1.1. Purpose / Scope of this Guide

This HOWTO serves to help people get started with using mondo/mindi as way to backup/restore their system. This is a work constantly evolving. It was started by Hugo Rabson and has since been worked upon by a number of people. See the 'About' web page for a list of members of the development team.

There are many ways to contribute to the Linux movement without actually writing code. One of the most important is writing documentation, allowing each person to share their knowledge with thousands of others around the world. This HOWTO is designed to help you get familiar with how Mondo/Mindi works.

Opinions expressed here are those of the authors. Informations are provided in the aim to be useful to the readers. However, there can't be, through this document, any warranty of any kind on the way it works on your systems, nor the author could be responsible for any problem caused by the use of these informations. However, software editors don't garantee you a lot either (re-read the contracts).

1.2. New versions of this document

The newest version of this document can always be found on MondoRescue's homepage MondoRescue.

If you make a translation of this document into another language, please let meknow so that I can include a reference to it here.

1.3. Suggestions / Feedback

I rely on you, the reader, to make this HOWTO useful. THis HOWTO is probably incomplete even if it tries to be accurate to the best of our knowledge. If you have any suggestions, corrections, recommandations or congratulations :-) don't hesitate to send them to me <bruno@mondorescue.org>, and I will try to incorporate them in a next revision or to the mondorescue mailing list; e-mail the list at mondo-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; tell us what is wrong and how it should be fixed. Include the section title and recommended changes. Whenever possible, include the exact, spell-checked, grammar-checked text that you think would improve the document.

See Mondo's Support page for more information.

Please note that we do our best to help everyone but it is difficult for us to help you if you do not attach a log file to your e-mail. Let me say that again - attach your log file to your e-mail! Thank you. Without it we can't offer any tangible help because you aren't either. That's what the log file is for. It is located at /var/log/mondoarchive.log; and /var/log/mindi.log (if called alone) or at /var/log/mondorestore.log

This document was originaly written by native english speakers, but is maintained by a non-native english speaker so help me correct mistaques (sic) instead of rumbling that I've done one :-)

I am also willing to answer general questions on MondoRescue, the best I can. Before doing so, please read all of the information in this HOWTO, and then send me detailed information about the problem, especially including the logs generated by the tools, or traces obtained (Did I say that already :-].

If you publish this document on a CD-ROM or in hardcopy form, a complimentary copy would be appreciated; mail me for my postal address. Also consider making a donation to the Linux Documentation Project to help support free documentation for Linux. Contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator, Guylhem AZNAR <guylhem@rrremovethis.oeil.qc.ca>.

1.4. Aknowledgements

Thanks goes to these people for helping and adding to this HOWTO.

Document maintainer:

• Bruno Cornec

Original Design Assistance by:

• Xion Network.com

Original Document Assistance by:

• Cafeole

• Troff

• Randy Delfs

• Mikael Hultgren

Original LinuxDoc and LaTeX Reformat by:

• Bryan J. Smith

Original DocBook Reformat by:

• Mikael Hultgren

Original author; 1.6x material:

• Hugo Rabson

3.1. Mondo Rescue

Mondo Rescue backs up your file system to CD, tape, NFS (archives stored remotely) or ISO's (archives stored locally). Mondo uses afio as the backup engine; afio is a well-respected replacement for tar. In the event of catastrophic data loss, you may restore some or all of your system, even if your hard drives are now blank. Mondo Rescue can do a lot of other cool things:

• You can use Mondo to clone an installation of Linux. Just backup the crucial stuff and exclude /home, /var/log, etc.

• You can backup a non-RAID file system and restore it as RAID including the root partition (if your kernel supports that).

• You can backup a system running on one format and restore as another format.

• You can restructure your partitions, e.g. shrink/enlarge, reassign devices, add hard drives, etc, before you partition and format your drives. Mondo will restore your data and amend /etc/lilo.conf and /etc/fstab accordingly.

• You can backup Linux/Windows systems, including the boot sectors. Mondo will make everything right at restore-time. (However, do run "Scandisk" when you first boot into Windows, just in case.)

• You can use your Mondo backup CD to verify the integrity of your computer.

Mondo's principal virtue is that it protects you from the problems that can arise when you reinstall completely from scratch. If you want to wipe and restore your system every year just as a matter of 'good practice', Mondo is not for you. However, if you want to get up and running again in a hurry after someone breaks into your computer and wipes it (or if you accidentally wipe it yourself) then Mondo is definitely for you. It will permit you to roll back to a known-good installation in a very short period of time, sometimes as little as twenty minutes. Even if you backup large amounts of data to tape daily and do not want to add yet another backup regime, please consider backing up the core filesystem (i.e. everything but the directories containing your huge database and your prizewinning novel) every month or so, just in case. You will be glad you did.

What is Mondo not?

Mondo is not an everyday backup program. It is not designed to replace tar, afio, kbackup, etc. Mondo is designed to make it possible to recover from scratch if necessary. Tar and afio offer a quick, convenient way to backup small sets of files, sometimes to removable media.

3.2. Mindi

Mindi Linux creates a set of boot/root floppy disk images that will let you perform basic system maintenance on your Linux distro. The principal virtues of Mindi's boot disks are the fact that they contain your kernel, modules, tools and libraries. You can ask for additional binaries (or other files) to be included on the kit. The libraries will be added for you.

Whichever modules were loaded at backup-time, they are reloaded at boot-time. So, in theory, you will boot into almost the same environment as you were in when you backed up. If you want to add files to your Mindi boot disks, edit '<INSTALLPATH OF MINDI>/mindi/deplist.txt' and add the files to that list. The added files and dependencies, will be spread across the data disks at run-time.

Mindi makes sure that Mondo has all the tools it needs at boot-time. Mondo uses fdisk, mkfs, cat, less, more, afio, gzip, bzip2, your keyboard configuration, your glibc libraries, your other libraries, your kernel, your modules, ... which is a lot of tools! Mindi takes care of all that, so that Mondo can get on with the job of backing up or restoring your data.

Mindi is also handy for making boot CDs/disks which stand on their own. You do not need Mondo. Indeed, if you like, you could use another backup/restore program with Mindi. Just add it to Mindi's dependency list (type 'locate deplist.txt' to find it). Mindi will include your software on its boot CD/disks the next time you run mindi.

3.3. Linux Backup

Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux are used primarily as Linux backup and cloning tools. The fall in prices of CD-RW drives and writable discs will allow current users to keep good backups and future users to leverage the cloning capability.

Tape drives are more likely to suit your needs if you run a larger installation (or have lots of MP3's). Warning! OnStream drives do not play well with Mondo. I do not know why. It is, in my opinion, something which OnStream should look into. Mondo uses fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() to interact with tape drives. That works for most drives but some drives just don't like that.

Mondo Rescue has been tested thousands of times on various computers. It has worked for them. Thousands of users testify to Mondo's stability and its ease of use. However, please test it on your own system before you rely on it. In fact, do not rely on any software until you have tested it to see if it performs as expected.

To establish that Mondo will behave well in an emergency, please be prepared. Run a test backup as follows:-

• Run mondoarchive without any command-line options.

• Backup a subset of files - e.g. /usr/local - to CD or tape. Say 'yes' when asked if you want to verify them.

• If you are not backing up to CD, please create boot floppies when prompted.

Next, restore archives to your live filesystem.

• When mondoarchive terminates, run mondorestore without any command-line options.

• Insert the CD or the first boot floppy when prompted. Press <Enter>. Wait a moment.

• Select a subset of files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man and /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.

• Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something similar.

• When mondorestore terminates, compare the restored files to the originals using cmp or diff.

Finally, simulate an emergency restore.

• Boot from CD/floppies.

• Select 'Interactive Mode' at boot-time. (Type 'interactive' and hit <Enter>.)

• Hit OK when shown the mountlist. Say 'yes' when asked if you accept the mountlist.

• Select files to restore, e.g. /usr/local/man and /usr/local/bin. Hit OK.

• Restore files to /tmp or /root/RESTORED or something similar.

• When mondorestore terminates, please reboot and compare the restored files to the originals.

FYI, the subroutines to repartition and reformat your drives are very stable. If you are a RAID or LVM user, you might encounter some difficulties when wiping and restoring from scratch because of the sheer range of filesystem layouts and the impossibility of testing Mondo on every single one. If you have trouble, just drop to the command-line and partition/format manually. Then, call mondorestore, select Interactive Mode, and say 'no' when asked if you want Mondo to partition or format your drives for you.

You see, even if you have trouble, you still have two hands and most of the tools you need - lvchange, pvcreate, fdisk, mkraid, etc. - to do it manually. After you have prepped and formatted your drives manually (if you have to), just run mondorestore again and say 'no' when asked if you want to prep or format your drives. What could be easier?

3.4. Windows Backup

Backing up windows partitions.

3.5. Mondo Rescue and Mindi Linux History

Mondo Rescue was created in December 1999 by Hugo Rabson as a utility to clone Linux/Windows installations. Norton Ghost would not do the job, and his boss wanted to jump on the Linux bandwagon. So, he wrote a few scripts and shoehorned them into the latest Linux-Mandrake CD. Since that time, Mondo grew into a disaster recovery suite for Linux and Windows. Mondo forced him to learn about the kernel, its initrd initial ramdisk, modules, library dependencies, disk partitioning, and the myriad differences between the Top 10 Linux distributions.

The first formal release was made on February 18th, 2000. Mondo is currently one of the top five Linux backup/restore programs. Mondo has been compared favorably to ArcServe, Arkeia and BRU. Although Mondo lacks the more advanced, enterprise-level features of ArcServe and Arkeia, for workstations and small- to medium-size servers it is ideal because it is small, fast, efficient, stable, comes with source code, and is being actively developed and supported.

Since November 2005, Hugo Rabson has tranfered the maintenance of the Mondo Rescue suite to Andree Leidenfrost and Bruno Cornec, both previous developers and packagers of the tool since nearly the begining.

3.6. System Requirements

4.1. Mindi Installation

If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:

This installs mindi additional files into /usr/local/lib/mindi and the program into /usr/local/sbin

Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:

This installs mindi additional files into /usr/lib/mindi and the program into /usr/sbin.

4.2. Mindi Busybox Installation

If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:

This installs busybox files and symlinks into /usr/local/lib/mindi/rootfs

Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:

This installs busybix files and symlinks into /usr/lib/mindi/rootfs

4.3. Mondo Installation

If you are installing from a tarball then copy it to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:

This installs mondo into /usr/local/lib/mondo and installs the programs into /usr/local/sbin

Or, if you are installing from an RPM/deb then copy it to copy it to wherever you have enough space, for example /tmp and type:

This installs mondo into /usr/lib/mondo and installs the programs into /usr/sbin

4.4. RPM verifications

For RPM based distributions (Fedora, OpenSuSE, Mandriva, ...), you may want to do this post-install in order to check the validity of your installation:

This gives some truly obtuse output. Basically it will list all files that do NOT pass the verify tests (done on size, MD5 signature, etc). Please read rpm man page to discover the meaning of the output.

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:-

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 CD/floppies (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

Warning - failed to create 1.44MB boot/root floppies

Warning - failed to create 1.72MB boot image. Please reduce your kernel's size

if you want to make a 1.72MB floppy disk.

Making 2880KB boot disk...........................mkfs.vfat 2.10 (22 Sep 2003)
... 2880 KB boot disks were created OK                          Done.
In the directory '/root/images/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
Would you like to create boot+data floppy disks now (y/n) ?n
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 floppies, 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 to make a bootable CD-R or CD-RW.

Use the cdrecord application to write the CD image:

The output of the above call to cdrecord 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:

If writing to a CD-R Drive/Disc:

6.1. Recommendations

• Shut down all possible applications (this minimizes any compare differences following the backup). Especially shutdown properly any running database on your system, as the recovery may lead to corrupted data. Or if applicable, boot to single user mode.

• Type:

For most users, that should be enough. :-) Mondoarchive will usually autodetect your hardware and configure it for you.

If you are a power user (or you like to control every detail of how Mondo runs) then you may want to look at the command-line switches. For example:-

cdrecord will tell you where your CD recorder lives, in SCSI terms, which looks like '0,0,0'. The previous call to mondoarchive tells Mondo to backup everything to a 4x CD-RW drive that has a CD-RW disk in it. (Use -Oc instead of -Ow if you are using CD-R.)

Please put the first CD-R(W) in the drive now. You will be prompted to insert CD #2 but you will not be prompted to insert the first disk. However, if you forget, do not worry: if Mondo fails to write the first (or any) disk, it will offer to retry, abort or fail.

Find the speed/compression compromise that best suits your needs. Here maximum (-9) compression level is used.

If you are using cron then please consult the chapter that Conor Daly has dedicated to that topic

6.2. Backup Commands and Options

Backup Command:

E.g.,

Would create backup CD to a CD-R disc at the highest compression level, writing at speed 8 and ignoring the /mnt/dos and /mnt/cdrom directories.

To see a detailed list of switches and their meaning, see the HTML man page on the website or type 'man mondoarchive' at the console.

7.1. Overview

Mondoarchive is designed to run interactively (at least where media changes are necessary). Cron does not allow user interaction with a job. This section addresses the problem by using screen as a wrapper for mondo.

This section is Copyright 2003 Conor Daly.

7.2. Introduction

Mondoarchive is designed to run interactively. That's not strictly true, if you run mondoarchive without the '-g' switch, it will just run. However, there is a problem where media changes are necessary. The user must change the media and tell mondoarchive that the change has been done. The problem lies in the fact that cron does not allow user interaction with a job. If you schedule a mondoarchive job via cron, you better be sure it needs only one media. In practical terms, this means using tapes or ISOs (if CD-R(W) is your backup medium). However, for tape users, there's always the possibility that the backup will overflow the tape while for CD-R(W) users, there is the added hassle of burning the ISOs in the morning. If your CD_R(W) backup routinely occupies more than one media, this is not for you (use the ISO option and burn the CDs in the morning). This HOWTO addresses the problem by using screen as a wrapper for mondo.

7.3. Who should read this?

7.4. The Problem

7.5. The Solution

#!/bin/sh 
# atrun uid=0 gid=0 
# mail    cdaly 0 umask 22 
PWD=/root; export PWD 
XAUTHORITY=/root/.xauthyOrD4f; export XAUTHORITY 
HOSTNAME=bofh.irmet.ie; export HOSTNAME 
PVM_RSH=/usr/bin/rsh; export PVM_RSH 
QTDIR=/usr/lib/qt-2.3.1; export QTDIR 
LESSOPEN=\|/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh\ %s; export LESSOPEN 
XPVM_ROOT=/usr/share/pvm3/xpvm; export XPVM_ROOT 
KDEDIR=/usr; export KDEDIR 
USER=root; export USER 
LS_COLORS=no=00:fi=00:di=01\;34:ln=01\;36:pi=40\;33:so=01\;35:bd=40\;33\;01:cd=40\;33\;01:or=01\;05\;37\;41:mi=01\;05\;37\;41:ex=01\;32:\*.cmd=01\;32:\*.exe=01\;32:\*.com=01\;32:\*.btm=01\;32:\*.bat=01\;32:\*.sh=01\;32:\*.csh=01\;32:\*.tar=01\;31:\*.tgz=01\;31:\*.arj=01\;31:\*.taz=01\;31:\*.lzh=01\;31:\*.zip=01\;31:\*.z=01\;31:\*.Z=01\;31:\*.gz=01\;31:\*.bz2=01\;31:\*.bz=01\;31:\*.tz=01\;31:\*.rpm=01\;31:\*.cpio=01\;31:\*.jpg=01\;35:\*.gif=01\;35:\*.bmp=01\;35:\*.xbm=01\;35:\*.xpm=01\;35:\*.png=01\;35:\*.tif=01\;35:; export LS_COLORS 
MACHTYPE=i386-redhat-linux-gnu; export MACHTYPE 
MAIL=/var/spool/mail/root; export MAIL 
INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc; export INPUTRC 
BASH_ENV=/root/.bashrc; export BASH_ENV 
LANG=en_US; export LANG 
LOGNAME=root; export LOGNAME 
SHLVL=1; export SHLVL 
II_SYSTEM=/usr/local/ingres; export II_SYSTEM
USERNAME=root; export USERNAME 
HOSTTYPE=i386; export HOSTTYPE 
OSTYPE=linux-gnu; export OSTYPE 
HISTSIZE=1000; export HISTSIZE 
LAMHELPFILE=/etc/lam/lam-helpfile; export LAMHELPFILE 
PVM_ROOT=/usr/share/pvm3; export PVM_ROOT 
HOME=/root; export HOME 
SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/libexec/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass; 
export SSH_ASKPASS 
PATH=/usr/local/ingres/ingres/bin:/usr/local/ingres/ingres/utility:/usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/root/bin; export PATH 
cd /root || {
echo 'Execution directory inaccessible' >&2     
exit 1 
} 
screen -m -d mondoarchive -D -Ow 10 -S /home/mondo/ \
-T /home/mondo/ -g -E "\"/home/cdaly/GIS/W2K /home/mondo/\"" -9
#done

9.1. Overview

I hope you don't have to restore from scratch very often. It's nerve-wracking until you realize that Mondo's restore engine is very reliable.

If you find that you cannot make your PC boot from the CD, take heart: the first backup CD of each set contains floppy disk images to give you the same functionality as the CD (minus the archives, of course) on floppies. Remember, your Mondo CD is a fully functional CD-based mini-distribution as well as a recovery CD.

You can choose from the following modes:

If the CD is not found during the initial restore CD boot attempt, reboot the PC a second time prior to reporting failure. Occasional timing errors and hardware/software/system conflicts do occur.

9.2. Tips and Tricks

Ideally, restore your system to a spare hard drive to test the integrity and reliability of your disks. To do that, either edit your mountlist to make the devices point to your spare hard drive, or swap your hard drive cables between boots.

At a bare minimum, compare your CD against your file system before you decide whether to trust them.

To test Mondo's ability to handle your LILO or GRUB boot loader and accompanying configuration file:

• Boot from the backup CD into Expert Mode

• Type:

• To fix any mess it made (not that it should) type:

• If it did not work then please copy /tmp/mondo-restore.log to a floppy (or to your hard disk, USB key, ...), gzip it and e-mail it to the mondorescue mailing list.

---

9.2.5. Advanced

It is now possible to restore to a live filesystem using Mondo. In other words, you do not have to boot your PC from your CD/floppy in order to restore files. Mondo was originally designed for disaster recovery - situations in which you cannot boot your PC. If you can boot your PC, it is not really a disaster, is it? :) Well, if you have wiped out your priceless collection of "MTV's Bjork Unplugged" MP3's, perhaps it is. Anyway, just type this as root

bash# mondorestore

	Choose your type of backup media. The live restoration process is very similar to what you'll experience if you type mondorestore with no parameters after booting from a Mondo CD/floppy.
	Hit 'OK' when you have inserted the tape/CD. If you generated a tape backup, the tape itself should be enough. If you generated a CD backup, the first CD should be enough. Otherwise, you may need the boot floppy.
	Flag the files and directories you wish to restore. Use the 'More' and 'Less' buttons to open and close subdirectories.
	Specify the location to restore the files to. In general, '/' is appropriate. If you do not want to overwrite newer versions of the files you are restoring then specify /tmp/BKP or similar as the restore path.
	Mondorestore will retrieve configuration information from the media. (The sample screen is for tape users. CD users will see something different.)
	Data will be restored to the hard disk - first the regular files, then any big (32MB or greater) files in the restore set.

I hope this manual was useful for you.

10.1. Overview

Are the errors from Mindi or Mondo? Look at /var/log/mondoarchive.log or /var/log/mindi.log (if run alone). Pipe screen errors which relate to the creation of boot disk(s) and or data disk(s) to a text file.

See the MondoRescue for details. If you are going to e-mail mondorescue mailing list then please attach that text file (zipped!) and give :

• Your kernel version (uname -a)

• Your Linux distro's name and version (/etc/distro-release)

• Whether your kernel supports initrd and loopfs; it should! (grep -E '^CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP|^CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD' /usr/src/linux/.config

• What sort of PC you are using, including hard disk configurations (results of dmidecode, lshw, fdisk -l are useful here)

Mondo is freely available under the GPL and you are given it for no charge. When you e-mail the mondorescue mailing list, please bear that in mind.

10.2. General Questions

10.3. Booting and Kernel related Questions

10.4. Installation related Questions

10.5. Hardware related Questions

10.6. Backup related Questions

10.7. Compare related Questions

10.8. Restore related Questions