Hi there, Is it possible (also read easy) to copy an entire physical server to a virtual server? Regards, Rudolf.
Hi skoena, Yes we can clone the physical server into virtual server. You just requires a live cd to run the physical server. Step 1: Build any live CD to your physical server. Step 2: Boot the physical server with the Live CD/USB. Step 3:Open the terminal & run this code.(Its my pre-assumption that the server is installed in /dev/sda) Please note that the server.img file will be as large as your server intalled so recommended to save the server.img in external drive with good hdd. Step 4. You can boot the raw image as a hard disk or convert it to a virtualbox (or other) image Cheers, now you can connect the server.vdi to virtualbox for use. Br// Srijan
Not clear what you mean here? Should I download a live CD or create it from the physical server? How should I do this? How can I check this? Can I create a mount to a network drive to do this? Tnx!
Hi This was suggested to boot your physical server machine with the help of the Live CD or Live USB.For this you can use http://unetbootin.net/ to make a Live USB. You can use any OS. I will recommend to use Ubuntu12.04 live environment. For this I mean to say that when you are in live boot environment then you can open the live environment's terminal & need to run this command.You can check this with the with command Simply make the image of the server. Further You need to configure the network drive with live environment to save the server image file. Br// Srijan
Hi Rudolf, For this i will say that DD command is used to dd' copies a file (from standard input to standard output, by default) with a changeable I/O block size, while optionally performing conversions on it. Yes dd is also used to completely shred/wipe a drive with proper operands. bs=1024 it means that Set both input and output block sizes to BYTES. This makes `dd' read and write BYTES per block, overriding any `ibs' and `obs' settings. In addition, if no data-transforming `conv' option is specified, input is copied to the output as soon as it's read, even if it is smaller than the block size. After looking your fdisk -l, I will suggest you need to clone the /dev/sda2 Note: Please let the dd command to complete fully, please ensure that the the saving media should be of enough to save the server.img file. Br// Srijan
Thank you for your help! Will the right command to clone be: Code: dd if=/dev/sda2 of=/dev/sdb/server.img bs=1024 I attached a 500GB external harddisk as /dev/sdb, what's the best way to format it? What if the command/cloning fails, should I retry? This is the most recent output of fdisk -l:
Hi Rudolf, Yes that will be right. I think 500Gb is enough for the server.img file.You can use the Gparted utility to format the drive. Please ensure & wait for the command to get completed, it takes time. Br// Srijan
Tnx again. One additional question that pops up After formatting the drive should I mount it somehow? Regards, Rudolf
Hi Rudolf, Yes you need to copy the server.img file in the mounted drive. Gparted is very user freindly tool which uses to automatically mount the new formatted drive. But for confirming you can deploy df -kh to check the /dev/sdb mount point. Br// Srijan
Haven't had the time to try it out ;-) This is the latest fdisk -l (see attachment) Disk /dev/sda is the Live Usb disk Disk /dev/sdb is the 500GB External HDD Disk /dev/sdc is the 146GB disk where Ubuntu server and ISPconfig is installed. Which command should I use?
Hi Skoena, Referring the above output I can conclude that your ISCpconfig server is configured on /dev/sdc So you need to clone the /dev/sdc It will back-up the whole data with MBR records. Br// Srijan
