> > I just can't get my head around why you would want or need to do a total > > rebuild. > I myself can't imagine _wanting_ to do a rebuild, but needing to, yes. > Flood, tornado, theft, etc ......... > > Users have work to do. Let's see, what's my SAMBA configuration? And > those SQL databases looked like what? How quickly could you bring a > system with many users back online _and_ functional? > > If you are in a position of being responsible for thoses entities, you > had better have your ass covered. That's what I'm trying to do.
If your only method of getting a production system back online is by doing a full rebuild, then you are royally screwed. Most linux systems (especially gentoo-based) are in a constant state of flux. Users get added and removed, emerge updates packages and config files, databases have rows added/removed, etc. Your primary disaster recovery tool is the system backup. That will be the only way to get your system back to the state it was in before the failure occurred. Planning to rebuild from scratch rather than restore from backup ensures that a) you're going to need a huge window of time to get the system back to a functional state, b) you're going to need another huge window of time to get all of your configuration back in line with the current setup, and c) your data from databases will be basically lost (recreating tables is just the start of trying to bring it back online). So forget the 'rebuild' idea, it won't work and will be prone to failure. Instead focus on the appropriate tool to build system backups. Test your backup procedures and restoration procedures earnestly to ensure that what you plan to do for disaster recovery really will work. If you can get to a static system state (i.e. you stop emerging packages/updates), you could get away with a full system backup performed once followed by incremental backups from /etc, /var, and /home. And don't forget to take copies of the backup'd media offsite to another location; that way if the building goes under (with your system in it) you'll be able to get another system online based off of the offsite media. Dave -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
