Chapter 5. Tests

5.1. Testing Mindi

Mindi is a vital part of the backup procedure. If you have used Mondo before or if you are in a hurry, skip steps 6.2 and 6.3; go straight to QuickStart.

However, if you have time or if you have been having trouble getting Mondo to work, I would recommend trying out Mindi directly (rather than via Mondo) to see if it can produce a bootable CD on your system.

Make sure you are root while doing this, otherwise mindi will fail, now do this.

If you have any problems, please:-

less /var/log/mindi.log
feel free to edit mindi (it's a shell script, btw) to try to fix the problem yourself
contact the mondorescue mailing list if you get stuck.

Type:-

bash# mindi

Example screen output, selecting to use your own kernel, to create boot disks, and to create a bootable CD image:

# mindi
Mindi Linux mini-distro generator v1.09-r762

Latest Mindi is available from http://www.mondorescueg

BusyBox sources are available from http://www.busybox.net

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you want to use your own kernel to build the boot disk (y/n) ?y
Would you like to use LILO (instead of syslinux)
for your boot media (y/n) ?n
Analyzing dependency requirements Done.
Making complete dependency list Done.
Analyzing your keyboard's configuration.

Adding the following keyboard mapping tables: us-latin1 Done.
Assembling dependency files................................................................... Done.
The files have been subdivided into 5 directories. Your mountlist will look like this:-
Finding all volume groups
No volume groups found
No volume groups found
No volume groups found
No volume groups found
DEVICE MOUNTPOINT FORMAT SIZE (MB)
/dev/hda1 / ext3 399
/dev/hda9 /home ext3 48478
/dev/hda6 /usr ext3 4999
/dev/hda7 /var ext3 1000
/dev/hda5 swap swap 349
/dev/hda8 swap swap 2003
Finding all volume groups
No volume groups found
No volume groups found
No volume groups found
No volume groups found
Tarring and zipping the groups.................. Done.
Creating data disk #1...#2...#3...#4...#5... Done.
Making 1722KB boot disk...........................1440+0 enregistrements lus.
1440+0 enregistrements écrits.
mke2fs 1.38 (30-Jun-2005)
Failed to copy /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-15mdk-i686-up-4GB to ramdisk

Making 2880KB boot disk...........................mkfs.vfat 2.10 (22 Sep 2003)
... 2880 KB boot disks were created OK Done.
In the directory '/var/cache/mindi' you will find the images:-
mindi-data-1.img mindi-data-2.img mindi-data-3.img mindi-data-4.img mindi-data-5.img mindi-root.1440.img
Shall I make a bootable CD image? (y/n) y
NB: Mindi's bootable CD always uses isolinux.

For a bootable CD w/LILO, please use Mondo.

Finished.

Boot and data disk images were created.

If your kernel is too large (more than about 900KB) then you cannot make boot media, although you can still make a bootable CD image. The easiest way to test Mindi in either case is to say 'n' to its first question and 'y' to its second, then use the separate application cdrecord or wodim to make a bootable CD-R or CD-RW.

Use the cdrecord or wodim application to write the CD image:

bash# cd /var/cache/mindi

bash# cdrecord -scanbus

bash# wodim --devices

The output of the above call will tell you your CD writer's node. It is usually '0,0,0'. Choose one of the following calls to write the CD, depending on whether the disk in the drive is a CD-R or a CD-RW. Please replace 'x,x,x' with your writer's node. For further information, type 'man cdrecord" from a Linux command line.

If writing to a CD-RW Drive/Disc:

bash# cdrecord -v blank=fast dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-RW)

bash# wodim -v blank=fast dev=/dev/xxx speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-RW)

If writing to a CD-R Drive/Disc:

bash# cdrecord -v dev=x,x,x speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-R)

bash# wodim -v dev=/dev/xxx speed=4 mindi.iso (for CD-R)


RPM verifications		Backup