[sclug] Installing without bootstrap

[ed]

On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 01:43:18 +0100
James Beckett <sclug at hackery.net> wrote:

> I'm well overdue for upgrading my home server box (it's still on RH9)
> and am looking at probably FC5. There's a bunch of data and system
> configs I want to retain (it runs various websites etc) and I want
> to minimise the downtime without having to actually set up a temporary
> replacement.
> 
> Is it possible (and not too error-prone) to install onto a fresh scsi
> drive from within a current running system, allowing one to configure
> to taste and copy across data before rebooting into the new system
> (and conveniently being able to multiboot back into the old)? Possibly
> even run the new system in a VM before committing to it?

Yes this is possible, although I've not personally done it, you can tell
the VM to use a raw disk for it's virtual disk.

You might run into some problems such as where the root fs is, as no
doubt this will appear as /dev/hda, when in reality it's /dev/sdb
perhaps, so you will have to change at least /etc/fstab,
/boot/grub/menu.lst.

If you plan on doing this, try it on a sacrificial box first, if you
have one.

The option is there in VMWare, I've not looked for it in qemu, although
again it should be possible, in the past I've just given it large files
to use as the disk image, so I don't see why using /dev/sdb would cause
a problem.

-- 
Regards, Ed                      :: http://www.s5h.net
proud c++ hacker
Contrary to popular belief, Chuck Norris was the first man to swim 
across the English Channel with a lit cigar in his mouth.