<para>I hope you don't have to restore from scratch very often.
1888It's nerve-wracking until you realize that Mondo's restore engine
1889is very reliable.
1890</para>
1891<para>If you find that you cannot make your PC boot from the CD,
1892it's mostly because not all the required drivers to support the CD are included.
1893</para>
1894<para>You can choose from the following modes:</para>
1895
1896<variablelist>
1897<varlistentry><term>Interactive</term>
1898<listitem><para>Restore step-by-step, or restore a subset of the
1899archives. This is the method you should mainly use for your
1900recovery needs.</para>
1901</listitem></varlistentry>
1902<varlistentry><term>Nuke</term>
1903<listitem><para>Wipe your drives and restore everything,
1904automatically and unattended. Warning: This does exactly what is
1905says, so be careful using it.</para>
1906</listitem></varlistentry>
1907<varlistentry><term>Expert</term>
1908<listitem><para>Boot to a shell prompt. If you want to do anything
1909creative, you should boot into Expert Mode. It's called expert, I
1910think that says it all.</para>
1911</listitem>
1912</varlistentry>
1913</variablelist>
1914
1915<para>If the CD is not found during the initial restore CD boot
1916attempt, reboot the PC a second time prior to reporting failure.
1917Occasional timing errors and hardware/software/system conflicts do
1918occur.</para>
1919</sect1>
1920
1921<sect1 id="restore-tips">
1922<title>Tips and Tricks</title>
1923
1924<para>Ideally, restore your system to a spare hard drive to test
1925the integrity and reliability of your disks. To do that, either
1926edit your mountlist to make the devices point to your spare hard
1927drive, or swap your hard drive cables between boots.</para>
1928<para>At a bare minimum, compare your CD against your file system
1929before you decide whether to trust them.</para>
1930<para>To test Mondo's ability to handle your LILO or GRUB boot
1931loader and accompanying configuration file:</para>
1932<itemizedlist>
1933<listitem>
1934<para>Boot from the backup CD into Expert Mode</para>
1935</listitem>
1936<listitem>
1937<para>Type:</para>
1938</listitem>
1939</itemizedlist>
1940<para></para>
1941<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1942<row>
1943<entry>
1944
1945bash# mondorestore --mbr
1946
1947</entry>
1948</row>
1949</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1950
1951<itemizedlist>
1952<listitem>
1953<para>To fix any mess it made (not that it should) type:</para>
1954</listitem>
1955</itemizedlist>
1956<para></para>
1957<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1958<row>
1959<entry>
1960 bash# mount-me
1961</entry>
1962</row>
1963<row>
1964<entry>
1965 bash# chroot /mnt/RESTORING
1966 </entry>
1967</row>
1968<row>
1969<entry>
1970 </entry>
1971</row>
1972<row>
1973<entry>
1974bash# lilo OR grub-install '(hd0)'
1975 </entry>
1976</row>
1977<row>
1978<entry>
1979bash# exit
1980</entry>
1981</row>
1982<row>
1983<entry>
1984 bash# unmount-me
1985
1986</entry>
1987</row>
1988</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1989
1990<itemizedlist>
1991<listitem>
1992<para>If it did not work then please copy /tmp/mondorestore.log to
1993your hard disk, USB key, ..., gzip it and e-mail it to the
1994&ML;.</para>
1995</listitem>
1996</itemizedlist>
1997
1998<sect2>
1999 <title>Barebones (Nuke) Restore</title>
2000<para>Imagine that your hard drives happen to be wiped,
2001deliberately or accidentally. Or, imagine that you want to clone
2002your existing operating system. In either case, you want to run in
2003Nuke Mode.</para>
2004<para>If you want to wipe everything and restore your whole system
2005from CD, please:</para>
2006<itemizedlist>
2007<listitem>
2008<para>Use the -H option when invoking mondoarchive</para>
2009</listitem>
2010<listitem>
2011<para>Boot from the first Mondo CD</para>
2012</listitem>
2013<listitem>
2014<para>Press RESTORE&lt;enter&gt;</para>
2015</listitem>
2016<listitem>
2017<para>Insert the subsequent CD when asked</para>
2018</listitem>
2019<listitem>
2020<para>Watch the screen for errors</para>
2021</listitem>
2022</itemizedlist>
2023<para>That's it. The restoration process for tape or NFS users is
2024similarly easy: just boot, answer the on-screen prompts, and
2025wait.</para>
2026<para>Now, should something go wrong, you will be able to examine
2027/tmp/mondorestore.log to see what happened. All is not lost. You
2028can fdisk and format the partitions yourself, using the tools that
2029come with the CD. You can then run mondorestore in Interactive Mode
2030and say 'no' when asked if you want Mondo to partition/format your
2031drives.</para>
2032<para>If you want to see exactly what Mondo is doing while it is
2033restoring, press &lt;Alt&gt;&lt;left cursor&gt; to view its
2034logfile, in a virtual console, scrolling past.</para>
2035</sect2>
2036<sect2>
2037<title>Interactive Restore</title>
2038<para>Interactive Mode is for people who have lost a subset of data
2039from their live file system, or perhaps who have lost some data
2040from their latest backup and want to restore a subset of data from
2041an earlier backup. If you want to restore only some files or if you
2042do not want to prep/format your drives, then you should boot into
2043Interactive Mode. The interactive mode will provide an 'Editing
2044mountlist screen' that allows you to setup a different disk
2045geometry.</para>
2046<para>To move up and down between partitions in the 'Editing
2047mountlist screen', use the Up and Down arrows. To move between the
2048main window and the buttons at the bottom, use the Left and Right
2049cursor keys. TAB shifts focus from one screen item to the other in
2050a haphazard fashion, owing to the complexities of the Newt
2051library.</para>
2052<para>If you want to restore selectively, just press &lt;enter&gt;
2053and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be asked to say
2054yes/no to a range of questions.</para>
2055<para>If you are planning to modify your partition table, you would
2056do well to read up on the partition layout and the use of fdisk, it
2057gives you some pointers on how to best lay out partitions.
2058You can find a good guide at
2059<ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/index.html">http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/index.html</ulink>
2060</para>
2061<para>If you want to restore a subset of the backup then:</para>
2062<itemizedlist>
2063<listitem>
2064<para>Boot from the CD</para>
2065</listitem>
2066<listitem>
2067<para>Type:</para>
2068</listitem>
2069</itemizedlist>
2070<para></para>
2071<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2072<row>
2073<entry>
2074
2075bash# interactive
2076
2077</entry>
2078</row>
2079</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2080
2081<itemizedlist>
2082<listitem>
2083<para>Then, after booting, answer the questions as follows:</para>
2084</listitem>
2085</itemizedlist>
2086<para></para>
2087<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2088<row>
2089<entry>
2090
2091 Do you want to partition your devices? no
2092 </entry>
2093</row>
2094<row>
2095<entry>
2096Do you want to format them? no
2097 </entry>
2098</row>
2099<row>
2100<entry>
2101Do you want to restore everything? no
2102 </entry>
2103</row>
2104<row>
2105<entry>
2106Do you want to restore something? yes
2107 </entry>
2108</row>
2109<row>
2110<entry>
2111Which path do you want to restore? /mydata [e.g.]
2112 </entry>
2113</row>
2114<row>
2115<entry>
2116Do you want to run LILO to setup your boot sectors? Yes
2117
2118</entry>
2119</row>
2120</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2121
2122</sect2>
2123
2124<sect2>
2125<title>Expert Restore</title>
2126<para>If you are planning to modify your partition table, you would
2127do well to read up on the partition layout and the use of fdisk, it
2128gives you some could pointers on how to best lay out partitions.
2129You can find good a guide at
2130<ulink url="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Partition/index.html">http://www.ibiblio.o
2131rg/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Partition/index.html</ulink></para>
2132<para>To restore manually, please:</para>
2133<itemizedlist>
2134<listitem>
2135<para>Boot from the first CD, then type:</para>
2136</listitem>
2137</itemizedlist>
2138<para></para>
2139<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2140<row>
2141<entry>
2142
2143bash# expert
2144
2145</entry>
2146
2147</row>
2148</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2149
2150<itemizedlist>
2151<listitem>
2152<para>Then do whatever you like. :) You may type the following, of
2153course:</para>
2154</listitem>
2155</itemizedlist>
2156<para></para>
2157<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2158<row>
2159<entry>
2160
2161bash# mondorestore
2162
2163</entry>
2164</row>
2165</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2166</sect2>
2167
2168<sect2>
2169<title>Modified partitions - Restore to a different disk geometry</title>
2170<para>One of the nice things about Mondo is that it lets you wipe
2171your existing system and restore it in any layout you like (within
2172reason). You can move from non-RAID to RAID,install and utilize
2173additional drives, move from ext2 to ReiserFS, etc., all without
2174risking the loss of data.</para>
2175<para>If the user excluded a particular partition from backup and
2176specifically excluded it from the mountlist itself using -E then
2177Mondo will insert a small (32MB) partition at restore-time, in
2178order to avoid having to re-jig fstab, the partition table,
2179etc.</para>
2180<para>To do this:</para>
2181<itemizedlist>
2182<listitem>
2183<para>Boot into Expert Mode, then type:</para>
2184</listitem>
2185</itemizedlist>
2186<para></para>
2187<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2188<row>
2189<entry>
2190
2191bash# mondorestore
2192
2193</entry>
2194</row>
2195</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2196
2197<itemizedlist>
2198<listitem>
2199<para>(edit the mountlist using the on-screen editor)</para>
2200</listitem>
2201</itemizedlist>
2202<para>If you want to move from ext2 to ReiserFS, you can do it here
2203(so long as your kernel supports ReiserFS). Ditto for XFS, JFS or
2204ext3.</para>
2205<para>Mondorestore will try to modify your /etc/fstab to reflect
2206changes you have made to the mountlist. If you are not using LILO,
2207you can still create your own /mnt/RESTORING/etc/lilo.conf and run
2208lilo -r /mnt/RESTORING to configure your boot sectors and Master
2209Boot Record.</para>
2210<para>Mondo (technically, Mindi on behalf of Mondo) creates a file
2211called a mountlist. This can be found on the ramdisk at
2212/tmp/mountlist.txt; it looks something like this:</para>
2213<para></para>
2214<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2215<row>
2216<entry>
2217
2218 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 4096000
2219</entry>
2220</row>
2221<row>
2222<entry>
2223 /dev/hda5 / reiserfs 6023000
2224</entry>
2225</row>
2226<row>
2227<entry>
2228 /dev/hda6 /tmp xfs 955000
2229</entry>
2230</row>
2231<row>
2232<entry>
2233 /dev/hda7 /usr ext3 4096000
2234
2235</entry>
2236</row>
2237</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2238
2239<para>It is fairly easy to understand the list. Each line refers to
2240a single device/partition. The line format is:</para>
2241<para></para>
2242<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2243<row>
2244<entry>
2245
2246&lt;device&gt; &lt;partition&gt; &lt;format&gt; &lt;Kilobytes&gt;
2247
2248</entry>
2249</row>
2250</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2251
2252<para>If you have added a hard drive and want to take advantage of
2253the additional space, you could amend the above mountlist to
2254read:</para>
2255<para></para>
2256<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2257<row>
2258<entry>
2259
2260 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 6096000
2261</entry>
2262</row>
2263<row>
2264<entry>
2265 /dev/hda5 / reiserfs 9123000
2266</entry>
2267</row>
2268<row>
2269<entry>
2270 /dev/hda6 /tmp xfs 955000
2271</entry>
2272</row>
2273<row>
2274<entry>
2275 /dev/hdb1 /usr ext3 8192000
2276</entry>
2277</row>
2278<row>
2279<entry>
2280 /dev/hdb2 /home xfs 8192000
2281
2282</entry>
2283</row>
2284</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2285
2286<para>This assumes that your old hard drive is /dev/hda and the new
2287hard drive is /dev/hdb.</para>
2288<para>Or, if you want to add RAID support, create a new
2289/etc/raidtab on the ramdisk (which is beyond the scope of this
2290HOWTO) and then write a mountlist like this:</para>
2291<para></para>
2292<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2293<row>
2294<entry>
2295
2296 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 6096000
2297</entry>
2298</row>
2299<row>
2300<entry>
2301 /dev/md0 / reiserfs 9123000
2302</entry>
2303</row>
2304<row>
2305<entry>
2306 /dev/md1 /tmp xfs 955000
2307</entry>
2308</row>
2309<row>
2310<entry>
2311 /dev/md2 /usr ext3 8192000
2312</entry>
2313</row>
2314<row>
2315<entry>
2316 /dev/md3 /home xfs 8192000
2317
2318</entry>
2319</row>
2320</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2321
2322<para>So long as your /etc/raidtab file is sane, Mondo can
2323automatically partition and format your disks for you, including
2324the RAID devices.</para>
2325<para>Once you have finished editing /tmp/mountlist.txt using
2326mondorestore's built-in editor then you may choose 'OK'. Please
2327note that this will not write anything to your hard disk. You will
2328only reformat or repartition your disks if you say 'Yes' when asked
2329if you want to do those things.</para>
2330</sect2>
2331
2332<sect2>
2333<title>Advanced</title>
2334<para>It is now possible to restore to a live filesystem using
2335Mondo. In other words, you do not have to boot your PC from your
2336CD in order to restore files. Mondo was originally designed
2337for disaster recovery - situations in which you cannot boot your
2338PC. If you can boot your PC, it is not really a disaster, is it? :)
2339Well, if you have wiped out your priceless collection of "MTV's
2340Bjork Unplugged" MP3's, perhaps it is. Anyway, just type this as
2341root</para>
2342<para></para>
2343<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2344<row>
2345<entry>
2346
2347bash# mondorestore
2348
2349</entry>
2350</row>
2351</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2352
2353<para></para>
2354<informaltable><tgroup cols="2"><tbody>
2355<row>
2356<entry>
2357<ulink url="images/rest1.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2358<imagedata fileref="images/rest1-mini">
2359</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2360</ulink>
2361</entry>
2362<entry>
2363Choose your type of backup media. The live restoration process is
2364very similar to what you'll experience if you type mondorestore
2365with no parameters after booting from a Mondo CD.
2366</entry>
2367</row>
2368<row>
2369<entry>
2370<ulink url="images/rest2.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2371<imagedata fileref="images/rest2-mini">
2372</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2373</ulink>
2374</entry>
2375<entry>
2376Hit 'OK' when you have inserted the tape/CD. If you generated a
2377tape backup, the tape itself should be enough. If you generated a
2378CD backup, the first CD should be enough.
2379</entry>
2380</row>
2381<row>
2382<entry>
2383<ulink url="images/rest3.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2384<imagedata fileref="images/rest3-mini">
2385</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2386</ulink>
2387</entry>
2388<entry>
2389Flag the files and directories you wish to restore. Use the 'More'
2390and 'Less' buttons to open and close subdirectories.
2391</entry>
2392</row>
2393<row>
2394<entry>
2395<ulink url="images/rest4.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2396<imagedata fileref="images/rest4-mini">
2397</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2398</ulink>
2399</entry>
2400<entry>
2401Specify the location to restore the files to. In general, '/' is
2402appropriate. If you do not want to overwrite newer versions of the
2403files you are restoring then specify /tmp/BKP or similar as the
2404restore path.
2405</entry>
2406</row>
2407<row>
2408<entry>
2409<ulink url="images/rest5.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2410<imagedata fileref="images/rest5-mini">
2411</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2412</ulink>
2413</entry>
2414<entry>
2415Mondorestore will retrieve configuration information from the
2416media. (The sample screen is for tape users. CD users will see
2417something different.)
2418</entry>
2419</row>
2420<row>
2421<entry>
2422<ulink url="images/rest6.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2423<imagedata fileref="images/rest6-mini">
2424</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2425</ulink>
2426</entry>
2427<entry>
2428Data will be restored to the hard disk - first the regular files,
2429then any big (32MB or greater) files in the restore set.
2430</entry>
2431</row>
2432</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2433
2434<para>I hope this manual was useful for you.</para>
2435</sect2>
2436</sect1>
2437
2438</chapter>
2439
2440<chapter id="faq">
2441<title>FAQ</title>
2442
2443<sect1 id="faq-overview">
2444<title>Overview</title>
2445<para>Are the errors from Mindi or Mondo? Look at
2446 /var/log/mondoarchive.log or /var/log/mindi.log (if run alone). Pipe
2447screen errors which relate to the creation of boot disk(s) and or
2448data disk(s) to a text file.</para>
2449<para>See the &WWW; for details. If you are going to e-mail
2450&ML; then
2451please attach that text file (zipped!) and give :</para>
2452<itemizedlist>
2453<listitem>
2454<para>Your kernel version (uname -a)</para>
2455</listitem>
2456<listitem>
2457 <para>Your Linux distro's name and version (/etc/distro-release)</para>
2458</listitem>
2459<listitem>
2460 <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>
2461</listitem>
2462<listitem>
2463<para>What sort of PC you are using, including hard disk configurations (results of dmidecode, lshw, fdisk -l are useful here)</para>
2464</listitem>
2465</itemizedlist>
2466<para>Mondo is freely available under the GPL and you are given it for no charge.
2467When you e-mail the &ML;, please bear that in mind.</para>
2468</sect1>
2469<sect1 id="faq-general">
2470<title>General Questions</title>
2471
2472<qandaset>
2473<qandaentry>
2474 <question><para>Q: What is "Mindi"?</para></question>
2475 <answer>
2476<para>A: Mindi, a.k.a. Mindi-Linux, makes a mini-distribution from
2477your kernel, modules, modules, tools and libraries. It can also
2478generate an El Torito 2.88/5.76MB boot disk image. Mondo uses Mindi to
2479create a mini-distro, then boots from it and runs on it.</para>
2480</answer>
2481</qandaentry>
2482<qandaentry>
2483 <question><para>Q: Why is it called "Mondo"?</para></question>
2484 <answer>
2485<para>A: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles described cool things as
2486'mondo'. Hugo Rabson wasn't sure what to call this project. 'Faust' was one
2487idea he had, partly as a dig at his former boss who practically owned
2488him because of his legal status at the time. In the end, he chose
2489something short and distinctive.</para>
2490</answer>
2491</qandaentry>
2492<qandaentry>
2493<question><para>Q: Mondo does not work on my system. It
2494 keels over and dies. What's wrong?</para></question>
2495<answer>
2496 <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
2497 of SuSE/SLES, some flavors of Slackware, etc.
2498The more distributions we support, the more moving targets we have to
2499hit. Please bear this in mind when e-mailing the list. :) If you
2500would like to help us by beta-testing Mondo (or Mindi) on your PC
2501then we would be very interested in working with you to work around
2502the eccentricities of your Linux distro. However, rest assured, 90%
2503of the bugs reported are actually symptoms of FooLinux X.Y's
2504unique way of doing things.</para>
2505<para>Please send a copy of <filename>/var/log/mondoarchive.log</filename> to the &ML;
2506along with a description of your distro, your kernel, etc.
2507Oh, and before sending it, please try to read it.</para>
2508</answer>
2509</qandaentry>
2510<qandaentry>
2511 <question><para>Q: What if the error is in Mindi?</para></question>
2512 <answer>
2513 <para>A: Please send a copy of <filename>/var/log/mindi.log</filename> to the &ML;
2514along with a description of your distro, your kernel, etc.
2515Oh, and before sending it, please read it as it is much easier to understand it.</para>
2516</answer>
2517</qandaentry>
2518<qandaentry>
2519 <question><para>Q: Can I trust Mondo?</para></question>
2520 <answer>
2521<para>A: Mondo has generated reliable archives since May 2000.
2522Lost data occured by using bad CD-R disks and not verifying their
2523contents. Some users have not tried booting from their CD until
2524crunch time. Remember to boot into Compare Mode to verify the
2525backup before you trust it. If Mondo did not work, you would not be
2526reading this. If it does not work for you, your kernel is usually
2527the culprit. Check <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel
2528support</link> to see what your kernel should support. Please
2529e-mail the list if you need some help with this.</para>
2530</answer>
2531</qandaentry>
2532<qandaentry>
2533 <question><para>Q: How do I report a bug?</para></question>
2534 <answer>
2535 <para>A: E-mail the bug report (mondo.err.xxxxx.tgz) to the &ML;.
2536 Ok you've read it already but it's really important if you want help.
2537If you don't send a logfile then there isn't a lot that we can do for you, so
2538PLEASE include a logfile at the very least.</para>
2539</answer>
2540</qandaentry>
2541<qandaentry>
2542<question><para>Q: I think Mondo should (...insert
2543suggestion here...) and I have rewritten it accordingly. Would you
2544like to see my patch?</para></question>
2545<answer>
2546<para>A: Absolutely! :-) The best way for you to make Mondo do what
2547you want is to modify it and then send the patch. That way, we
2548can all benefit.</para>
2549</answer>
2550</qandaentry>
2551<qandaentry>
2552<question><para>Q: I think Mondo should (...insert
2553suggestion here...); will you incorporate this feature for me,
2554please?</para></question>
2555<answer>
2556<para>A: Please enter the suggestion in our feature system at &WWW;
2557</para>
2558</answer>
2559</qandaentry>
2560<qandaentry>
2561<question><para>Q: Mondo says, "XXX is missing," and
2562 then terminates. What's wrong?</para></question>
2563<answer>
2564<para>A: A good Linux distribution should contain XXX but the
2565designers, in their infinite wisdom, decided not to include that
2566particular tool. Check <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related
2567 Linux Packages</ulink> and install the missing package. If that
2568fails, contact the vendor/distributor/manufacturer/designer of your
2569distro.</para>
2570</answer>
2571</qandaentry>
2572<qandaentry>
2573<question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle multi-CD backups and
2574 restores?</para></question>
2575<answer>
2576<para>A: Yes, up to twenty CD per set. This 20-CD limit results
2577from laziness on mondorescue's part. I'll be removed in the future. However, if
2578your system occupies more than 20 CD, may it's time for another type of media ?
2579</para>
2580</answer>
2581</qandaentry>
2582<qandaentry>
2583<question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle Linux/Windows
2584 dual-boot systems?</para></question>
2585<answer>
2586<para>A: Yes. If your system currently boots into Linux or Windows
2587via LILO, you can backup and restore both OSes at the same time
2588using Mondo. If you are using NTFS then add the switch, '-x
2589&lt;device&gt;'.</para>
2590</answer>
2591</qandaentry>
2592<qandaentry>
2593<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup Windows-only
2594 systems?</para></question>
2595<answer>
2596<para>A: Not at the moment.
2597</para>
2598</answer>
2599</qandaentry>
2600<qandaentry>
2601 <question><para>Q: Does Mondo support LVM?</para></question>
2602 <answer>
2603<para>A: Mondo supports LVM v1 and v2. Mondo backs up and restores your
2604existing setup but it does not make it easy for you to change your
2605LVM configuration, at the moment. You have to edit <filename>/tmp/i-want-my-lvm</filename> at boot-time
2606to do that.</para>
2607</answer>
2608</qandaentry>
2609<qandaentry>
2610<question><para>Q: What if I don't use LILO? What if I
2611 use GRUB?</para></question>
2612<answer>
2613<para>A: GRUB is supported by Mondo.</para>
2614</answer>
2615</qandaentry>
2616<qandaentry>
2617<question><para>Q: I get the error, 'Cannot find
2618 /tmp/dev.0' or 'Cannot mount device 0x0701'; what do I do?</para></question>
2619<answer>
2620 <para>A: Please free up <filename>/dev/loop0</filename> using 'losetup /dev/loop0 -d' to
2621unmount that loop device. If your OS will not let you do that,
2622contact your local support group or Linux vendor.</para>
2623</answer>
2624</qandaentry>
2625<qandaentry>
2626<question><para>Q: Can I create a Mondo CD and then use
2627 it to create an archive of any OS on any PC?</para></question>
2628<answer>
2629<para>A: Not yet. You can use Mondo to backup Linux or
2630Linux/Windows dual boot. One day, Mondo will let you backup
2631partitions it can't read or write, by treating each partition as
2632one long file to be backed up. This file will be chopped,
2633compressed and archived like any other big file.</para>
2634</answer>
2635</qandaentry>
2636<qandaentry>
2637<question><para>Q: Why doesn't the Mondo project have a
2638cool-looking animal logo?</para></question>
2639<answer>
2640<para>A: Excellent question! Please submit graphics of candidate
2641 animal logos!</para>
2642 </answer>
2643</qandaentry>
2644<qandaentry>
2645<question><para>Q: Is there a Mondo user 'Code of
2646 Conduct?</para></question>
2647<answer>
2648<para>A: Yes. Read the HOWTO. Submit patches. Recommend realistic
2649improvements. Be courteous to other users on the discussion list.
2650Do not whine.</para>
2651</answer>
2652</qandaentry>
2653</qandaset>
2654</sect1>
2655
2656<sect1 id="faq-booting">
2657<title>Booting and Kernel related Questions</title>
2658<qandaset>
2659<qandaentry>
2660<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2661it says, "VFS: Unable to mount root fs." I am using an old Debian
2662distro. What do I do?</para></question>
2663<answer>
2664<para>A: Ask Debian's designers why they, unlike every other distro
2665I can find, have included cramfs and other 'goodies' with their
2666kernel. In the meantime, please use '-k FAILSAFE' in your command
2667line when calling Mondo.</para>
2668<para>A: From Sarge onwards, all stock Debian 2.6 kernels should work fine. If
2669you are still using stock Debian 2.4 kernels, FAILSAFE is the way to go.
2670Of course, if you have compiled your own kernel and experience problems,
2671FAILSAFE is the way to go as well, but this is not really
2672Debian-specific.</para>
2673</answer>
2674</qandaentry>
2675<qandaentry>
2676<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2677it says, "Cannot mount root fs - kernel panic," or something
2678similar. What do I do?</para></question>
2679<answer>
2680<para>A: Recompile your kernel (or use '-k FAILSAFE'). Take a look
2681at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to
2682see what your kernel must support.</para>
2683</answer>
2684</qandaentry>
2685<qandaentry>
2686<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2687 it says, "UPGRADE YOUR RAM". What does that mean?</para></question>
2688<answer>
2689<para>A: Recompile your kernel and add Virtual memory file system
2690support. Take a look at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux
2691Kernel support</link> to see what your kernel must support. (Of
2692course, if your PC has less than 64MB of RAM, you could always...
2693what's the phrase? I know, upgrade your RAM!)</para>
2694</answer>
2695</qandaentry>
2696<qandaentry>
2697<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2698it says something about not finding my CD-ROM drive and then it
2699blames the kernel. What does that mean?</para></question>
2700<answer>
2701 <para>A: Your kernel must support initrd, loopfs, IDE|SCSI|USB CD-ROM's, and
2702ramdisks. Take a look at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux
2703Kernel support</link> to see what your kernel must support. If
2704your kernel does not support these things, Mondo will not boot from
2705your CD. However, when running Mindi, you may choose to use _its_
2706kernel instead of your own.
2707</para>
2708</answer>
2709</qandaentry>
2710<qandaentry>
2711<question><para>Q: The Mondo CD takes ages to
2712 boot. How can I speed it up?</para></question>
2713<answer>
2714<para>A: Edit mindi (it's a shell script, btw) and change
2715LILO_OPTIONS="" to LILO_OPTIONS="-c". This enables map compaction
2716in lilo and speeds up booting, for more info see the lilo man
2717page.</para>
2718</answer>
2719</qandaentry>
2720<qandaentry>
2721<question><para>Q: I made a Mondo CD using the failsafe
2722kernel (i.e. I said 'no' when Mondo asked if I wanted to use my own
2723kernel). It still doesn't boot. Help!</para></question>
2724<answer>
2725<para>A: OK, now that is a bug. :-) I included a kernel with Mondo
2726(technically, with Mindi, which Mondo uses) to make sure that users
2727could use Mondo despite flaws in their own kernels. If you are
2728using Mondo/Mindi's kernel but still cannot boot from your Mondo CD
2729then please e-mail the &ML;.</para>
2730</answer>
2731</qandaentry>
2732<qandaentry>
2733<question><para>Q: What if my PC won't boot from a
2734 CD?</para></question>
2735<answer>
2736<para>A: You may want to boot using the network with PXE.
2737 Look at the README.pxe file of mindi to know more details on how.</para>
2738<para>A: You may also want to use a USB device (key, disk) if your machine can boot from it.</para>
2739</answer>
2740</qandaentry>
2741<qandaentry>
2742<question><para>Q: But why won't Mondo boot from my CD?
2743It says my kernel is flawed/outdated/ whatever, and when I wrote to
2744the ML, they told me the same thing... but I still don't get it. I
2745mean, my kernel works for everything else. Why not Mondo?</para></question>
2746<answer>
2747<para>A: Because Mondo makes a boot disk using your kernel. I bet
2748your other software doesn't do that. Also, not all kernels are
2749suitable for boot disks. I'm sorry but that's Life. Upgrade your
2750kernel and/or recompile it. Take a look at
2751<link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to see
2752what your kernel must support.</para>
2753</answer>
2754</qandaentry>
2755<qandaentry>
2756<question><para>Q: Why do I only need a boot disk if I'm
2757 using a tape drive? Where are the data disks?</para></question>
2758<answer>
2759<para>A: On the tape. :-) The first 32MB of the tape will be set
2760aside for a large tarball containing the data disks, a list of all
2761files backed up, and other sundries.
2762</para>
2763<para>For the moment mondorescue doesn't support OBDR for tapes.
2764 Feel free to produce patches for it :-)</para>
2765</answer>
2766</qandaentry>
2767<qandaentry>
2768<question><para>Q: Why does it say, "Process accounting
2769 FAILED" when I reboot?</para></question>
2770<answer>
2771<para>A: You were using Process Accounting. Red Hat (or whichever
2772distro you are using) does not provide a startup/shutdown script
2773yet. So, when you try to backup the process log, it just grows and
2774grows as Mondo tries to back it up. Mondo doesn't back it up
2775anymore and that's why. The unfortunate side-effect is... well,
2776what you see on your screen. Type 'touch /var/log/pacct' and then
2777'paccton' to fix the error message.</para>
2778</answer>
2779</qandaentry>
2780<qandaentry>
2781<question><para>Q: Why does it say, 'request_module[block-major-1]: Root fs not mounted VFS:
2782Cannot open root device "100" or 01:00 Please append a correct
2783"root=" boot option kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
278401:00' when i boot from the CD?</para></question>
2785<answer>
2786<para>A: Recompile your kernel and add initrd support. Take a look
2787at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to
2788see what your kernel must support.</para>
2789</answer>
2790</qandaentry>
2791
2792<qandaentry>
2793<question><para id="TAPENICE">Q: My tape drive
2794doesn't play nicely with Mondo at boot-time. What do I do?</para></question>
2795<answer><para>A: Play with the 'mt' command (package mt-st). Use its setblksize and
2796defblksize switches to reconfigure your tape drive if necessary.
2797Some tape drives just are painful. If yours is one of
2798them then God help you. Mondo can handle any tape drive whose drive
2799and firmware can handle fopen(), fwrite(), fread() and fclose().
2800Mondo uses standard C libraries to talk to your tape streamer. If
2801your tape streamer can't handle that then you had better call a
2802priest. Either that or ask for a refund.
2803</para>
2804</answer>
2805</qandaentry>
2806</qandaset>
2807</sect1>
2808
2809<sect1 id="faq-install">
2810<title>Installation related Questions</title>
2811<qandaset>
2812<qandaentry>
2813<question><para>Q: Why do I get, "newt.h not found," or
2814"popt.h not found," several times when I try to install
2815Mondo?</para></question>
2816<answer>
2817<para>A: You have not installed libnewt and/or libnewt-devel.
2818Please do so. Check <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related Linux
2819Packages</ulink> to see what Mondo requires and where you can get
2820tarballs and RPM's. Make sure you are using the right version of
2821newt/libnewt. Read the error messages carefully.</para>
2822</answer>
2823</qandaentry>
2824<qandaentry>
2825<question><para>Q: Newt won't compile when I try. What's
2826 the problem?</para></question>
2827<answer>
2828<para>A: You are probably missing popt.h, which newt needs to
2829compile, it can be found in the 'popt' package. Check your
2830distribution and see if they have popt, if not check
2831<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related Linux Packages</ulink> to
2832see where you can get it.</para>
2833</answer>
2834</qandaentry>
2835<qandaentry>
2836<question><para>Q: I've just used up 6 CD-R, only to
2837 find that Mondo won't boot!</para></question>
2838<answer>
2839<para>A: You should have used CD-RW. ;) In the HOWTO, it gives
2840instructions on how to create a test CD (one, not six).</para>
2841</answer>
2842</qandaentry>
2843<qandaentry>
2844<question>
2845<para id="PACKREQ">Q: Lots of packages,
2846required by Mondo, are missing from my system. What do I do?</para>
2847</question>
2848<answer>
2849<para>
2850A: Install them. :) If you are using RPM or deb
2851then you'll be told which packages you need. Mondo offers a lot of
2852those packages on its
2853<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml">Download</ulink>
2854web page.</para>
2855</answer>
2856</qandaentry>
2857</qandaset>
2858</sect1>
2859
2860<sect1 id="faq-hardware">
2861<title>Hardware related Questions</title>
2862<qandaset>
2863<qandaentry>
2864 <question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle CD-RW?</para></question>
2865 <answer>
2866<para>A: Yes. Use '-Ow &lt;speed&gt; &lt;device&gt;' to make it
2867work.</para>
2868</answer>
2869</qandaentry>
2870<qandaentry>
2871<question><para>Q: Does Mondo support tape
2872 drives?</para></question>
2873<answer>
2874 <para>A: Yes. See above.</para>
2875 <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>
2876<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2877<row>
2878<entry>
2879 bash# dmesg | grep tape
2880</entry>
2881</row>
2882<row>
2883<entry>
2884 bash# cat /proc/scsi/scsi
2885</entry>
2886</row>
2887<row>
2888<entry>
2889 bash# mt -f /dev/st0 status
2890</entry>
2891</row>
2892</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2893
2894
2895</answer>
2896</qandaentry>
2897<qandaentry>
2898<question><para>Q: Does Mondo support my tape
2899 drive?</para></question>
2900<answer>
2901<para>A: If your tape drive and its firmware and the kernel-level
2902driver support fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() - standard C
2903library calls - then yes, Mondo should support it. If not, well,
2904you need a refund. :) Mondo plays nicely with any sane, sensible
2905drives. That's most of them, by the way. :) If your drive doesn't
2906play nicely with Mondo then you may try tinkering with setblksize
2907and defblksize using 'mt', or tweaking Mondo's block size by
2908recompiling it with make INTTAPE=4096 or INTTAPE=8192 or something.
2909Other than that, you need a priest or a refund.
2910Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
2911in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
2912recognize the drive.</para>
2913</answer>
2914</qandaentry>
2915<qandaentry>
2916<question><para>Q: Sometimes, my laptop won't mount
2917 Mondo CD properly, or something. Umm...</para></question>
2918<answer>
2919<para>A: Please insert the CD, close the CD-ROM tray, wait a few
2920seconds and then press Enter to acknowledge insertion of the next
2921CD. Your laptop is on crack and is sucking a little too hard on the
2922pipe.</para>
2923</answer>
2924</qandaentry>
2925<qandaentry>
2926 <question><para>Q: Does Mondo support Hardware RAID?</para></question>
2927 <answer>
2928<para>A: Yes. You may backup and restore RAID systems. You may also
2929backup a non-RAID system and restore as RAID (or vice versa) by
2930using the mountlist editor to edit your RAID and non-RAID
2931partitions and their settings. Mondo will do the partitioning and
2932formatting for you.</para>
2933<para>Tested Raid controllers includes all those showing only classical devices
2934 such as /dev/sdx, and SmartArray cciss controllers.</para>
2935</answer>
2936</qandaentry>
2937<qandaentry>
2938<question><para>Q: Where is my CD burner, in SCSI terms?</para></question>
2939<answer>
2940<para>A: Type:</para>
2941<para></para>
2942<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2943<row>
2944 <entry>
2945 bash# cdrecord -scanbus
2946 </entry>
2947</row>
2948</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2949<para>or for ATAPI type of devices:</para>
2950<para></para>
2951<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2952<row>
2953 <entry>
2954 bash# cdrecord -scanbus dev=ATAPI
2955 </entry>
2956</row>
2957</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2958<para>you may replace ATAPI by ATA in the previous line with certain cdrecord versions and hadrware configurations</para>
2959
2960
2961<para>Find your CD burner's device# (e.g. '0,0,0'). Call Mondo with
2962the switch '-Oc &lt;speed&gt;' -d '&lt;device&gt;'. Or, if you feel
2963lucky, just use '-Oc 2'; Mondo will (a) assume you want to write at
29644x to a CD-R and (b) will do its best to find your CD burner.</para>
2965</answer>
2966</qandaentry>
2967<qandaentry>
2968 <question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle SCSI devices?</para></question>
2969 <answer>
2970<para>A: Mondo should be able to handle almost any hardware. So
2971long as your kernel and modules support it, Mindi will support it
2972and therefore so will Mondo.</para>
2973</answer>
2974</qandaentry>
2975<qandaentry>
2976 <question><para>Q: Why doesn't cdrecord -scanbus work ?</para></question>
2977 <answer>
2978 <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
2979listed when you run
2980
2981<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2982<row>
2983<entry>
2984bash# cdrecord -scanbus
2985</entry>
2986</row>
2987</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2988
2989try adding the following kernel option to your boot script to enable
2990SCSI emulation: hdx=ide-scsi, where "hdx" should be replaced with the
2991appropriate drive letter of the CDRW device, e.g., "hdc".
2992(Answer provided by Christopher Moriarity cdm7_at_cdc.gov)
2993</para>
2994</answer>
2995</qandaentry>
2996</qandaset>
2997</sect1>
2998
2999<sect1 id="faq-backup">
3000<title>Backup related Questions</title>
3001
3002<qandaset>
3003<qandaentry>
3004<question><para id="MMKM">Q: Mondo says, 'Cannot
3005 run mindi --makemountlist' and aborts. What do I do?</para></question>
3006<answer>
3007 <para>
3008 A: Look at <filename>/var/log/mindi.log</filename> and see what it
3009says. Also, try typing 'mindi --makemountlist /tmp/mountlist.txt'
3010to see what Mindi says. Send the log to the &ML; if you get stuck.
3011</para>
3012</answer>
3013</qandaentry>
3014<qandaentry>
3015<question><para>Q: Can Mondo burn CD as they are
3016 created?</para></question>
3017<answer>
3018<para>A: Yes. Use the '-Oc &lt;speed&gt;' switch. Use a negative
3019number for a dummy burn.</para>
3020</answer>
3021</qandaentry>
3022<qandaentry>
3023<question><para>Q: Mondo failed to burn my CD. It said
3024something like, "Error CDB A1 01 02 53 ..." and so on. What does
3025that mean?</para></question>
3026<answer>
3027<para>A: Cdrecord reported some serious errors while trying to burn
3028your CD. Check your CD burner, your CD-R and your kernel.</para>
3029</answer>
3030</qandaentry>
3031<qandaentry>
3032<question><para>Q: May I backup my system with one
3033 partition layout and restore with another?</para></question>
3034<answer>
3035<para>A: Yes. Boot in Interactive Mode and edit the mountlist using
3036the snazzy new mountlist editor. Mondo can now edit your RAID
3037partitions for you. Just open /dev/md0 (or whatever) and select
3038"RAID.." to start. Or, to add a RAID device:</para>
3039<itemizedlist>
3040<listitem>
3041<para>Add two or more partitions, of type and mountpoint
3042'raid'</para>
3043</listitem>
3044<listitem>
3045<para>Add device '/dev/md0' and click OK</para>
3046</listitem>
3047<listitem>
3048<para>Follow the prompts and your own common-sense :)</para>
3049</listitem>
3050</itemizedlist>
3051</answer>
3052</qandaentry>
3053<qandaentry>
3054<question><para>Q: Why does Mondo need so much free disk
3055 space?</para></question>
3056<answer>
3057 <para>A: Because it need space to create the archive files with afio, then
3058 again space to create the ISO images that you'll be able to burn.
3059</para>
3060</answer>
3061</qandaentry>
3062<qandaentry>
3063<question><para>Q: I am trying to do something clever,
3064e.g. write my ISO's to an NFS mount, and I get some weird error
3065messages. What do I do?</para></question>
3066<answer>
3067<para>A: Well, (a) use '-T /tmp' or '-T /home' or something in your
3068 call to Mondo. Oh, and (b) check the <filename>/etc/exports</filename> file on your NFS server
3069 and verify the exported filesystem is writable for the client, and relaunch exportfs -a.
3070</para>
3071</answer>
3072</qandaentry>
3073<qandaentry>
3074<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup to data files on
3075 another partition, e.g. an NFS mount?</para></question>
3076<answer>
3077<para>A: Yes. Just backup as usual but add '-d /mnt/nfs' or
3078wherever your partition is mounted; don't use '-Oc' or '-Ot' at
3079all; just '-Oi -d /root'. Then, after booting from the media
3080which Mondo generates, you need to type 'ISO' at the
3081console.</para>
3082</answer>
3083</qandaentry>
3084<qandaentry>
3085<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup _to_ an NFS
3086 partition, i.e. backup over a network? How about restoring?</para></question>
3087<answer>
3088<para>A: Yes. Use '-On &lt;mount&gt; &lt;directory&gt;'. Example:
3089</para>
3090<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
3091<row>
3092<entry>
3093
3094bash# mondoarchive -On 192.168.1.3:/home/nfs
3095
3096</entry>
3097</row>
3098</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
3099
3100</answer>
3101</qandaentry>
3102<qandaentry>
3103<question><para>Q: Does Mondo handle System or Hidden
3104 attributes when archiving Dos/Win files?</para></question>
3105<answer>
3106<para>A: No. It probably never will, either. Sorry.</para>
3107</answer>
3108</qandaentry>
3109</qandaset>
3110</sect1>
3111
3112<sect1 id="faq-compare">
3113<title>Compare related Questions</title>
3114
3115<qandaset>
3116<qandaentry>
3117<question><para>Q: When I compare my archives to my file
3118system, Mondo tells me there are differences or errors. Are the
3119archives bad?</para></question>
3120<answer>
3121 <para>A: Look at <filename>/tmp/changed.files</filename>; if the files are logfiles,
3122temp files or files which you think you may have changed recently
3123then the archives are simply out of date, albeit only by a few
3124minutes. Not a problem. However, if lots of files in /usr have
3125changed or if you get lots of errors then perhaps your CD, your
3126tapes or even your hardware could be to blame. Check your CD writer
3127or tape streamer.</para>
3128<para>Also, don't forget to review <filename>/var/log/mondoarchive.log</filename> for
3129more information.</para>
3130</answer>
3131</qandaentry>
3132</qandaset>
3133</sect1>
3134
3135<sect1 id="faq-restore">
3136<title>Restore related Questions</title>
3137<qandaset>
3138<qandaentry>
3139<question><para>Q: Can Mondo help me
3140 move/resize/re-allocate my partitions?</para></question>
3141<answer>
3142<para>A: Yes. Just backup your system in Interactive Mode using
3143Mondo. Edit the mountlist when prompted.</para>
3144</answer>
3145</qandaentry>
3146<qandaentry>
3147<question><para>Q: My zip drive is a SCSI drive. When I
3148restore, Mondo craps out, saying it can't mount the drive (because
3149there is no disk in it). What do I do?</para></question>
3150<answer>
3151<para>A: Restore in Interactive Mode. Delete the SCSI drive from
3152the mountlist before you restore. Then Mondo won't try to partition
3153or format it. Next time you backup, use -E /dev/sdd (or whatever
3154your zip drive is). The /dev entry will be excluded from the
3155mountlist but not from the filelist. So, when you restore, you
3156won't accidentally reformat your zip disk. However, after
3157restoring, you will find that /dev/sdd (the _file_) will still be
3158present in your /dev directory. Cool, eh?</para>
3159</answer>
3160</qandaentry>
3161<qandaentry>
3162<question><para>Q: I received a message like, 'Fileset
3163 NNN failed' during restore. What does it mean.</para></question>
3164<answer>
3165<para>A: It usually means either you had a very large (&gt;2GB)
3166file which was not archived owing to a flaw in your distro or your
3167filesystem has changed in relation to the backup.</para>
3168</answer>
3169</qandaentry>
3170<qandaentry>
3171<question><para>Q: Why does my ext3 partition have less
3172 space free than when I backed it up?</para></question>
3173<answer>
3174<para>A: Mondo creates a 10MB journal file area. Your journal was
3175probably smaller than that, hence the difference.</para>
3176</answer>
3177</qandaentry>
3178<qandaentry>
3179<question><para id="SEGF">Q: When I restore after
3180booting from the CD, I sometimes get errors like, "Running
3181out of memory" or "Segmentation fault". What is going on?</para></question>
3182<answer><para>A: It sounds as if you are running out of disk
3183space, probably ram disk space. Type 'df -m' to see which
3184partitions are running low on space. Please send as much
3185information as you can to the &ML;. This problem is
3186believed to have been fixed in 1.63 and 1.71.</para>
3187</answer>
3188</qandaentry>
3189<qandaentry>
3190<question>
3191<para id="LVM">Q: I can't nuke-restore my LVM or RAID or
3192LVM-on-RAID setup. I have to do it manually. What now?</para></question>
3193<answer>
3194<para>A: You said it yourself. You have to do it manually. :) Sorry
3195but that's about it. At least you have all the tools to do it. I
3196assume you know how. If you don't, look at i-want-my-lvm (a script
3197on the ramdisk) if you're using LVM. It should give you a few
3198clues. RAID is harder but in general Mondo's RAID support is good.
3199After you've prepped and formatted your drives, run mondorestore
3200again but say 'no' when asked if you want Mondo to prep or format
3201your drives.</para>
3202</answer>
3203</qandaentry>
3204</qandaset>
3205</sect1>
3206</chapter>
3207
3208&gfdl;
3209
3210</book>
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