Topic: cloning SME installation

[kryptos]

Hi All,

I have a problem how can I transfer the whole SME system to other hard drive without installing again all the  stuff i have created. Is it advisable to just clone the drive? What clone software would you recommend.

Regards,
Rocel

[janet]

kryptos

...how can I transfer the whole SME system to other hard drive without installing again all the  stuff i have created.

A way of achieving this is to add an additional hard disk to a single disk machine, and then synchronise the RAID array using the console menu (log in as admin).
Assuming the new drive is larger than the orginal drive, you can then remove the smaller drive, and "grow" the new drive to use full capacity, following the steps outlined in this Howto.
http://wiki.contribs.org/Raid#Upgrading_the_Hard_Drive_Size

[thomasch]

Hi All,

I have a problem how can I transfer the whole SME system to other hard drive without installing again all the  stuff i have created. Is it advisable to just clone the drive? What clone software would you recommend.

Regards,
Rocel

Rocel,

What are you trying to achieve by cloning your harddrive?
Upgrade harddisk size? Move SME server to a new hardware? Or just for backup purpose?

Yes, it is possible to 'clone' the SME harddrive without any external software. SME has built in function to do that. You can find all the information in the wiki pages. Please search the SME server wiki.contribs.org

thomasch

[kryptos]

basically this is what happend. I want to have working mirror for this server. Right now the server has only one drive which 37gb scsi drive. Now i have two spare 36gb scsi same model since it is not advisable to mirror different hardware size of drive so I just thought I will use the the two 36gb scsi drive as a raid configuration and transfer the whole SME  to this two drives first by cloning the current 37gb to the 36gb scsci drive and then mirroring the other 36gb drive.

Regards,
Rocel

[janet]

kryptos

Have you tried adding one of the 36Gb drives to the sme with the 37Gb drive ?

Despite the small drive size differences, the sme may "accept" the 37Gb drive and allow you to synchronise the RAID1 array using the admin console menu.

[thomasch]

Now i have two spare 36gb scsi same model since it is not advisable to mirror different hardware size of drive so I just thought I will use the the two 36gb scsi drive as a raid configuration and transfer the whole SME  to this two drives first by cloning the current 37gb to the 36gb scsci drive and then mirroring the other 36gb drive.

Regards,
Rocel

It is possible to mirror two different size providing the size of new drive is larger than installed one. Just put bigger disk to raid array, synch (mirror) it and and then you can grow the raid space later.

In your case, sorry to tell you, it is not possible to do that since the new drive 36GB is smaller than 37GB installed.

You next option is :
- affa
- Backup from old machine and then restore to new SME installation.

thomasch

[kryptos]

kryptos

Have you tried adding one of the 36Gb drives to the sme with the 37Gb drive ?

Despite the small drive size differences, the sme may "accept" the 37Gb drive and allow you to synchronise the RAID1 array using the admin console menu.

I've tried it but I have problems booting it up. I think with the order of the scsi ID. Just kind afraid to try it again thinking that I could break something on the server. But i'll try that to mirror the two drive even though they are not the same model.Anyway the data on the current server are not that full. So i just make a try and I'll just feedback again.

Thanks
Rocel

[electroman00]

The drives must be the exact same size byte for byte, or larger, or the raid will not sync.

Raid sync does not have the capability to reduce a larger HD to a smaller HD, it simply sync's the drives.
You have to manually reduce the source drive raid size to equal to or less then the new drive, then sync.
If you attempt a manual size reduction, make sure you have a backup.

If the system tried to sync a larger source to a smaller destination drive and didn't give a warning then that might be considered a bug
in the raid sync.

Also take note:

If you have hda and add hdb and sync them and you want to move hdb to another machine (clone), then it is important to install that hdb
drive into the hdb position on the new hardware and add a new hda drive to the new hardware and sync them.
Of course you will have to change the bios to boot from hdb before the sync and change to hda after the sync.

Do not install the hdb drive into the new system into the hda position and a new drive in the hdb position.
Although it will work, things will get messed up and confusing down the road.
Raid maintains the drive position based on drive s/n in the raid config.

Same holds true for IDE, SCSI, SATA.

I'm sure one could modify/edit the raid config manually to correct the issue, however I haven't experimented with it as of this moment.
If someone has been able to accomplish it, would be a good addition to the wiki.
hth

[janet]

kryptos

Have you tried adding one of the 36Gb drives to the sme with the 37Gb drive ?

I suggested trying that because we don't know for sure what the actual size of your drives really are, as stated sizes are often not "exactly" correct.

The drives must be the exact same size byte for byte, or larger, or the raid will not sync.

Yes of course, but a stated 36 Gb drive size may be the same or slightly larger than a stated 37Gb drive.

I thought it may be a simple answer if the 36 Gb would work.
If not then proceed to other methods.

Probably you would then need to manually reduce the size of the 37Gb so that a 36Gb could be sync'd to it, as has been suggested.

[kryptos]

Hi All,

Just an update we have manage to secure the same size hard drive but not they same model though.As we seen it works it syncs. I don't know if matters that is has different model.


Regards,
Rocel

[David Harper]

No, only the size should matter.