I did something very stupid
in an EXT3 system, I entered this command:

#rm -vf /

So, the /boot folder was deleted (I already installed the kernel, boot images... back from RPMs)

My doubt is this folder:
/dev/cciss

I am sure a some files from /dev/ were deleted

If I reboot again, will my machine boot?
This is a file server, $2000 monthly are generated from this http web page, and what I wanted to type was rm -vf ./

Regards
Xavier

What you did is premanent. Nothing to my knowledge can be done after that command. If you have a recovery program for Linux, you might be able to recover some of it if it has been written over again. That's about all I know, though.

Let me know what happens and if you get a resolution, I like to learn anywhere I can.

Brandon

p.s. I'm only laughing because I've done dumb shit too. You're not alone. No hard feelings.

I just tried "rm -vf /". It didn't do anything at all, saying that "/" is a directory. Are you sure you didn't type "rm -rf /" ?

If you are using a distribution that has udev hot plug scripts not to worry. The /dev directory entries are created on boot. The cciss directory is the directory that points to your disk drives and should be created when you boot. You can also look in the lost+found directory and see if they are there.

I typed

#rm -rvdfr /

so it was a big mistake
I'm using Red Hat Enterprise 3, and this server is very important for my business, I have apache+mysql there and I fear that after a reboot, it will not boot again

Yes, quite possible.

I assume you have a backup of this machine. So at this point, try to backup the live data (i.e. data that has changed since your last backup), such as the web pages, database contents, or whatever you use.

Shortly after that, you'll have to reboot. Then, either,
- you're missing a few static files only (like /boot, /dev, ...) -> boot to a live CD and restore them from your backup
- nothing works anymore -> restore your backup (or a backup of a similar machine) and then restore your live data you've just backed up.

Pay attention to the downtime, if that's important. Do you have a running backup machine?

If you don't have a suitable backup, you'll have to reinstall from scratch, reconfigure and then restore your live data.