I have used backup solutions in the past which supported a bare-metal 
recovery using a modified version of a live disk. The one that remains 
most clearly in mind is Backup-Exec (which has changed names several 
times) for windows. Using a disk created specifically for disaster 
recovery you would install windows XP up to the first reboot normally, 
then restore all the files from tape using a BSR file stored on a floppy.

I would think you could do bare metal recovery with Bacula with a live CD 
from your OS vendor, and a USB stick containing standalone versions of the 
daemons and a BSR file. I haven't tried it since I usually take the 
opportunity provided by a hard disk crash to install a new version of the 
OS. I recall it being somewhat painful to recover sufficient information 
from the tape to rebuild the SQL database, but that could have been a 
result of a version change in Bacula as well.

Clint

On Mon, 5 Dec 2011, Jose Ildefonso Camargo Tolosa wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 6:55 PM, James Harper
> <james.harper AT bendigoit.com DOT au> wrote:
>>> Regarding the disaster recovery, I have a suggestion for the bacula
>> team:
>>>
>>> Why not make the director write the bacula config files and any
>> relevant bsr
>>> files at the beginning of each tape?
>>> The space wasted on the tape to save these file would be very small.
>>>
>>
>> A script to email the bsr file to a gmail/Hotmail/whatever account would
>> suffice. It's not like the file contains any sensitive information.
>
> Well, yeah, you could also rsync those files to any of the available
> online storage solutions (some of them free).... but, I think this
> breaks the point of "being able to recover from just the tape", or for
> instance: any storage (disks, for example)...
>
> Now, I wonder if any backup solution out-there allows you to do
> this... ie: recover from just backup media, you *always* need to get
> OS running again... so, there is no such thing as "bare metal"
> recovery. Unless you create something like an installer image that
> uses the backup to restore the machine... mmm.... maybe a
> "life-bacula"... that automatically rebuild the catalog from
> volumes... uh... is that possible? (automatically and completely
> rebuild catalog from volumes?).
>
> Ildefonso Camargo
>
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