Cool cool.

1) Create a filesystem on each partition.
2) Create a mount point for each partition - /backup is a safe bet for a backup partition, but you can stick it anywhere you like in the filesystem.
3) Mount the partition
4) Create an fstab entry so that the partition is mounted at boot.

So (replacing X with the partition number):

# mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdbX
# mkdir /backup
# mount /dev/sdbX /backup
[Open /etc/fstab in a text editor]
[Add the following line:]
/dev/sdbX /backup ext3 defaults 1 1

and do that for each partition and mount point.

This may be do-able from YaST, but you'd be as well getting your hands dirty with fstab - you're going to need to know your way around it if you're going to be dealing with Unix machines.

Once you're done, run 'mount -a' - this will check for errors in /etc/fstab .

Dave

OK thanks...

I will go out there today or tom. I made the partitions ext2 as that was the default (ext2) and I left it that way. Im guessing thats OK?

Since these two machine are or will be identical after the 100gb lun conversion on the second is there an easy way to clone the completed machine to the other? Or can I clone to a ext. HD and then back to the other? It would make my life easier right now not having to do this all over again.

Thanks again for all the follow up. Much appreciated!

ext2 is OK, but it's non-journaling, so if there's a power cut or anything, the machine will spend an age running fsck over the filesystem. I'd advise you to convert the ext2 partitions to ext3 at the earliest opportunity. Instructions here (it's pretty simple, and you don't lose any data):

http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/ext2toext3.htm

You could do a bit-by-bit copy of the FSes with 'dd' to clone, but with the size of FSes you've got, I wouldn't advise it unless you're being paid by the hour
I'd use 'rsync' to mirror your data if you've got a decent network connection between them. If not, you could rsync onto an ext2/3 formatted external drive, then rsync onto the target host from there. I'd probably not rsync the OS directories (/usr /var /bin /dev and so on), just the 'data' partitions - things can get a bit weird when you transplant systems like that, and it takes a bit of experience (and coffee) to iron out the kinks.

Dave

OK thanks

I will convert to ext3 (why does it ask about ext2 then?)
I cant believe there is no way to clone. Acronis will snapshot a win server 100%. Bummer! I really did not want to do this a second time.

No idea why SuSE make the choices they make (it really should default to ext3). I'm pretty much RedHat exclusively, and the defaults there seem to be sensible all round.

There are cloning tools available - a quick google for 'clone linux system' should get you started. Personally, I've never needed to do this.
The initial install for a standard Linux server is so fast (once you've got the hang of it) that it takes less time to do that than boot from a network server / live CD then replace the data from a cloned machine. At home I rsync all configuration and user data (/etc /home /var) nightly to a backup box, and from that I can have a system back up and running in about 30 minutes from the putting the install DVD in the drive to opening up the services (for a box serving MySQL, Apache, Dovecot, Postfix, vsftpd, and a Movable Type install). No hassle, and no need to buy-in tools to do it for you.
Even the (few) Linux machines at work aren't fully backed up. The databases and the /etc directory are dumped over NFS every night to a backup host, and if anything truly bad happens to a box, just re-install and update, then dump the DB data back in.

The only time I bother with imaging is at work on Solaris boxes - and that's generally only to set up a development box image of a live machine for the developers to play with (if you ever have to install Solaris you'll know why this is a good thing...)

Do redhat server OS's come in GUI flavors or are they all command line. What is the redhat free version?

RH can install gnome if you want (it is by default I think). Look at CentOS (www.centos.org), RH without the logos, etc.

OK I am back in front of the server now. I made all the changes you posted. I now see a backup and backup2 folder in filesystem. When I right click the properties it shows the wrong size ( I guess I mounted the small space next to the big partitions on each). How do I unmount? When I put in the commands I chose sdb1 and sdc1 which are wrong. It should have been sdb and sdc. Do I use 0 after sdb and sdc example sdb0? It says sdb is an entire device not just a partiton yes/no. Im clicking yes I hope I dont erase everything. Do I need to create sdbd2 and sdc2?

On edit I chose to mkfs of entire device sdb and sdc and I now can see the whole partition and its the right size. I shared the folders and all seems well. When I try to map from a windows box \\192.168.0.235\backup it asks for a user/pass and it wont except what I put in. I can browse to the folders and dump files but not map to them. What gives.

Also I found acronis true image server that will restore from bare metal.

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATIES/
Thanks again for all the help.

To unmount, do:
# umount /backup

You should probably use sdb0 and sdc0, but there's no law against putting the filesystem on the full device (sdb/sdc without a number) without partitioning it. Future admins of the machine may become confused and curse your name, but that's all part of the fun of Unix admining.

It's been a long time since I had to set up samba, so I'm not sure what's going on with your Windows -> Linux authentication. I'm sure lots of people here have handled this before, so a new thread on the subject is probably a good idea.

Acronis® True Image Echo™? Worth every penny of its $1000 asking price, I'm sure.
"In order to ensure a successful implementation and customer experience, Acronis Maintenance and Priority Support (AMPS) is required for the first year." makes me a bit uneasy. If they're going for a support-based business model, they should just come out and say it. If they're offering a year's support as part of the purchase, they should just include it in the price of the software. If their software's so crap that you'll actually /need/ a year-long support contract to implement it, they should stop selling software.

Then again, maybe it's just this hangover that's making me feel uneasy.

Dave

$1000??? That's the server version. Acronis TrueImage Workstation seems to work well for me, costs only ~$80, Windows or Linux version, has a standalone boot CD to restore bare metal.

I've never seen a workstation with 3TB of RAID5 storage.

I will try smbpasswd -a again. It worked the 1st time.

Thanks for all the help. How is the weather in Scotland?

Sunny, but freezing. Autumn's been canceled due to lack of interest, so we've gone straight from summer into winter.

True enough, but I don't think the product has a limitation in that regard. I think the only differences have to do with remote administration, but I'm not sure. I've seen a number of threads now with larger and larger harddrives, as their prices fall about as fast as real estate, so pretty soon they'll be a number of multiple TB PCs out there, non-server...Anyway, it was just a thought.

Summer is endless here in Arizona, but now down to the mid 80's we can almost call it Autumn

WELL...........

Im not sure what the heck I did wrong on the second server. I see the /backup and /backup2 folder in files system. But when I right click on the they both show 69gb size which is from the sda partition. I tried and re-tried to mount them to the sdb and sdc but no joy.

What did I do wrong?







Our temp here in California goes below 40f for the most part. I live near the pacific ocean so the warm water keeps the air warm.

Heres some pics from last weekend. I went trout fishing with my new puppy.


http://www.michaelkdickson.com/webjunk/sierras/sierras/