Switching Hardware

I just wanted anyone's thoughts, I have a server running RH 7.3 & DirectAdmin on it. I would like to move it to new hardware. My only hesitation is that I will get a kernel panic or something worse. Has anyone ever moved a hard drive from one box to a different box w/o reinstalling?

I was wondering if it could be done? One thought I had was moved the hard drive over and using the CD's to reinstall the kernel? Not sure if this would work...

I don't think it is possible but I thought I would ask? It would help with all the downtime and setup...

Thanks for the suggestions!

In principle it should work alright.

The only issues might come if:

1. You compiled your own kernel on the old box. In that case you probably specified quite tightly the hardware to support and it won't work on the new box. If you are using the standard RH7.3 kernel there shouldn't be a problem as it contains modules for every bit of hardware you should encounter.
2. There is leading edge hardware on the new box which isn't supported by the old kernel. Which kernel version are you using at the moment? (uname -a to find out)
3. The partition layout changes (you're moving the disk drive so this shouldn't be an issue).
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   If you have a problem then you need to boot with a rescue disk (you can use the first CD of RH7.3, type "linux rescue" at the LILO prompt) and fix any settings such as in /etc/fstab, etc.
   
   Various things will probably stop working after the move, but can be fixed (at least the system will boot):
   1. Networking. You'll probably need to change the module specified for your NIC in /etc/modules.conf (unless you run Red Hat and kudzu picks up the change, this is likely).
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      Actually that's all I can think of. I'm sure there'll be something else, there always is.