[OPLINTECH] Calling all Clonezilla experts

[Chad Neeper]

Jim,

It just occurred to me that I only answered part of your questions.

The Clonezilla Live is a boot CD. You don't install it anywhere. Although
you can set it up to boot from the network via PXE remote boot, as I
mentioned before. You'd need to set up a few things like a TFTP server,
etc. That type of thing is documented all over Google.

Since you don't install Clonezilla Live, there are no disk space
requirements on the computer you're trying to image. Since you're booting
outside of the operating system installed on the computer, you can clone
NTFS or FAT (Common Windows partitions), along with a number of common *nix
partitions (I assume, but almost never do) (ext2, ext3, etc.). I think it
can also handle unknown disks via raw copies.

I haven't used Clonezilla SE myself, but I'm pretty certain it runs from a
linux-based server. It probably has a TFTP server and I'm guessing you can
either boot the client computers via PXE network boot or probably via a
boot CD. The server would require a reasonably small amount of storage for
the OS and clonezilla itself, but you'd need enough storage capacity to
store the computer images. You would need to determine the size of the
storage based solely on your own unique needs. If you're building computers
that have 35GB of data in the OS and programs, you'll need that much free
space on the server to store one copy of the master image. If you plan on
having more versions of the computer, you'll need more capacity on the
server. Plan accordingly.

In my own case, since I'm usually doing small quantities at a time, I often
will simply create an "Images" share on a Windows Server and often an
"Images" user account for simplicity. The Clonezilla boot CD can use a SMB
datastore (ie Windows Share) to save/restore images. I name the share
"Images" because that causes the least amount of keystrokes when connecting
to a Windows share in Clonezilla (when selecting to connect to a SMB share,
it uses "Images" as a default).

All-in-all Clonezilla Liveboot is pretty easy to use. Just follow the
interview prompts. Test in a virtual machine (if you have one) or a scrap
computer if you're nervous the first time around. (Probably good advice, no
matter what imaging software you use.)


HTH,
Chad


______________________________
*Chad Neeper*
Senior Systems Engineer

*Level 9 Networks*
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

*Full IT/Computer consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and
schools*

On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Jim Lack <J.Lack at rrpl.org> wrote:

>  I’m looking for a way to clone computers as needed.  I’ve heard people
> on this list talk about Clonezilla.  Started researching this and I see
> there are two versions, Clonezilla Live and Clonezilla SE.  Can anyone
> recommend one over the other?  What are the disk space requirements as I
> was unable to find that info.  Can it be loaded on desktop hardware or does
> it have to be loaded on a full-fledged server (Clonezilla SE)?  Your input
> is appreciated.
>
>
>
> Thank You,
>
>
>
> Jim Lack
>
> Technology Support Manager
>
> Rocky River Public Library
>
> 1600 Hampton Rd.
>
> Rocky River, OH  44116
>
> 440-333-7610 x3765
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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