dd a root drive

qrange · 03-08-2011, 05:26 AM

I need to make a backup image of root drive in Solaris 10 SPARC.
They say it can be done in single user mode, true?
I'd like to backup to file. Can Solaris mount as writable other filesystems like ext2/3 ?
If not, I'd like to format second hdd as ufs in x86 Linux. Would that work?

kbp · 03-08-2011, 06:00 AM

Try mounting a share via NFS then 'dd ... | gzip > /mnt/nfs/<backup>.dd.gz'

qrange · 03-08-2011, 06:43 AM

hm, excellent idea, I like it. only wish I could use ftp instead.
btw, I'm not sure NFS is installed on SPARC, and we don't have original CDs.

jlliagre · 03-08-2011, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qrange

I need to make a backup image of root drive in Solaris 10 SPARC.
They say it can be done in single user mode, true?

That's more than risky. If you want to dd a boot disk, the better option is to mount it read-only, i.e. boot elsewhere.

kbp · 03-08-2011, 03:45 PM

Quote:

only wish I could use ftp instead

.. how about 'dd ... | gzip | nc ... ' then ? Just set up a netcat listener on a remote host and redirect stdout to a file. Is this for recovery purposes or forensic purposes ?

qrange · 03-09-2011, 01:36 AM

its for backup. we don't have raid and hard drive have been running 24/7 for more than 3 years now.
I guess the only option is to shutdown, physically remove hdd and connect it to Linux PC.

would SPARC somehow 'know' the drive has been removed?
unfortunately, at the moment there is no support from seller of the system, and they never gave us installation CDs. so, it is critical to keep the drive 'healthy'.

kbp · 03-09-2011, 04:16 AM

I'd just try restoring the live copy to a test system and see if it will boot ... unless you don't have another server the same ?