Quoting "Rosetti, Bill" <BRosetti AT COMPUCOM DOT COM>:

> I have seen a few references to this in the archives but no real answer.
>  If
> I have a complete failure of a Linux or Solaris client, what process do
> I
> use to restore it?  I have tried reinstalling the OS, installing the
> TSM
> client, then doing a complete restore. (We are backing up everything but
> the
> swap on both OS's).  This restore blows up when it tries to touch
> /lib/libc.
> Should I be excluding a bunch of files so this process will work?
>
> I believe someone must have written a 1,2,3 process for this.  Can
> anyone
> point me the right direction?  TIA

I have done this kind of recovery with a Red Hat Linux system, although
I am still working on writing a 1,2,3 process that would enable someone
else to duplicate what I did. I set up an NFS server with a copy of the
RedHat/instimage directory from an installation CD-ROM. I then added
the sfdisk utility, the dsmc program, the TSM message file, dsm.opt,
dsm.sys, and some shared libraries used by sfdisk and dsmc. I booted
the dead Linux system from a network install diskette copied from the
installation CD-ROM. I requested rescue mode and specified the NFS
server as the source for the installation image. I used the sfdisk
incorporated into the rescue image to partition the disks. I formatted
the swap partition and enabled it. I created an empty file system in
each of the other partitions. I created a /mnt/root directory and
mounted the empty root file system over it. I created additional mount
point directories and mounted the other empty file systems. I ran a
series of dsmc restores into the empty file systems. I ran the lilo
command to recreate the boot loader in the master boot record. I
unmounted all the hard disk file systems, shut down, and rebooted from
the hard disk.

The process described above is suitable for situations where the new
hardware configuration is identical to the old one. I am still working
on a systematic procedure for recreating a Linux system on different
hardware.

I am not directly involved in disaster preparations for Solaris systems.
The book "Unix Backup & Recovery", by W. Curtis Preston, describes a
procedure for rebuilding a Solaris system from backup tapes. I think
this procedure could be modified to use a TSM server.