Hi, new to this forum and very new to Linux, so not going to try to pretend I know anything about Linux so any help will be gratefully appreciated.

My problem is I have been asked as part of a Data Centre Migration (with no Linux skills) to move two SUSE Linux Enterprise v9 boxes.

The problem I have is that the existing SUSE Linux Boxes are running on HP Proliant DL380 G5 servers and as part of the migration we are being forced to install them on IBM LS22 Blades.

I am hoping to P2P the boxes but am not aware of any tools that may be available to inject drivers for the new hardware.

Are there any tools available to do this like DD for Wintel?
Or has anybody ever carried out this procedure successfully that can give me a step by step guide on how to successfully complete this task.

Many Thanks

First, good luck. I've had problems with IBM blades before, but I will say this was two years ago...they may have ironed out the snags now. I had troubles with a fresh install, too.

That said, there is an excellent post on this site, regarding the dd command for linux. You CAN 'clone' a disk and try it in a different server, but don't hold out too much hope. Such dissimilar hardware will probably have issues, and may not work at all. You may want to look into some 'bare metal' backup/recovery tools, like mondoarchive, mkcdrec, or systemimager. They'll make you a complete, bootable ISO image, suitable for burning to DVD (or network booting), but again, driver issues will be there.

If you've got the time, I'd suggest doing a fresh install of SUSE EL9 onto the new blades, then migrating the application(s)/etc/., over to it, and testing it. Since SUSE EL on IBM hardware is a supported configuration, IBM will have to provide support/drivers/etc., to help you get it going, if things don't go smooth. It should be as simple as booting from CD/DVD, and doing a complete install. Also, do an online update afterwards (you'll be prompted to), to make sure everything is up to date, before you migrate applications.

Might look at VMware to export the system to a VM that would work on the new systems.