I have written a new tutorial:
*** Backing Up And Restoring Your Dedicated Server With SystemImager ***
This tutorial is based on the tutorial "Creating Images Of Your Linux System With SystemImager" ( http://www.howtoforge.com/howto_linux_systemimager ) where you can find the basics about how to use SystemImager.
Now let's assume you have a dedicated Linux server (rented or co-location) that is located in some provider's data center which is normally a few hundred kilometers away from your office or home. Now you want to make an image of that system so that you have a back up in case your server crashes, you accidentally deleted all you customers' web sites, etc. (I'm sure you have enough fantasy to make up some horror scenarios for yourself here...). Creating such an image is no problem, even on a remote system that is in a data center, it is all described in the "Creating Images Of Your Linux System With SystemImager" tutorial.
But how do you restore such an image? That's the crucial point. The methods described in the "Creating Images Of Your Linux System With SystemImager" tutorial all require that you have physical access to your server and that your server has a floppy drive or a CD-ROM drive. But your server is a few hundred kilometers away, and nowadays only few servers have a floppy or CD-ROM drive.
There is a solution, the only requirement is that your dedicated server has some kind of Linux rescue system which is a feature that normallly comes with dedicated servers offered by one of the big hosting companies.
This tutorial lets you also install your own customized Linux system on a dedicated server.
The HOWTO can be found here:
http://www.howtoforge.com/dedicated_...e_systemimager |
