RHEL 5 Complete Restore from backup to identical server
 

Hi all,
Although I think I have some idea on how to do this I figured I would post this question here to get some input. Ask first, then do... it usually works out better :)

What I have:
I have two identical servers running RHEL5. Server one server is my main db server and a complete backup is done regularly. The second server was purchased for a backup server and to manage a few additional tasks.

What I would like to do:
I would like to take the complete backup of server one and restore it to server two.

I am guessing that I will have to do something like this:

Boot server1 into single user mode. (so the db isn't open).

Backup the system using cpio to file, something like 'find path -depth -print | cpio -ov | gzip -c > /exportfs/archive.cpio.gz'
I'm also not sure if I need to use the 'B' or 'm' options.

Copy the file to server2.

Boot server2 into single user mode.

Make sure server2 is not plugged into the network avoid dup ip addresses, etc. and probably cause a bunch of problems with the live server1.

Restore the file using something like 'cpio -i | gunzip -c archive.cpio.gz'

Rename the restored system to server2

Thanks for any input.

I found information from here very useful.

It discusses using a LiveCD to boot from, a NFS remote share to backup to, and using "tar" rather than CPIO. I'm sure you'll be able to devise a suitable strategy using the info provided.