From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 13 01:03:14 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A50601065672 for ; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:03:14 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from steve.lake@raiden.net) Received: from nucleon.liquidweb.com (nucleon.liquidweb.com [64.91.224.171]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7FDF18FC15 for ; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:03:14 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from steve.lake@raiden.net) Received: from dragoncrest.jasnetworks.net ([69.51.138.187]:42363 helo=raiden-desktop.raiden.net) by nucleon.liquidweb.com with esmtpa (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1LtAFS-0007cE-To for questions@freebsd.org; Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:42:07 -0400 Message-Id: <5.2.0.9.2.20090412203550.0212d070@mail.raiden.net> X-Sender: raiden2@raiden.net@mail.raiden.net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.0.9 Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:45:11 -0400 To: questions@freebsd.org From: Steve Lake Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - nucleon.liquidweb.com X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - freebsd.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - raiden.net Cc: Subject: Creating a custom install disk for Freebsd? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:03:15 -0000 Hi all. I'm looking at trying to create a custom install disk for Freebsd based off an existing install to make reinstallation quick and painless, similar to how apt-on-cd works for Linux. The reason behind this is I'm looking at going overseas for a couple years and will be leaving a bsd server in my brother-in-law's care. Since he's a hardware guy, if the server fails, he can easily fix it and get it back up. But he will be clueless as to how to reinstall the server itself and get it running afterwards (assuming the failure was caused by the HD failing). So I want to leave behind a cd that's setup in such a way that all he has to do is pop it in, boot it up, and maybe answer a couple questions prior to install. After that the cd does the rest. And when it's finished, the system ends up with a fresh copy of the server as it was when the snapshot was created, including all settings and applications. It's fine if the software isn't the latest. I just need to make sure he can get it up quickly and easily and then I'll handle the rest of the stuff remotely from overseas, such as bringing it up to date. The goal is just to make it as absolutely easy as I can for him to get working. He's really good with PC hardware, but he a total newb on the software side. So, is there something like this for Freebsd, or would I be forced to use something like Clonezilla to create an image and go that route? I'm not very found of the disk image idea myself, but I can go that route if need be. Steven Lake Owner/Technical Writer Raiden's Realm www.raiden.net Bringing Linux and BSD to the World