Installation shortcuts

[nobaloney]

After reading user floyd's post, here I started thinking about a shortcut installation of DirectAdmin; here are my thoughts; I'm looking for any input from anyone who's thought about this.

Since we generally use the same OS, etc., for all our DirectAdmin installations, I've been thinking about creating/saving/using a drive image I can copy to build a server quickly; then I'd only have to recreate a few keys and change a few passwords.

Have you considered this? Any reasons why you would or wouldn't do it?

Thanks.

Jeff

 

[floyd]

I have not learned anything about using a drive image. How does that work and how long would it take use a drive image to configure a new server?

Also how does that affect different hard drive sizes? Will it work with software RAID1?

Sorry for the questions but I have no idea how that works. I guess that is why I have never considered.

I had previously considered using a fully configure small drive and using dd to copy it to the drive I am going to use in the server and then extend the partitions. But it just did not seem like it would save me that much time.

Currently I am using the old customapache so after the install I have to manually upgrade php. I should probably spend some time learning to use custombuild and that will probably save me time.

What I didn't like about custombuild was the different httpd configuration files. I had become used to using one main config file and then all the user's config files. Custombuild makes it harder for me to find things since now I don't know what file a particular configuration is. I hate learning something new just to be able to do the same thing that I have always done.

 

[nobaloney]

I have not learned anything about using a drive image. How does that work and how long would it take use a drive image to configure a new server?

Only as long as it took to copy the image over; modern software squeezes down images quite a bit.

Coincidentally, Sunday evening I was reading the Christmas 2008 issue of Linux Format; it has an article on Clonezilla. It's free, Linux-based, and according to the article, it's fast. It doesn't store the entire partition byte-by-byte, but only the parts of the partition that contain data.

Also how does that affect different hard drive sizes?

I haven't studied that yet, but if it works the say it should, then you should be able to define partition sizes and it should know how to handle that. One reason for starting this thread was to get answers to questions like these; hopefully this thread won't just be you and I.

Will it work with software RAID1?

If by no other way certainly you can clone on to one drive and then build the RAID. In fact some Linux distributions do it just that way on installation.

Sorry for the questions but I have no idea how that works. I guess that is why I have never considered.

Learning it will take some time but I think it'll save a lot of time as well.

I had previously considered using a fully configure small drive and using dd to copy it to the drive I am going to use in the server and then extend the partitions. But it just did not seem like it would save me that much time.

I'd only do it if the software could do the expansion. According to the article you can run Clonezilla partition by partition, and it does know enough to use different size partitions. More studying, and testing is obviously required, but since we do a lot to the default OS and the default DirectAdmin distributions (often taking over two hours) it would be worth it to us.

Currently I am using the old customapache so after the install I have to manually upgrade php. I should probably spend some time learning to use custombuild and that will probably save me time.

You should . We find it makes upgrading a lot simpler and a lot faster.

What I didn't like about custombuild was the different httpd configuration files. I had become used to using one main config file and then all the user's config files. Custombuild makes it harder for me to find things since now I don't know what file a particular configuration is. I hate learning something new just to be able to do the same thing that I have always done.

I agree; I like the monolithic file myself. But I've learned my way around, and now I'm used to it.

Jeff

 

[floyd]

hopefully this thread won't just be you and I.

If it is then that means we are the smartest ones on the forum.

That ought to get a response.

 

[dlong500]

Coincidentally, Sunday evening I was reading the Christmas 2008 issue of Linux Format; it has an article on Clonezilla. It's free, Linux-based, and according to the article, it's fast. It doesn't store the entire partition byte-by-byte, but only the parts of the partition that contain data.

That sounds very interesting. I'll have to check that out. I've worked extensively with disk images before but mostly dealing with data recovery (using tools like ddrescue to make images off of failing hard drives). I've always thought it would be nice to have a free linux-based imaging utility that was able to compress images.

Regarding software RAID, I haven't used that much. But I do frequently use hardware RAID so anything that would work with a normal hard drive would work just fine with my setup.

 

[jonathanc]

I've been using Mondo to kick off a new server with my core system configuration and DA settings. Then I just need to modify the hostname, IP addresses and DA licence info. You can "restore" to different geometries though I have not needed to do that.

 

[hci]

After reading user floyd's post, here I started thinking about a shortcut installation of DirectAdmin; here are my thoughts; I'm looking for any input from anyone who's thought about this.

Since we generally use the same OS, etc., for all our DirectAdmin installations, I've been thinking about creating/saving/using a drive image I can copy to build a server quickly; then I'd only have to recreate a few keys and change a few passwords.
Jeff

I always thought something like that would be a great idea. It would be great if it were an official DA thing too. Not sure how it would all work with GPL and other licensing issues though.

Matt

 

[tlchost]

One from Column A, Two from Column B

If it is then that means we are the smartest ones on the forum.

Or the only two who don't know already how to do it

Back in the old days in the computer rental business.....we had many system types pre-configured....and would use images, transfers, etc. to fullfill orders...when you have to deliver 100 computers for an event, you simply can not do manual setups.

You may also want to develop scripts. etc to modify your basic "system" with the different flavors of offerings.

Thom

 

[nobaloney]

I've known one way to do it for many years. But the last time I checked (admittedly years ago), the Ghost license required one license per system. That would be way too expensive for us, since we only have to set up a server once.

Renting servers for events, perhaps that was affordable since you'd have to do the setup over and over again on each server, but not for datacenter dedicated server rentals.

Jeff

 

[rohit]

clonezille looks good. Will check it out over the next week. Is it not same as Ghost 4 Linux? (sourceforge.net/projects/g4l)