Re: [seul-edu] Disk Imaging tools

[Jim Troutman <jlt@pivot.net>]

> network, Lab Expert and an older version of ImageCast. I'm curious if
> any knows of free, Linux based substitutes for this type of software?
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, this type of tool allows you to copy an
> image of a hard drive somewhwere else on the network (ie. server), and
> then pull it down across the network to other machines. Both of these
> tools use TCP/IP multicast, so you can image multiple machines
> simultaneously without increasing significantly the time required.

This could be done with dd and rsh.  I once saw a setup where a guy did
this using dd, rsh, and piping dd through gzip to improve the speed, using
a 3.5" floppy boot disk with a mini linux distribution.  I wish I had a
copy of his config.  I have wanted to do this myself several times.

It would not support multicasting, more useful for small numbers of
machines being done at once.  Obviously dd would just be to image a raw
disk or entire partition, and would be difficult to adjust for variations
between HDs of different sizes without wasting space.

I have ended up using Norton Ghost to do this sort of thing with PCs
(especially for those icky NT workstations) for the past couple of years.  
It is actually a pretty decent product, and fast -- can do a 1.5GB
compressed drive image down to 50 machines in about 20 minutes on fast
ethernet.

I'd be happy to see an open source tool that could take its place, of
course.

--
James Troutman, Troutman & Associates - telecommunications consulting
93 Main Street, Waterville, Maine 04901 - 207-861-7067