Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE)

By Falko Timme
Published: 2009-01-20 20:39

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE)

Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
Last edited 01/14/2009

This tutorial shows how you can clone Linux systems with CloneZilla SE. This is useful for copying one Linux installation to multiple computers without
losing much time, e.g. in a classroom, or also for creating an image-based backup of a system. I will install CloneZilla SE on a Debian Etch server in this
tutorial. The systems that you want to clone can use whatever Linux distribution you prefer.

I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Preliminary Note
The Debian server on which I want to install CloneZilla SE is in the local network 192.168.0.0 (netmask 255.255.255.0) and has the IP address
192.168.0.100.

To clone a system, the target systems should use the same or at least similar hardware, otherwise cloning might not work!

2 Installing CloneZilla SE
First we import the GPG key of the DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot in Linux, needed to boot the client systems from the network (PXE) later on) and
CloneZilla repository:

wget -q http://drbl.sourceforge.net/GPG-KEY-DRBL -O- | apt-key add -

Then we open /etc/apt/sources.list...

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 1 of 44

 Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

vi /etc/apt/sources.list

... and add the DRBL/CloneZilla Debian repository to it:

[...]
deb http://drbl.sourceforge.net/drbl-core drbl stable
[...]

Run

apt-get update

afterwards.

Now we can install DRBL and CloneZilla like this:

apt-get install drbl

Then we run

/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl4imp

to configure DRBL and CloneZilla with default values (should work in most environments):

*****************************************************.
This script is for those impatient, it will setup the DRBL server by the default value which might not fit your
environment. Are you impatient ?

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 2 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

[Y/n] <-- ENTER

*****************************************************.
Ok, Laziness is a virtue! Let us setup DRBL server with the default values!!!
Press "Enter" to continue... <-- ENTER

[...]

Starting the NAT services for DRBL clients... done!

ip_forward is already on.
The GDM or KDM config file is NOT found! Skip setting the DM! Maybe you will not be able to make this DRBL server as thin
client server!
Clean all the previous saved config file if they exist...done!
Turn on the boot prompt for PXE client...done!
Turn off the thin client option in PXE boot menu...done!
Modifying /tftpboot/nbi_img/pxelinux.cfg/default to let DRBL client use graphical PXE boot menu... done!
Full DRBL mode. Remove clientdir opt for label drbl in pxelinux config...
Setting drbl_mode="full_drbl_mode" in /etc/drbl/drbl_deploy.conf and /etc/drbl/drblpush.conf... done!
Full clonezilla mode. Remove clientdir opt for label clonezilla in pxelinux config...
Setting clonezilla_mode="full_clonezilla_mode" in /etc/drbl/drbl_deploy.conf and /etc/drbl/drblpush.conf... done!
You have to use "/opt/drbl/sbin/dcs" -> clonezilla-start to start clonezilla serivce, so that there will be a clonezilla
menu when client boots
*****************************************************.
Adding normal users to group "audio cdrom plugdev floppy video"........ done!
*****************************************************.
Updating the YP/NIS for group...
Note! If you add new or remove accounts in the DRBL server in the future, remember to run the following command again, so
that some group (EX:plugdev) will be updated:
tune-debian-dev-group-perm -g "audio cdrom plugdev floppy video" -e
*****************************************************.
Enjoy DRBL!!!
http://drbl.nchc.org.tw; http://drbl.name
NCHC Free Software Labs, Taiwan. http://free.nchc.org.tw

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 3 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

*****************************************************.
If you like, you can reboot the DRBL server now to make sure everything is ready...(This is not necessary, just an
option.).
*****************************************************.
DRBL server is ready! Now set the client machines to boot from PXE or Etherboot (refer to http://drbl.sourceforge.net for
more details).
NOTE! If Etherboot is used in client machine, version 5.4.0 or newer is required!
PS. The config file is saved as /etc/drbl/drblpush.conf. Therefore if you want to run drblpush with the same config again,
you may run it as: /opt/drbl/sbin/drblpush -c /etc/drbl/drblpush.conf
server1:~#

That's it for the installation.

3 Creating An Image Of A Linux System

To create an image, we first start CloneZilla on the Debian system and tell it to store an image (the server will then wait until a client connects to store the
image), and then we boot the client system of which we want to create the image from the network - it should then boot into a CloneZilla Linux system that
connects to the server and creates the image.

Run

/opt/drbl/sbin/dcs

on the Debian server and select All Select all clients:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 4 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Next pick clonezilla-start Start_clonezilla_mode:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 5 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Choose save-disk Save client disk as an image:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 6 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Select Later_in_client Later input image and device name in client (you will then be prompted for an image name later on the client, instead
of having to provide an image name now):

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 7 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

On the next two screens you can simply press ENTER to select the default values:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 8 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 9 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Select the action when the client finishes cloning (I want to shut down the client after the image has been created, so I select -p poweroff):

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 10 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Press ENTER again on the next two screens to accept the default values:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 11 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 12 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Press ENTER again:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 13 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

The server is now ready. Now start the client system that you want to clone. It is important that you boot it from the network (via PXE) - you might have to
adjust the boot order in the client's BIOS so that it boots via PXE:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 14 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

After you've configured the client to boot from the network, you should see a DRBL boot menu. Select Clonezilla: save disk (choose later) as
image (choose later):

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 15 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Next provide a name for the image (or accept the default value):

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 16 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Select the source hard drive:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 17 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Afterwards, the image is being created and transferred to the CloneZilla server:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 18 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Then the CloneZilla server is notified that the image creation process has finished...

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 19 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

... and the client system is shut down (or rebooted - that depends on the action you've chosen on the server):

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 20 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

That's it, we now have an image of our Linux system that we can clone to other systems.

4 Cloning/Restoring The Image

To clone or restore the image to other systems, run

/opt/drbl/sbin/dcs

again on the CloneZilla Server. Select All Select all clients:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 21 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Choose clonezilla-start Start_clonezilla_mode:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 22 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Select restore-disk Restore an image to client disk:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 23 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

You can accept the default values on the next four screens by pressing ENTER:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 24 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 25 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 26 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 27 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Pick the image that you want to restore:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 28 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Choose the target hard drive:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 29 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Select multicast multicast restore:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 30 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Choose clients+time-to-wait:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 31 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Fill in the number of systems on which you want to restore the image (I want to restore just one system in this example):

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 32 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Fill in the max. time (in seconds) that the server will wait until all clients are powered on (i.e., if you want to restore the image on ten clients, you have 300 seconds to
power on the other nine computers after you have powered on the first one - if you are too slow, CloneZilla will start to restore the image only on the systems that have
been powered on in time):

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 33 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Afterwards, press ENTER twice:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 34 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 35 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Now power on the clients. Make sure they are configured to boot from the network (via PXE):

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 36 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

In the boot menu, select Clonezilla: multicast restore:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 37 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

The cloning process will then begin:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 38 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Afterwards, the server will be notified that the process has finished...

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 39 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

... and the client system will reboot:

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 40 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Before the client system boots, enter its BIOS again and configure it to boot from the hard drive!

If all goes well, the computer should boot into the cloned operating system.

5 Troubleshooting
It is possible that you see this message during the restore:

Failed to install grub

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 41 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

and that the system will not boot afterwards:

Grub
error 2

(I've had this with Ubuntu systems.)

The solution is to boot into a rescue system (e.g. Knoppix or the Ubuntu Live-CD) and install GRUB from the rescue system.

Once Knoppix or the Ubuntu Live system has started, open a terminal and become root:

Knoppix:

su

Ubuntu:

sudo su

Run

fdisk -l

to learn more about your partitioning:

root@Knoppix:~# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 32.2 GB, 32212254720 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3916 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 42 of 44

Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 1 3749 30113811 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 3750 3916 1341427+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 3750 3916 1341396 82 Linux swap / Solaris
root@Knoppix:~#

In this example, I have one big partition (/dev/sda1) that also contains the /boot directory (the Boot column is marked with a star).

I will now mount that partition to the /mnt directory:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev

mount -o bind -t proc /proc /mnt/proc

(If you have a separate /boot partition, e.g. /dev/sda2, you'd mount it to /mnt/boot after you have mounted /dev/sda1 to /mnt.)

Now we install GRUB as follows:

chroot /mnt grub-install --no-floppy "(hd0)"

This will give you the following error:

root@Knoppix:~# chroot /mnt grub-install --no-floppy "(hd0)"

You shouldn't call /sbin/grub-install. Please call /usr/sbin/grub-install instead!

/dev/sda1 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.

root@Knoppix:~#

To overcome the error, run

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 43 of 44

 Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) http://www.howtoforge.com/

chroot /mnt grub-install --no-floppy "(hd0)" --root-directory=/ --recheck

root@Knoppix:~# chroot /mnt grub-install --no-floppy "(hd0)" --root-directory=/ --recheck

You shouldn't call /sbin/grub-install. Please call /usr/sbin/grub-install instead!

Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
Installing GRUB to (hd0) as (hd0)...
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map //boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

(hd0) /dev/sda
root@Knoppix:~#

That's it - now reboot...

reboot

... and don't forget to remove the Knoppix or Ubuntu CD from the CD drive. If everything goes well, the GRUB error should be gone, and the system
should boot without any problems.

6 Links
- CloneZilla SE: http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-server-edition/
- Debian: http://www.debian.org/

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. HowtoForge Page 44 of 44