iso image

[lynne]

HI
Is there anyway I can make a iso image of an installed version of mageia 2 after I have added some of my own bits and pieces
I want to put an exact copy on me laptop
all the best
lynne

[digigold]

Creating an image file of your entire installation is a bad idea...period! What I would do if I were you is grab the kickstart file file e.g.

Code: Select all

$ su
Password:
# cd /root/drakx
# cp -av auto_inst.cfg.pl 'whereever'


If your not familiar with how to install Mageia w/a kickstart file look here.

Additionaly you could backup your /home partition using dd. For example my home partition is /dev/sda7 so I would run:

Code: Select all

dd if=/dev/sda7 of=/media/flashdrive/backup.iso


You could then use dd to restore etc.

The kickstart file contains all pkgs, users, locale etc.
Here is a copy of parts of my kickstart file:

Code: Select all

#!/usr/bin/perl -cw
#
# You should check the syntax of this file before using it in an auto-install.
# You can do this with 'perl -cw auto_inst.cfg.pl' or by executing this file
# (note the '#!/usr/bin/perl -cw' on the first line).
$o = {
       'security_user' => undef,
       'default_packages' => [
                'kdepim4-kresources',
                'lib64totem0',
                'perl-Pango',
                'kio4-smtp',
                'perl-Time-ZoneInfo',
                'THE LIST GOES ON & ON'
              ],
       'users' => [
          {
            'icon' => 'default',
            'realname' => 'Digital Gold',
            'uid' => undef,
            'groups' => [],
            'name' => 'dg',
            'shell' => '/bin/bash',
            'gid' => undef
          }
        ],
       'locale' => {
           'country' => 'US',
           'IM' => undef,
           'lang' => 'en_US',
           'langs' => {
              'en_US' => 1
            },
           'utf8' => 1
         },
       'net' => {
        'zeroconf' => {},
        'network' => {
             'NETWORKING' => 'yes',
             'GATEWAY' => '192.168.1.1',
             'HOSTNAME' => 'localhost.localdomain',
             'CRDA_DOMAIN' => 'US',
             'FORWARD_IPV4' => 'false'
                },
        'autodetect' => {},
        'network::connection::ethernet' => {},
        'resolv' => {
            'DOMAINNAME' => 'nameserver',
            'dnsServer' => '192.168.1.1',
            'DOMAINNAME2' => '192.168.1.1',
            'dnsServer2' => undef,
            'DOMAINNAME3' => undef,
            'dnsServer3' => undef
               },
        'wireless' => {},
        'ifcfg' => {
                'eth0' => {
                  'BROADCAST' => '',
                  'isUp' => 1,
                  'BOOTPROTO' => 'dhcp',
                  'isPtp' => '',
                  'NETWORK' => '',
                  'HWADDR' => undef,
                  'DEVICE' => 'eth0',
                  'METRIC' => 10
                }
              },
        'type' => 'network::connection::ethernet',
        'net_interface' => 'eth0',
        'PROFILE' => 'default'
      },
       'authentication' => {
              'shadow' => 1,
              'blowfish' => 1
            },
       'partitions' => [
          {
            'fs_type' => 'ext4',
            'mntpoint' => '/boot',
            'size' => 2086402
          },
          {
            'fs_type' => 'swap',
            'mntpoint' => 'swap',
            'size' => 4190407
          },
          {
            'fs_type' => 'ext4',
            'mntpoint' => '/',
            'size' => 104852358
          },
          {
            'fs_type' => 'ext4',
            'mntpoint' => '/home',
            'size' => 823681486
          }
             ],
       'superuser' => {
         'pw' => 'CENSORED!',
         'realname' => 'root',
         'uid' => '0',
         'shell' => '/bin/bash',
         'home' => '/root',
         'gid' => '0'
            },
       'mouse' => {
          'EmulateWheel' => undef,
          'synaptics' => {
                 'ALPS' => ''
               },
          'name' => 'Any PS/2 & USB mice',
          'device' => 'input/mice',
          'type' => 'Universal',
          'nbuttons' => 7,
          'Protocol' => 'ExplorerPS/2',
          'evdev_mice_all' => [
                 {
                   'device' => '/dev/input/by-id/usb--event-mouse',
                   'HWheelRelativeAxisButtons' => '7 6'
                 }
               ],
          'wacom' => [],
          'MOUSETYPE' => 'ps/2'
        },
       'autoExitInstall' => '',
       'keyboard' => {
             'GRP_TOGGLE' => '',
             'KEYBOARD' => 'us'
           },
       'timezone' => {
             'ntp' => 'pool.ntp.org',
             'timezone' => 'America/Detroit',
             'UTC' => 1
           },
       'X' => {
      'monitors' => [
            {
              'VendorName' => 'Plug\'n Play',
              'manually_chosen' => 1
            }
               ],
      'resolution_wanted' => 'automatic',
      'default_depth' => 24
         },
       'services' => [
             'dm',
             'hddtemp',
             'lm_sensors',
             'mandi',
             'netfs',
             'network',
             'network-up',
             'partmon',
             'resolvconf',
             'sound'
           ],
       'partitioning' => {
            'auto_allocate' => '',
            'clearall' => 0,
            'eraseBadPartitions' => 0
          },
       'security' => 1,
       'interactiveSteps' => [
                'doPartitionDisks',
                'formatPartitions'
              ]
     };


So in short you can use the same home partition but reinstall the rest with a kickstart file. There is loads of info out there on using kickstart files if you look.

Good Luck!

[doktor5000]

Creating an image file of your entire installation is a bad idea...period!

Why is that, would you mind to elaborate on that?

Many people i know successfully use e.g. redobackup to easily achieve full-disk bare-metal restore and fast recovery times due to that.

[digigold]

Why is that, would you mind to elaborate on that?

Many people i know successfully use e.g. redobackup to easily achieve full-disk bare-metal restore and fast recovery times due to that.

I have used duplicate images for disaster recovery etc.; however, the OP was talking about moving an existing installation to their laptop. Looks like I should have made this clearer in my post as what I meant was using a duplicate image to populate new systems is not a good policy, as using kickstart, unattended, etc, makes for greater stability, flexibility, and ease of deployment. Different hardware on his laptop may mean different kernel mods drivers etc. If the original install uses the same hardware as the laptop he wants to populate than using a backup image would work fine.

Disaster recovery or even creating duplicate boxes for different tiers (e.g. production, testing, development, etc.) is another scenario which I don't believe applies to the OP, but where duplicate imaging does come in handy.

I am not familiar with the solution that you referenced, but as a systems admin I find that many pre-packaged backup solutions for linux are often just GUI front-ends for standard tools such as dd or rsync. That's not to say that redobackup is not a great product, it very well may be, but again using backup images to populate new systems is generally regarded as bad policy at least pretty much any place that I have worked.

[doktor5000]

Well, i understood she wants to create a backup copy of her customized installation, and not move it to another computer. In latter case i'd also prefer a fresh installation,
maybe sharing some settings from /home/username which are safe to share.

FWIW, redobackup is nothing more than a tool to create a bare-metal backup, together with a bootable medium to restore this backup,
like mondo/mindi et al.

[lynne]

HI all
thanks for all the responses
I used to be a Debian person and am thinking on the line of "remastersuys" to create a customised version that I use on the desktop
To elaborate a bit further
My partner used the same version as me and is not a computer person so just want to be able to edit document, music and the like so I normally create a version that suites us both and then keep it and put it on her laptom, desktop and my laptop

Hope this helps
all the best
lynne

[doktor5000]

Hi,

unfortunately remastering is currently not easily possible. But you may want to take a look at viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1444