Backup using dump and restore from dvd - restore cd loaded to ram ?drive?

Oliver Fromme olli at lurza.secnetix.de
Mon Feb 19 15:30:01 UTC 2007


knizek at volny.cz wrote:
 > [...]
 > The restore method will then require to boot from a bootable CD. The
 > rescue CD system should load itself into RAM drive, so that I can dismount
 > it and replace it with the CD/DVDs with the backup files.
 > 
 > The rescue CD should provide basic commands and programs like mount*,
 > newfs, bsdlabel, fdisk, vi, restore, gzip, ...
 > 
 > I have tried the installation CD with FreeBSD 6.2, but its "holographic"
 > shell does not have the commands needed and the FixIt shell depends
 > on the CD.

Building such a bootable CD is possible (I've done it),
but it's not easy.

Bascially you have to do it similar to the FreeBSD
install CD.  I suggest you have a look at it.  What
you have to do is prepare a kernel for the CD which
has the MD_ROOT option, so it can use an "mfs image"
as the root file system.  The create such an image
and put it onto the cd.  On the FreeBSD install CD
it is located in /boot/mfsroot.gz (you can uncompress
it and then mount it via mdconfig).  Actually you
should be able to make a bigger mfsroot image and
add the tools that you need.  However, be aware that
the image will eat up physical RAM, so don't be too
wasteful.

A simpler solution for your restore problem would be
to simply use a standard FreeBSD installation CD,
then make a minimal installation on your hard disk
so you have all the tools that you need, then restore
your actual backups.

Best regards
   Oliver

-- 
Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M.
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