CentOS - Mar 2013 - Making a clone of an LVM-based EL5 install

Does anybody here have any idea how to make an exact copy of a drive 
that has LVM partitions? I'm having trouble using dd to do this for an 
EL5 server.

We're trying to diagnose a software problem of some kind and would like 
an exact, perfect copy of the software running so that we can see 
exactly what the problem is without disturbing our production copy. It's 
been admin practice to set up a single server with the ideal image as 
desired, and then use DD to replicate that image to multiple hosts. 
We've done this a large number of times. The exact procedure followed is:

-) Perform typical file-level backups with rsync
-) Install additional HDD (hereafter sdb) as least a big as the HDD to 
be duplicated.
-) Boot off a CentOS install DVD with "linux rescue"
-) Where /dev/sda is the original drive and /dev/sdb is the new drive, run:
     dd bs=8192 if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb;
-) shutdown the server upon completion of the previous command and 
remove 2nd drive.

Hereafter, using systems NOT running lvm, we have a bootable drive that 
can be installed into a 2nd machine and generally expect things to "just 
work" after sorting out a few driver issues. (EG: /dev/eth#s change)
Following this exact procedure with partitions on LVM does NOT result in 
a booting system!

-) When booting from the newly imaged drive, it starts the boot just 
fine but quits at:
----------------------------
Activating logical volumes
   Volume group "VolGroup00" not found
Trying to resume from /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
Unable to access resume device (/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01)
Creating root device.
Mounting root filesystem.
mount: could not find filesystem '/dev/root'
--SNIP--
switchroot: mount failed: no such file or directory
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
----------------------------


-) Running Linux rescue, at the shell:
----------------------------
# pvscan
PV /dev/sda2    VG VolGroup00   lvm2 [153.28 GiB / 0 free]
Total: 1 [153.28 GiB] / inuse: 1 [153.28 GiB] / in no VG: [0  ]
# vgscan
   Reading all physical volums. This may take a while...
   Found volume group "VolGroup00" using metadata type lvm2
# lvscan
   inactive    '/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00' [151.31 GiB] inherit
   inactive    '/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01' [1.97 GiB] inherit
----------------------------

-) Running the EL5 installer with the "Find distro" option on mounts
the
install at /tmp/sysimage without issue.

What am I missing?!?!

Mondo?

http://www.mondorescue.org
-- 
Mike Burger
http://www.bubbanfriends.org

"It's always suicide-mission this, save-the-planet that. No one ever
just
stops by to say 'hi' anymore." --Colonel Jack O'Neill, SG1

> Does anybody here have any idea how to make an exact copy of a drive
> that has LVM partitions? I'm having trouble using dd to do this for an
> EL5 server.
>
> We're trying to diagnose a software problem of some kind and would like
> an exact, perfect copy of the software running so that we can see
> exactly what the problem is without disturbing our production copy.
It's
> been admin practice to set up a single server with the ideal image as
> desired, and then use DD to replicate that image to multiple hosts.
> We've done this a large number of times. The exact procedure followed
is:
>
> -) Perform typical file-level backups with rsync
> -) Install additional HDD (hereafter sdb) as least a big as the HDD to
> be duplicated.
> -) Boot off a CentOS install DVD with "linux rescue"
> -) Where /dev/sda is the original drive and /dev/sdb is the new drive,
> run:
>      dd bs=8192 if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb;
> -) shutdown the server upon completion of the previous command and
> remove 2nd drive.
>
> Hereafter, using systems NOT running lvm, we have a bootable drive that
> can be installed into a 2nd machine and generally expect things to
"just
> work" after sorting out a few driver issues. (EG: /dev/eth#s change)
> Following this exact procedure with partitions on LVM does NOT result in
> a booting system!
>
> -) When booting from the newly imaged drive, it starts the boot just
> fine but quits at:
> ----------------------------
> Activating logical volumes
>    Volume group "VolGroup00" not found
> Trying to resume from /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
> Unable to access resume device (/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01)
> Creating root device.
> Mounting root filesystem.
> mount: could not find filesystem '/dev/root'
> --SNIP--
> switchroot: mount failed: no such file or directory
> Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
> ----------------------------
>
>
> -) Running Linux rescue, at the shell:
> ----------------------------
> # pvscan
> PV /dev/sda2    VG VolGroup00   lvm2 [153.28 GiB / 0 free]
> Total: 1 [153.28 GiB] / inuse: 1 [153.28 GiB] / in no VG: [0  ]
> # vgscan
>    Reading all physical volums. This may take a while...
>    Found volume group "VolGroup00" using metadata type lvm2
> # lvscan
>    inactive    '/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00' [151.31 GiB] inherit
>    inactive    '/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01' [1.97 GiB] inherit
> ----------------------------
>
> -) Running the EL5 installer with the "Find distro" option on
mounts the
> install at /tmp/sysimage without issue.
>
> What am I missing?!?!
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>

----- "Lists" <lists at benjamindsmith.com> escreveu:
> De: "Lists" <lists at benjamindsmith.com>
> Para: "CentOS mailing list" <centos at centos.org>
> Enviadas: Segunda-feira, 18 de Mar?o de 2013 19:36:41 (GMT-0300)
Auto-Detected
> Assunto: [CentOS] Making a clone of an LVM-based EL5 install
>
> Does anybody here have any idea how to make an exact copy of a drive 
> that has LVM partitions? I'm having trouble using dd to do this for an
> 
Hi, 

  What about Clonezilla (www.clonezilla.org) or Mondo (www.mondorescue.org) ??

  But, I do it with dd too, and it works fine with LVM.

  Att.,

         Antonio.

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On 03/18/2013 03:36 PM, Lists wrote:
> -) When booting from the newly imaged drive, it starts the boot just
> fine but quits at:
> ----------------------------
> Activating logical volumes
>     Volume group "VolGroup00" not found
The only reason that I can think of that would cause this is an initrd 
that doesn't contain the driver for the whatever adapter the disk is 
attached to.

Boot the rescue image and identify the adapter module.  When you've 
identified it, go back to the live system and make a new initrd using 
"--with <adapter_module>".  Don't replace the existing
initrd, just
create a new one in /boot.  If you then clone the disk, you should be 
able to boot the cloned disk to grub.  Edit the kernel definition and 
change the path to the initrd, selecting the one you've created for the 
new system.  It should boot properly, at which point you can replace the 
standard initrd path or fix grub's configuration file.

...and if you don't want to clone the system again, you can just boot 
the rescue environment, chroot to the sysimage, and make the initrd there.