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1<!DOCTYPE BOOK PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN" [
2<!ENTITY curdate "PBDATE">
3<!ENTITY curver "PBVER-rPBREV">
4
5<!ENTITY WWWB "http://www.mondorescue.org/">
6<!ENTITY WWW '<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org">MondoRescue</ulink>'>
7<!ENTITY ML '<ulink url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mondo-devel">mondorescue mailing list</ulink>'>
8<!ENTITY gfdl SYSTEM "fdl.sgml">
9]>
10
11<book>
12
13<bookinfo>
14<title>MondoRescue HOWTO</title>
15<subtitle>
16Utilisation and Configuration of Mondo and Mindi under Linux (Version &curver;)
17</subtitle>
18<graphic fileref="images/protected-by-mondo" align="center">
19
20<pubdate>
21in its latest version the
22&curdate;
23</pubdate>
24
25<abstract>
26<para>
27This document describes the use of mondo and mindi tools to realize disaster recovery backup of your systems. It provides information on installation, backup and restore modes, hardware and software requirements, and answers to some frequently asked questions.
28The goals are to offer a general view of the functions and their best usages.
29Mondo Rescue is a Disaster Recovery Solution which allows you
30to effortlessly backup and interactively restore Linux, Windows and
31other supported filesystem partitions to/from CD/DVD-+R/RW media, tape,
32NFS, ... and Mindi Linux provides the bootable emergency restore
33media which Mondo uses at boot-time.
34</para>
35</abstract>
36
37<author>
38<firstname>Bruno</firstname>
39<surname>Cornec</surname>
40<affiliation>
41<orgname>MondoRescue Project</orgname>
42<address><email>bruno@mondorescue.org</email></address>
43</affiliation>
44</author>
45<author>
46<firstname>Conor</firstname>
47<surname>Daly</surname>
48<affiliation>
49<orgname>MondoRescue Project</orgname>
50<address><email>conor.daly_at_met.ie</email></address>
51</affiliation>
52</author>
53<!--
54Hugo Rabson
55Mikael Hultgren
56Stan Benoit
57Randy Delfs
58Cafeole
59Bryan J. Smith
60-->
61
62<copyright>
63<year>2000-2006</year>
64<holder role="mailto:bruno@mondorescue.org">Bruno Cornec</holder>
65</copyright>
66
67<legalnotice>
68<title>License</title>
69<para>
70</para>
71<para>
72This HOWTO is a free documentation. you may copy, redistribute and/or modify it under the terms of the
73<Link LinkEnd="gfdl">
74GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
75</link>.</para>
76<para>
77or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts. This document is distributed hoping it will be useful, but <emphasis>without any guaranty</emphasis>; you're completely responsible of its use, and coulnd't complain in case it doesn't work, or even if it breaks the hardware. All the software included in it, if not already copyrighted is released under the GPL.
78</para>
79</legalnotice>
80
81<revhistory>
82<revision>
83 <revnumber>2.0.7</revnumber>
84 <date>2006-05-16</date>
85 <authorinitials>Bruno Cornec</authorinitials>
86 <revdescription>
87 <para>
88 Integration of a chapter on HOWTO run mondo interactively using cron written by Conor Daly
89 </para>
90 </revdescription>
91</revision>
92<revision>
93 <revnumber>2.06</revnumber>
94 <date>2006-01-16</date>
95 <authorinitials>Bruno Cornec</authorinitials>
96 <revdescription>
97 <para>
98 First SGML version publically available, remade from the HTML docs of the project.
99 </para>
100 </revdescription>
101</revision>
102</revhistory>
103</bookinfo>
104
105<toc></toc>
106<lot></lot>
107
108
109<chapter id="intro">
110<title>About this Guide</title>
111
112<sect1 id="intro-purpose">
113<title>Purpose / Scope of this Guide</title>
114
115<para>
116This HOWTO serves to help people get started with using
117mondo/mindi as way to backup/restore their system. This is a work
118constantly evolving. It was started by Hugo Rabson and has
119since been worked upon by a number of people. See the
120'<ulink url="&WWWB;about.shtml#devteam">About</ulink>' web
121page for a list of members of the development team.</para>
122
123<para>There are many ways to contribute to the Linux movement
124without actually writing code. One of the most important is writing
125documentation, allowing each person to share their knowledge with
126thousands of others around the world. This HOWTO is designed to
127help you get familiar with how Mondo/Mindi works.</para>
128
129<para>
130Opinions expressed here are those of the authors.
131Informations are provided in the aim to be useful to the readers.
132However, there can't be, through this document, any warranty of any kind
133on the way it works on your systems, nor the author could be responsible for any problem caused by the use of these informations.
134However, software editors don't garantee you a lot either (re-read the contracts).
135</para>
136</sect1>
137
138<sect1 id="intro-newversion"><title>New versions of this document</title>
139
140<para>The newest version of this document can always be found on
141MondoRescue's homepage &WWW;.</para>
142<para>
143If you make a translation of this document into another language, please let meknow so that I can include a reference to it here.
144</para>
145</sect1>
146
147<sect1><title>Suggestions / Feedback</title>
148<para>
149I rely on you, the reader, to make this HOWTO useful. THis HOWTO is probably incomplete even if it tries to be accurate to the best of our knowledge.
150If you have any suggestions, corrections, 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</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
448
449<itemizedlist>
450<listitem>
451<para>Try to boot from the first media of the backup.
452Choose 'Compare Mode' by typing compare at the boot screen.
453</para>
454</listitem>
455<listitem>
456<para>If you can boot, fine. If not, make a Mindi "Test" CD to
457checkout the compatibility of your system. (see
458<link linkend="test-mindi">Testing Mindi</link> for more
459details). Remove the media; boot your computer as usual;
460execute as root</para>
461<para></para>
462<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
463<row>
464<entry>
465
466 bash# mindi
467</entry>
468</row>
469<row>
470<entry>
471 bash# cd /var/cache/mindi
472
473</entry>
474</row>
475</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
476
477<para>(for CD-R)</para>
478<para></para>
479<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
480<row>
481<entry>
482bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v mindi.iso
483</entry>
484</row>
485<row>
486<entry>
487bash# wodim dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v mindi.iso
488</entry>
489</row>
490</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
491
492<para>(for CD-RW)</para>
493<para></para>
494<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
495<row>
496<entry>
497bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 blank=fast -eject -v mindi.iso
498</entry>
499</row>
500<row>
501<entry>
502bash# wodim dev=0,0,0 speed=4 blank=fast -eject -v mindi.iso
503</entry>
504</row>
505</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
506
507<para>Reboot your system with the created Mindi CD, with the BIOS
508set to boot from CD. If the result is a command line in 'Expert'
509mode, your system checks out. Remove the CD and reboot your
510system.</para>
511</listitem>
512<listitem>
513<para>If you still cannot boot from Mindi's CD then please e-mail
514the &ML; for help.
515</para>
516</listitem>
517</itemizedlist>
518<para>When making a backup on a live system, there will always be
519processes running that will write out data on the system after you
520have made the backup and before you have made the compare, this
521will result in difference showing up when comparing your backup.
522For a full explanation and what can be done to avoid this, please
523read this section.</para>
524<itemizedlist>
525
526 <listitem>
527<para>This QuickStart covers the ideal case. Upon receiving any
528system feedback/errors, read each related HOWTO section.</para>
529<para>Example 2-1. A test backup of your /home directory to CD-Rs
530using the command line</para>
531<para></para>
532<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
533<row>
534<entry>
535
536bash# mondoarchive -OVc 4 -I /home -g
537
538</entry>
539</row>
540</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
541
542<para>The 'c' means you must be writing to CD-Rs, not CD-RWs (the
543latter would require 'w' instead of 'c'). The '4' is the speed of
544your CD writer. The string after -I is the path to be backed up.
545The '-g' means you are going to see the pretty yellow-on-blue
546screen instead of the boring white-on-black screen. :)
547</para>
548<para>Example 2-2. A backup of your whole filesystem to NFS using
549the command line</para>
550<para></para>
551<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
552<row>
553<entry>
554
555 bash# mkdir -p /mnt/nfs
556</entry>
557</row>
558<row>
559<entry>
560 bash# mount 192.168.1.28:/home/nfs /mnt/nfs
561 </entry>
562</row>
563<row>
564<entry>
565bash# mondoarchive -OVn 192.168.1.28:/home/nfs -gF[...]
566 </entry>
567</row>
568<row>
569<entry>
570bash# umount /mnt/nfs
571 </entry>
572</row>
573<row>
574<entry>
575 bash# cdrecord dev=0,0,0 speed=4 -eject -v /var/cache/mindi/mindi.iso
576</entry>
577</row>
578</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
579
580<para>Note that you have to mount the NFS partition, backup to it,
581unmount it, and create a boot CD to allow you to restore from
582scratch if necessary. To reassure yourself that you will be able to
583restore from the NFS share even if your PC is wiped, please boot
584from the Mindi CD and type 'compare'. The on-screen instructions
585from that point on should be sufficient.</para>
586<para>Example 2-3. A backup of your whole
587filesystem to tape using the command line</para>
588<para></para>
589<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
590<row>
591<entry>
592
593bash# mondoarchive -OVt -d /dev/st0 -9 -L -g
594
595</entry>
596</row>
597</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
598
599<para>In this case, we assume Syslinux is incompatible with your
600boot media. For some reason, some BIOSes just don't like Syslinux.
601If you find this to be the case for your computer, please use '-L'
602to force Mondo to use LILO instead of Syslinux as the boot loader
603for its media. (NB: This has nothing to do with which boot
604loader your hard drive uses.) Also, it is a good habit to specify
605your tape streamer with '-d &lt;device&gt;'. You don't usually need
606to but it's good to be on the safe side. Some computers call your
607tape streamer /dev/osst0, some call it /dev/ftape, ...
608Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
609in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
610recognize the drive.</para>
611</listitem>
612</itemizedlist>
613
614</chapter>
615
616<chapter id="overview"><title>Overview</title>
617
618<sect1 id="overview-mondorescue">
619<title>Mondo Rescue</title>
620<para>Mondo Rescue backs up your file system to CD, tape, NFS
621(archives stored remotely) or ISO's (archives stored locally).
622Mondo uses afio as the backup engine; afio is a well-respected
623replacement for tar. In the event of catastrophic data loss, you
624may restore some or all of your system, even if your hard drives
625are now blank. Mondo Rescue can do a lot of other cool
626things:</para>
627<itemizedlist>
628<listitem>
629<para>You can use Mondo to clone an installation of Linux. Just
630backup the crucial stuff and exclude /home, /var/log, etc.</para>
631</listitem>
632<listitem>
633<para>You can backup a non-RAID file system and restore it as RAID
634including the root partition (if your kernel supports that).</para>
635</listitem>
636<listitem>
637<para>You can backup a system running on one format and restore as
638another format.</para>
639</listitem>
640<listitem>
641<para>You can restructure your partitions, e.g. shrink/enlarge,
642reassign devices, add hard drives, etc, before you partition and
643format your drives. Mondo will restore your data and amend
644/etc/lilo.conf and /etc/fstab accordingly.</para>
645</listitem>
646<listitem>
647<para>You can backup Linux/Windows systems, including the boot
648sectors. Mondo will make everything right at restore-time.
649(However, do run "Scandisk" when you first boot into Windows, just
650in case.)</para>
651</listitem>
652<listitem>
653<para>You can use your Mondo backup CD to verify the integrity of
654your computer.</para>
655</listitem>
656</itemizedlist>
657<para>Mondo's principal virtue is that it protects you from the
658problems that can arise when you reinstall completely from scratch.
659If you want to wipe and restore your system every year just as a
660matter of 'good practice', Mondo is not for you. However, if you
661want to get up and running again in a hurry after someone breaks
662into your computer and wipes it (or if you accidentally wipe it
663yourself) then Mondo is definitely for you. It will permit you to
664roll back to a known-good installation in a very short period of
665time, sometimes as little as twenty minutes. Even if you backup
666large amounts of data to tape daily and do not want to add yet
667another backup regime, please consider backing up the core
668filesystem (i.e. everything but the directories containing your
669huge database and your prizewinning novel) every month or so, just
670in case. You will be glad you did.</para>
671<para>What is Mondo not?</para>
672<para>Mondo is not an everyday backup program. It is not designed
673to replace tar, afio, kbackup, etc. Mondo is designed to make it
674possible to recover from scratch if necessary. Tar and afio offer a
675quick, convenient way to backup small sets of files, sometimes to
676removable media.</para>
677</sect1>
678
679<sect1 id="overview-mindi">
680<title>Mindi</title>
681<para>
682Mindi Linux creates a set of boot/root media images
683that will let you perform basic system maintenance on your Linux
684distro. The principal virtues of Mindi's boot disks are the fact
685that they contain your kernel, modules, tools and libraries. You
686can ask for additional binaries (or other files) to be included on
687the kit. The libraries will be added for you.
688</para>
689<para>Whichever modules were loaded at backup-time, they are
690reloaded at boot-time. So, in theory, you will boot into almost the
691same environment as you were in when you backed up. If you want to
692add files to your Mindi boot disks, edit '&lt;INSTALLPATH OF
693MINDI&gt;/mindi/deplist.txt' and add the files to that list. The
694added files and dependencies, will be spread across the data disks
695at run-time.
696</para>
697<para>Mindi makes sure that Mondo has all the tools it needs at
698boot-time. Mondo uses fdisk, mkfs, cat, less, more, afio, gzip,
699bzip2, your keyboard configuration, your glibc libraries, your
700other libraries, your kernel, your modules, ... which is a lot of tools!
701Mindi takes care of all that, so that Mondo can get on with the job of backing
702up or restoring your data.
703</para>
704<para>Mindi is also handy for making boot CDs/disks which stand on
705their own. You do not need Mondo. Indeed, if you like, you could
706use another backup/restore program with Mindi. Just add it to
707Mindi's dependency list (type 'locate deplist.txt' to find it).
708Mindi will include your software on its boot CD/disks the next time
709you run mindi.
710</para>
711</sect1>
712
713
714<sect1 id="overview-linuxbackup">
715<title>Linux Backup</title>
716<para>Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux are used primarily as Linux
717backup and cloning tools. The fall in prices of CD-RW drives and
718writable discs will allow current users to keep good backups and
719future users to leverage the cloning capability.</para>
720<para>Tape drives are more likely to suit your needs if you run a
721larger installation (or have lots of MP3's). Warning! OnStream
722drives do not play well with Mondo. I do not know why. It is, in my
723opinion, something which OnStream should look into. Mondo uses
724fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() to interact with tape
725drives. That works for most drives but some drives just don't like
726that.
727Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
728in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
729recognize the drive.</para>
730<para>Mondo Rescue has been tested thousands of times on various computers.
731It has worked for them.
732Thousands of users testify to Mondo's stability and its ease of
733use. However, please test it on your own system before you rely on
734it. In fact, do not rely on any software until you have tested it
735to see if it performs as expected.</para>
736<para>To establish that Mondo will behave well in an emergency,
737please be prepared. Run a test backup as follows:-</para>
738<itemizedlist>
739<listitem>
740<para>Run mondoarchive without any command-line options.</para>
741</listitem>
742<listitem>
743 <para>Backup a subset of files - e.g. /usr/local - to CD or
744 tape. Say 'yes' when asked if you want to verify them.</para>
745</listitem>
746</itemizedlist>
747<para>Next, restore archives to your live filesystem.</para>
748<itemizedlist>
749<listitem>
750<para>When mondoarchive terminates, run mondorestore without any
751command-line options.</para>
752</listitem>
753<listitem><para>Insert the media when prompted.
754 Press &lt;Enter&gt;. Wait a moment.</para></listitem>
755<listitem><para>Select a subset of files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man
756 and /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.</para></listitem>
757<listitem><para>Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something
758 similar.</para></listitem>
759<listitem><para>When mondorestore terminates, compare the restored files
760 to the originals using cmp or diff.</para></listitem>
761</itemizedlist>
762<para>Finally, simulate an emergency restore.</para>
763<itemizedlist>
764<listitem>
765<para>Boot from media.</para>
766</listitem>
767<listitem><para>Select 'Interactive Mode' at boot-time. (Type
768 'interactive' and hit &lt;Enter&gt;.)</para></listitem>
769<listitem><para>Hit OK when shown the mountlist. Say 'yes' when asked if
770 you accept the mountlist.</para></listitem>
771<listitem><para>Select files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man and
772 /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.</para></listitem>
773<listitem><para>Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something
774 similar.</para></listitem>
775<listitem><para>When mondorestore terminates, please reboot and compare
776 the restored files to the originals.</para></listitem>
777</itemizedlist>
778<para>FYI, the subroutines to repartition and reformat your drives
779are very stable. If you are a RAID or LVM user, you
780might&nbsp;encounter some difficulties when wiping and restoring
781from scratch because of the sheer range of filesystem layouts and
782the impossibility of testing Mondo on every single one. If you have
783trouble, just drop to the command-line and partition/format
784manually. Then, call mondorestore, select Interactive Mode, and say
785'no' when asked if you want Mondo to partition or format your
786drives for you.</para>
787<para>You see, even if you have trouble, you still have two hands
788and most of the tools you need - lvchange, pvcreate, fdisk, mkraid,
789etc. - to do it manually. After you have prepped and formatted your
790drives manually (if you have to), just run mondorestore again and
791say 'no' when asked if you want to prep or format your drives. What
792could be easier?</para>
793</sect1>
794
795<sect1 id="overview-winbackup">
796<title>Windows Backup</title>
797<para>Backing up windows partitions.</para>
798<sect2 id="overview-winbackup-win95"><title>Windows ME/95/98</title>
799<para>Verify that the partition is listed in /etc/fstab and is
800mounted (e.g. /dev/hda1). Mondo will take care of everything else.
801The files will be archived just like all other files in the live
802file system. At restore-time, Mondo will take care of the boot
803sector of /dev/hda1 prior to the restore.</para>
804<para>Note: if Windows ME/95/98 is not located on /dev/hda1 or
805/dev/sda1, then Mondo will not take care of the boot sector of
806/dev/hda1. The user will have to boot from a DOS floppy and run SYS
807C: to correct the Windows boot sector.</para>
808</sect2>
809<sect2 id="overview-winbackup-winnt"><title>Windows NT4/2K/XP</title>
810<para>Windows NT4/2K/XP typically use the NTFS file system, not
811VFAT.. The user should use '-x /dev/hda1' (or whichever device the
812Windows partition resides). Mondo will treat the partition as a
813biggiefile. Mondo will also add an entry to the mountlist to
814reflect the size and type of the partition. The user may not edit
815that partition's size at restore-time (for obvious reasons).</para>
816<para>Please bear in mind that Mondo was written for Linux users.
817If Mondo does not backup or restore your Windows system well, you
818might want to consider reporting it to the &ML;
819</para>
820</sect2>
821</sect1>
822
823<sect1 id="overview-history">
824<title>Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux
825History</title>
826<para>Mondo Rescue was created in December 1999 by Hugo Rabson as a utility to
827clone Linux/Windows installations. Norton Ghost would not do the
828job, and his boss wanted to jump on the Linux bandwagon. So, he wrote
829a few scripts and shoehorned them into the latest Linux-Mandrake
830CD. Since that time, Mondo grew into a disaster recovery suite for
831Linux and Windows. Mondo forced him to learn about the kernel, its
832initrd initial ramdisk, modules, library dependencies, disk
833partitioning, and the myriad differences between the Top 10 Linux
834distributions.</para>
835<para>The first formal release was made on February 18th, 2000.
836Mondo is currently one of the top five Linux backup/restore
837programs. Mondo has been compared favorably to ArcServe, Arkeia and
838BRU. Although Mondo lacks the more advanced, enterprise-level
839features of ArcServe and Arkeia, for workstations and small- to
840medium-size servers it is ideal because it is small, fast,
841efficient, stable, comes with source code, and is being actively
842developed and supported.</para>
843<para>
844 Since November 2005, Hugo Rabson has tranfered the maintenance
845 of the Mondo Rescue suite to Andree Leidenfrost and Bruno Cornec,
846 both previous developers and packagers of the tool since nearly
847 the begining.
848</para>
849</sect1>
850
851<sect1 id="overview-sysreq">
852<title>System Requirements</title>
853<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-hwreq">
854<title>Hardware Requirements</title>
855
856<para>Your computer must have:</para>
857<itemizedlist>
858<listitem>
859 <para>Intel(R)-compatible CPU (ia32, x86_64/amd64 or ia64)</para>
860</listitem>
861<listitem>
862<para>64MB of RAM (128MB recommended)</para>
863</listitem>
864<listitem>
865<para>800MB of hard disk space free</para>
866</listitem>
867<listitem>
868<para>CD writer, tape streamer, NFS share or some way to backup the
869backups :)</para>
870</listitem>
871</itemizedlist>
872<para>It is recommended that your computer have very good airflow.
873The backup with Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux will utilize your CPU,
874CD drive and fixed disk(s) like very few other applications. With a
875few hours of system backup activity, computers without sufficient
876airflow may show symptoms such as not burning full CD discs. The
877solution is a $20 or less additional fan at your local electronics
878discount store.</para>
879</sect2>
880
881<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">
882<title>Kernel Requirements</title>
883
884<para>Your kernel must have:</para>
885<itemizedlist>
886<listitem>
887<para>stable loopfs support, which means it really needs to be
8882.2.19 or 2.4.7 (or later)</para>
889</listitem>
890<listitem>
891<para>CD-ROM device support</para>
892</listitem>
893<listitem>
894<para>ISO9660 file system support</para>
895</listitem>
896<listitem>
897<para>initrd ramdisk support (built-in)</para>
898</listitem>
899<listitem>
900<para>Virtual memory file system support (built-in)</para>
901</listitem>
902<listitem>
903<para>ext2 file system support (built-in)</para>
904</listitem>
905<listitem>
906<para>Support for the backup media (Tape, CD-RW, NFS, Hard
907disk)</para>
908</listitem>
909<listitem>
910<para>If the backup media is CD-RW then you need SCSI emulation
911also</para>
912<para>vfat support in the active kernel - mindi needs this when creating
913syslinux boot media</para>
914</listitem>
915</itemizedlist>
916<para>Please note that the stock kernels of Red Hat/RHEL/Fedora,
917 Mandrake/Mandriva, SuSE/SLES/OpenSuSE, Debian and Slackware
918 all meet Mondo's requirements. If your kernel does not meet Mondo's
919 requirements then there is something wrong with it. Mondo's demands
920 are not unreasonable.</para>
921<para>Mondo (specifically Mindi) does not require any specific
922module. It does require that your kernel support the initrd
923initial ramdisk facility. Typically this is supported by the Linux
924kernel. Modules used are needed to support the CD,
925hard disks, etc. If the support is modular, then the modules will
926be incorporated in a boot disk by Mindi. If the support is built-in
927(static), then it will be available at boot-time by default.</para>
928</sect2>
929<sect2 id="overview-sysrq-swreq">
930<title>Software Requirements</title>
931<para>See Mondo's <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml">Download
932page</ulink> for details.</para>
933<para>Mondo requires afio, bzip2, cdrtools/cdrecord/growisofs (may be part of the dvd+rw-tools package), ncurses, newt,
934isolinux/syslinux, lzo (optional), lzop (optional), mkisofs, slang,
935and a few other packages.</para>
936<para>Good Linux distributions provide all these packages. If yours
937does not then please go to the aforementioned Download page or surf
938the Net, preferably the website of the distribution you are
939using.</para>
940<para>Mondo's expectations are not unreasonable, either of your
941Linux distribution or of your kernel. However, if your distribution
942fails to meet its expectations and you cannot find out how to
943resolve them, please feel free to e-mail the &ML;
944</para>
945</sect2>
946</sect1>
947</chapter>
948
949<chapter id="installation">
950<title>Installation</title>
951
952<sect1 id="installation-mindi">
953<title>Mindi Installation</title>
954<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
955you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
956<para></para>
957<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
958<row>
959<entry>
960
961 bash# cd /tmp
962</entry>
963</row>
964<row>
965<entry>
966 bash# tar -zxvf mindi-1.x.tgz
967 </entry>
968</row>
969<row>
970<entry>
971bash# cd mindi-1.x
972</entry>
973</row>
974<row>
975<entry>
976 bash# ./install.sh
977
978</entry>
979</row>
980</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
981
982<para>This installs mindi additional files into /usr/local/lib/mindi and
983the program into /usr/local/sbin</para>
984<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to
985wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
986<para></para>
987<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
988<row>
989<entry>
990
991bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mindi-1.x-x.i386.rpm
992</entry>
993</row>
994<row>
995<entry>
996
997or
998</entry>
999</row>
1000<row>
1001<entry>
1002
1003bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mindi-1.x-x.deb
1004
1005</entry>
1006</row>
1007</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1008
1009<para>This installs mindi additional files into /usr/lib/mindi and
1010the program into /usr/sbin.
1011</para>
1012</sect1>
1013
1014<sect1 id="installation-mindi-busybox">
1015<title>Mindi Busybox Installation</title>
1016<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
1017you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1018<para></para>
1019<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1020<row>
1021<entry>
1022
1023 bash# cd /tmp
1024</entry>
1025</row>
1026<row>
1027 <entry>
1028 bash# tar -zxvf mindi-busybox-1.x.tgz
1029 </entry>
1030</row>
1031<row>
1032 <entry>
1033 bash# cd mindi-busybox-1.x
1034 </entry>
1035</row>
1036<row>
1037 <entry>
1038 bash# make oldconfig
1039 </entry>
1040</row>
1041<row>
1042 <entry>
1043 bash# make busybox
1044 </entry>
1045</row>
1046<row>
1047 <entry>
1048 bash# make install
1049 </entry>
1050</row>
1051</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1052<para>This installs busybox files and symlinks into /usr/local/lib/mindi/rootfs
1053</para>
1054<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to
1055wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1056<para></para>
1057<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1058<row>
1059<entry>
1060
1061bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mindi-busybox-1.x-x.i386.rpm
1062</entry>
1063</row>
1064<row>
1065<entry>
1066
1067or
1068</entry>
1069</row>
1070<row>
1071<entry>
1072
1073bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mindi-busybox-1.x-x.deb
1074
1075</entry>
1076</row>
1077</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1078
1079<para>This installs busybix files and symlinks into /usr/lib/mindi/rootfs
1080</para>
1081</sect1>
1082
1083<sect1 id="installation-mondo">
1084<title>Mondo Installation</title>
1085<para>If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever
1086you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:</para>
1087<para></para>
1088<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1089<row>
1090<entry>
1091
1092 bash# cd /tmp
1093</entry>
1094</row>
1095<row>
1096<entry>
1097 bash# tar -zxvf mondo-2.xx.tgz
1098 </entry>
1099</row>
1100<row>
1101<entry>
1102bash# cd mondo-2.xx
1103 </entry>
1104</row>
1105<row>
1106<entry>
1107 bash# ./configure
1108 </entry>
1109</row>
1110<row>
1111<entry>
1112bash# make &amp;&amp; make install
1113
1114</entry>
1115</row>
1116</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1117
1118<para>This installs mondo into /usr/local/lib/mondo and installs
1119the programs into /usr/local/sbin</para>
1120<para>Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to copy it
1121to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and
1122type:</para>
1123<para></para>
1124<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1125<row>
1126<entry>
1127
1128bash# rpm -Uvh /tmp/mondo-2.x-x.i386.rpm
1129</entry>
1130</row>
1131<row>
1132<entry>
1133
1134or
1135</entry>
1136</row>
1137<row>
1138<entry>
1139
1140bash# dpkg -i /tmp/mondo-2.x-x.deb
1141
1142</entry>
1143</row>
1144</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1145
1146<para>This installs mondo into /usr/lib/mondo and installs
1147the programs into /usr/sbin</para>
1148</sect1>
1149
1150<sect1 id=rpm-verif>
1151 <title>RPM verifications</title>
1152 <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>
1153<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1154<row>
1155 <entry>
1156 bash# rpm -Va mindi mondo mindi-busybox
1157 </entry>
1158</row>
1159</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1160<para>
1161 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.
1162 </para>
1163</sect1>
1164</chapter>
1165
1166<chapter id="test">
1167<title>Tests</title>
1168
1169<sect1 id="test-mindi">
1170<title>Testing Mindi</title>
1171
1172<para>Mindi is a vital part of the backup procedure. If you have
1173used Mondo before or if you are in a hurry, skip steps 6.2 and 6.3;
1174go straight to QuickStart.</para>
1175<para>However, if you have time or if you have been having trouble
1176getting Mondo to work, I would recommend trying out Mindi directly
1177(rather than via Mondo) to see if it can produce a bootable CD on
1178your system.</para>
1179<para>Make sure you are root while doing this, otherwise mindi will
1180fail, now do this.</para>
1181<para>If you have any problems, please:-</para>
1182<itemizedlist>
1183<listitem>
1184<para>less /var/log/mindi.log</para>
1185</listitem>
1186<listitem><para>feel free to edit mindi (it's a shell script, btw) to try
1187 to fix the problem yourself</para></listitem>
1188<listitem><para>contact the &ML; if you get stuck.</para></listitem>
1189</itemizedlist>
1190<para>Type:-</para>
1191<para></para>
1192<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1193<row>
1194<entry>
1195
1196bash# mindi
1197
1198</entry>
1199</row>
1200</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1201
1202<para>Example screen output, selecting to use your own kernel, to
1203create boot disks, and to create a bootable CD image:</para>
1204<para></para>
1205<screen>
1206
1207# mindi
1208Mindi Linux mini-distro generator v1.2.4-r1532
1209
1210Latest Mindi is available from http://www.mondorescueg
1211
1212BusyBox sources are available from http://www.busybox.net
1213
1214------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1215Do you want to use your own kernel to build the boot disk (y/n) ?y
1216Would you like to use LILO (instead of syslinux)
1217for your boot media (y/n) ?n
1218Analyzing dependency requirements Done.
1219Making complete dependency list Done.
1220Analyzing your keyboard's configuration.
1221
1222Adding the following keyboard mapping tables: us-latin1 Done.
1223Assembling dependency files................................................................... Done.
1224The files have been subdivided into 5 directories. Your mountlist will look like this:-
1225 Finding all volume groups
1226 No volume groups found
1227 No volume groups found
1228 No volume groups found
1229 No volume groups found
1230 DEVICE MOUNTPOINT FORMAT SIZE (MB)
1231 /dev/hda1 / ext3 399
1232 /dev/hda9 /home ext3 48478
1233 /dev/hda6 /usr ext3 4999
1234 /dev/hda7 /var ext3 1000
1235 /dev/hda5 swap swap 349
1236 /dev/hda8 swap swap 2003
1237 Finding all volume groups
1238 No volume groups found
1239 No volume groups found
1240 No volume groups found
1241 No volume groups found
1242Tarring and zipping the groups.................. Done.
1243Creating data disk #1...#2...#3...#4...#5... Done.
1244Making 2880KB boot disk...........................mkfs.vfat 2.10 (22 Sep 2003)
1245... 2880 KB boot disks were created OK Done.
1246In the directory '/var/cache/mindi' you will find the images:-
1247 mindi-data-1.img mindi-data-2.img mindi-data-3.img mindi-data-4.img mindi-data-5.img mindi-root.1440.img
1248Shall I make a bootable CD image? (y/n) y
1249NB: Mindi's bootable CD always uses isolinux.
1250
1251For a bootable CD w/LILO, please use Mondo.
1252
1253Finished.
1254
1255Boot and data disk images were created.
1256
1257#
1258
1259</screen>
1260
1261<para>
1262The easiest way to test Mindi is to say
1263'y' to the last question, then use the
1264separate application cdrecord or wodim to make a bootable CD-R or
1265CD-RW.</para>
1266<para>Use the cdrecord or wodim application to write the CD image:</para>
1267<para></para>
1268<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1269<row>
1270<entry>
1271 bash# cd /var/cache/mindi
1272</entry>
1273</row>
1274<row>
1275 <entry>
1276 bash# cdrecord -scanbus
1277</entry>
1278</row>
1279<row>
1280 <entry>
1281 bash# wodim --devices
1282</entry>
1283</row>
1284</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1285
1286<para>The output of the above call will tell you your
1287CD writer's node. It is usually '0,0,0'. Choose one of the
1288following calls to write the CD, depending on whether the disk in
1289the drive is a CD-R or a CD-RW. Please replace 'x,x,x' with your
1290writer's node. For further information, type 'man cdrecord" from a
1291Linux command line.</para>
1292<para>If writing to a CD-RW Drive/Disc:</para>
1293<para></para>
1294<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1295<row>
1296<entry>
1297bash# cdrecord -v blank=fast dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-RW)
1298</entry>
1299</row>
1300<row>
1301<entry>
1302 bash# wodim -v blank=fast dev=/dev/xxx speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-RW)
1303</entry>
1304</row>
1305</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1306
1307<para>If writing to a CD-R Drive/Disc:</para>
1308<para></para>
1309<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1310<row>
1311<entry>
1312bash# cdrecord -v dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-R)
1313</entry>
1314</row>
1315<row>
1316<entry>
1317 bash# wodim -v dev=/dev/xxx speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-R)
1318</entry>
1319</row>
1320</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1321</sect1>
1322
1323<!--
1324<sect1 id="test-mondo">
1325<title>Testing Mondo</title>
1326</sect1>
1327-->
1328</chapter>
1329
1330<chapter id="backup">
1331<title>Backup</title>
1332
1333<sect1 id="backup-recommendations">
1334<title>Recommendations</title>
1335<itemizedlist>
1336<listitem>
1337<para>Shut down all possible applications (this minimizes any
1338 compare differences following the backup). Especially shutdown
1339 properly any running database on your system, as the recovery
1340 may lead to corrupted data. Or if applicable, boot to single user mode.</para>
1341</listitem>
1342<listitem>
1343<para>Type:</para>
1344</listitem>
1345</itemizedlist>
1346<para></para>
1347<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1348<row>
1349<entry>
1350
1351bash# mondoarchive
1352
1353</entry>
1354</row>
1355</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1356
1357<para>For most users, that should be enough. :-) Mondoarchive will
1358usually autodetect your hardware and configure it for you.</para>
1359<para>If you are a power user (or you like to control every detail
1360of how Mondo runs) then you may want to look at the command-line
1361switches. For example:-</para>
1362<para></para>
1363<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1364<row>
1365<entry>
1366
1367bash# mondoarchive -Ow9 -gF -I /home
1368
1369</entry>
1370</row>
1371</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1372
1373<para>cdrecord or wodim will tell you where your CD recorder lives, in SCSI
1374terms, which looks like '0,0,0'. The previous call to mondoarchive tells
1375Mondo to backup everything to a 4x CD-RW drive that has
1376a CD-RW disk in it. (Use -Oc instead of -Ow if you are using
1377CD-R.)</para>
1378<para>Please put the first CD-R(W) in the drive now. You will be
1379prompted to insert CD #2 but you will not be prompted to insert the
1380first disk. However, if you forget, do not worry: if Mondo fails to
1381write the first (or any) disk, it will offer to retry, abort or
1382fail.</para>
1383<para>Find the speed/compression
1384compromise that best suits your needs. Here maximum (-9) compression level is used.</para>
1385<para>If you are using cron then please consult the chapter that Conor Daly has dedicated to that <link linkend="backup-cron">topic</link>
1386</para>
1387</sect1>
1388
1389<sect1 id="backup-cmd">
1390<title>Backup Commands and Options</title>
1391
1392<para>Backup Command:</para>
1393<para></para>
1394<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1395<row>
1396<entry>
1397
1398mondoarchive &lt;-option1&gt; &lt;-option2&gt; ... &lt;-optionN&gt;
1399
1400</entry>
1401</row>
1402</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1403
1404<para>E.g.,</para>
1405<para></para>
1406<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1407<row>
1408<entry>
1409
1410bash# mondoarchive -E "/mnt/dos /mnt/cdrom" -9 -Oc 8
1411
1412</entry>
1413</row>
1414</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1415
1416<para>Would create backup CD to a CD-R disc at the highest
1417compression level, writing at speed 8 and ignoring the /mnt/dos and
1418/mnt/cdrom directories.</para>
1419<para>To see a detailed list of switches and their meaning, see the
1420<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/docs/mondoarchive.8.html">HTML
1421man page</ulink> on the website or type 'man mondoarchive' at the
1422console.</para>
1423<sect2 id="backup-cmd-cdr">
1424<title>Standard Example With CD-R</title>
1425<para></para>
1426<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1427<row>
1428<entry>
1429
1430bash# mondoarchive -Oc 2 -g
1431
1432</entry>
1433</row>
1434</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1435
1436<para>Replace '2' in '-Oc 2' with the writer's speed. If
1437mondoarchive cannot find your CD-R then please add '-d 0,0,0' (or
1438whatever your CD writer's SCSI node is; usually, it is 0,0,0) to
1439the call.</para>
1440<para>Please insert the first disk in the writer while the PC is
1441chugging away. If Mondo needs additional CD-R(W) then it will ask
1442for them.</para>
1443</sect2>
1444<sect2 id="backup-cmd-cdrw">
1445<title>Standard Example With CD-RW</title>
1446<para></para>
1447<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1448<row>
1449<entry>
1450
1451bash# mondoarchive -Ow 2 -g
1452
1453</entry>
1454</row>
1455</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1456
1457<para>Replace '2' in '-Ow 2' with the writer's speed.</para>
1458</sect2>
1459<sect2 id="backup-cmd-tape">
1460 <title>Standard Example With Tape</title>
1461<para></para>
1462<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1463<row>
1464<entry>
1465
1466bash# mondoarchive -Ot -d /dev/st0 -g
1467
1468</entry>
1469</row>
1470</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1471
1472</sect2>
1473<sect2 id="backup-cmd-failsafe">
1474 <title>Standard Example With Failsafe kernel</title>
1475<para></para>
1476<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1477<row>
1478<entry>
1479
1480bash# mondoarchive -k FAILSAFE -Ow 2
1481
1482</entry>
1483</row>
1484</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1485
1486<para>If you have problems during the restore phase, due to your kernel
1487 (which may be the case on some distributions), you may want to explore the Failsafe
1488 approach, In order for this option to work you'll have to get
1489 the mindi-kernel tarball or package for your distribution.</para>
1490</sect2>
1491<sect2 id="backup-cmd-network">
1492 <title>Standard Example With Network Backup</title>
1493<para></para>
1494<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1495<row>
1496<entry>
1497
1498 bash# mount 192.168.1.3:/home/nfs -t nfs /mnt/nfs
1499</entry>
1500</row>
1501<row>
1502 <entry>
1503 bash# mondoarchive -OVn 192.168.1.3:/home/nfs -g -s 200m
1504</entry>
1505</row>
1506<row>
1507 <entry>
1508 bash# umount /mnt/nfs
1509
1510</entry>
1511</row>
1512</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1513
1514<para>The resultant ISO's can be burned to CD's if you want (which
1515isn't a good idea unless you're a Mondo expert because they'll try
1516to restore over a network by default, which is silly because the
1517archives are on the CD's). Or, you can boot from the Mindi media
1518(or mondorescue.iso) and hit ENTER a few times to restore.</para>
1519<para>Those ISO images can also be used for a PXE restore. For this
1520 to work, please refer to the file README.pxe provided with
1521 your mindi package.
1522</para>
1523</sect2>
1524</sect1>
1525</chapter>
1526
1527<chapter id="backup-cron">
1528<title>HOWTO run mondo interactively using cron</title>
1529
1530<sect1 id="backup-cron-overview">
1531<title>Overview</title>
1532
1533<para>
1534 Mondoarchive is designed to run interactively (at least where
1535 media changes are necessary). Cron does not allow user interaction
1536 with a job. This section addresses the problem by using screen as a
1537 wrapper for mondo.
1538</para>
1539<para>
1540 This section is Copyright 2003 Conor Daly.
1541</para>
1542</sect1>
1543<sect1 id="backup-cron-intro">
1544 <title>Introduction</title>
1545
1546<para>
1547Mondoarchive is designed to run interactively. That's not strictly
1548 true, if you run mondoarchive without the '-g' switch, it will just
1549 run. However, there is a problem where media changes are necessary.
1550 The user must change the media and tell mondoarchive that the change
1551 has been done. The problem lies in the fact that cron does not allow
1552 user interaction with a job. If you schedule a mondoarchive job via
1553 cron, you better be sure it needs only one media. In practical terms,
1554 this means using tapes or ISOs (if CD-R(W) is your backup medium).
1555 However, for tape users, there's always the possibility that the
1556 backup will overflow the tape while for CD-R(W) users, there is the
1557 added hassle of burning the ISOs in the morning. If your CD_R(W)
1558 backup routinely occupies more than one media, this is not for you
1559 (use the ISO option and burn the CDs in the morning). This HOWTO
1560 addresses the problem by using screen as a wrapper for mondo.
1561</para>
1562</sect1>
1563<sect1 id="backup-cron-who">
1564 <title>Who should read this?</title>
1565<sect2><title>Insurance</title>
1566<para>
1567Mondo users who wish to automate the backup and whose backups
1568 routinely occupy close to one media are the best audience. If you
1569 backup to tape, the occasion will arise when the backup will overflow
1570 your tape. In this instance, mondoarchive will ask for another tape.
1571 If you're using cron to start the backup, you won't be able to tell
1572 mondo that the new tape is mounted and the backup will fail. If you
1573 backup to CD-R(W), the same situation will arise but sooner.
1574 </para>
1575 </sect2>
1576 <sect2><title>Efficiency</title>
1577<para>
1578If your backup already occupies two media, this method will allow
1579 as much of the backup as possible to proceed during quiet periods.
1580 Time the backup to start with enough time to complete the first media
1581 shortly before the operator arrives for work. The next media can
1582 be mounted and the backup completed asap and minimises the time for
1583 which users are inconvenienced by the backup (eg. database locked...).
1584 </para>
1585 </sect2>
1586 </sect1>
1587 <sect1 id="backup-cron-problem">
1588 <title>The Problem</title>
1589<sect2><title>Cron's environment</title>
1590<para>
1591When a user submits a job with cron, their environment is not
1592 preserved. This is reasonable since cron jobs are typically ongoing
1593 and may be adversely affected if the user's environment changes subsequent
1594 to the cron submission. Thus, a cron job should call a script that
1595 set's up the correct environment before starting the user's desired
1596 program. The 'at' command does this nicely.
1597 </para>
1598 </sect2>
1599 <sect2><title>Interactivity</title>
1600<para>
1601When a job is started with cron, it runs as a background process.
1602 No interaction with the program is possible (unless it is capable
1603 of interacting via a FIFO or some such) except termination via its
1604 pid. The only program that I know of that allows such interaction
1605 and serves as a wrapper for other processes is 'screen'
1606 </para>
1607 </sect2>
1608 <sect2><title>Screen</title>
1609<para>
1610There's one little problem with screen though. It expects to
1611 attach to a terminal when it first starts. This won't happen under
1612 cron so screen will fail. Fortunately, screen comes with a "start
1613 detached" (-d) option.
1614 </para>
1615 </sect2>
1616 </sect1>
1617 <sect1 id="backup-cron-solution">
1618 <title>The Solution</title>
1619<sect2><title>Briefly</title>
1620<para>
1621<itemizedlist>
1622<listitem>
1623 <para>Use 'at' to run your usual mondoarchive command</para>
1624</listitem>
1625<listitem>
1626 <para>Grab the script generated by 'at' and make a copy of it</para>
1627 </listitem>
1628<listitem>
1629 <para>Edit that script to use 'screen -m -d &lt;your mondoarchive command&gt;'</para>
1630 </listitem>
1631<listitem>
1632 <para>Run that script from your crontab</para>
1633 </listitem>
1634<listitem>
1635 <para>Use 'screen -r' to attach to the mondo screen to change CDs</para>
1636 </listitem>
1637<listitem>
1638 <para>Use '&lt;CTRL&gt;-a d' to detach the screen again</para>
1639</listitem>
1640</itemizedlist>
1641</para>
1642</sect2>
1643<sect2><title>In Detail</title>
1644 <sect3><title>at</title>
1645<para>
1646Use the 'at' command to submit your usual mondoarchive command.
1647My mondoarchive command is:
1648</para>
1649<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1650<row>
1651<entry>
1652
1653 # mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g \
1654 -E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
1655
1656</entry>
1657</row>
1658</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1659<para>
1660 To submit the mondoarchive command with 'at' do:
1661</para>
1662<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1663<row>
1664<entry>
1665
1666 # at now + 5 min
1667mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g \
1668-E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
1669&lt;CTRL&gt;-d
1670</entry>
1671</row>
1672</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1673<para>
1674
1675This generates a script in /var/spool/at/ which sets up your
1676 environment and runs your command. Grab this script to become your
1677 cron job.
1678 </para>
1679 </sect3>
1680 <sect3><title>Grab the 'at' script</title>
1681<para>
1682 Make a copy of the script generated by the 'at' command to use
1683 as the basis for your cron job.
1684 </para>
1685<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1686<row>
1687<entry>
1688
1689grep mondo /var/spool/at/*
1690</entry>
1691</row>
1692<row>
1693 <entry>
1694cp /var/spool/at/&lt;file-from-grep&gt; /root/mondo-cronscript
1695</entry>
1696</row>
1697</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1698<para>
1699
1700 You'll need to edit this.
1701</para>
1702 </sect3>
1703<sect3><title>Edit mondo-cronscript</title>
1704<para>
1705To use screen, you'll need to edit the cronscript and add the
1706 screen command. My mondo-cronscript looks like:
1707</para>
1708<screen>
1709
1710#!/bin/sh
1711# atrun uid=0 gid=0
1712# mail cdaly 0 umask 22
1713PWD=/root; export PWD
1714XAUTHORITY=/root/.xauthyOrD4f; export XAUTHORITY
1715HOSTNAME=bofh.irmet.ie; export HOSTNAME
1716PVM_RSH=/usr/bin/rsh; export PVM_RSH
1717QTDIR=/usr/lib/qt-2.3.1; export QTDIR
1718LESSOPEN=\|/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh\ %s; export LESSOPEN
1719XPVM_ROOT=/usr/share/pvm3/xpvm; export XPVM_ROOT
1720KDEDIR=/usr; export KDEDIR
1721USER=root; export USER
1722LS_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
1723MACHTYPE=i386-redhat-linux-gnu; export MACHTYPE
1724MAIL=/var/spool/mail/root; export MAIL
1725INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc; export INPUTRC
1726BASH_ENV=/root/.bashrc; export BASH_ENV
1727LANG=en_US; export LANG
1728LOGNAME=root; export LOGNAME
1729SHLVL=1; export SHLVL
1730II_SYSTEM=/usr/local/ingres; export II_SYSTEM
1731USERNAME=root; export USERNAME
1732HOSTTYPE=i386; export HOSTTYPE
1733OSTYPE=linux-gnu; export OSTYPE
1734HISTSIZE=1000; export HISTSIZE
1735LAMHELPFILE=/etc/lam/lam-helpfile; export LAMHELPFILE
1736PVM_ROOT=/usr/share/pvm3; export PVM_ROOT
1737HOME=/root; export HOME
1738SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/libexec/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass;
1739export SSH_ASKPASS
1740PATH=/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
1741cd /root || {
1742echo 'Execution directory inaccessible' >&2
1743exit 1
1744}
1745screen -m -d mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ \
1746-T /home/mondo/ -g -E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
1747#done
1748
1749</screen>
1750<para>
1751 The crucial line is this one:
1752</para>
1753<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1754<row>
1755<entry>
1756 screen -m -d mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ -T /home/mondo/ -g -E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
1757</entry>
1758</row>
1759</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1760<para>
1761This uses 'screen -m -d' to <quote>-m -d Start screen in "detached" mode. This creates a new session
1762 but doesn't attach to it. This is useful for system startup scripts.
1763 (From 'man screen')
1764</quote>
1765</para>
1766<para>
1767 When screen starts, it will be in the background and "detached".
1768</para>
1769</sect3>
1770<sect3><title>Run the thing with cron</title>
1771<para>
1772 To get the whole thing running, do:
1773</para>
1774<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1775<row>
1776<entry>
1777 crontab -e
1778 </entry>
1779</row>
1780</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1781<para>
1782and add the following lines:
1783</para>
1784<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1785<row>
1786<entry>
1787&num; run mondoarchive at 23:59 weekdays
1788</entry>
1789</row>
1790<row>
1791 <entry>
179259 23 * * 1-5 /root/mondo-cronscript
1793</entry>
1794</row>
1795</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1796<para>
1797 Your mondoarchive job will run at 23:59 monday-friday.
1798</para>
1799<para>
1800DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE TAPES!
1801</para>
1802</sect3>
1803<sect3><title>Getting at it...</title>
1804<para>
1805Once your cron job is running regularly, you'll want to get to
1806 it to change tapes and check status etc.
1807</para>
1808<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1809<row>
1810<entry>
1811screen -r
1812</entry>
1813</row>
1814</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1815<para>
1816attaches to the running screen where you can change CDs etc
1817</para>
1818<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1819<row>
1820<entry>
1821&lt;CTRL&gt;-a d
1822</entry>
1823</row>
1824</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1825<para>
1826detaches the running screen again.
1827</para>
1828</sect3>
1829<sect3><title>Caveat</title>
1830<para>
1831The script generated by 'at' is unique to the user/machine combination.
1832 You MUST regenerate it on each machine where it will be used. Using
1833 the one above will NOT work for you. MAKE YOUR OWN!
1834</para>
1835</sect3>
1836</sect2>
1837</sect1>
1838</chapter>
1839
1840<chapter id="compare">
1841<title>Compare</title>
1842<para>Before you trust your backup CD, make sure your BIOS can boot
1843CD (and that it is configured to do so).</para>
1844<itemizedlist>
1845<listitem>
1846<para>Boot from the first CD.</para>
1847</listitem>
1848<listitem>
1849<para>Type:</para>
1850</listitem>
1851</itemizedlist>
1852<para></para>
1853<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1854<row>
1855<entry>
1856
1857LILO: compare
1858
1859</entry>
1860</row>
1861</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1862
1863<para>Follow the on-screen instructions. This will compare your
1864backup against your original file system.</para>
1865<para>FYI, no bad archives have been created since May 2000. Having
1866said that, I would still encourage you to run Compare before
1867trusting the backups.</para>
1868<para>To view the file differences, look at the file
1869'/tmp/changed.txt'. Normal differences include logs and other
1870dynamic system files that changed during the time of the backup
1871process. If only a few files differ - e.g. files in /var, files
1872ending in '&amp;#732;', logs, temporary files, /etc/mtab,
1873/etc/adjtimex - then you know the archives are good. Your logs will
1874change over time, too. Bear in mind that a difference between the
1875backup and the live copy does not&nbsp;indicate a flaw in Mondo. It
1876indicates that you or your filesystem changed the files, so the
1877backup is no longer 100% up to date. However, that is inevitable,
1878as your filesystem changes from moment to moment (which is why you
1879back it up regularly).</para>
1880
1881</chapter>
1882
1883<chapter id="restore">
1884<title>Restore</title>
1885
1886<sect1 id="restore-overview">
1887<title>Overview</title>
1888
1889<para>I hope you don't have to restore from scratch very often.
1890It's nerve-wracking until you realize that Mondo's restore engine
1891is very reliable.
1892</para>
1893<para>If you find that you cannot make your PC boot from the CD,
1894it's mostly because not all the required drivers to support the CD are included.
1895take heart: the first backup media of each set contains disk
1896images to give you the same functionality as this media (minus the
1897archives, of course) on other boot media. Remember, your Mondo CD is a
1898fully functional CD-based mini-distribution as well as a recovery
1899CD.</para>
1900<para>You can choose from the following modes:</para>
1901
1902<variablelist>
1903<varlistentry><term>Interactive</term>
1904<listitem><para>Restore step-by-step, or restore a subset of the
1905archives. This is the method you should mainly use for your
1906recovery needs.</para>
1907</listitem></varlistentry>
1908<varlistentry><term>Nuke</term>
1909<listitem><para>Wipe your drives and restore everything,
1910automatically and unattended. Warning: This does exactly what is
1911says, so be careful using it.</para>
1912</listitem></varlistentry>
1913<varlistentry><term>Expert</term>
1914<listitem><para>Boot to a shell prompt. If you want to do anything
1915creative, you should boot into Expert Mode. It's called expert, I
1916think that says it all.</para>
1917</listitem>
1918</varlistentry>
1919</variablelist>
1920
1921<para>If the CD is not found during the initial restore CD boot
1922attempt, reboot the PC a second time prior to reporting failure.
1923Occasional timing errors and hardware/software/system conflicts do
1924occur.</para>
1925</sect1>
1926
1927<sect1 id="restore-tips">
1928<title>Tips and Tricks</title>
1929
1930<para>Ideally, restore your system to a spare hard drive to test
1931the integrity and reliability of your disks. To do that, either
1932edit your mountlist to make the devices point to your spare hard
1933drive, or swap your hard drive cables between boots.</para>
1934<para>At a bare minimum, compare your CD against your file system
1935before you decide whether to trust them.</para>
1936<para>To test Mondo's ability to handle your LILO or GRUB boot
1937loader and accompanying configuration file:</para>
1938<itemizedlist>
1939<listitem>
1940<para>Boot from the backup CD into Expert Mode</para>
1941</listitem>
1942<listitem>
1943<para>Type:</para>
1944</listitem>
1945</itemizedlist>
1946<para></para>
1947<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1948<row>
1949<entry>
1950
1951bash# mondorestore --mbr
1952
1953</entry>
1954</row>
1955</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1956
1957<itemizedlist>
1958<listitem>
1959<para>To fix any mess it made (not that it should) type:</para>
1960</listitem>
1961</itemizedlist>
1962<para></para>
1963<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
1964<row>
1965<entry>
1966 bash# mount-me
1967</entry>
1968</row>
1969<row>
1970<entry>
1971 bash# chroot /mnt/RESTORING
1972 </entry>
1973</row>
1974<row>
1975<entry>
1976 </entry>
1977</row>
1978<row>
1979<entry>
1980bash# lilo OR grub-install '(hd0)'
1981 </entry>
1982</row>
1983<row>
1984<entry>
1985bash# exit
1986</entry>
1987</row>
1988<row>
1989<entry>
1990 bash# unmount-me
1991
1992</entry>
1993</row>
1994</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1995
1996<itemizedlist>
1997<listitem>
1998<para>If it did not work then please copy /tmp/mondorestore.log to
1999your hard disk, USB key, ..., gzip it and e-mail it to the
2000&ML;.</para>
2001</listitem>
2002</itemizedlist>
2003
2004<sect2>
2005 <title>Barebones (Nuke) Restore</title>
2006<para>Imagine that your hard drives happen to be wiped,
2007deliberately or accidentally. Or, imagine that you want to clone
2008your existing operating system. In either case, you want to run in
2009Nuke Mode.</para>
2010<para>If you want to wipe everything and restore your whole system
2011from CD, please:</para>
2012<itemizedlist>
2013<listitem>
2014<para>Use the -H option when invoking mondoarchive</para>
2015</listitem>
2016<listitem>
2017<para>Boot from the first Mondo CD</para>
2018</listitem>
2019<listitem>
2020<para>Press RESTORE&lt;enter&gt;</para>
2021</listitem>
2022<listitem>
2023<para>Insert the subsequent CD when asked</para>
2024</listitem>
2025<listitem>
2026<para>Watch the screen for errors</para>
2027</listitem>
2028</itemizedlist>
2029<para>That's it. The restoration process for tape or NFS users is
2030similarly easy: just boot, answer the on-screen prompts, and
2031wait.</para>
2032<para>Now, should something go wrong, you will be able to examine
2033/tmp/mondorestore.log to see what happened. All is not lost. You
2034can fdisk and format the partitions yourself, using the tools that
2035come with the CD. You can then run mondorestore in Interactive Mode
2036and say 'no' when asked if you want Mondo to partition/format your
2037drives.</para>
2038<para>If you want to see exactly what Mondo is doing while it is
2039restoring, press &lt;Alt&gt;&lt;left cursor&gt; to view its
2040logfile, in a virtual console, scrolling past.</para>
2041</sect2>
2042<sect2>
2043<title>Interactive Restore</title>
2044<para>Interactive Mode is for people who have lost a subset of data
2045from their live file system, or perhaps who have lost some data
2046from their latest backup and want to restore a subset of data from
2047an earlier backup. If you want to restore only some files or if you
2048do not want to prep/format your drives, then you should boot into
2049Interactive Mode. The interactive mode will provide an 'Editing
2050mountlist screen' that allows you to setup a different disk
2051geometry.</para>
2052<para>To move up and down between partitions in the 'Editing
2053mountlist screen', use the Up and Down arrows. To move between the
2054main window and the buttons at the bottom, use the Left and Right
2055cursor keys. TAB shifts focus from one screen item to the other in
2056a haphazard fashion, owing to the complexities of the Newt
2057library.</para>
2058<para>If you want to restore selectively, just press &lt;enter&gt;
2059and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be asked to say
2060yes/no to a range of questions.</para>
2061<para>If you are planning to modify your partition table, you would
2062do well to read up on the partition layout and the use of fdisk, it
2063gives you some pointers on how to best lay out partitions.
2064You can find a good guide at
2065<ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/index.html">http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/index.html</ulink>
2066</para>
2067<para>If you want to restore a subset of the backup then:</para>
2068<itemizedlist>
2069<listitem>
2070<para>Boot from the CD</para>
2071</listitem>
2072<listitem>
2073<para>Type:</para>
2074</listitem>
2075</itemizedlist>
2076<para></para>
2077<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2078<row>
2079<entry>
2080
2081bash# interactive
2082
2083</entry>
2084</row>
2085</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2086
2087<itemizedlist>
2088<listitem>
2089<para>Then, after booting, answer the questions as follows:</para>
2090</listitem>
2091</itemizedlist>
2092<para></para>
2093<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2094<row>
2095<entry>
2096
2097 Do you want to partition your devices? no
2098 </entry>
2099</row>
2100<row>
2101<entry>
2102Do you want to format them? no
2103 </entry>
2104</row>
2105<row>
2106<entry>
2107Do you want to restore everything? no
2108 </entry>
2109</row>
2110<row>
2111<entry>
2112Do you want to restore something? yes
2113 </entry>
2114</row>
2115<row>
2116<entry>
2117Which path do you want to restore? /mydata [e.g.]
2118 </entry>
2119</row>
2120<row>
2121<entry>
2122Do you want to run LILO to setup your boot sectors? Yes
2123
2124</entry>
2125</row>
2126</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2127
2128</sect2>
2129
2130<sect2>
2131<title>Expert Restore</title>
2132<para>If you are planning to modify your partition table, you would
2133do well to read up on the partition layout and the use of fdisk, it
2134gives you some could pointers on how to best lay out partitions.
2135You can find good a guide at
2136<ulink url="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Partition/index.html">http://www.ibiblio.o
2137rg/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Partition/index.html</ulink></para>
2138<para>To restore manually, please:</para>
2139<itemizedlist>
2140<listitem>
2141<para>Boot from the first CD, then type:</para>
2142</listitem>
2143</itemizedlist>
2144<para></para>
2145<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2146<row>
2147<entry>
2148
2149bash# expert
2150
2151</entry>
2152
2153</row>
2154</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2155
2156<itemizedlist>
2157<listitem>
2158<para>Then do whatever you like. :) You may type the following, of
2159course:</para>
2160</listitem>
2161</itemizedlist>
2162<para></para>
2163<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2164<row>
2165<entry>
2166
2167bash# mondorestore
2168
2169</entry>
2170</row>
2171</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2172</sect2>
2173
2174<sect2>
2175<title>Modified partitions - Restore to a different disk geometry</title>
2176<para>One of the nice things about Mondo is that it lets you wipe
2177your existing system and restore it in any layout you like (within
2178reason). You can move from non-RAID to RAID,install and utilize
2179additional drives, move from ext2 to ReiserFS, etc., all without
2180risking the loss of data.</para>
2181<para>If the user excluded a particular partition from backup and
2182specifically excluded it from the mountlist itself using -E then
2183Mondo will insert a small (32MB) partition at restore-time, in
2184order to avoid having to re-jig fstab, the partition table,
2185etc.</para>
2186<para>To do this:</para>
2187<itemizedlist>
2188<listitem>
2189<para>Boot into Expert Mode, then type:</para>
2190</listitem>
2191</itemizedlist>
2192<para></para>
2193<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2194<row>
2195<entry>
2196
2197bash# mondorestore
2198
2199</entry>
2200</row>
2201</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2202
2203<itemizedlist>
2204<listitem>
2205<para>(edit the mountlist using the on-screen editor)</para>
2206</listitem>
2207</itemizedlist>
2208<para>If you want to move from ext2 to ReiserFS, you can do it here
2209(so long as your kernel supports ReiserFS). Ditto for XFS, JFS or
2210ext3.</para>
2211<para>Mondorestore will try to modify your /etc/fstab to reflect
2212changes you have made to the mountlist. If you are not using LILO,
2213you can still create your own /mnt/RESTORING/etc/lilo.conf and run
2214lilo -r /mnt/RESTORING to configure your boot sectors and Master
2215Boot Record.</para>
2216<para>Mondo (technically, Mindi on behalf of Mondo) creates a file
2217called a mountlist. This can be found on the ramdisk at
2218/tmp/mountlist.txt; it looks something like this:</para>
2219<para></para>
2220<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2221<row>
2222<entry>
2223
2224 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 4096000
2225</entry>
2226</row>
2227<row>
2228<entry>
2229 /dev/hda5 / reiserfs 6023000
2230</entry>
2231</row>
2232<row>
2233<entry>
2234 /dev/hda6 /tmp xfs 955000
2235</entry>
2236</row>
2237<row>
2238<entry>
2239 /dev/hda7 /usr ext3 4096000
2240
2241</entry>
2242</row>
2243</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2244
2245<para>It is fairly easy to understand the list. Each line refers to
2246a single device/partition. The line format is:</para>
2247<para></para>
2248<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2249<row>
2250<entry>
2251
2252&lt;device&gt; &lt;partition&gt; &lt;format&gt; &lt;Kilobytes&gt;
2253
2254</entry>
2255</row>
2256</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2257
2258<para>If you have added a hard drive and want to take advantage of
2259the additional space, you could amend the above mountlist to
2260read:</para>
2261<para></para>
2262<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2263<row>
2264<entry>
2265
2266 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 6096000
2267</entry>
2268</row>
2269<row>
2270<entry>
2271 /dev/hda5 / reiserfs 9123000
2272</entry>
2273</row>
2274<row>
2275<entry>
2276 /dev/hda6 /tmp xfs 955000
2277</entry>
2278</row>
2279<row>
2280<entry>
2281 /dev/hdb1 /usr ext3 8192000
2282</entry>
2283</row>
2284<row>
2285<entry>
2286 /dev/hdb2 /home xfs 8192000
2287
2288</entry>
2289</row>
2290</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2291
2292<para>This assumes that your old hard drive is /dev/hda and the new
2293hard drive is /dev/hdb.</para>
2294<para>Or, if you want to add RAID support, create a new
2295/etc/raidtab on the ramdisk (which is beyond the scope of this
2296HOWTO) and then write a mountlist like this:</para>
2297<para></para>
2298<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2299<row>
2300<entry>
2301
2302 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat 6096000
2303</entry>
2304</row>
2305<row>
2306<entry>
2307 /dev/md0 / reiserfs 9123000
2308</entry>
2309</row>
2310<row>
2311<entry>
2312 /dev/md1 /tmp xfs 955000
2313</entry>
2314</row>
2315<row>
2316<entry>
2317 /dev/md2 /usr ext3 8192000
2318</entry>
2319</row>
2320<row>
2321<entry>
2322 /dev/md3 /home xfs 8192000
2323
2324</entry>
2325</row>
2326</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2327
2328<para>So long as your /etc/raidtab file is sane, Mondo can
2329automatically partition and format your disks for you, including
2330the RAID devices.</para>
2331<para>Once you have finished editing /tmp/mountlist.txt using
2332mondorestore's built-in editor then you may choose 'OK'. Please
2333note that this will not write anything to your hard disk. You will
2334only reformat or repartition your disks if you say 'Yes' when asked
2335if you want to do those things.</para>
2336</sect2>
2337
2338<sect2>
2339<title>Advanced</title>
2340<para>It is now possible to restore to a live filesystem using
2341Mondo. In other words, you do not have to boot your PC from your
2342media in order to restore files. Mondo was originally designed
2343for disaster recovery - situations in which you cannot boot your
2344PC. If you can boot your PC, it is not really a disaster, is it? :)
2345Well, if you have wiped out your priceless collection of "MTV's
2346Bjork Unplugged" MP3's, perhaps it is. Anyway, just type this as
2347root</para>
2348<para></para>
2349<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2350<row>
2351<entry>
2352
2353bash# mondorestore
2354
2355</entry>
2356</row>
2357</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2358
2359<para></para>
2360<informaltable><tgroup cols="2"><tbody>
2361<row>
2362<entry>
2363<ulink url="images/rest1.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2364<imagedata fileref="images/rest1-mini">
2365</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2366</ulink>
2367</entry>
2368<entry>
2369Choose your type of backup media. The live restoration process is
2370very similar to what you'll experience if you type mondorestore
2371with no parameters after booting from a Mondo media.
2372</entry>
2373</row>
2374<row>
2375<entry>
2376<ulink url="images/rest2.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2377<imagedata fileref="images/rest2-mini">
2378</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2379</ulink>
2380</entry>
2381<entry>
2382Hit 'OK' when you have inserted the tape/CD. If you generated a
2383tape backup, the tape itself should be enough. If you generated a
2384CD backup, the first CD should be enough.
2385</entry>
2386</row>
2387<row>
2388<entry>
2389<ulink url="images/rest3.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2390<imagedata fileref="images/rest3-mini">
2391</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2392</ulink>
2393</entry>
2394<entry>
2395Flag the files and directories you wish to restore. Use the 'More'
2396and 'Less' buttons to open and close subdirectories.
2397</entry>
2398</row>
2399<row>
2400<entry>
2401<ulink url="images/rest4.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2402<imagedata fileref="images/rest4-mini">
2403</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2404</ulink>
2405</entry>
2406<entry>
2407Specify the location to restore the files to. In general, '/' is
2408appropriate. If you do not want to overwrite newer versions of the
2409files you are restoring then specify /tmp/BKP or similar as the
2410restore path.
2411</entry>
2412</row>
2413<row>
2414<entry>
2415<ulink url="images/rest5.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2416<imagedata fileref="images/rest5-mini">
2417</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2418</ulink>
2419</entry>
2420<entry>
2421Mondorestore will retrieve configuration information from the
2422media. (The sample screen is for tape users. CD users will see
2423something different.)
2424</entry>
2425</row>
2426<row>
2427<entry>
2428<ulink url="images/rest6.png"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
2429<imagedata fileref="images/rest6-mini">
2430</imageobject></inlinemediaobject>
2431</ulink>
2432</entry>
2433<entry>
2434Data will be restored to the hard disk - first the regular files,
2435then any big (32MB or greater) files in the restore set.
2436</entry>
2437</row>
2438</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2439
2440<para>I hope this manual was useful for you.</para>
2441</sect2>
2442</sect1>
2443
2444</chapter>
2445
2446<chapter id="faq">
2447<title>FAQ</title>
2448
2449<sect1 id="faq-overview">
2450<title>Overview</title>
2451<para>Are the errors from Mindi or Mondo? Look at
2452 /var/log/mondoarchive.log or /var/log/mindi.log (if run alone). Pipe
2453screen errors which relate to the creation of boot disk(s) and or
2454data disk(s) to a text file.</para>
2455<para>See the &WWW; for details. If you are going to e-mail
2456&ML; then
2457please attach that text file (zipped!) and give :</para>
2458<itemizedlist>
2459<listitem>
2460<para>Your kernel version (uname -a)</para>
2461</listitem>
2462<listitem>
2463 <para>Your Linux distro's name and version (/etc/distro-release)</para>
2464</listitem>
2465<listitem>
2466 <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>
2467</listitem>
2468<listitem>
2469<para>What sort of PC you are using, including hard disk configurations (results of dmidecode, lshw, fdisk -l are useful here)</para>
2470</listitem>
2471</itemizedlist>
2472<para>Mondo is freely available under the GPL and you are given it for no charge.
2473When you e-mail the &ML;, please bear that in mind.</para>
2474</sect1>
2475<sect1 id="faq-general">
2476<title>General Questions</title>
2477
2478<qandaset>
2479<qandaentry>
2480 <question><para>Q: What is "Mindi"?</para></question>
2481 <answer>
2482<para>A: Mindi, a.k.a. Mindi-Linux, makes a mini-distribution from
2483your kernel, modules, modules, tools and libraries. It can also
2484generate an El Torito 2.88/5.76MB boot disk image. Mondo uses Mindi to
2485create a mini-distro, then boots from it and runs on it.</para>
2486</answer>
2487</qandaentry>
2488<qandaentry>
2489 <question><para>Q: Why is it called "Mondo"?</para></question>
2490 <answer>
2491<para>A: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles described cool things as
2492'mondo'. Hugo Rabson wasn't sure what to call this project. 'Faust' was one
2493idea he had, partly as a dig at his former boss who practically owned
2494him because of his legal status at the time. In the end, he chose
2495something short and distinctive.</para>
2496</answer>
2497</qandaentry>
2498<qandaentry>
2499<question><para>Q: Mondo does not work on my system. It
2500 keels over and dies. What's wrong?</para></question>
2501<answer>
2502 <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
2503 of SuSE/SLES, some flavors of Slackware, etc.
2504The more distributions we support, the more moving targets we have to
2505hit. Please bear this in mind when e-mailing the list. :) If you
2506would like to help us by beta-testing Mondo (or Mindi) on your PC
2507then we would be very interested in working with you to work around
2508the eccentricities of your Linux distro. However, rest assured, 90%
2509of the bugs reported are actually symptoms of FooLinux X.Y's
2510unique way of doing things.</para>
2511<para>Please send a copy of <filename>/var/log/mondoarchive.log</filename> to the &ML;
2512along with a description of your distro, your kernel, etc.
2513Oh, and before sending it, please try to read it.</para>
2514</answer>
2515</qandaentry>
2516<qandaentry>
2517 <question><para>Q: What if the error is in Mindi?</para></question>
2518 <answer>
2519 <para>A: Please send a copy of <filename>/var/log/mindi.log</filename> to the &ML;
2520along with a description of your distro, your kernel, etc.
2521Oh, and before sending it, please read it as it is much easier to understand it.</para>
2522</answer>
2523</qandaentry>
2524<qandaentry>
2525 <question><para>Q: Can I trust Mondo?</para></question>
2526 <answer>
2527<para>A: Mondo has generated reliable archives since May 2000.
2528Lost data occured by using bad CD-R disks and not verifying their
2529contents. Some users have not tried booting from their CD until
2530crunch time. Remember to boot into Compare Mode to verify the
2531backup before you trust it. If Mondo did not work, you would not be
2532reading this. If it does not work for you, your kernel is usually
2533the culprit. Check <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel
2534support</link> to see what your kernel should support. Please
2535e-mail the list if you need some help with this.</para>
2536</answer>
2537</qandaentry>
2538<qandaentry>
2539 <question><para>Q: How do I report a bug?</para></question>
2540 <answer>
2541 <para>A: E-mail the bug report (mondo.err.xxxxx.tgz) to the &ML;.
2542 Ok you've read it already but it's really important if you want help.
2543If you don't send a logfile then there isn't a lot that we can do for you, so
2544PLEASE include a logfile at the very least.</para>
2545</answer>
2546</qandaentry>
2547<qandaentry>
2548<question><para>Q: I think Mondo should (...insert
2549suggestion here...) and I have rewritten it accordingly. Would you
2550like to see my patch?</para></question>
2551<answer>
2552<para>A: Absolutely! :-) The best way for you to make Mondo do what
2553you want is to modify it and then send the patch. That way, we
2554can all benefit.</para>
2555</answer>
2556</qandaentry>
2557<qandaentry>
2558<question><para>Q: I think Mondo should (...insert
2559suggestion here...); will you incorporate this feature for me,
2560please?</para></question>
2561<answer>
2562<para>A: Please enter the suggestion in our feature system at &WWW;
2563</para>
2564</answer>
2565</qandaentry>
2566<qandaentry>
2567<question><para>Q: Mondo says, "XXX is missing," and
2568 then terminates. What's wrong?</para></question>
2569<answer>
2570<para>A: A good Linux distribution should contain XXX but the
2571designers, in their infinite wisdom, decided not to include that
2572particular tool. Check <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related
2573 Linux Packages</ulink> and install the missing package. If that
2574fails, contact the vendor/distributor/manufacturer/designer of your
2575distro.</para>
2576</answer>
2577</qandaentry>
2578<qandaentry>
2579<question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle multi-CD backups and
2580 restores?</para></question>
2581<answer>
2582<para>A: Yes, up to twenty CD per set. This 20-CD limit results
2583from laziness on mondorescue's part. I'll be removed in the future. However, if
2584your system occupies more than 20 CD, may it's time for another type of media ?
2585</para>
2586</answer>
2587</qandaentry>
2588<qandaentry>
2589<question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle Linux/Windows
2590 dual-boot systems?</para></question>
2591<answer>
2592<para>A: Yes. If your system currently boots into Linux or Windows
2593via LILO, you can backup and restore both OSes at the same time
2594using Mondo. If you are using NTFS then add the switch, '-x
2595&lt;device&gt;'.</para>
2596</answer>
2597</qandaentry>
2598<qandaentry>
2599<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup Windows-only
2600 systems?</para></question>
2601<answer>
2602<para>A: Not at the moment.
2603</para>
2604</answer>
2605</qandaentry>
2606<qandaentry>
2607 <question><para>Q: Does Mondo support LVM?</para></question>
2608 <answer>
2609<para>A: Mondo supports LVM v1 and v2. Mondo backs up and restores your
2610existing setup but it does not make it easy for you to change your
2611LVM configuration, at the moment. You have to edit <filename>/tmp/i-want-my-lvm</filename> at boot-time
2612to do that.</para>
2613</answer>
2614</qandaentry>
2615<qandaentry>
2616<question><para>Q: What if I don't use LILO? What if I
2617 use GRUB?</para></question>
2618<answer>
2619<para>A: GRUB is supported by Mondo.</para>
2620</answer>
2621</qandaentry>
2622<qandaentry>
2623<question><para>Q: I get the error, 'Cannot find
2624 /tmp/dev.0' or 'Cannot mount device 0x0701'; what do I do?</para></question>
2625<answer>
2626 <para>A: Please free up <filename>/dev/loop0</filename> using 'losetup /dev/loop0 -d' to
2627unmount that loop device. If your OS will not let you do that,
2628contact your local support group or Linux vendor.</para>
2629</answer>
2630</qandaentry>
2631<qandaentry>
2632<question><para>Q: Can I create a Mondo CD and then use
2633 it to create an archive of any OS on any PC?</para></question>
2634<answer>
2635<para>A: Not yet. You can use Mondo to backup Linux or
2636Linux/Windows dual boot. One day, Mondo will let you backup
2637partitions it can't read or write, by treating each partition as
2638one long file to be backed up. This file will be chopped,
2639compressed and archived like any other big file.</para>
2640</answer>
2641</qandaentry>
2642<qandaentry>
2643<question><para>Q: Why doesn't the Mondo project have a
2644cool-looking animal logo?</para></question>
2645<answer>
2646<para>A: Excellent question! Please submit graphics of candidate
2647 animal logos!</para>
2648 </answer>
2649</qandaentry>
2650<qandaentry>
2651<question><para>Q: Is there a Mondo user 'Code of
2652 Conduct?</para></question>
2653<answer>
2654<para>A: Yes. Read the HOWTO. Submit patches. Recommend realistic
2655improvements. Be courteous to other users on the discussion list.
2656Do not whine.</para>
2657</answer>
2658</qandaentry>
2659</qandaset>
2660</sect1>
2661
2662<sect1 id="faq-booting">
2663<title>Booting and Kernel related Questions</title>
2664<qandaset>
2665<qandaentry>
2666<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2667it says, "VFS: Unable to mount root fs." I am using an old Debian
2668distro. What do I do?</para></question>
2669<answer>
2670<para>A: Ask Debian's designers why they, unlike every other distro
2671I can find, have included cramfs and other 'goodies' with their
2672kernel. In the meantime, please use '-k FAILSAFE' in your command
2673line when calling Mondo.</para>
2674<para>A: From Sarge onwards, all stock Debian 2.6 kernels should work fine. If
2675you are still using stock Debian 2.4 kernels, FAILSAFE is the way to go.
2676Of course, if you have compiled your own kernel and experience problems,
2677FAILSAFE is the way to go as well, but this is not really
2678Debian-specific.</para>
2679</answer>
2680</qandaentry>
2681<qandaentry>
2682<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2683it says, "Cannot mount root fs - kernel panic," or something
2684similar. What do I do?</para></question>
2685<answer>
2686<para>A: Recompile your kernel (or use '-k FAILSAFE'). Take a look
2687at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to
2688see what your kernel must support.</para>
2689</answer>
2690</qandaentry>
2691<qandaentry>
2692<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2693 it says, "UPGRADE YOUR RAM". What does that mean?</para></question>
2694<answer>
2695<para>A: Recompile your kernel and add Virtual memory file system
2696support. Take a look at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux
2697Kernel support</link> to see what your kernel must support. (Of
2698course, if your PC has less than 64MB of RAM, you could always...
2699what's the phrase? I know, upgrade your RAM!)</para>
2700</answer>
2701</qandaentry>
2702<qandaentry>
2703<question><para>Q: When I try to boot from the Mondo CD,
2704it says something about not finding my CD-ROM drive and then it
2705blames the kernel. What does that mean?</para></question>
2706<answer>
2707 <para>A: Your kernel must support initrd, loopfs, IDE|SCSI|USB CD-ROM's, and
2708ramdisks. Take a look at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux
2709Kernel support</link> to see what your kernel must support. If
2710your kernel does not support these things, Mondo will not boot from
2711your CD. However, when running Mindi, you may choose to use _its_
2712kernel instead of your own.
2713</para>
2714</answer>
2715</qandaentry>
2716<qandaentry>
2717<question><para>Q: The Mondo CD takes ages to
2718 boot. How can I speed it up?</para></question>
2719<answer>
2720<para>A: Edit mindi (it's a shell script, btw) and change
2721LILO_OPTIONS="" to LILO_OPTIONS="-c". This enables map compaction
2722in lilo and speeds up booting, for more info see the lilo man
2723page.</para>
2724</answer>
2725</qandaentry>
2726<qandaentry>
2727<question><para>Q: I made a Mondo CD using the failsafe
2728kernel (i.e. I said 'no' when Mondo asked if I wanted to use my own
2729kernel). It still doesn't boot. Help!</para></question>
2730<answer>
2731<para>A: OK, now that is a bug. :-) I included a kernel with Mondo
2732(technically, with Mindi, which Mondo uses) to make sure that users
2733could use Mondo despite flaws in their own kernels. If you are
2734using Mondo/Mindi's kernel but still cannot boot from your Mondo CD
2735then please e-mail the &ML;.</para>
2736</answer>
2737</qandaentry>
2738<qandaentry>
2739<question><para>Q: What if my PC won't boot from a
2740 CD?</para></question>
2741<answer>
2742<para>A: You may want to boot using the network with PXE.
2743 Look at the README.pxe file of mindi to know more details on how.</para>
2744<para>A: You may also want to use a USB device (key, disk) if your machine can boot from it.</para>
2745</answer>
2746</qandaentry>
2747<qandaentry>
2748<question><para>Q: Why won't Mondo boot from my CD?
2749It says my kernel is flawed/outdated/ whatever, and when I wrote to
2750the ML, they told me the same thing... but I still don't get it. I
2751mean, my kernel works for everything else. Why not Mondo?</para></question>
2752<answer>
2753<para>A: Because Mondo makes a boot disk using your kernel. I bet
2754your other software doesn't do that. Also, not all kernels are
2755suitable for boot disks. I'm sorry but that's Life. Upgrade your
2756kernel and/or recompile it. Take a look at
2757<link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to see
2758what your kernel must support.</para>
2759</answer>
2760</qandaentry>
2761<qandaentry>
2762<question><para>Q: Why do I only need a boot disk if I'm
2763 using a tape drive? Where are the data disks?</para></question>
2764<answer>
2765<para>A: On the tape. :-) The first 32MB of the tape will be set
2766aside for a large tarball containing the data disks, a list of all
2767<<<<<<< .courant
2768files backed up, and other sundries.
2769</para>
2770<para>For the moment mondorescue doesn't support OBDR for tapes.
2771 Feel free to produce patches for it :-)</para>
2772</answer>
2773</qandaentry>
2774<qandaentry>
2775<question><para>Q: Why does it say, "Process accounting
2776 FAILED" when I reboot?</para></question>
2777<answer>
2778<para>A: You were using Process Accounting. Red Hat (or whichever
2779distro you are using) does not provide a startup/shutdown script
2780yet. So, when you try to backup the process log, it just grows and
2781grows as Mondo tries to back it up. Mondo doesn't back it up
2782anymore and that's why. The unfortunate side-effect is... well,
2783what you see on your screen. Type 'touch /var/log/pacct' and then
2784'paccton' to fix the error message.</para>
2785</answer>
2786</qandaentry>
2787<qandaentry>
2788<question><para>Q: Why does it say, 'request_module[block-major-1]: Root fs not mounted VFS:
2789Cannot open root device "100" or 01:00 Please append a correct
2790"root=" boot option kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
279101:00' when i boot from the CD?</para></question>
2792<answer>
2793<para>A: Recompile your kernel and add initrd support. Take a look
2794at <link linkend="overview-sysrq-kernelreq">Linux Kernel support</link> to
2795see what your kernel must support.</para>
2796</answer>
2797</qandaentry>
2798
2799<qandaentry>
2800<question><para id="TAPENICE">Q: My tape drive
2801doesn't play nicely with Mondo at boot-time. What do I do?</para></question>
2802<answer><para>A: Play with the 'mt' command (package mt-st). Use its setblksize and
2803defblksize switches to reconfigure your tape drive if necessary.
2804Some tape drives just are painful. If yours is one of
2805them then God help you. Mondo can handle any tape drive whose drive
2806and firmware can handle fopen(), fwrite(), fread() and fclose().
2807Mondo uses standard C libraries to talk to your tape streamer. If
2808your tape streamer can't handle that then you had better call a
2809priest. Either that or ask for a refund.
2810</para>
2811</answer>
2812</qandaentry>
2813</qandaset>
2814</sect1>
2815
2816<sect1 id="faq-install">
2817<title>Installation related Questions</title>
2818<qandaset>
2819<qandaentry>
2820<question><para>Q: Why do I get, "newt.h not found," or
2821"popt.h not found," several times when I try to install
2822Mondo?</para></question>
2823<answer>
2824<para>A: You have not installed libnewt and/or libnewt-devel.
2825Please do so. Check <ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related Linux
2826Packages</ulink> to see what Mondo requires and where you can get
2827tarballs and RPM's. Make sure you are using the right version of
2828newt/libnewt. Read the error messages carefully.</para>
2829</answer>
2830</qandaentry>
2831<qandaentry>
2832<question><para>Q: Newt won't compile when I try. What's
2833 the problem?</para></question>
2834<answer>
2835<para>A: You are probably missing popt.h, which newt needs to
2836compile, it can be found in the 'popt' package. Check your
2837distribution and see if they have popt, if not check
2838<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml#dependencies">Related Linux Packages</ulink> to
2839see where you can get it.</para>
2840</answer>
2841</qandaentry>
2842<qandaentry>
2843<question><para>Q: I've just used up 6 CD-R, only to
2844 find that Mondo won't boot!</para></question>
2845<answer>
2846<para>A: You should have used CD-RW. ;) In the HOWTO, it gives
2847instructions on how to create a test CD (one, not six).</para>
2848</answer>
2849</qandaentry>
2850<qandaentry>
2851<question>
2852<para id="PACKREQ">Q: Lots of packages,
2853required by Mondo, are missing from my system. What do I do?</para>
2854</question>
2855<answer>
2856<para>
2857A: Install them. :) If you are using RPM or deb
2858then you'll be told which packages you need. Mondo offers a lot of
2859those packages on its
2860<ulink url="http://www.mondorescue.org/downloads.shtml">Download</ulink>
2861web page.</para>
2862</answer>
2863</qandaentry>
2864</qandaset>
2865</sect1>
2866
2867<sect1 id="faq-hardware">
2868<title>Hardware related Questions</title>
2869<qandaset>
2870<qandaentry>
2871 <question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle CD-RW?</para></question>
2872 <answer>
2873<para>A: Yes. Use '-Ow &lt;speed&gt; &lt;device&gt;' to make it
2874work.</para>
2875</answer>
2876</qandaentry>
2877<qandaentry>
2878<question><para>Q: Does Mondo support tape
2879 drives?</para></question>
2880<answer>
2881 <para>A: Yes. See above.</para>
2882 <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>
2883<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2884<row>
2885<entry>
2886 bash# dmesg | grep tape
2887</entry>
2888</row>
2889<row>
2890<entry>
2891 bash# cat /proc/scsi/scsi
2892</entry>
2893</row>
2894<row>
2895<entry>
2896 bash# mt -f /dev/st0 status
2897</entry>
2898</row>
2899</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2900
2901
2902</answer>
2903</qandaentry>
2904<qandaentry>
2905<question><para>Q: Does Mondo support my tape
2906 drive?</para></question>
2907<answer>
2908<para>A: If your tape drive and its firmware and the kernel-level
2909driver support fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() - standard C
2910library calls - then yes, Mondo should support it. If not, well,
2911you need a refund. :) Mondo plays nicely with any sane, sensible
2912drives. That's most of them, by the way. :) If your drive doesn't
2913play nicely with Mondo then you may try tinkering with setblksize
2914and defblksize using 'mt', or tweaking Mondo's block size by
2915recompiling it with make INTTAPE=4096 or INTTAPE=8192 or something.
2916Other than that, you need a priest or a refund.
2917Also, depending on the tape streamer model, a tape should be inserted
2918in the tape drive before starting mondoarchive, otherwise it may not
2919recognize the drive.</para>
2920</answer>
2921</qandaentry>
2922<qandaentry>
2923<question><para>Q: Sometimes, my laptop won't mount
2924 Mondo CD properly, or something. Umm...</para></question>
2925<answer>
2926<para>A: Please insert the CD, close the CD-ROM tray, wait a few
2927seconds and then press Enter to acknowledge insertion of the next
2928CD. Your laptop is on crack and is sucking a little too hard on the
2929pipe.</para>
2930</answer>
2931</qandaentry>
2932<qandaentry>
2933 <question><para>Q: Does Mondo support Hardware RAID?</para></question>
2934 <answer>
2935<para>A: Yes. You may backup and restore RAID systems. You may also
2936backup a non-RAID system and restore as RAID (or vice versa) by
2937using the mountlist editor to edit your RAID and non-RAID
2938partitions and their settings. Mondo will do the partitioning and
2939formatting for you.</para>
2940<para>Tested Raid controllers includes all those showing only classical devices
2941 such as /dev/sdx, and SmartArray cciss controllers.</para>
2942</answer>
2943</qandaentry>
2944<qandaentry>
2945<question><para>Q: Where is my CD burner, in SCSI terms?</para></question>
2946<answer>
2947<para>A: Type:</para>
2948<para></para>
2949<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2950<row>
2951 <entry>
2952 bash# cdrecord -scanbus
2953 </entry>
2954</row>
2955<row>
2956 <entry>
2957 bash# wodim --devices
2958 </entry>
2959</row>
2960</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2961<para>or for ATAPI type of devices on older kernel versions:</para>
2962<para></para>
2963<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2964<row>
2965 <entry>
2966 bash# cdrecord -scanbus dev=ATAPI
2967 </entry>
2968</row>
2969</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
2970<para>you may replace ATAPI by ATA in the previous line with certain cdrecord versions and hadrware configurations</para>
2971
2972
2973<para>Find your CD burner's device# (e.g. '0,0,0'). Call Mondo with
2974the switch '-Oc &lt;speed&gt;' -d '&lt;device&gt;'. Or, if you feel
2975lucky, just use '-Oc 2'; Mondo will (a) assume you want to write at
29764x to a CD-R and (b) will do its best to find your CD burner.</para>
2977</answer>
2978</qandaentry>
2979<qandaentry>
2980 <question><para>Q: Can Mondo handle SCSI devices?</para></question>
2981 <answer>
2982<para>A: Mondo should be able to handle almost any hardware. So
2983long as your kernel and modules support it, Mindi will support it
2984and therefore so will Mondo.</para>
2985</answer>
2986</qandaentry>
2987<qandaentry>
2988 <question><para>Q: Why doesn't cdrecord -scanbus work ?</para></question>
2989 <answer>
2990 <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
2991listed when you run
2992
2993<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
2994<row>
2995<entry>
2996bash# cdrecord -scanbus
2997</entry>
2998</row>
2999</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
3000
3001try adding the following kernel option to your boot script to enable
3002SCSI emulation: hdx=ide-scsi, where "hdx" should be replaced with the
3003appropriate drive letter of the CDRW device, e.g., "hdc".
3004(Answer provided by Christopher Moriarity cdm7_at_cdc.gov)
3005</para>
3006</answer>
3007</qandaentry>
3008</qandaset>
3009</sect1>
3010
3011<sect1 id="faq-backup">
3012<title>Backup related Questions</title>
3013
3014<qandaset>
3015<qandaentry>
3016<question><para id="MMKM">Q: Mondo says, 'Cannot
3017 run mindi --makemountlist' and aborts. What do I do?</para></question>
3018<answer>
3019 <para>
3020 A: Look at <filename>/var/log/mindi.log</filename> and see what it
3021says. Also, try typing 'mindi --makemountlist /tmp/mountlist.txt'
3022to see what Mindi says. Send the log to the &ML; if you get stuck.
3023</para>
3024</answer>
3025</qandaentry>
3026<qandaentry>
3027<question><para>Q: Can Mondo burn CD as they are
3028 created?</para></question>
3029<answer>
3030<para>A: Yes. Use the '-Oc &lt;speed&gt;' switch. Use a negative
3031number for a dummy burn.</para>
3032</answer>
3033</qandaentry>
3034<qandaentry>
3035<question><para>Q: Mondo failed to burn my CD. It said
3036something like, "Error CDB A1 01 02 53 ..." and so on. What does
3037that mean?</para></question>
3038<answer>
3039<para>A: Cdrecord reported some serious errors while trying to burn
3040your CD. Check your CD burner, your CD-R and your kernel.</para>
3041</answer>
3042</qandaentry>
3043<qandaentry>
3044<question><para>Q: May I backup my system with one
3045 partition layout and restore with another?</para></question>
3046<answer>
3047<para>A: Yes. Boot in Interactive Mode and edit the mountlist using
3048the snazzy new mountlist editor. Mondo can now edit your RAID
3049partitions for you. Just open /dev/md0 (or whatever) and select
3050"RAID.." to start. Or, to add a RAID device:</para>
3051<itemizedlist>
3052<listitem>
3053<para>Add two or more partitions, of type and mountpoint
3054'raid'</para>
3055</listitem>
3056<listitem>
3057<para>Add device '/dev/md0' and click OK</para>
3058</listitem>
3059<listitem>
3060<para>Follow the prompts and your own common-sense :)</para>
3061</listitem>
3062</itemizedlist>
3063</answer>
3064</qandaentry>
3065<qandaentry>
3066<question><para>Q: Why does Mondo need so much free disk
3067 space?</para></question>
3068<answer>
3069 <para>A: Because it need space to create the archive files with afio, then
3070 again space to create the ISO images that you'll be able to burn.
3071</para>
3072</answer>
3073</qandaentry>
3074<qandaentry>
3075<question><para>Q: I am trying to do something clever,
3076e.g. write my ISO's to an NFS mount, and I get some weird error
3077messages. What do I do?</para></question>
3078<answer>
3079<para>A: Well, (a) use '-T /tmp' or '-T /home' or something in your
3080 call to Mondo. Oh, and (b) check the <filename>/etc/exports</filename> file on your NFS server
3081 and verify the exported filesystem is writable for the client, and relaunch exportfs -a.
3082</para>
3083</answer>
3084</qandaentry>
3085<qandaentry>
3086<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup to data files on
3087 another partition, e.g. an NFS mount?</para></question>
3088<answer>
3089<para>A: Yes. Just backup as usual but add '-d /mnt/nfs' or
3090wherever your partition is mounted; don't use '-Oc' or '-Ot' at
3091all; just '-Oi -d /root'. Then, after booting from the media
3092which Mondo generates, you need to type 'ISO' at the
3093console.</para>
3094</answer>
3095</qandaentry>
3096<qandaentry>
3097<question><para>Q: Can Mondo backup _to_ an NFS
3098 partition, i.e. backup over a network? How about restoring?</para></question>
3099<answer>
3100<para>A: Yes. Use '-On &lt;mount&gt; &lt;directory&gt;'. Example:
3101</para>
3102<informaltable><tgroup cols="1"><tbody>
3103<row>
3104<entry>
3105
3106bash# mondoarchive -On 192.168.1.3:/home/nfs
3107
3108</entry>
3109</row>
3110</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
3111
3112</answer>
3113</qandaentry>
3114<qandaentry>
3115<question><para>Q: Does Mondo handle System or Hidden
3116 attributes when archiving Dos/Win files?</para></question>
3117<answer>
3118<para>A: No. It probably never will, either. Sorry.</para>
3119</answer>
3120</qandaentry>
3121</qandaset>
3122</sect1>
3123
3124<sect1 id="faq-compare">
3125<title>Compare related Questions</title>
3126
3127<qandaset>
3128<qandaentry>
3129<question><para>Q: When I compare my archives to my file
3130system, Mondo tells me there are differences or errors. Are the
3131archives bad?</para></question>
3132<answer>
3133 <para>A: Look at <filename>/tmp/changed.files</filename>; if the files are logfiles,
3134temp files or files which you think you may have changed recently
3135then the archives are simply out of date, albeit only by a few
3136minutes. Not a problem. However, if lots of files in /usr have
3137changed or if you get lots of errors then perhaps your CD, your
3138tapes or even your hardware could be to blame. Check your CD writer
3139or tape streamer.</para>
3140<para>Also, don't forget to review <filename>/var/log/mondoarchive.log</filename> for
3141more information.</para>
3142</answer>
3143</qandaentry>
3144</qandaset>
3145</sect1>
3146
3147<sect1 id="faq-restore">
3148<title>Restore related Questions</title>
3149<qandaset>
3150<qandaentry>
3151<question><para>Q: Can Mondo help me
3152 move/resize/re-allocate my partitions?</para></question>
3153<answer>
3154<para>A: Yes. Just backup your system in Interactive Mode using
3155Mondo. Edit the mountlist when prompted.</para>
3156</answer>
3157</qandaentry>
3158<qandaentry>
3159<question><para>Q: My zip drive is a SCSI drive. When I
3160restore, Mondo craps out, saying it can't mount the drive (because
3161there is no disk in it). What do I do?</para></question>
3162<answer>
3163<para>A: Restore in Interactive Mode. Delete the SCSI drive from
3164the mountlist before you restore. Then Mondo won't try to partition
3165or format it. Next time you backup, use -E /dev/sdd (or whatever
3166your zip drive is). The /dev entry will be excluded from the
3167mountlist but not from the filelist. So, when you restore, you
3168won't accidentally reformat your zip disk. However, after
3169restoring, you will find that /dev/sdd (the _file_) will still be
3170present in your /dev directory. Cool, eh?</para>
3171</answer>
3172</qandaentry>
3173<qandaentry>
3174<question><para>Q: I received a message like, 'Fileset
3175 NNN failed' during restore. What does it mean.</para></question>
3176<answer>
3177<para>A: It usually means either you had a very large (&gt;2GB)
3178file which was not archived owing to a flaw in your distro or your
3179filesystem has changed in relation to the backup.</para>
3180</answer>
3181</qandaentry>
3182<qandaentry>
3183<question><para>Q: Why does my ext3 partition have less
3184 space free than when I backed it up?</para></question>
3185<answer>
3186<para>A: Mondo creates a 10MB journal file area. Your journal was
3187probably smaller than that, hence the difference.</para>
3188</answer>
3189</qandaentry>
3190<qandaentry>
3191<question><para id="SEGF">Q: When I restore after
3192booting from the media, I sometimes get errors like, "Running
3193out of memory" or "Segmentation fault". What is going on?</para></question>
3194<answer><para>A: It sounds as if you are running out of disk
3195space, probably ram disk space. Type 'df -m' to see which
3196partitions are running low on space. Please send as much
3197information as you can to the &ML;. This problem is
3198believed to have been fixed in 1.63 and 1.71.</para>
3199</answer>
3200</qandaentry>
3201<qandaentry>
3202<question>
3203<para id="LVM">Q: I can't nuke-restore my LVM or RAID or
3204LVM-on-RAID setup. I have to do it manually. What now?</para></question>
3205<answer>
3206<para>A: You said it yourself. You have to do it manually. :) Sorry
3207but that's about it. At least you have all the tools to do it. I
3208assume you know how. If you don't, look at i-want-my-lvm (a script
3209on the ramdisk) if you're using LVM. It should give you a few
3210clues. RAID is harder but in general Mondo's RAID support is good.
3211After you've prepped and formatted your drives, run mondorestore
3212again but say 'no' when asked if you want Mondo to prep or format
3213your drives.</para>
3214</answer>
3215</qandaentry>
3216</qandaset>
3217</sect1>
3218</chapter>
3219
3220&gfdl;
3221
3222</book>
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