Hi, I'm using a cheap, low-spec PC (running Debian 2.2) as a dial-up server, firewall, proxy webserver, etc. for my main home PC.
Now I have it configured as I want it, I'd like to make some backups. The problem is that the only backup device available is a 100MB parallel-port Zip drive. This isn't supported by any of the 'standard' rescue disks, and anyway it is a bit small to back up everything. Fortunately, I can afford a few days off the Internet if I ever have to rebuild the PC, so here's my plan:- To backup: 1. Back up /usr/local, /home, and /etc to the Zip disk. 2. Capture the output of 'dpkg --get-selections' to a file and back it up to the Zip disk. 3. Back up /usr/src/linux/.config to a floppy - I won't be able to read from the Zip disk until I have rebuilt a custom kernel. To rebuild: 1. Install the base Debian system, plus the kernel source package, make-kpkg, and any dependencies. 2. Copy the kernel config file from floppy to /usr/src/linux. Build and install a custom kernel with parallel-port Zip support. 3. Now I can read the Zip disk, and run 'dpkg --set-selections' against the saved output from 'dpkg --set-selections'. 4. Run dselect (or apt-get ...) to fetch and install the selected packages. 5. Restore /usr/local, /home, and /etc (this should restore all the original configuration files). Will this work? Is there anything I have missed? Any comments and suggestions gratefully received. Thanks, Mike -- Mike Jones Unix System Administrator Office for National Statistics South Wales, UK For the latest data on the economy and society consult National Statistics at http://www.statistics.gov.uk ********************************************************************** Legal Disclaimer : Any views expressed by the sender of this message are not necessarily those of the Office for National Statistics **********************************************************************
