Clone a live linux system with Rsync over SSH

Update: 5/3/17 — Add additional notes for CentOS7 (dracut + grub2) and XenServer targets

All commands are run on new server.

1. Boot into rescue mode (iso, pxe, ect).

2. Create partitions with ‘fdisk /dev/sda’. Type 83 for non-RAID fs, 82 for swap, type fd in the case of RAID (all partitions). Flag boot partition as bootable.

In the case of SSD, add -S 32 -H 32 to the fdisk command and start the first partition on sector 2 for proper alignment.

If using RAID, duplicate the partition table after creating it on the first disk:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=1 count=64 skip=446 seek=446

2. Create RAID array (if applicable).

# For SSD, add: --chunk=128
mdadm --create /dev/md0 -e 0.90 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1  ## /boot
mdadm --create /dev/md1 -e 0.90 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb2  ## Swap
mdadm --create /dev/md2 -e 0.90 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda3 /dev/sdb3  ## /

3. Create filesystems

For spin disk:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/md0 # /dev/sda1 for non-RAID
mkfs.ext4 /dev/md2 # /dev/sda3 for non-RAID

For SSD (non RAID):

mkfs.ext4 -b 1024 -E stride=128,stripe-width=128 -O ^has_journal /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 -b 1024 -E stride=128,stripe-width=128 -O ^has_journal /dev/sda3

For SSD (RAID):

mkfs.ext4 -b 1024 -E stride=128,stripe-width=256 -O ^has_journal /dev/md0 ## stripe-width = stride x N disks
mkfs.ext4 -b 1024 -E stride=128,stripe-width=256 -O ^has_journal /dev/md2 ## stripe-width = stride x N disks

4. Mount filesystems

mkdir /mount
mount /dev/md2 /mount  ## /dev/sda3 for non-RAID
mkdir {/mount/boot,/mount/dev,/mount/sys,/mount/proc,/mount/tmp}  
mount /dev/md0 /mount/boot ## /dev/sda1 for non-RAID

5. Sync filesystems with Rsync over SSH (Ex: 1.2.3.4 is source machine)

rsync -aHxv --numeric-ids --progress root@1.2.3.4:/* /mount --exclude=/dev --exclude=/proc --exclude=/sys --exclude=/tmp
rsync -aHxv --numeric-ids --progress root@1.2.3.4:/boot/* /mount/boot --exclude=/dev --exclude=/proc --exclude=/sys --exclude=/tmp  ## Only if /boot is on separate partition in source machine

If applicable: stop mysql on the source machine and resync the databases to prevent corruption:

rsync -aHxv root@1.2.3.4:/var/lib/mysql/* /mount/var/lib/mysql

6. Update mdadm.conf

mdadm --examine --scan > /mount/etc/mdadm.conf

7. Update fstab (if needed)

ls -la /dev/disk/by-uuid # to get new UUID's
vi /mount/etc/fstab

8a. Install bootloader (CentOS5, CentOS6 / grub)

grub
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
root (hd1,0)  ## for RAID
setup (hd1)  ## for RAID
exit

8b. Install bootloader (CentOS7 / grub2)

Do step 10 (chroot) first, then this

grub2-install /dev/sda # Use correct device(s), repeat as neccesary
# Good time to clean up /etc/default/grub, then:
grub2-mkconfig -o /etc/grub2.cfg

# If migrating to Xen/XenServer:
dracut --add-drivers "xen-blkfront xen-netfront xen:vbd" --regenerate-all --force

9. Optional: change IP address if both machines need to be online

vi /mount/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

10. Hint: you can chroot into the cloned filesystem – for example – initramfs rebuilding:

cd /mount/
mount -t proc proc proc/
mount -t sysfs sys sys/
mount -o bind /dev dev/
chroot .

11. Cross fingers, reboot

reboot