On Monday 10 May 2010 14:02:21 Josh Malone wrote:
> In practice though, I've found it takes lots of tries to perfect the above
> procedure and it's often easier to re-install the base OS and just restore
> critical config files, application files and data to the box. Bare-metal
> restores *sound* sexy, but really they're often just not useful.

I've done lots of bare metal restores with Bacula, BackupPC, and rsync.  The 
process is simple:

1. Install base OS from install media
2. Install backup client (bacula-fd or rsync)
3. Restore

The only problem I've found is with files that may be installed with the base 
OS but which you later removed or uninstalled.  These will persist after you 
restore.  For instance, I routinely uninstall sysklogd and install syslog-ng. 
If I do the above, I'll end up with both packages installed but with the 
package manager not being aware of sysklogd. The solution is to remember to 
repeat the install/uninstall before the restore.

That's only a problem for Bacula and BackupPC, neither of which have a concept 
of rsync's "--delete" option.  Perhaps that would work with BackupPC, though.

Regards,
Tyler

-- 
"One of the Fifth Amendment's basic functions is to protect the innocent
men who otherwise might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances.
Truthful responses of an innocent witness, as well as those of a
wrongdoer, may provide the government incriminating evidence from the
speaker's own mouth."
   -- The Supreme Court of the United States,
     Ohio v. Reiner, 532 U.S. 17, 20 (2001)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________
BackupPC-users mailing list
BackupPC-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
List:    https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users
Wiki:    http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net
Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/