[Gloucs] Migrating to Ubuntu whilst retaining old files/drives

[Andrew Oakley]

I wish to migrate my home Linux server from Fedora Core 2 (commandline
only install, no GUI) to the latest LTS Ubuntu (with GUI), and need some
advice.

The server is used as a Samba fileserver using two pairs of software
RAID1 mirrors, a Samba printer server, an Apache web server for test
projects only, an iptables-based NAT router/firewall and Sendmail SMTP
server which acts as a backup MX for a number of domains.

By "migrate" what I mean is completely destroy and re-install from
scratch, but I wish to retain the files on the Samba share, which are
spread across /dev/md0 and /dev/md1 . There are only four drives and I
don't have a spare.

/ is mounted on /dev/md0 together with half of the shared files.

So far, the best way I can think is:

* Take a backup of /dev/md0 onto DVDs
* Take one drive out of the /dev/md0 pair, giving me Spare#1
* Install Ubuntu on Spare#1 using ext3 filesystem (so as to retain
compatibility with software RAID)
* Boot from Spare #1
* Copy all the files over from /dev/md0 to Spare#1
* Destroy /dev/md0, giving me Spare#2
* Create a new /dev/md0 based on Spare#1, then hotadd Spare#2 to that.

Will this work? Any better suggestions?

What about the users and permissions on the old filesystem? Will I be
able to access all the files on the old /dev/md* devices (ex-Fedora)
from the new Ubuntu OS? Will I need to ensure I re-create all the users
and passwords identical to the Fedora OS, or can I copy vast swathes out
of /etc/passwd and just pray?

ps. Bear in mind that the Fedora Core OS is a commandline-only install,
and I have NEVER used a Linux GUI. If the whole thing can be done via
the terminal, I'm a much happier chap.
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Andrew Oakley
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MessageLabs
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