On Friday 27 June 2008, James wrote: > Hello, > > I need to deploy a (gentoo) server, on an isolated, remote network, > with just a few custom applications. However, to periodically > update the gentoo distro, I want to build a second (congruent) > system, that can be physically swapped for update, or in the > event of failure (brain-dead, I know but for now, that's a > hard constraint). > > > So I have system with identical mother boards, cpus and the same > amount of ram. The size of the drives differs, but, that should not > be a problem. > > Where to start? > The both have the same profile: > [9] default/linux/x86/2008.0 * > > > The both have the same kernel/options: > 2.6.24-gentoo-r8 > > The world files are different. One is mimimal and very close > to what I want, the other needs many packages removed. > > Likewise the one system has a minimal make.conf file, which > I like, the other is quite bloated over the years. > > > So before I go any further, should I just set about pruning the > bloated system down to match the minimal system, or go for a new > install.
Pruning a fat system can be very time consuming. I'd rather clone the minimalistic one. > > Also what else would I check and modify to ensure the systems are > as close to congruent as possbile? > > rc-status? > > installed packages? > > > file by file in /etc? > > > Any tools or suggestions to help in this effort are much welcome. > > Should I just "dd" one (minmalistic) drive contents to the > other? I'd rather tar the whole small system up and install this tarball on the other one (after adjusting partitioning, creating filesystems and such). Uwe -- Ignorance killed the cat, sir, curiosity was framed! -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list